45 Eli Johl E li Johl is known as the butcher of Bodie, who married Lottie Johl, the “soiled dove” who attempted to become respectable, but the town shunned her, and she died of accidental poisoning. Research reveals a fascinating and compelling glimpse into their lives. On July 14, 1842, Elias Johl was born in Rust, a village near Baden-Baden, Germany. He had a dozen or more brothers and sisters. His oldest brother, Abraham, immigrated to the United States and became a merchant in Arkansas just before the civil war. Abraham served in the Confederate Army as a private and later moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Eli’s father, Hirsch Johl, was a shopkeeper in Germany. After Hirsch died in 1864, family members emigrated from Germany early in January 1865. Elias came several months later, departing from Liverpool, England, and arriving at New York on March 29, 1865. While most of his relatives settled in the South, Eli struck out to the West to seek his fortune. In 1869, prospectors discovered silver deposits in Mineral Hill, Nevada. Eli worked in his butcher shop at Mineral Hill, which grew to 400 people, but became a ghost town after it burnt down in 1872 and mined out a year later. Eli lost $1,800 worth of property in the first of several fires that would plague him. In February 1876, he was appointed postmaster of Lida, Nevada, where his friend, the legendary Clem Ogg, and partners hauled out 45,000 feet of lumber. Clem was elected sheriff of Esmeralda County, Nevada, in 1878. He was a large prickly bearded man with long unkempt hair. He drove oxen teams and was “diabolically accurate in wielding a twenty-foot-long bullwhip with a three foot-handle.” An anecdote is he could “cut the seat out of a man’s trousers with the lash of his long bullwhip, and hitch 14 freight wagons behind a half-mile parade of bullocks (Wilson 122).” In 1877, Eli moved to the towns of Belleville and Candelaria, which are about 75 miles east of Bodie. Prospectors discovered silver veins near Candelaria in 1863. Workers built A 20-stamp mill in Belleville, about 8 miles west of the mines, to process ore. Water had to be packed in from Belleville, a town of 300 people, to Candelaria, with 750 people because of the shortage of water in Candelaria. Both are now ghost towns. In 1880, advertisements in the Candelaria newspaper, the True Fissure , indicate that Eli Johl and John Goodwin were proprietors of the Candelaria Market, a meat market on Main Street in Candelaria. Eli was also a proprietor, along with Sheriff Clem Ogg of the Belleville Hotel on Main Street in Belleville. They celebrated popular Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Fourth of July parties at the Belleville Hotel, which had a large ballroom and elegant connecting bar. On May 21, 1881, a True Fissure article titled “Eli Johl’s Big Prospect” revealed that Eli was successful in prospecting for silver: Eli Johl, the well known butcher, is a constant prospector: that is he has men all year around out in the hills prospecting. One day this week a valuable find was made in one of these locations. It is about eighteen miles from Belleville, and Mr. Johl says that the only difficulty is the lack of water. The ore, at a few feet from the surface shows astonishing assays: going away up in the hundreds. Johl House - Bodie 47 Eli dissolved his Candelaria Market partnership and two months later married Lottie Calhoun. The marriage was conducted on the Fourth of July 1881, by Eli’s friend and boarder, A. G. “Archie” Turner, Justice of the Peace, and witnessed by Sheriff Clem Ogg and Mrs. John Ellis, Lottie’s friend, who as Hattie Clark married four months prior. The marriage recorded several days later using the name Ely Johl, which Eli used on several documents. Eli and Lottie’s wedding celebration at his Belleville Hotel lasted several days, as described by the July 9, 1881, edition of the Candelaria True Fissure newspaper. In an article titled “The Ball at Belleville,” the True Fissure reported the celebration started on Sunday evening: At nine o’clock on the evening of the 3rd the band began playing the grand march, and participants fell into line. The hall was decorated in a very handsome style, with flags of all sizes. Some were festooned in graceful loops, some were dropping from the ceiling, and some were extended along the sides and ends of the hall, making a gay scene; while interspersed were large mirrors which reflected the lights from the chandeliers in a thousand rays. Outside-the front of the building was hung with Chinese lanterns which lite up the street splendidly. The floor of the hall was canvassed, and the dancers appreciated its smooth surface in the mazy whirls. Another article in the True Fissure titled “In Hymen’s Bond:” Last Monday evening at Belleville, Eli Johl and Miss Lottie Calhoun were joined in the bonds of wedlock. A large number of personnel friends of the high contracting parties were present, and after the ceremony wine flowed like water. The bride was elegantly and tastefully dressed in a lavender silk, trimmed with bands of velvet of a darker shade, fringe of balls and tassels, and the whole finished and enriched by light corn-colored lace. The toilette was extremely rich and becoming. The bridegroom wore the usual regulation black with white vest. A feature of the festivities was the visit, at a late hour, of ten or a dozen masquers who added much to the hilarity of the occasion by their antics. At a late hour the company withdrew, but on the following day and evening the festivities were renewed, the many friends of the newly wedded couple vying with each other in having a good time. The True Fissure reported the celebrants wore bizarre costumes. Clem Ogg wore “a pink tarleton cut bias on the offside; hair done up in the wash room of the Belleville Hotel.” Dan McDonald wore “an Elizabethan of quilted cherry; hair done in firkin butter.” William Moraghan wore a “Martha Washington costume of drab silk, overlaid with point lace; tansy and geranium leaves in hair, done up trimmed with harness buckles.” The photograph of “Belleville, Nevada” was taken around 1880. On close inspection and magnification, the sign on the balcony reads the “Belleville Hotel.” A mysterious woman is going in the door to A.G. Turner’s second-story front room. She may have been Judge Turner’s 27-year-old wife Maria, or even 28-year-old Lottie Johl. The bearded man wearing a hat in front of the cartwheel behind the oxen team seems to fit the description of Clem Ogg. Two months after Eli and Lottie were married, the September 10, 1881, issue of the True Fissure reported that a fire burnt down the Belleville Hotel and the house behind where Lottie and Eli lived. They were able to salvage the doors, windows, furniture, and other articles. Several men received broken legs saving the billiard table in the saloon. The fire broke out in Judge Turner’s front second-floor room after he and his wife had gone to dinner at Eli and Lottie’s house. Belleville, Nevada (UNRS-P0039-2 , Special Collections and University Archives Department, University of Nevada, Reno) 49 An intriguing side-story is that Eli employed a waiter named John Henry Gouldstone. John Henry sent letters and money back home to his wife Anne in England. He was immensely proud to have the keys to the wine cellar. In a letter, addressed from the Belleville Hotel, dated October 8, 1880, Gouldstone wrote: We had a shooting scrape in the Hotel today one young fellow was shot through the windpipe and is not expected to live. It was the result of a quarrel in gambling, the man that did it is under arrest but will get clear as the other threatened his life. This is the fourth since I have been here, a quarrel is soon settled in this town. A October 9, 1880, Reno Gazette reported “Billy Bell Shot in Belleville.” - BELLEVILLE, Nev., Oct 8. William J. Bell, a fargo dealer of this place, was shot last evening in front of the Belleville Hotel by Charles P. Brummett, also a fargo dealer. The bullet cut Bell’s wind pipe and lodged beneath the left shoulder-blade. Bell is still alive, but his recovery is doubtful. The cause of the shooting was an old grudge between the parties. It was a mystery in England why John Henry Gouldstone’s letters stopped arriving after the fire. It appears he remarried and settled in Oregon. His brother took care of his wife and child back in England. It is a coincidence that the 1910 census lists a 30-year-old servant named Hattie Clark living with the Gouldstone family. Hattie Clark Ellis was Lottie’s wedding witnesses. Hattie died in Candelaria about a year after Lottie’s wedding. Lottie Calhoun was born in 1853 as Charlotte J. Wilson at Keosauqua, Iowa. The Van Buren County Genealogical Society and census records indicate that Lottie’s mother, Nancy Ann Swearengen, was born on Christmas Eve, 1829. She married George W. Wilson in 1849. They had two daughters, Mary and Charlotte, and lived on a farm in Farmington, Iowa. In 1856, Nancy remarried Henry C. Houk, who was killed at the Battle of Fort Donelson in the civil war. In 1872, she married Daniel Faron. In 1913, Nancy, a lifelong Methodist, died at the age of 84. She lived most of her life in Keosauqua. Her obituary did not mention her first marriage or her first two daughters. On December 12, 1868, Charlotte Wilson and Newton Robert Calhoun recorded a marriage in Van Buren County. However, they did not complete the certificate part of the license within the ninety days required; they may not have been legally married. They lived on a farm that Newton bought from his parents in 1867. On April 22, 1870, their daughter Mattie was born. A year later, Newton Robert and Charlotte J. Calhoun sold the farm to Newton’s older brother. Newton, Lottie, and Mattie moved to Calaveras County, California, in 1876. They separated a year later. It remains a mystery why Lottie and Newton split up or how Lottie got her reputation as a prostitute. The 1880 census shows a Lottie Roberts living in Candelaria with Lulu Gorden, who ran the Lulu Gorden Dance Hall, about a block Lottie Johl- Bodie Museum Johl House Interior 51 away from Eli Johl’s Candelaria Meat Market (Shamberger 48). Perhaps this was her. She moved to Candelaria from Reno, where she advertised in the Reno Evening Gazette a Saturday night “Social Dance” at her home on Lincoln Avenue. When she moved, her landlord filed a complaint against her for stealing bedsheets. A November 8, 1879, Reno Evening Gazette article referred to her as “Naughty Lottie.” Charles Gray, referred to as “Wicked Charles,” robbed $1,520 worth of money and jewelry from Lottie. Gray was arrested several years later in Bodie for the battery of “a lady well known in Bodie” when she demanded payment for breaking her jewelry (McGrath 156). Eli was a partner with J.C. McDonald. In 1881, before the wedding, they recorded claims in the Garfield Mining District for the Delaware No. 1, 2, and 3, the Vermont 1, 2, and 3, and the General Garfield mines. Another mining claim, the Lottie, was also recorded. A February 13, 1882 edition of the Reno Evening Gazette article reported that samples of rock brought from Garfield by James Cross, the mill superintendent, and Mr. Johl took from two different locations assayed $16,000 and $8,000 per ton. Less than a year later, a June 3, 1882, True Fissure article described another tragedy titled “RIDDLED WITH BUCKSHOT. Another Fatal Quarrel Between Mining Partners:” This community had not recovered from the shock of one fatal shooting affair when another occurred. The scene of the second tragedy was at Belleville, and happened about half-past ten o’clock on Thursday morning. The principals were Eli Johl and J.C. McDonald, who have been partners in some of the first discovered and best mines in Garfield district. Bad blood had existed between the two men for some months past, yet it did not come to any demonstration until early in the week. Johl had been to the mine at Garfield district, and about Luning, and all who knew the men looked for a serious meeting at the latter place. Johl took the train on Wednesday evening and returned to his home at Belleville. About one o’clock the next morning McDonald came into the town on horseback, went to Johl’s house, made a disturbance with such a purpose that it was evident he intended it to be heard. Finding this did not cause the anticipated resistance, he raised the window of Mr. and Mrs. Johl’s bedroom and used some very vile language, which is said to have been more forcible than elegant. This conduct continued at intervals until toward noon, when McDonald made his last visit to the house. What passed between the men at this time is not yet known, but it must have been of a further intimidating nature and made Johl anxious for his personal safety. Before McDonald had gone seventy-five feet Johl opened fire on him with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buckshot. McDonald was moving across the street, away from the house, and fell dead from the effects of the first and only shot fired. The article states that Judge Stevens ruled that Eli “was discharged, the evidence proving conclusively that he was justified in what he had done.” There were several shootings in Belleville. One occurred between Eli’s friend, Judge A.G. Turner, and Johl Kitchen Johl House Stove 53 Ramón Montenegro, an entrepreneur and gambler who published the Self- Cocker and Tarantula newspapers in 1877. Turner did not like an article that was written about himself and shot Montenegro twice in the stomach in a face to face duel in the streets of Belleville ( Miranda, 66). In 1883, Eli sold his mules and harness, jennies and pack equipment, wagons, and mining equipment of the Garfield Mining Company. By 1884, he was working for the Union Market in Bodie. In 1886, Lottie’s daughter, Mattie, was married in Bodie. An article appeared in the May 6, 1886, edition of the Birmingham Enterprise , a Van Buren County, Iowa, newspaper: Married. -- At the residence of the bride’s mother, Mrs. Eli Johl, in Bodie, Mono County, Cal, April 14, 1886 by the Rev. G. B. Hinkle, Wm. C. Toon of Calaveras County, and Miss Mattie Mary Calhoun, of Bodie. Wm. O. Toon is a native of California, and was raised in Calaveras county, where we believe he was born. He is a young man of twenty- two and like most born on that coast, is of great promise. Mrs. Mattie M. Toon was born in Winchester, Van Buren County, Iowa; her mother, Mrs. Eli Johl, having been born at Keosauqua and was formerly Mrs. N. R. Calhoun, of Winchester, Iowa. They are descended from the Wilsons, who were thirty years ago pioneers in what was then a pioneer country. Mrs. Toon has just attained her sixteenth birthday, and was dressed in white satin, trimmed with cream colored Spanish lace, white illusion veiling trailing the floor, surmounted by a diadem of orange blossoms. A Bodie newspaper article titled “A BODIE BELLE IS REMOVED FROM OUR MIDST” and subtitled “The Ceremony Takes Place in the Presence of a Large Circle of Friends and Witnesses” appeared: Wine of various varieties flowed copiously, in which the bride and groom, hostess and host were toasted liberally. This wedding supper was really a banquet, served with fresh oysters, ice cream and coffee, nine thousand feet above the sea... Congratulations over, music and singing came next in order, in which many guests, the amiable hostess (Mrs. Johl), and the young bride herself took part; the whole tending to enliven the feelings of the large throng... Mattie lived to be 103 years old. On her 100 th birthday, Mattie Baker recalled her life in the April 24, 1970, edition of the Hayward, California newspaper, The Daily Review , written by Ernestine Wiseman: Mrs. Baker was born in Iowa in 1870, the daughter of a Civil War couple. Her parents brought her to California when she was six years old and separated when she was seven. She spent the next nine years being shifted from one relative or foster home to another, until, at 16, her father sent for her to come to Sheep’s Ranch in the lusty Mother Lode country. The town’s only “proper” amusement establishment was a skating rink and there she met William Toon and agreed to marry him. Her mother, by this time living in the raucous mining town of Bodie - now a historical ghost town monument - invited them to come to her place for the wedding. The couple went by stage coach and the “speedy” train, to be greeted by scores of guests. Mrs. Baker’s mother also had acquired a degree of wealth and so brought in crabs from San Francisco Bay for the wedding feast. The couple went back to Sheep’s Ranch where a daughter, (Mrs. King), was born and a son, James. The latter showed great promise as a musician but was tragically killed in an explosion at 22 years of age, trying to quash a fire at a San Lorenzo powder plant. Mr. Toon died after the couple had been married only 11 years and shortly after her mother passed away in Bodie, the result of an accidental poisoning. Mrs. Baker decided to move to Bodie but life there proved so rigorous she came to Sacramento to open a boarding house. Johl House Chair 55 In 1887, the Johls began paying personal property taxes in Mono County. Listed were a watch $25, furniture $40, piano $75, and a sewing machine $10. By 1890, the Johls paid taxes for a home situated on the “northwest corner of the Post Office,” now known as the DeChambeau Hotel. On July 28, 1892, Bodie’s great fire burnt down most of the downtown, including the Johl House and the butcher store operated by Charles B. Donnelly and Eli Johl. The loss was $8000 for Eli and $1600 for Donnelly. The next month Johl and Donnelly recorded a butcher partnership in Mono County. By 1893, the Johls lived in what is called the Johl House today, except that it was on the other side of Main Street. The house, formerly owned by Henry Zenas Osborne, was the Receiver of Public Moneys at Bodie between 1878 and 1884. Osborne managed the Daily Standard and founded the Bodie Daily Free Press. In 1884, he moved to Los Angeles, where he ran a newspaper and became a U.S. Congressman. Osborne’s house, on Block 9, Lot 2, down south on the west side of Main Street, was moved to Block 22, Lot 10 after the fire, and the Johls moved in. In May 1894, Lottie went to San Francisco and sued the Mathias Gray music dealers for insurance on her piano lost in the fire. After the fire, Eli went on a property investment binge. By 1896, they acquired eight houses, a dog, $5, piano $450, jewelry $120, furniture $250. A smaller second house in the same style as the main house was added next door on the same lot. By 1900, Eli added several saloons, including the famous Temple Saloon. The Johls owned mining claims, such as the “Little Stringer,” for which they processed 20 tons of ore. The chapter titled “Rivalry Between the Butchers’ Wives” in Ella Cain’s book, The Story of Bodie, told of the competition between Lottie Johl and Annie Donnelly, Charles Donnelly’s wife. Their two large oil paintings, which hang side by side in the Bodie Museum, illustrate the rivalry. Ella wrote of the town shunning Lottie because of her past; Lottie gave a party, and no one came. The attendees were was shocked when she unmasked at a masquerade ball; they asked her to leave. There may have been some truth to these stories. Ella Cain, known to take “artistic license” in several of her accounts, wrote that Annie Donnelly, the nemesis of Lottie, was upset when Eli married Lottie. However, they were married long before they came to Bodie and joined the Donnelly’s in business. Eli had joined the AOUW (Ancient Order of United Workmen), and the Knights of Pythias after Charles Donnelly sponsored him as a member. Eli attended several masquerade balls with Lottie, along with many of the leading citizens of Bodie. Some newspaper excerpts: Mrs. Eli Johl was Queen of Scots, Mattie Calhoun (her daughter from her first marriage) was a fairy queen, and Eli Johl was a domino (March 4, 1886, San Francisco Examiner , Washington’s Birthday “Masked Ball in Bodie”) Mrs. Johl was the most richly dressed lady on the floor. The costume attracted attention. Eli Johl, as Prince Carnival, was gorgeously attired-the most richly dressed male character on the floor. Eli Johl - appeared as Eli Johl in a black domino. Mrs. Eli Johl -Flower Girl- This ladies costume was very much admired. Mrs. Johl, California—a gorgeous, golden glittering costume; Eli Johl, domino. On November 7, 1899, Lottie died of poisoning. Dr. Cox signed the death certificate, specifying the cause of accidental poisoning. The Mono County volume “ Inquisition 1887 -” which recorded inquests until 1920, is missing. Ella Cain wrote that a mistake was made in filling the prescription, although newspapers of the time did not confirm this as they usually would have. The Chronicle-Union reported: Sudden Death.—A great gloom was cast over Bodie on Tuesday by the death of Mrs. Eli Johl, a mistake having been made, it is said, in taking a dose of poison instead of salts. Doctors Cox and Robinson did all in their power to save her but without avail. The town gossip was that Lottie committed suicide. On November 10, 1899, the Reno Evening Gazette reported that “H.G. Schnider of Bodie arrived here last evening. Mr. Schnider reports Bodie quiet, the latest sensation being the death of “Mrs. E. Jeoul,” who committed suicide by poisoning several days ago.” Eli, of course, was Lottie Johl and Annie Donnelly Paintings - Bodie Museum 57 devastated. On Decoration Day (now called Memorial Day), he decorated Lottie’s grave with her photo, flowers, and greenery which, looked like Christmas trees and wreaths. A photo of Eli standing by Lottie’s decorated grave shows a well-dressed, bearded, distinguished-looking gentleman holding a Hamburg hat in his hand and a melancholy look on his face. There is a little snow on the ground and some children standing by. The photograph is in the book “ Images of America Bodie 1859-1962 ” (Geissinger 47). A similar photo captioned “The Grandest Grave,” identifying Eli, is in the book “ Yesterday’s California ” (Leadabrand 58). According to the 1860 census, she was 47 when she died. According to the death record from Dr. Cox, she was 44. On March 31, 1900, the Chronicle-Union reported that “Eli Johl and daughter, Mrs. Toon, and child, of Bodie, drove over from Bodie on Thursday to enjoy our balmy spring weather a few days.” They probably were settling the estate from Lottie’s death. About $2,000 worth of property was still in Lottie’s name. On April 18, Eli petitioned Superior Court for Lottie’s property. The petition was granted on April 30th because it was community property. In 1896, Eli recorded a quitclaim deed to Lottie of his property, and six months later, Lottie recorded a quitclaim deed back to Eli. They did a similar legal maneuver in Belleville. “SOL JOHL FINDS HIS LOST BROTHER” was a story in the June 28, 1903, Daily Arkansas Gazette: Thought Him Dead, but Found Him Healthy and Prosperous Sol H. Johl has returned from a trip to the Pacific coast whence he went to renew acquaintance with his only surviving brother, whom he has not seen since they were young men together in Germany. He had long ago given up the brother for dead and was overjoyed to learn he was still alive. They are the only survivors of 16 children ... Eli had written a three-line letter to Memphis, Tennessee hoping to find his younger brother Solomon H. Johl. The post office hadn’t known a Johl in Memphis for over 34 years, but somehow managed to send it to Fanny Johl, widow of his brother Abraham in Greenville, Mississippi. Fanny sent Eli’s letter to Solomon, a saloon keeper and coffee dealer in Little Rock, Arkansas. They started communicating. Sol decided to pay Eli a surprise visit. He got a ticket to Carson City, Nevada, and then to Hawthorne, which was 90 degrees in the first week of June. When he got to Bodie, it was almost 100 degrees colder. Sol visited Eli in Bodie for five days. He never could get warm during his visit. The article continues: ... He found his brother well and happy, though sixty-three years of age, and very glad to see him. Their reunion was a most joyful one. The California brother is in the butcher business and is well to do. He has been married but his wife died three years ago leaving no children. At his death all his property would have gone to the state of California. Now it will go to members of the Little Rock Johl family. The California brother promised to leave his cold mountain home and come to Little Rock in December to spend some time ... At the end of the year, Eli left for a trip to visit Sol. He traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, Burlington, Illinois, Louisville, Kentucky, and Greenville, Mississippi. In Greenville, he probably visited his sister in law, Fanny Johl, widow of Abraham. Fanny died in 1905 in Memphis. Several of Eli’s relatives were buried there during the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. His mother, Caroline, died in 1871 at Memphis. Eli may have visited Illinois a decade earlier. The Bodie Museum has a broken red souvenir glass from the Lottie Johl Grave 59 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his name engraved. In March 1904, Eli was back in Bodie. On April 11, 1904, the Chronicle-Union article noted: The ladies of Bodie petitioned the Board of Supervisors this week to close the Nickel- in-the-slot machines. The board didn’t have the power to comply and so were forced to lay the matter on the table. The officers of the County are looking into the matter and if complaints are made the whole matter of gambling in the county will be stopped. Two months later, Sheriff Kirkwood arrested Eli for operating Nickle-in-the-slot machines. On October 8, 1904, Eli became a proprietor of the Occidental Hotel in Bodie and obtained a liquor license. In September 1904, Chronicle-Union reported that Ernest Marks, Rosa May’s friend, and Eli Johl went to Mono Lake and returned the next day. It would have been interesting to listen to their conversation! On October 21, the Chronicle-Union reported on Eli’s artistic abilities: Eli Johl, the decorative artist of the Donnelly Johl Co. meat market, has been showing his skill with the knife this week. He has at the City Market a decorated mutton which has been the subject of much favorable criticism. It has a surprising the number of flowers, vines and scrolls he has been able to trace on the fat carcass. A 700-pound porker has also been on exhibition during the week. The pig must have been fed well one day and starved the next as the flesh shows a streak of lean and a streak of fat. In 1906, the partnership dissolved between Johl, Donnelly, and Conway. Eli sold most of his property. Two years later, Eli was in New York City, planning a visit to his native Germany. On April 24, he applied for a passport specifying Ely Johl, was born in Rust, Germany, on July 14, 1842, and lived in Bridgeport, California, for 42 years. He was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with blue eyes, grey hair, a low forehead, a proportionate nose, medium mouth, round chin, healthy complexion, and a round face. On October 2, 1906, Eli Johl filed for bankruptcy for a co-partnership with John Stock Legerton with a debt of $3,307 and no assets. According to Eli, Legerton absconded the previous August, and he could not find him. In September of 1908, t he Chronicle-Union ran articles titled “MISSING”: Eli Johl, formerly of Bodie, is numbered among the missing. He left Bodie over a month ago and nothing has been learned of him after reaching Reno although many inquiries have been made. He was in poor health and it is feared that he has died. In December 1909, Ely Johl steamed on the Staveley from Hamburg to Liverpool on a Germany return trip. His destination was New York. The 1910 census shows Ely Johl living at 368 West Sixth Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, working as a meat market proprietor. His brother, Sol, lived a few blocks away. Eli appears in the 1911 Little Rock city directory. In October 1911, Eli Johl was fined $25 in a food and meat inspection. Eli continued his Bodie experimentation in meat preservation, such as preserving meat with pickling ingredients. There was a Johl 1893 World’s Fair Glass Washington Portrait - Johl House 61 bottle with a white powder labeled “Grease and Tallow Bleacher” and other concoctions used in his preservation experiments. Ely Johl appears in the 1914 Galveston, Texas, city directory, working in a meat market. A death certificate for E. Johle was issued in Galveston for a 73-year-old butcher from Germany who died on Christmas Day, 1914. Mary Alice McDonell, the Bodie postmistress between 1918 and 1937, moved to the Johl house after the great 1932 fire. The Johl House is different today than the Library of Congress floor plan diagram for the home. For example, the front room wall with the George Washington picture in the back was moved in by over two feet. In the place where you enter through the front door, the bedroom facing forward was not closed off but opened in the same manner as the Washington room. The photograph below shows the two houses the Johls owned on the east side of Main Street. They paid taxes on the larger home in 1893. They paid taxes on the smaller “dollhouse” next door a year later. The haunting figure in the doorway appears to be Lottie Johl. The opposite page shows the Johl House parlor and dining room. Ella Cain described the home as having “velvet carpets, point lace curtains, chenille drapes, and the best sideboard and piano that was ever brought into Bodie (Cain, 108).” Eli included furnishings and even Lottie’s paintings when he sold the home. Interesting details include a clock on a table reading 12:20, a stereoscope, stereoviews, and a fur on the back of a chair. A tiny doll swing hung from a minature tree branch, and there were some daisies. A clock on the sideboard with a mirror has another clock reading 12:25. It appears Lottie draped her necklace with a heart on a fire shield behind the stove. Some of the paintings exhibit Lottie’s whimsical style. One has a palm tree with a striped tiger lying below it. Another landscape shows some trees and a stream with a man standing in a dinghy. One of the pillows has two horseback riders galloping amongst a flock of chickens. Another pillow has a woman playing a lute with a boy and girl in the background. Paintings on both sides of the draperies depict a woman dressed in a toga and standing on a pedestal. The one on the right appears to be pregnant. It is not clear when the larger house moved to the west side of Main Street. Tax listings show they were still on the east side after Lottie died. Lottie Johl ‘s Home (Unknown Origin circa 1898) Johl House Parlor and Dining Room (Cain Collection, Bodie State Historic Park)