The Washington herald., 1921-03-03
One of Most Picturesque
Careers in Political
World Ended.
HOPE OF TRIUMPH
FAILS IN MORNING
Last Rites of Dead Leader
to Take Place in House,
Comrades Decide.

istence and more than a quarter
century of congressional service.
A somberly dramatic cast is lent
the passing of THE Lion Of Democ-
racy" at this time. His party passes
out OF power and his last term in
Congress would have ended at noon
tomorrow.
His death took place in his suite
at Congress Hall, where for ten
days he had alternately rallied and
weakened from the attacks of pleu-
risy and arteriaI sclerosis. At the
bedside when the veteran legislator
expired at 2:10 o'clock were: Mrs.
Clark, bennett Clark, his son, of
st. Louis, and Mrs. John NJ. Thorn
son of New Orleans. his daughter.
Since o'clock yesterday morning
Representative Clark had been but
fitfully conscious. 1t was in the
dawning hours that his physician,
DR.. Jesse Shoup. and other medical
men called in consultations. saw
that death was only a matter of
time. But little hope of even a tenn
porary extension of life was enter
tained after Monday night. when it
was realized that an operation for
removal of water from the pleural
cavity had robbed the patient of
most of his remaining vitality.
Funeral Plans.
Funeral services will be held at
1880 o'clock Saturday morning in
the House of Representatives. mem
bers of the Missouri delegation ten
tatively decided laN night. The re-
mains will be taken to St Louis on
a special train leaving Washington
Immediately after the congressional
obseQiiies- and thence TO Bowling
Green, Mo-. where burial viii take
place Monday.
Word of the death came to the
House as it was deeply immersed in
Legislative business. That body ad-
journed for half an hour, after first
passing a resolution awarding $500
"a years salary for a Representa-
tive-to the widow.
Rucker's Words.
Representative Rucker. a close
friend of Mr.. Clark's, made the an
nouncement.
TT becomes my painful duty
said Rucker. ito announce to the
House the death of one of its most
prominent members, former Speaker
Clark. / talked with his son for
a few moments an hour or two
ago and he said that his fathers
last conscious expression gave
voice to his great anxiety for the
legislative success of this Congress:
He said his father, If he knew he
could be heard, would say to his
friends that he wished there would
be no adjournment in consequence
OF his death"
IL was during memorial services
for former Representa- tives John l..
Burnett and Fred Blackmon that
Senator Pat Harrison, of Missis-
sippi, brought the word of the
death to the upper house.
Senator Underwood. of Alabama,
stated that in Difference to Mr.,
Clark's wishes expressed Just be-
fore his death, the Senate would
not adjourn.
Record as Speaker.
Champ Clark, during his service
as Speaker of the House, was rec
ognized as the fairest speaker in
the memory Of, the oldest members,
Aithough strong partisan, he
never took advantage of his posi-
tion to rule adversely on questions
arising between the Republicans
and Democrats.
He was loved by many RepubIi-
can members, particularly by Rep
resentative James r. Mann, former
Republican leader, for his domi-
nant spirit of "old-fashioned,
homespun honesty and fairness"
Loyal to Wilson.
This characteristic can best be
illustrated by his loyalty to Wood
row Wilson, who was named as the
Democratic candidate for President
at the Baltimore convention in 1912,
after the nomination had virtually
been conceded to the veteran Mis-
sourian.
1t would have only been natural
for the two to be the bitterest po-
litical enemies under those circum-
stances. On the contrary President
Wilson. during the trying days
when he was on the other side of
the Atlantic working on the ver-
sailles treaty, had no more ardent
defender in Congress.
On two separate occasions during
that time, when Wilson was being
bitterly assailed by Republicans in
Congress and when the Democrats
were unable to reply to their at
tacks for fear of embarrassing the
President, Champ Clark rose in his
seat with the declaration that:
Woodrow Wilson is the fore-
most man in all the world today"
Born in Kentucky.
, Champ Clark was born March Z,
1850, in Anderson County, Ken
lucky, a son of John H. and Aletha
Jane (Beauchamp) Clark. He was
educated in the public schools of
Kentucky, Kentucky University.
Bethany College and the Cincinnati
Law School. On December II, 1881.
he was married to. Genevieve Ben
nett, of Aux Vase. Galloway
County, Missouri.
Clark's father was born in New
Jersey and his mother in kentucky.
His mother died when he was only
3 years old, but he was well reared
by his father and relatives. After
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