The following provided by Find A Grave contributor "Cara"
Big Timber Press (MT), 16 Aug 1928
Noted "Piano Jim" Is Buried With Honors
Great Falls, Aug. 10--James Burnham, 76, known to the earlier generation as "Piano Jim," who died Friday in Columbus hospital after an illness of seven months, was buried from the T.F. O'Connor chapel, burial in Highland cemetery.
Half a hundred pioneer friends of the early days of Great Falls were present at the funeral services, Rev. George Edwards officiating, and giving a review of the trials of the early pioneer settlers, and closing with a poem of the late Charles Russell to the men of the old time.
Russell and "Piano Jim" were intimate friends for many years, and the happy-go-lucky "Piano Jim," who received his name through the things he did to a piano once upon a time, was one of the mourners at the funeral of Russell two years ago.
A.J. Fousek, Emmel Hawkins, Jim McLean, John Richard, Theo. P. Grantier, and Dan O'Connor, all friends of the deceased 30 or more years ago, were the pallbearers.
Burnham was a native of Maine and came from a well known family, his father being a general in the Union army, came her from North Dakota 37 years ago and went to work first for J.H. Olds on the latter's ranch near Eden. From that time on Jim and the Olds family were close friends and when he had fallen on evil days they were still friends.
Some 13 years ago Jim broke a hip, which was improperly set, and since that time had been crippled, forced to use crutches and without means of support. Each Christmas Jim spent with the Olds family, and last Christmas he was stricken at dinner and taken from there to the Columbus hospital, where he remained bedridden until his death.
Jim left no relatives but his friends were true, and without asking anyone for aid, today Jim Burham, scion of the great family gone to seed--without money or relatives--a man who was bright as given men to be, but mis-directed his efforts, alone and forgotten in a beautiful steel gray coffin, with handles of oxidized silver, and all the quiet comforting trappings of death, was laid away to his last sleep the prayers and ritual of a minister being offered up--with J.H. Olds and family paying the bill.
"Piano Jim" might be poor and crippled, his purse may be empty, and no relatives live to mourn, but he could not be laid away like one forgotten, in the Potter's field. "It was an understanding we had," said Jack Olds, boilermaker, simply, "and we lived up to it." And that was all. It was a way they had in the days when "Piano Jim" was riding hard and one of the old timers remembered it.
Big Timber Press (MT), 16 Aug 1928
Noted "Piano Jim" Is Buried With Honors
Great Falls, Aug. 10--James Burnham, 76, known to the earlier generation as "Piano Jim," who died Friday in Columbus hospital after an illness of seven months, was buried from the T.F. O'Connor chapel, burial in Highland cemetery.
Half a hundred pioneer friends of the early days of Great Falls were present at the funeral services, Rev. George Edwards officiating, and giving a review of the trials of the early pioneer settlers, and closing with a poem of the late Charles Russell to the men of the old time.
Russell and "Piano Jim" were intimate friends for many years, and the happy-go-lucky "Piano Jim," who received his name through the things he did to a piano once upon a time, was one of the mourners at the funeral of Russell two years ago.
A.J. Fousek, Emmel Hawkins, Jim McLean, John Richard, Theo. P. Grantier, and Dan O'Connor, all friends of the deceased 30 or more years ago, were the pallbearers.
Burnham was a native of Maine and came from a well known family, his father being a general in the Union army, came her from North Dakota 37 years ago and went to work first for J.H. Olds on the latter's ranch near Eden. From that time on Jim and the Olds family were close friends and when he had fallen on evil days they were still friends.
Some 13 years ago Jim broke a hip, which was improperly set, and since that time had been crippled, forced to use crutches and without means of support. Each Christmas Jim spent with the Olds family, and last Christmas he was stricken at dinner and taken from there to the Columbus hospital, where he remained bedridden until his death.
Jim left no relatives but his friends were true, and without asking anyone for aid, today Jim Burham, scion of the great family gone to seed--without money or relatives--a man who was bright as given men to be, but mis-directed his efforts, alone and forgotten in a beautiful steel gray coffin, with handles of oxidized silver, and all the quiet comforting trappings of death, was laid away to his last sleep the prayers and ritual of a minister being offered up--with J.H. Olds and family paying the bill.
"Piano Jim" might be poor and crippled, his purse may be empty, and no relatives live to mourn, but he could not be laid away like one forgotten, in the Potter's field. "It was an understanding we had," said Jack Olds, boilermaker, simply, "and we lived up to it." And that was all. It was a way they had in the days when "Piano Jim" was riding hard and one of the old timers remembered it.
The following provided by Find A Grave contributor "Cara"
Big Timber Press (MT), 16 Aug 1928
Noted "Piano Jim" Is Buried With Honors
Great Falls, Aug. 10--James Burnham, 76, known to the earlier generation as "Piano Jim," who died Friday in Columbus hospital after an illness of seven months, was buried from the T.F. O'Connor chapel, burial in Highland cemetery.
Half a hundred pioneer friends of the early days of Great Falls were present at the funeral services, Rev. George Edwards officiating, and giving a review of the trials of the early pioneer settlers, and closing with a poem of the late Charles Russell to the men of the old time.
Russell and "Piano Jim" were intimate friends for many years, and the happy-go-lucky "Piano Jim," who received his name through the things he did to a piano once upon a time, was one of the mourners at the funeral of Russell two years ago.
A.J. Fousek, Emmel Hawkins, Jim McLean, John Richard, Theo. P. Grantier, and Dan O'Connor, all friends of the deceased 30 or more years ago, were the pallbearers.
Burnham was a native of Maine and came from a well known family, his father being a general in the Union army, came her from North Dakota 37 years ago and went to work first for J.H. Olds on the latter's ranch near Eden. From that time on Jim and the Olds family were close friends and when he had fallen on evil days they were still friends.
Some 13 years ago Jim broke a hip, which was improperly set, and since that time had been crippled, forced to use crutches and without means of support. Each Christmas Jim spent with the Olds family, and last Christmas he was stricken at dinner and taken from there to the Columbus hospital, where he remained bedridden until his death.
Jim left no relatives but his friends were true, and without asking anyone for aid, today Jim Burham, scion of the great family gone to seed--without money or relatives--a man who was bright as given men to be, but mis-directed his efforts, alone and forgotten in a beautiful steel gray coffin, with handles of oxidized silver, and all the quiet comforting trappings of death, was laid away to his last sleep the prayers and ritual of a minister being offered up--with J.H. Olds and family paying the bill.
"Piano Jim" might be poor and crippled, his purse may be empty, and no relatives live to mourn, but he could not be laid away like one forgotten, in the Potter's field. "It was an understanding we had," said Jack Olds, boilermaker, simply, "and we lived up to it." And that was all. It was a way they had in the days when "Piano Jim" was riding hard and one of the old timers remembered it.
Big Timber Press (MT), 16 Aug 1928
Noted "Piano Jim" Is Buried With Honors
Great Falls, Aug. 10--James Burnham, 76, known to the earlier generation as "Piano Jim," who died Friday in Columbus hospital after an illness of seven months, was buried from the T.F. O'Connor chapel, burial in Highland cemetery.
Half a hundred pioneer friends of the early days of Great Falls were present at the funeral services, Rev. George Edwards officiating, and giving a review of the trials of the early pioneer settlers, and closing with a poem of the late Charles Russell to the men of the old time.
Russell and "Piano Jim" were intimate friends for many years, and the happy-go-lucky "Piano Jim," who received his name through the things he did to a piano once upon a time, was one of the mourners at the funeral of Russell two years ago.
A.J. Fousek, Emmel Hawkins, Jim McLean, John Richard, Theo. P. Grantier, and Dan O'Connor, all friends of the deceased 30 or more years ago, were the pallbearers.
Burnham was a native of Maine and came from a well known family, his father being a general in the Union army, came her from North Dakota 37 years ago and went to work first for J.H. Olds on the latter's ranch near Eden. From that time on Jim and the Olds family were close friends and when he had fallen on evil days they were still friends.
Some 13 years ago Jim broke a hip, which was improperly set, and since that time had been crippled, forced to use crutches and without means of support. Each Christmas Jim spent with the Olds family, and last Christmas he was stricken at dinner and taken from there to the Columbus hospital, where he remained bedridden until his death.
Jim left no relatives but his friends were true, and without asking anyone for aid, today Jim Burham, scion of the great family gone to seed--without money or relatives--a man who was bright as given men to be, but mis-directed his efforts, alone and forgotten in a beautiful steel gray coffin, with handles of oxidized silver, and all the quiet comforting trappings of death, was laid away to his last sleep the prayers and ritual of a minister being offered up--with J.H. Olds and family paying the bill.
"Piano Jim" might be poor and crippled, his purse may be empty, and no relatives live to mourn, but he could not be laid away like one forgotten, in the Potter's field. "It was an understanding we had," said Jack Olds, boilermaker, simply, "and we lived up to it." And that was all. It was a way they had in the days when "Piano Jim" was riding hard and one of the old timers remembered it.
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