New-York tribune., 1921-05-19
Former Secretary of Inte-
rior Succumbs TO Oper-
alton He Risked i'm Hone
of Regaining His Health
Wished to Live to
DO Good, He Said
Body Will Be Cremated;
II Accept Was SUM.
mary of His Philosophy

ROCHESTER,, Mimi, May 49,
Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the In
terror in President Wilson'S Cabinet,
died at hospital here to-day Of an at
tack of angina pectoris which followed
an operation for gall stones. He was
fftysix years old.
The body was taken to Chicago to-
night, accompanied by George w. Lane,
his brother; Mrs. Franklin X. Lane and
Mrs. Franklin K. Lane jr. Private
funeral services will be held in Chicago
and his body will be cremated, one of
his last wishes. He left no estate
whatever, his brother said.
Mr.. Lane knew from the first of the
danger he was undergoing in the ope-
ration, but accepted it with the feeling
that being restored to full health was
worth the chance. He had suffered
from heart disease from time to time
during the last eight months, but physi-
clans had expressed the belief the ope-
ration would relieve this. An attack
Of this early to-day, however, brought
his death.
His attitude before and after the
operation, which was performed on
May 6, was one of keen interest in the
experience. hmm ediately after the ope-
ration Mr.. Lane had said:
Il am surprised to be alive. I hope
to be able to live long life doing good
things for others without thoughts Of
money"
Writes of Operation
The former Secretary, after the op-
Grafton which preceded his death by
only few days, dictated remarkable
letter to some of his most intimate
friends in Washington. The letter
showed that the former Secretary had
undergone the operation with full con-
sclousness and acceptance of the fact
that ne might not survive. 1t told in
detail of his sensations before, during
and after the operation, of which he
was fully conscious, as the condition
Of his heart would not permit the use
of general an@sthetic. The message
follows, in part:
at is Wednesday afternoon and I am
now sitting up in bed talking TO my
good friend Cotter. Until yesterday I
dld not clearly visualize any one thing
in this room and did not know that
1t had window except that there was
a place that noise came through, but
l did know that it had a yellow oak
door that stared at me with its great,
big, square eye all day and all night.
Last Friday, you see, about 10 in Che
morning, | took the step that I should
have taken months, yes, years, ago.
To-day, most tentatively, l crawled
onto chair and ate my first mouthful
of solid food. But four days ago l
managed to shave myself and am re-
garded as pretty spry.
II have seen death come TO men in
various ways, some rather novel and
western. l once saw a man hanged.
and L have seen several men shot and
came very near going out that way
myself two or three times, but always
the other fellow aimed poorly. I was
oeing shot at because / was a news
paper man and l should have been
shot at. There must be public concern
IN what is printed, as we'll as its truth.
to justify it. That is something that
newspapers should get to know in this
country. After the earthquake in San
francisco l saw walls topple out upon
d man. AND l have had more intimate
gIlmpses still of the picturesque and
of the prosaic ways by which men come
to their taking off.
Journey Into Deaths Valley
But never before have I been called
upon to, deliberately walk into the val
Ley, OF the shadow, and, say what YOU
VIII, 1T is great act. have said dur
ing the last months of endless ex-
animation that man with little cnri-
osity and little humor and a little
money, who was not in too great pain.
could enjoy himself studying the ways
OF OF doctors and nurses as he journeyed
q fowery path for me, as much as any
path could be in which man suffered
more humiliation and distress and
thwarting and Illustration, on the
whole, than he did pain.
But here was path the end of
which l could not see. l was not COM
PEELED to take it. My very latest doc
tor advised me against taking it. i
could live some time without taking
it. 1t was bet on the high card, with
a chance to win, and took it,"
AT this point occur details regard
ing the preparations for the operation,
Continued on page thrse)