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But within the family John Martin was far from being the "crown prince." Snowy-bearded Old Man Curtis was well-beloved by all his kith & kin but he could not get the Boks to share his enthusiasm for the Martins. His only child, Mrs. Bok, resented his marriage to ''Cousin Kate" Pillsbury so soon after her own mother's death. Her displeasure was inherited by her sons. In this family feud, polite and unobtrusive though it was. the Lorimers sided with the Boks against the Martins. For a long while the name of Mrs. Lorimer never appeared in a Curtis-Martin news paper.
When Cyrus Curtis's will was opened a month ago. the public first realized what the family had long known—that Stepson-in-law Martin was not to succeed to the throne. His wife. Alice, was bequeathed $100,000 outright. But so far as the publishing property is concerned, there was no provision for a Martin or any other Pillsbury issue until the direct line of Boks should wither away. To Mary Louise Bok her father left his residences at Wyncote and at Camden, Me., his gorgeous yacht Lyndonia, the income from his Curtis stock, everything he owned—except the stock itself. That went to a board of seven trustees composed of Mrs. Bok. her two sons. Editor Lorimer, Vice President Fuller of Curtis Publishing Co., Publisher Martin, and his Treasurer Tyler. Counting Editor Lorimer and Vice President Fuller, five out of seven trustees were sure Bok votes. Hence, if a Curtis crown prince must be found, one turns to the Bok family and to the elder son. William Curtis Bok, 35. Yet never was there a junior heir more reluctant to assume the position to which birth and breeding destined him than young Curtis Bok.
Grandsons, Edward Bok was proud of the fact that he encouraged his sons to make their own decisions, choose their own schools, plan their own vacations. Thus when his firstborn, tall, soft-spoken Curtis, finished at Hill School in 1915 he chose to enter Williams College. There he chose Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, distinguished himself as a varsity first baseman, was tapped for Gargoyle, the honor society whose roster includes New York's Governor Lehman, Massachusetts' Governor Ely. When the U. S. entered the War he chose to quit college for the Navy in which he attained a senior lieutenancy at 21.
Back in Philadelphia, young Bok was presented with an opportunity which any young man might well covet, a chance to enter the publishing House of Curtis and climb quickly to the top. Instead he went to University of Virginia to try a year of law. Its fascination astonished even himself. By the time he finished his course Curtis Bok knew once and for all that the pen attracted him far less than penology, the penitentiary, sociology. Returning to Philadelphia to practice his new profession he threw himself into works of public welfare, became a trustee of Eastern Penitentiary. He even arranged to serve a voluntary term in a cell to get a real taste of prison life, but when newshawks discovered the scheme he abandoned it. For three years he worked as assistant district attorney of Philadelphia county, invariably drawing the toughest cases which his chief thought were hopeless.