Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-28
DIED AS He DESIRED
End Came Suddenly to Edward
H. Thomson of Baltimore.
''WANT TO GO LIKE FLASH"
The Wish Often Expressed to Friends
by Bank President.
STRICKEN WHILE IN BED
Physician Hastily Summoned, but
Medical Aid Was of No Avail
Career of Self-Made Man.

BALTIMORE, December 2s.-Mr. Ed
ward H. Thomson, president of the
Maryland National Bank, head Of his
own banking firm and director of several
other financial Institutions, died suddenly
at 2:45 a. yesterday Of acute indiges-
ton in his apartment at the Mount Royal
AS told in The Star of yesterday, in a
late dispatch, Mr.. Thomson died a few
minutes after being seized by the attack
of indigestion. He was f1fty-three years
old and had often boosted of the fact that
he never was i'll in his life. All Wednesday
he was feeling his best. Until pm. he re-
manned at his desk in the Maryland Ma
tional Bank, in the Continental building
At his home he spent an hour or more
conversing with Prof. William A. Knapp,
OF knapp's Institute who Is the city di-
rector Of the house Of refuge, of which
Mr.. Thomson was treasurer. When Mr..
Knapp left him at pm. Mr.. Thomson
set ~ am: the next day as the time for
Mr.. Knapp received a telephone message
announcing Mr. Thomson's death. While
they chatted together on Wednesday Mr..
Thomson offered his caller a cigar, saying:
There, Bill, Is one that will make your
hair curl
Wished Death to Come Quick
To Professor Knapp, to Mr. James c.
SAi'o6Sh, NelSiilSi VI lie MdEyIduu Bank,
and to other friends Mr.. Thomson had
often expressed a wish that when death
did come to him it would come quick
L want to go like fash" he would
say. He often boosted of having a stom-
ach which knew not indigestion.
Mr. thomson awoke with a scream Of
pain that reused his wife. The sons, in
nearby bed, hurried to his room, fearing
that burglars had entered. AS soon as
they learned Of their fathers death they
called DR.. w. A. B. Sellman who lives in
IN! me house; He came promptly, but Mr..
like a flash. Coroner Hayden gave a
certificate of death from heart disease, su-
perinduced by Indigestion
MT thomson was man who made him
SELF what he was. AS he grew older and
one promotion and honor came to him
after another, he recalled wildly his own
ooyhood struggles and grew in tender SYM
pathy Tor young men who he feared were
not getting the opportunity to display the
best that was in them.
Ready With Helping Hand.
He was Presbyterian, and when he at
tended church it was one of that denomi-
nation, but it was not in church that he
sought to put In practice the benevolent
feelings he had toward young men. Help
Ing young men was a passion with him.
greater than his business. Throughout the
city there are scores of young men, now in
hne OF successful careers, whose fortunate
positions are due to the interest which Mr.
thomson took in them. Between the lines
OF a letter for assistance written to him or
in a brief conversation he could grasp the
dangerous points in the situation which
confronted young man.
For twelve years he had been a director
or the Maryland School for Boys, formerly
known as the house of refuge. Ten years
of that time he had been the treasurer of
the board. He made himself intimate with
the details Of the work of reforming boys,
of which he made broad study In work.
Ing out the plans for the new esta blishment
of Loeb Raven Mr.. Thomson gave much
of his time and thought. He was enthu-
slasuc about the cottage plan which is to
be used.
Started as a Minor Clerk.
Mr.. Thomsons father, of the same name
came from Scotland to Baltimore. After
going through the public schools of the
city Mr.. Thomson entered the City College,
but soon left there to take a minor place
as clerk for the firm of John C. Grafflin &
Co, which now is Incorporated, with Mr..
Thomson's brother, Mr.. William Nelson
Thomson, who had been with him there as
a boy, as president He left there at the
request of the late Johns Hopkins, president
of the Merchants National Bank then the
Peoples State Bank, to fill the position of
note teller. When the bank was reorgan-
lied as a national banking institution Mr.
Thomson made cashier. 1t was in that
position that his genial disposition made
for him scores of friends
The unconscious knack of making friends
of his merest acquaintance and of winning
the affection, as well as the professional
respect, of every one who had dealings with
him, was one of the factors in his remark
able success. The chief reason for h rapid
rise was his ability. In 1900 he left the
Merchants Bank to join his sons-Edward
H. Thomson jr., and G. Nelson Thomson
whom he had set up in the banking bust
ness. The firm was then and still is Ed
ward H. Thomson & Sons. In August 1905,
he was chosen president Of the Maryland
National Bank.