Evening star., 1924-12-13
GOMPERS EXPIRES,
ENDING 43 YEARS
ASA.E. Of |. HEAD
Passes Peacefully Today
After Brave Fight Against
Heart Attack.
AIDES IN NOTABLE LIFE
AT BEDSIDE TO LAST
Grief-Stricken Group Praises
Leaders Work to Raise
American Labor.
BY the Associated Press.

The grand old leader of American
labor is dead. Samuel Gompers was
granted his last wish. He died on
American soil at 4:l0 o'clock this
morning, II hours after his arrival
from Mexico City, where he was
stricken last week.
Death was close on his Feels as he
sped from the Mexican capital to the
border of his own country. For a
time he eluded the final enemy. dog
gedly fighting off the issue, but death
overlook the exhausted labor leader
as he lay on his bed in a San An
tonic hotel Mr.. Gompers did not
evade the challenge when it came TO
him face to face; neither did he give
up the fight.
At the annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, in FL Paso,
last month he was elected president for
the forty-third time.
Friends Present mt End.
Surrounding Mr. Gompers in his
last moments were the men with
whom he had fought many of la
bor's battles through generation of
American union labor development.
AT his bedside and holding his hand
was James Duncan of Quincy. Mass,
vice president o. the Federation, who
has stood shoulder to shoulder with
his leader for forty-four years. Their
parting was pathetic.
Holding his other hand was Will
liam D. Mahon of Detroit, president
of the Amalgamated Association of
Street and Electric Railway En-
ployes, whom the dying Federation
president affectionately called Bill"
and whom he had told several days
ago that he wished to shake by the
hand just before he went.
There were others no less close to
Mr.. Gompers. John +. Giles, treas
urer of the Federation: Martin Ryan
Chicago, all members of the exec
utive committee. were there. Frank
Morrison, secretary of the Fedora
tion. also was at the deathbed.
There also was his nurse, Miss Ma
thilda May of New York City, who
had been with him since his illness Of
August. She remained kneeling at
the foot of his bed as the shadow of
death crept over the stricken leader:
Death found Sam Gompers as life
found him-a fighting man. He never
gave up. When told by his physician
that he was passing, his jaw clenched
al tightly as feeble strength would
permit. He breathed heavier, but he
never said Il give up"
I.
the American institutions he had Ia
bored so long to maintain. When he
was convinced he could not win, he
said to his nurse:
Nurse, this is the end. God bless
our American institutions. May they
grow better day by day"
These words took his last strength
and after that he was unable to utter
a syllable.
The great heart pulsed feebly and
soon it ceased it's wearied work
Until the moment when he slipped
into Inconsistencies about one hour
before his death, he was able to look
into the future and was master of his
own situation. He gave a few simple
directions for his funeral. should the
end come before morning. He talked
to his followers. He called for life
long friends, whose hands he wanted
to clasp before slipping away.
With all the energy that his worn.
14-year-old body could muster, he
grappled with the enemy that, had
come to claim him. In life he had
made both friends and enemies. In
death he had only one enemy. Against
that he could not prevail. and he gave
his soul with the vigorous protest
that was characteristic of him.
Last Wish Granted.
When Mr.. Gompers took i'll in Mex
leo City few days ago, he expressed
the wish that If he was to die he
wanted to pass away on American
soil His physicians would not let
him rise from his sick bed to go to
the train, but had him taken on
stretcher and placed him in a special
coach, the stretcher being passed
through window.
This was said to have given rise to
the report that he was dead, sent out
from some town in Mexico along the
route which Mr.. Gompers' car travelled
to Laredo, Tex.
His wish to reach his own country
before death could overtake him al
most was defeated, for he sank very
low on the journey from Mexico City
DR.. w. S. Cockrell, his physician and
friend for 25 years, a resident of the
Mexican capital, who accompanied
him north, said that had Mr.. Gompers
remained in the high altitude of
Mexico City six hours longer he could
not have reached the homeland alive.
The complications which combined
to end the career of the famous
labor leader have beset his aging
body for several years, according to
his physicians, but the final acute at
tack was brought on by change of
weather in Mexico City, which re-
suited in a cold and congestion of
the lungs, and the body worn by in
tense labor at the recent American
Federation of Labor convention in
Ell Paso could offer little resistance.
His mind and will, however, resisted
with all their might, and the deter
mination to live, If only few hours
longer, enabled him to go to his final
rest in the country of the laboring
men he had championed and defended
through a whole lifetime.
In his dying; moments Mr.. Gompers
had an opportunity to witness the af-
lection in which he was held by his
own people and the public as well.
As his cot was being lowered from
the special car in the railroad yards
here at o'clock yesterday afternoon,
a great throng gathered. Its temper
was indicated when the persons near
est him prevented photographs being
taken.
TT is no way to treat sick man..
they shouted.
Mr.. Gompers wore his familiar cap
and spectacles as he was lowered
from the train. He pulled the cap
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