Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-07
FORMER SENATOR
THOMAS .PLATT
DIES SUDDENLY
Seized with Painting Spell
Aged SoIon Expires in
His Apartments
FAMILY AT BEDSIDE
Famous Political Leader of
New York Dead at
Age of II
Associated Pressl

| u
| lier Platt formerly United States
~ senator from New York and for
many years a national figure in Re
publican politics, died at $3.50 p. m. to-
| day i'm the apartment of Mr.. and Mrs.
Gustav Adele on West Eleventh street,
from whom he had rented three rooms
for the last four years. MIS- Apele
! had been his nurse.
| DIR. Paul Auterbridge, his physician,
said tonight that the cause Of death
was chronic and acute Bright's disease.
The body was removed tonight to the
house of Frank Fl. Platt, son. and
will be taken on Tuesday to Owego,
N. Y, the senator's birthplace, for
burial. Funeral services will be held
Wednesday at the Presbyterian church
in Owego.
The end was startingly sudden. An
hour before the senator died his two
sons, Frank and Edward, with their
| families and his son Harry, with the
! latters daughter Charlotte and son
| Sherman, had left the house after their
usual Sunday visit.
The senator said al that time that he
felt very well and thought he would
read the Sunday papers.
| At 3 p. m. he was taken with falnt-
| ing spell and DR. Auterbridge was hur-
riedly called The family was notified
and returned in haste.
Last Lapse Fatal
Mr.. Platt recovered from his first
lapse, but sank into unconsciousness
again at $3.50 and died twenty minutes
later.
The relatives We're all at the bedside.
I Only last Wednesday Senator Platt
was at his office downtown For seV.
eral years he had been in poor health,
and of late the use of his legs had al
| I III. III lon,
until today was not looked upon as
more serious than usual, although a
physician called upon him daily.
| Thursday at breakfast the senator had
momentary fainting spell, but raj
lied quickly. A year ago his feeble-
ness increased and his life was de-
! SPARED of for n period, but with re-
marlkable vitality he recovered and
went about his business as usual.
DIR. sAuterbridge said tonight that
the vitality of his patient was truly
unusual. In spite of his feebleness, he
took an active interest in affairs and
refused to neglect his business until
the dictates of nature imposed a rest.
He was out of bed at o'clock every
morning and was always at his office
early.
A National Figure
Thomas c. Platt the easy boss" of
earlier and brighter days, was for
many years not only the Republican
| leader of his state, but a figure in ma
tional politics, shoulder to shoulder
with men of such high rank and repu-
tation as the late Matthew Stanley
| Quay of Pennsylvania.
Both were men of exceptional in
| tellectual attainments, and both
turned them, with signal success, to
party organization. Quay died still a
| power; Platt outlived his time and
felt himself in late years out of touch
with the moving spirit of events.
In Twenty Years of Congress"
James G. Blaine described Platt as a
business man of great personal popu
| larity. He has an aptitude for public
affairs and is a man of strong in
huence in his state He is no de-
batter, but he has strong common
| sense and quick judgment of men,
Yet, with all his native judgment,
wide experience and skill as an Or
ganizer, it became the fate of Platt
to win remembrance more for his as
sociations with others than for any
thing he did of his own initiative.
Twice in Leading Role
Twice in his life Platt was the CEN
ter of the national stage-once when
he resigned with Roscoe Conkling
from the United States senate and
was instantly nieEnamed Me Too
Platt, and once when he induced
Theodore Roosevelt to run for vice
president with Mckinley, very much
against Roosevelt's better judgment in
the face of his repeated declarations
that nothing could induce him to ac-
cept the nomination.
There could not be a better instance
of Platt's skill in persuasion and ma
nipulation or of the irony that Knocked
his ripest wisdom. Mckinley was shot, |
Roosevelt became president and the
days of Platt's domination in New
York lapsed into senility.
His bodily strength failed rapidly.
He made a second marriage, which |
ended in the courts, and he was sued
b. May Wood. formerly a clerk in the
government employ for divorce on
the strength of a third marriage, never
proved to have taken place.
In Garfield Controversy
The episode with Conkling. which
was never exceeded in public interest |
say the newspaper files of that day. |
by any event in the Civil War; was as
follows:
Platt was elected to the senate in
1881. He and his colleague. Conkling
became embroiled with Garfield in a
bitter controversy over the appoint
ment of William H. Robertson to be
collector of the port of New York. The
selection was distasteful to the New
York organization, and both Platt and
Conkling refused to confirm it i'm the
senate. Thereupon President Garfield
withdrew all other New York nomina-
tions made at their instance. among
which were those OF Stewart l.. Wood |
ford to be United States district attor-
ney and Lou f. Payne, recently re-
membered as an. ''accelerator of public |
opinion" to be United States marshal. |
Finding themselves in hopeless !
deadlock, Platt and Conking both re- |
signed. Conkling was caught i'm the |
great blizzard of 1888 and died of ex-
posure. Platt was supposed to be
his attention to building influence i'm
the southern tier of New York coun-
ties became state leader again in 1894, |
and in 1897 was elected second time |
fContinuad IN pooa r,voA