Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1902-12-08
EX. SPEAKER REED DEAD.

anu pOcclDll SOinc outoiuC.
EX-SPEAKER REED DEAD.
Thomas Bracket Reed, former speaker
of the House of Representatives, and for
many years prominent in public life.
died Saturday night at 1910 O'Clock
in his apartment in the Arlington Hotel
at Washington. The immediate cause OF
death was uraemia Mr.. Reed had been
suffering from Brights disease for some
time which reached the acute stage on Sun
day. At the bedside when he died were
Mrs. Reed and Miss Catherine Reed Drs.
Gardner, Macdonald, Bishop and Good
now, and the nurses.
Mr.. Reed reached Washington Sun
day, having come to attend to some
matters in the United States Supreme
Court. He was at the Capitol Monday,
and witnessed the converting Of Congress.
Apparently he was enjoying good health,
but later in the day he called on DIR.
F. A. Gardner and complained OF
gastric distress. The following day his
physician compelled him to remain in
bed, and he grew steady worse till the
end came.
Thomas Bracket Reed thirty-frst
Speaker of the House Of Representatives
was born October 18th, 1889, in Port
land, Maine. In.1S60 hewas graduated
from Bowdoin. The next four years
were spent by Mr. Reed in teaching and
in the study of the law. Before his adj
mission to the bar, however, he was APP
pointed acting Assistant Paymaster in
the navy, serving on the ''tinclad''
Sibyl, which patrolIed uneventfully the
Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi
rivers. In 1865 Mr.. Reed returned
to Portland, and entered on the practice of
his profession.
He served in both branches of the
Maine legislature and as Attorney
General of that State and in 1876 was
elected to the 18th Congress.
Iu this Congress, April, 1878, he was
brought-in prominence by speech,
in which he argued against the payment
of damages by the United States for in
iuries received by William and Mary
College at the hands of United States
troops during the war.
Mr.. Reed had since been reelected to
Congress without interruption until the
seth Congress. In the 5lst Congress
he was elected Speaker and the Greed
rules" went into effect by which the
Speaker counted quorum even though
the members RETAINED from answering
to their names. When a vote Was
to be taken he would order the doors
locked and on one occasion Mr.. XII lgOre
of Texas on being refused exit kicked
his way out of the House. 1t was his
so-called autocratic rule that gave him
the sobriquet of Gear" Reed.
At last the session of Congress came to
a close, and with it Reeds service as
Speaker. On the closing day of the ses-
sion, March 1, 1891, the usual vote of
thanks to the Speaker was proposed.
This had always been somewhat per-
functory performance, but it was not so
in this case. The democrats refused to
vote for it, and the yeas and nays were
taken on it as upon any ordinary meas
ure. OF course, it was carried, the re-
publcans all going on recordin its favor,
and when at last the hands of the House
clock marked the hour Of noon, when by
law the Fifty-frst Congress came to an
end the democrats shouted themselves
hoarse, threw documents, hats, hand
kerchiefs and almost everything nova
Die into the air, and had general jolli-
fication Reed never showed the slight
est concern over the action of the demo-
Gratis in refusing to tender him the vote
of thanks, and it is quite true that he
did not care about it one way or the
other.
He was Speaker of the Fifty-fourth and
Fifty-ffth Congresses, since which time he had
been in retirement from politics. and engaged
in the practice of law in New York city.
In the republican national convention Of
1892. to which he was delegate, he received
four votes for the nomination for President.
Once Mr.. Reed was asked what he would
have done if the House had failed to stand by
him when he counted a quorum, and his reply
was "Why, / would have resigned the
speakership and my seat in Congress"
Politically, Mr.. Reed grew sour in the later
years. He aspired to the Presidency in 1896,
and the st. Louis convention was one Of the
bitterest disappointments Of his life. He
never forgave Senator Hanna for getting the
southern delegation away from him, and,
visiting New York in the summer of 1896, he
announced TO his friends that he intended TO
resign from Congress and quit public life for
ever. From this he was dissuaded until 1899,
when he did resign, after three terms as
Speaker, and entered upon the practice Of law
in New York.
The remains Of Mr.. Reed were yesterday
taken to the train without ceremony and sent
to Portland, Me-, where the burial ceremonies
will be held tomorrow
While Mr. Reed left Congress poor man,
he was very successful in the practice OF law
in New York. lie leaves fortune yariously
estimated at from $4,000 to $4,000.
The special train with the body OF ex-
Speaker Reed arrived at Portland, Me-, at
1910 p. m. today The widow and her
daughter were driven to the home OF Mr.
Reeds sister, Mrs Conley, and the body was
taken TO the Parish house of the Frs, farish |
Church. Mrs Reed has expressed the WISH |
that there be no display at the funeral whleh |
will take place at the First Parish Church,
tomorrow at two O'Clock.
The Market.