"Tom Paul;
......Besides, that's the kind of logic that really stymies creative thought and productive discussion. Didn't some club in NJ (and some guys in PA) think that all was known about its designer and founder, until some guy from OH found differently?"
Sean:
Believe me, and despite your "smiley", I can pretty much guarantee you that in the last 87 years if PVGC or anyone else around here had really wanted to find out if Crump died of poison to the brain from a tooth abscess or a gunshot, any of them are more than capable of picking up the phone or going to see the appropriate authority and finding out exactly how he died from his DC on record.
If anyone on here actually thinks Tom MacWood from Ohio is the first and only one capable of doing that then all I can say is they are more gullible than the definition of the word.
Whatever the reason Crump's family or those who knew him best decided to quash the fact of his suicide back then there was probably a pretty good reason for it.
As many have said, it may be better to let some things and some people rest in peace. Obviously, that's the way PVGC and most around here who know it and knew of Crump looked at it. As I said many times on this website, the rumor that he may've shot himself has been around from the beginning. I heard about it probably 30 years ago when I first got to know PVGC.
So, do you consider the revelation of his suicide creative thought or productive discussion?? OK, whatever, maybe you do, maybe some on this website do and maybe Tom MacWood who's never even seen PV and doesn't really know anyone from PV thinks so.
All I can tell you knowing that club and about 150 members as well as I have for the last thirty years is not a single one of them was apparently motivated enough for any reason to look into it.
Now that the club and many others are certain how he died that information will obviously be dealt with in whatever way. If anyone down there or around here because of Tom MacWood’s essay really care enough to know maybe now they will begin to discuss and debate not if he killed himself but why he killed himself. Is that a good thing? Well, I guess anyone who even thinks about it will have their own opinions on that.
Again, not only has the rumor of his suicide been around from the beginning but also the rumor that he shot himself in his cabin at PV has been.
A few months ago a member of PVGC handed me a little known golf periodical from 1990 which contains about a five page interview with George Govan who was the son of Jim Govan, Crump's construction foreman, pro, club-maker, greenkeeper.
Jim Govan, his wife and children moved to PV in Mach 1914 into a little house to the right of #2. They were the only people who lived at PVGC then other than Crump who lived alone with his hunting dogs in his little bungalow on the pond below #5 tee. No one else lived there then, just Crump and the Govans about 500 yards apart.
George Govan, who succeeded his father as the pro at PVGC and was there for decades said in this interview in 1990 how tragic and sad it was in 1918 that Mr Crump was found dead in his cabin. In that same year George Govan's sister died of influenza and his brother contracted meningitis. Mrs Govan felt their house to the right of #2 was jinxed and the Govans moved to Haddon Heights.
Crump's death certificate says he died in Merchantville, in the house he had built for he and his wife some years before. I believe Crump's wife died suddenly before they even moved into the house in Merchantville. Apparently, Crump's mother moved into the house in Merchantville when Crump basically moved permanently to PV in the very beginning of 1913 perhaps even before constructing his bungalow below the 5th tee.
I just can't imagine how or why George Govan, a member of the only other family at PVGC in the beginning would've always thought Crump died in his bungalow at PVGC if he hadn't. To my knowledge all these years that fact was never really part of the story of his death by poison from a tooth abscess. I wonder why?
It seems relatively likely because of this kind of information that Crump's body, when found alone in his cabin was moved to Merchantville whereupon the police (according to the DC) pronounced the cause of his death as a gunshot to the head.
If this was how it all happened, and it appears likely it was, then I suppose Crump's family had their reasons for doing what they did and saying what they did about the cause of his death. A well-known newspaper report of the time mentioned that Crump was cordial to passers-by his house in Merchantville the day before he died. Did he go back to PVGC and shoot himself? Did he shoot himself in his house in Merchantville with his mother and brother in it? I guess we'll never really know.
All I do know is these vague stories and rumors were always known by quite a few. And all I know is that in the last 86-87 years literally hundreds of members and others around here who were aware of them never seemed to want to simply pick up the phone or go see the authorities to find out exactly how Crump died or even where. Should they have? I suppose people have different opinions on that.
Clearly Tom MacWood from Ohio who knows nothing first-hand of PVGC or any of its members thought they should. And now they do know how he died. They may never really know where he died. Will they look into that? I seriously doubt they ever will. Will someone like Tom MacWood look into it in the future? That's more likely, I'm sure, because apparently these days there are some who think it produces creative thought and productive discussion.
Tom MacWood's essay on Crump, the man and the legend which was very good, was delivered to PVGC and the president of PVGC actually took it and presented it to the Board. I suppose some on here would love to know what their reaction was, and I'm also sure they never will know.
Personally, I was hoping Tom MacWood would not pursue the cause of Crump's death and write about it but that's my opinion, not his opinion, and it's free country---people do become interested in pursuing these things.
I'm not a religious man but if I were I suppose at this point I would hope that Crump, a man who all said was so lovable, perhaps a bit shy, lacking in any proprietary ego about what he was doing there but remarkably determined who for whatever reason created something so remarkable perhaps without ever even being aware of it---will now have the circumstances of his death and his tortured mind and soul, if they were that, finally rest in peace, and be left alone.
In my own opinion, Crump and the golf club he created deserve that but others may not feel that way. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, it’s a free country and anyone can pursue these things. It’s to be expected, I’m sure, as PVGC is famous, it’s great, it’s revered and it’s generally considered to be the #1 golf course in the world and has been for quite some time, apparently even in that day in Jan. 1918 when George Crump for whatever reasons decided that he didn’t want to see tomorrow.