Edward Owings Towne
BornEdward Owings Towne, Jr.
February 19, 1859 or 1860
Pella, Iowa, U.S.
DiedMarch 6, 1938
OccupationLawyer, playwright
EducationIowa Central University
Notable works"The Madonna in Chains"
SpouseSara Johnston Cooper
Advertising the 1895 Other People's Money show at Hoyt's Theatre in New York City, lithograph by Russell Morgan
Advertising the 1895 Other People's Money show at Hoyt's Theatre in New York City, lithograph by Russell Morgan
Aphorisms of the Three Threes pdf
The completion of the spire, and other poems pdf

Edward Owings Towne, Jr. (February 19, 1859[1] or February 19, 1860 – March 6, 1938) was an American lawyer in Chicago, who became a writer. He wrote poems, stories, plays, and comedies.[1][2]

Early life and education

He was born on either February 19, 1859[1] or February 19, 1860 in Pella, Iowa. His father, Rev. E. O. Towne (died 1874),[3] established Iowa Central University. His father was noted in "Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa (1847–1922)," as a land agent who greeted people arriving by covered wagon.[4]

Towne, Jr. studied at Iowa Central University.[2]

Career

Towne wrote Aphorisms of the Three Threes (1887).[5] He wrote The completion of the spire, and other poems (1889).[6] He wrote the play By Wits Outwitted (1897).[7] He wrote Ideals of an Idol-breaker; A Poem of the New Philosophy (1913).[8] He wrote Philosophy of Jesus; A Narrative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1928).[9][10] He wrote Scientific Money, a Cure for Panics and Financial Depressions (1930).[11]

Towne wrote the 1895 play Other People's Money, which was performed at Hoyt's Theatre in New York City the same year.[12][13] He also wrote A Little Drunkardess, A Masked Battery, and Literary Duet By Wits Outwitted,[2] was staged in Cleveland, Ohio in 1893 and was accompanied by A Glimpse of Paradise by Frank S. Pixley.[14][15] Tell Taylor starred in the show. His play For Sweet Charity's Sake won him a thousand dollar prize in a Best One Act play competition circa 1895 and his play By Wits Outwitted ran for at least two years.[16] His story "The Madonna in Chains" was adapted into the 1923 film The Women in Chains.[17]

He was found guilty of conspiring to wreck the Lumbermen's Building and Loan Association in October 1898, and was fined US $1,500 and sentenced to serve an indeterminate sentence time in Joliet Prison (now Joliet Correctional Center).[18]

He died on March 6, 1938.

In 2004 a family in Vista, California found a shoebox full of family memorabilia including photographs, letters, and other documents from E. O. Towne and his family.[19] He corresponded with Charles Eastwick Smith, which is part of the "Charles Eastwick Smith letters from botanists" archives at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.[20]

Personal life and family

Towne married Sara Johnston Cooper in 1889.[2] Their son Fenimore Cooper Towne was born c. 1893 and died at the family home in 1918 of sepsis poisoning[21] at the age of 25.[2]

Book publications

  • Aphorisms of the Three Threes (1887)[5]
  • The Completion of the Spire, and Other Poems (1889)[6]
  • By Wits Outwitted (1897)[7]
  • Ideals of an Idol-breaker; a Poem of the New Philosophy (1913)[8]
  • Philosophy of Jesus; A Narrative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1928)[9][10]
  • Scientific Money, a Cure for Panics and Financial Depressions (1930)[11]

Screenplay and playwright work

Stage playwright

  • For Sweet Charity's Sake (c. 1895)
  • Other People's Money (1895)
  • Literary Duet By Wits Outwitted (1897)[2]
  • A Masked Battery[2]
  • A Little Drunkardess[2]

Filmography

  • The Woman in Chains (1923), as the screenplay writer

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dayton, Arthur S. "Edward Owings Towne". College of Law, West Virginia University. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Descendants of William Towne: Who Came to America on Or about 1630 and Settled in Salem, Mass. E. E. Towne. April 20, 1901. ISBN 9780598487834 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Rev. E. O. Towne". Sioux City Journal. August 28, 1874 – via GenealogyTrails.com.
  4. ↑ Murphy, Jeff (1922). Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa (1847–1922). Pella, Iowa: Booster Press – via Iowa Biographies Project.
  5. 1 2 Aphorisms of the Three Threes (PDF). Charles H. Kerr and Company. 1887 – via University of Pennsylvania.
  6. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (1889). The Completion of the Spire and Other Poems. Mid-continent Publishing Company.
  7. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (1897). By Wits Outwitted.
  8. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (1913). Ideals of an Idol-breaker ...: A Poem of the New Philosophy ...
  9. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (1928). The Philosophy of Jesus: A Nar[r]ative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, Arranged from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, as Newly Translated Into Modern English. New Era Book Corporation.
  10. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (2012-03-01). The Philosophy of Jesus: A Narrative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-258-26146-7.
  11. 1 2 Towne, Edward Owings (1930). Scientific Money, a Cure for Panics and Financial Depressions. New Era Book Corporation.
  12. ↑ "A Comic Chicago Play; " Other People's Money," by Edward Owings Towne. Performed in Hoyt's Theatre Last Night". The New York Times. 1895-08-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  13. ↑ "Edward Owings Towne". Broadway Cast & Staff; IBDB.
  14. ↑ "A Play in one act [electronic resource] : A glimpse of paradise by Mr. Frank S. Pixley., by Ont.) Grand Opera House (Hamilton | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  15. ↑ "The New York Clipper Annual (1893)". Columbia University Libraries. 1893. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  16. ↑ Handy, Moses P (1895). "Literary Chicago". Munsey's Magazine. Vol. 12. Frank A. Munsey & Company. p. 84. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023.
  17. ↑ "The Woman in Chains". www.tcm.com.
  18. ↑ "Found Guilty". True Republican. 1898-10-15. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  19. ↑ Hyatt, Valari (November 16, 2009). "Family story found in shoebox". Utica Observer Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  20. ↑ "Collection: Charles Eastwick Smith letters from botanists". ArchivesSpace Public Interface, Drexel University.
  21. ↑ "Deaths of the Week". New York Clipper. 1918-01-09. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
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