The Red Cloud chief., 1896-10-30
SPEAKER CRISP DEAD
He is CARRIED OFF WITH
HEART DISEASE
Twice the Presiding Oriccr of the National
House OF Representatives aud Long n
Leader Of the Democratic Party would
Have Been Elected senator.

ATLANTA. Ga, Oct. -. Charles Il.
Crisp. the ex-Spcal<cr of the House of
Representatives. died here this after.
noon very suddenly and unexpectedly.
lie had long been troubled with heart
disease. but had not recently been in
bad health.
Charles Frederick Crisp was born in
Sheffield. England. January 90. 1915.
while his parent, were on a theatrical
trip abroad. both being actors. He oh.
tanned his education in the Georgia
public schools and served in the Con.
fcdcratc army from tee outbreak of the
rebellion till he was made "a prisoner OF
war in 1864. At the close of the wa
he studied law and was admitted 10 the
bar IN 1856. and in 49,? was appointed
solicitor general of the Southwestern
judicial district of Georgia. In 1877 he
was appointed judge of the superior
court. which position he filed for sew.
cral years. In lss! he resigned To go
"a Congress.
The principal work done by Mr..
Crisp during hi, first term ia Congress,
which went for nothing al the time.
was To apply himself most diligently
to acquiring an extended knowledge of
the business Of the House.
At the opening of the ~Eorty-ninth
Congress, Mr.. Crisp was assigned to
the second place on the committee ON
Pacific railroads and 10 the third place
on the committee on commerce.. His
ga pacity for hard work may be Judged
from the fact that he made during
this Congress forty-six reports from
the commerce committee. three from
the Pacific railroads committee and
five couferenc" reports. The most inn
portant OF these was the conference
report on the interstate mmr bill.
which finally became a law.
Mr.. Crisp was chosen Speaker Of the
Fifty-sccond Congress after such II long
and rather animated contest with as
pirants of his OWL party in caucus hat
the election was not made until after
the Houses session began. When the
fifty.third Congress convened he was
reelected without opposition. Mr..
Crisp was rs cool and collected aS Mr..
Reed. Generally he spoke in II low
o n save when in u burst of ]eloqucnce
lie drew a peroration. When the
Speaker ruled against him he would. If
an arguing chance existed, differ with
N.'' pam NV abl'hh iA'hii NV W.
cision of the chair. His points of order
he made clearly and forc;bly. but
calmly. He did not storm at the
Speaker. He did no raise his voice in
anger. But with all his nerves well in
hand. he would wait until the hubbub
subsidized and the crowd around him.
rcsentful of the arbitrary rulings of
the Speaker, had quoted down. and
then. like Il judge charging u jury and
equally unimpassioncd, hc would make
his point. Mr.. Reed often sought to
taunt Mr.. Crisp into anger, but the sar-
rasIn of the Maine man, which had
proved too much for SO many other
Democrats. produced nc appreciable
effect on the Georgian.
Mr.. Crisp's death vas mo- altogether
a surprise in political circles, for he
had had several spells of illness in
Washington. He suffered from
asthma, and later from heart trouble.
His i'll health, however, did not become
a matter of public notoriety until last
spring. when he was compelled to
abandon u series of joint debates ar
ranged with cN-Secrctary Hokc Smith
because of the advice of his physician
that it would imperil his life for him
to continue the debate, which had at
tracted state as well rs national inter
est, by reason of the fact that it in
volved the position of the Democratic
party of the state on the silver ques-
ton, as well as the senatorship from
Georgia, for which the ~eX-speaker was
an active candidate. The silver men
won their fight, and Mr.. Crisp. had he
lived, would have been the next sen.
ator from Georgia.