Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1911-04-14
TOM JOHNSON
PASSES AWAY
FAMOUS ADVOCATE OF RECENT
FARE CRUSADE sUccoMBs
IN CLEVELAND.
ONLY FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD
Twice Congressman and Four Times
Mayor-Was Crushed in Health
and Spirit ~ Defeat
in 1909.


son, twice congressman from the
TWenty-fifst Ohio district, four times
mayor OF Cleveland, champion of the
three-cent street railway fare and pro-
mlnent advocate Of the single tax the
cries OF the late Henry George, died in
his apartments in the White Hall. after
long illness. Death was caused by
cirrhosis of the liver He was 81 years
old.
Mr.. Johnson had been i'll for more
than year, but his condition was not
thought serious until he suffered a re-
lapse on Wednesday, March Is. He
had been gaining strength ever since
he came home after spending the sum-
mer on Nantucket island. On Saturday
night, March II, he left his apartments
and attended a banquet of the Nisi
Prius club, an organization of Cleye-
land lawyers.
The following Wednesday his condi-
ton was such that he was obliged to
go to bed. From that day to the time
Of his death his condition was grave,
though several times he made seem
ingly impossible rallies.
Tom Loftin Johnson was born July
IS, 1854, at Georgetown, KY, and
when still boy began his struggle
with the world in which he was to
prove himself master of men and
things. He began in the rolling mill
and the street railway Offices at Louis
villa nd dot
laid in his grasp of traction matters
ultimately led to his being a com
handing figure in traction affairs in
many cities. When still a young man
he went to indianapolis and engaged
in traction activities, and in 1872, at
the age of IS, invented the Johnson
street railway rail, which he after
ward manufactured.
1t was in 1881 that he first came to
Cleveland. At that time he purchased
the old Brooklyn horse car line, and
subsequently built the Scoville avenue
line. Still later he acquired the South
Side lines, and eventually organized
the Cleveland Electric Railway.
Mr.. Johnson's advent into the DO
4itical arena was in the year 1883,
when he ran for congress against
Theodore E. Burton in the Twenty
first district, the campaign ending in
his defeat. Two years later he was
again a candidate for congress against
Burton and succeeded in wrestling
from him the victory. He was re-
nInpfnH 1900 hut 11fo
1894, when he again ran against Bur-
ton
Immediately after this defeat he dis
posed of his interests in Cleveland
and left that city and began that re-
markable career in traction organiza-
ton which took him successfully to
Brooklyn, n. Y, Buffalo, n. Y, and
Detroit, Mich, in which enterprises
he amassed considerable fortune.
His first advocacy Of three-cent fare
marked his advent in the traction in
terests OF Detroit, and the first steps
developed into his greatest political
asset. The story of his fight for the
establishment of a three-cent fare in
Cleveland is too long for review In
short biography, but it was marked
by many spectacular and striking in.
cidents, among them being the es-
tablishment of a bank of his own, the
Depositors Savings & Banking Co,
and the inauguration of his newspa-
per stock subscription device for
financing his lines. But the financial
difficulties of the enterprise multi
piled and the first real reverse came
when the Cleveland city council Or
dered referendum election to be held
October %, 1908, and in spite of Mr..
Johnson's splendid political machine,
and his vigorous and spectacular cam
paign, his policies were defeated by
small majority. His street railway
enterprise toppled and fell and a re.
ceN@rship was appointed for his lines.
MIR. JOhnson's defeat November 2,
1909 by a plurality of 1888 votes by
the present mayor, Herman c. Baehr,
really marks the finish of his public
career in Cleveland. though he con-
tinued to hold Office until January /,
lJlU. A1lCi HIS uCICaL lac Ndo ICNCI
the same man. On the occasion of his
retirement Mr.. Johnson's physical de-
bilities were particularly marked. AS
he had done once before under like
circumstances, he left Cleveland and
from that time until shortly before his
last sickness spent little time in the
city.
Crushed both in health and spirits,
after his defeat by Mayor Baehr, the
former mayor went aboard. He had
hoped to regain his health, but came
home no better. Last summer he
spent in a cottage on Nantucket
island.
Besides his wife, Mr.. Johnson is sur
vived by one son, Loftin, and a daugh'
ter. Mrs. Bessie Mariani.