slimboyfat:
I guess it's remotely possible that it is someone else, or that some other kind of mistake is involved (newspapers are known to make mistakes) but that doesn't make it likely.
It is entirely possible that is someone else. There is no basis for asserting that a different J. F. Rutherford visited from elsewhere, not that there were more than one J. F. Rutherford in the town itself. Further, John F. Rutherford was a prominent figure in various lumber companies, being the president of at least two, and those lumber companies had strong ties with, and many members in, the Knights of Pythias. Being a member of both the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen, it would not be in the slightest bit surprising for him to be both a toastmaster at Knights of Pythias events, nor to speak on behalf of the Woodmen, both as indicated in the available sources.