New-York tribune., 1921-06-29
e. ]. Bornaparte,
Once LIN II. IL. 3
Cabinet, Dead
Navy Secretary and Attor-
ney General Under Roose-
welt ls Victim of Heart
Disease i'm Baltimore
Reformed Civil Service
Grandson of Great Napo-
Icons Brother, Jerome,
and Was i'm His 7lst Year


and Was i'm His 7lst Year
BALTIMORE, June 28.-Charles J..
Bonaparte, Attorney General during
the Roosevelt Administration, died at
Belle Vista, his country home, near
here, to-day.
Mr. Bonaparte had been in poor
health for about a. year, suffering from
heart affection, which became compli-
Gated with kidney trouble. He was
seventy years old. He is survived by
his wife, who has been an invalid for
many years
Upon his return to private life at the
end of the second Administration of
PRESIDENT Roosevelt Mr.. Bonaparte re-
sumed the practice of law, in which he
continued active until his health began
lalling ABOUT year ago. At that time
ne suffered an acute heart attack,
which was followed by several others
OF less severe nature in the last
twelve months.
lie went to his country home in April.
since then he had been gradually los
ing ground. Last Thursday he suf-
tered the heart attack which resulted
IN his death to-day. While Mr.. Bona
parte was known to be in Indifferent
health, his death came as a great sur
prise.
Born in Baltimore
Born June 8, 1851, in the house at
fark Avenue and Center Street, which
served as his town house, he was the
son OF the late Jerome Napoleon Bona
parter and the late Susan May William
bonaparte. His paternal grandparent
was Jerome, King of Westphalia
whose romantic wedding to the beanti,
tui Betsy Patterson, of this citv has
become history. The great NAPOLEON
was his granduncle
Entering the Cabinet Of President
roosevelt in 1905 as Secretary of the
Navy' Mr Bonaparte was transferred
10 tne Attorney Generalship in 1907,
con eonUlhuIng iIg IN that position until the
end OF the Roosevelt Administration
Mr.; Bonaparte first came into Ms
tlonal prominence when he helped or
game the National Civil Service Re-
form League and took great part in
ootalnlnlg the adoption of the merit
system in the Federal service. He also
was active in the organization of the
National Municipal League, and was it's
president for time.
Civil Service Reformer
Jurist, administrator, civil service
rrteaformer,. re publicist, philanthropist,
Charles Joseph Bonaparte also was
a grandson of the great Napoleon's
youngest brother, Jerome, the hand
some but wayward King of Westphalia.
and his American wife, the beautiful
and gifted Elizabeth Patterson, of Bal
tlmore. Napoleon, it will be recalled,
declared his brothers. marriage void
because it was contracted without his
imperial consent, but of course, it was
valid under American law; Pope Plus
VII refused to annul it, and many
years afterward Napoleon III officially
pronounced it valid and the offspring
Of it entitled to the name of Bona.
parte. The sole offspring Of that mar
riage was a son, Jerome Bonaparte,
who was for many years one of the
foremost merchants of Baltimore, and
who married Miss Susan May Williams.
of Roxbury, Mass.
Charles Joseph Bonaparte was the
younger of the two sons of this latter
couple, and was born at Baltimore on
June 8, 1851. He was graduated from
Harvard in 1871, and from the Harvard
Law School in 1874, and forthwith en-
gagged in the practice of his profess
sion in his native city. His learning,
eloquence and integrity soon made him
conspicuous member of the bar, and
for many years he ranked among the
foremost advocates of the United
States.
He was interested in the social and
educational welfare OF his fellow men,
but showed no inclination to enter
political life until comparatively late
in what he was wont whimsically to
call his somewhat protracted and mis-
spent career" He did serve fcc ore
year as q supervisor Of elections in
Baltimore, and in 1904 was nominated
by the Republicans for Presidential
Elector in Maryland. The result OF
that election In that state was very
close, and Mr.. Bonaparte, as high man
on the Republican ticket, ran little
ahead of the low man of the Dem ocrat-
ic ticket, and won therefore the dis
tinction of being the only Republican
Elector chosen that year in Maryland.
He previously had served, also, from
1902 to 1904 as member of the United
States Board of Indian Commission
ers, in which place he distinguished
himself by the resolute justice and
humanity of his attitude toward the
wards of the nation.
In Two Cabinet Offices
A change occurred in President
Roosevelt's Cabinet in the early sum
mer of 1905, when Secretary Morton
retired to enter business life in New
York and Mr.. Bonaparte was invited
to succeed him as Secretary of the
Navy. The invitation was not only
unsolicited but quite unexpected, and
Mr. Bonaparte consider ed it for some
time before accepting it. He had no
special knowledge of naval affairs, but
he was an able lawyer with a gift for
organization and administration and
was the implacable foe of graft in con-
tracts or elsewhere So he decided to
accept the appointment and the event
amply justified the selection. He was
the author of valuable reforms in the
department and greatly increased the
efficiency of the service during the
year and a half of his secretaryship.
Then another reorganization of the
Cabinet occurred and on December IT.,
1906, he was shifted to the Attorney
Generalship, place for which he had
conspicuous qualifications and which he
filled with brilliant success during the
remainder of the Administration. He
had in charge the important legal op-
erations of the government during the
years 1907 and 1908, until March S.