The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1912-05-31
Friday, May 81, 1912
EX-GOV. CROTHERS DIES AT
HOME IN ELKTON.

FOrmor Governor AuSCln Lane
Crothers died at 1910 o'clock
last Saturday morning at the
home Of his nephew, Omar D.
Crothers, Elkton. Md.
He had been unconscious for
about sc hours before the end.
DR.. w. Cawley, his attending
physician, had been constantly
at the bedside for "a hours with
out sleeping.
The sinking man did not rec
ognize any of those near him and
had not been able to talk with
any of his relatives for several
days. He had not taken any
medicines or nourishment for
about 20 hours, and had seldom
opened his eyes. Rev. DR.. E. P.
Roberts, pastor of Elkton Metho-
dist Church, called on Mr..
Crothers several times, but was
unable to converse with him on
religious matters.
For long time Mr.. Crothers had
been sick man. Many of his friends
say that he really never recovered from
the attack of typhoid fever which oc-
Cured soon after he was nominated
for Governor. In the early part of his
administration, however, he showed
but few effects of his illness.
He was capable of a prodigious
amount of work and did a prodigious
amount, enough to have killed a man
of lesser strength. To his hard work
for the four years of his term as Cover
nor his friends attribute his death. 1t
was undoubtedly fastened by the work
he did in the primary and Gubernatorial
campaigns of last summer and fall.
In his death Maryland loses one of
her most valuable citizens and his party
one of its truest leaders. 1t will pro-
badly be years before his real worth to
his State and his party will be under
stood or appreciated. 1t will be found
that he made a lasting impress upon
both. He loved his State with the
devotion of a son for his mother, and
his attachment for his party was only
little less strong. Anything which
affected either for the worse grieved
him. He had in him the making of a
real statesment, yet he developed from
county politician.
Probably no man ever became Cover
nor of Maryland who was as little
known generally as was Mr.. Crothers
when he was nominated in 1907 There
were few men who have held that
Office who were less understood and
whose motives were more often ques-
toned by the men recognized as leaders
of the party.
He he'd been States Attorney of his
county, had served term in the State
Senate and served for little more
than year on the bench as associate
justice of the Second judicial circuit.
That about summarizes his political
career up to the time he was nominated
for Governor to succeed Governor
Warfield.
When Austin Crothers was running
for the Governorship many persons,
particularly in Western Maryland
having forgotten the death of Charlie -
thought it was Charlie" who was the
candidate. Yet at the close of his term
as Governor it is probable that he was
more widely known and had a lager
personal acquaintanceship than any
other man in the State and there was
no man in the State who knew it
better than he did, who was more
familiar with the diversity of it's
interests, or who had a truer apprecia-
tion of its needs. He knew the
problems of the coal miner, the dweller
in the cities and the oystermen as we'll
as he did the problems of the farmer on
his beloved Eastern Shore, and he tried
to work for the solution of them all.
His remains were laid to rest Tues
day afternoon in the old cemetery adj
joining the Presbyterian Church at
West Nottingham, Cecil county.