The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-08
STRAIN OF WAR TIvlTIES KILLS
 FAMOUS LAWYER


 Bowers, father of Spotswood D. Bow CTS, of Bridgeport, one of the three lawyers chosen by President Wilson to act on the Legal Advisory Board in connection with the draft in New York City, died yesterday afternoon at the Laurel House, in Lakewood, N- J., where he had gone to recuper- ate from strain due to his war work. j MT, Bowers was in his sixty-ninth year, and had been a member of the New York Bar for nearly fifty years. A heart attack was the immediate cause of his death,
 Mir Bowers's death is believed by his physicians to be the direct result of his efforts in the last ten weeks He had worked night and day, it is said, together with Henry w Taft and Charles A. Boston, other mem fbers> of the board in advising the B. 900 lawyers who have been untang1- ing legal snarls in the answers of draft candidates in their question naires.
 A week ago MT. Bowers complained that he was ill, and his ailment was diagnosed as nervous indigestion He was ordered to rest, and went to the Laurel House, so as not to be far from the scenes of his work for the government. Mrs. Bowers was with Shfm, and daily reports to the family Indicated that he was improving
 He set up a little while yesterday and ate a hearty luncheon. After ward he remarked to Mrs. Bowers that while he felt almost well again." he was very sleepy Mrs. Bowers sat at his bedside for a short while until he fell asleep, and then went in to the next room, where she was reading when she heard her husband gasp She ran into his room and Hound him coInatose. He never re- covered consciousness, and died about o'clock.
 MT. Bowers, who was the senior member of Bowers & Gerard, the junior membering the former Am bassadUr to Germany. had been con- nected with a number of the most notable legal cases Tn New TorK, among them the Barnes roosevelt libel suit, wherein he was Colonel Roosexe1t's chief counsel, and the re- cent charities investigation, in which he was counsel for the State Board of Charities
 Mr. Bowers was born in Coopers- town, N Y-, in November, 1850, and -came ito New York, when he was 16 years old He entered the law office of P1att, Gerard 6 Buckley as a stu dent The Gerard in the firm was the Efather of the former Ambassador to laGermany, and the friendship between Mr. Bowers and the Gerard family extended through two generations. In 1914 MT Bowers and County Clerk Schneider led the fight to nominate James w. Gerard, then in Berlin, as lthe Democratic candidate Tor the United States Senate MT. Bowers was also prominent in the contest which resulted in the selection of Ambassador Gerard's opponent, James w Wadsworth. for the place.
 After close study with the firm of Platt, Gerard & Buckley for three years, MT. Bowers was, at the age of 1s, admitted to the bar. The date of his admission, 1889, made him at the time of his death one of the old est members of the bar of this city
 Mr. Bowers career was closely bound up with corporation law cases in New York. In his later years there was hardly an important case iE which he was not sought for ad- vice or service before the jury.
 As counsel for the Reorganization Committee of the Third Avenue Rail way in, 1912, MT. Bowers had a great share in the rehabilitation of the property. He received a fee of $65,- 900 for his work in that case. He was counsel for The New York World for a number of years
 Perhaps the most widely advertis- ed of all MT. Bowers cases was tn: Rarnes-R ooseve1t libel suit, when the former President was sued for $5O,- 900 by the Albany political leader for calling him a "boss.'' MT. Bowers worked to such good purpose that the trial resulted in favor of Col Roose- welt. His summing up in defense of the colonel is described by all who heard it as a "nasteriy oration."
 MT Bowers in 1894 was leader of the~minority party. the Democrats. in the Constitutional convention which framed the present state constitution. He succeeded his partner, James F. P1att, as head of the law firm which he entered as a student, a score of years ago Shortly afterward the
 
 changed again recently to Bowers & Gerard when MT Gerard decided to resume the practice of law after his return from Berlin
 Mr- Bowers was married twice His first wife was Miss Susan B. Dan dridge, granddaughter of Governor SpottsWood of Virginia She died ir 1909 In 1911 he married Miss Kath- crime Starkweather of Cooperstown who survives him His children whc survive arc S. D. Bowers. a membel of his fathers law firm; Henry M Bowers. William c. Bowers, Mrs Mary Copelle, and Mrs Dandridgt Bowers
 Mr- Bowers was a member of tn, Union, Manhattan Metropolitan Riding, National Golf Links, Down town, RacQuette and Tennis, Brook and Garden City Golf Clubs, Automo bile Club of America, Sons of tn Revolution, Whist Club, and the So ciety of Colonial Wars
 The funeral will take place a Cooperstown in Christ church, mex Sunday. On Saturday morning at 1 o'clock, private service will be hell at MT. Bowers New York home.