The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-06-18
AGED LEADER
SUCCUMBS TO
LONG ILLNESS
Heart Failure. and Bronchial
Influenza Take Stormy
Petrei Of Politics
FAMiLY AT BEDSIDE
Wisconsin SolOn Insisted GIG
Cheerful Reports Of HI
ness 10 Very Last

Washington. June 1S.---SeHator
Robert 81. LaFollette, for many
years y stormy petrol ot Amer.
lean politics, died here today.
Death resulted at 1:2l D. m.
from heart failure iduced by =
general breakdown and bronchial
influenza.
Although they realized the SER
iousness Of Senator La Follette'e
condition, members of the family
had hoped today that he would
recover. Last night his physi.
clans said he Was resting, but
nevertheless he had . decided
turn for the worse last night and
hope was abandoned.
He was long q victim of angina
pectoris. heart ailment, and this
with his asthmatic attack caused him
to suffer greatly from shortness Of
breath. Violent coughing spells ac-
companied his illness.
Almost to the last, however, he in
sisted on cheerful reports being given
out as to his illness and It was not
until yesterday that it was admitted
that his condition was serious.
Washington. June lS.-lP)-After
all the storms of his long career he
passed away very quietly, surround
ed by members of the family. He
was conscious almost until his death,
but for several hours he could speak
only in whispers. Shortly before the
end he mustered all his strength in
a vain effort to murmur a last word
to those at the bedside. then he
lapsed into unconsciousness and
without any evidence of pain. passed
almost Immediately from life.
Family About Him
Mrs. La Toilette and their children
were close about him in the sick
room throughout the morning and
until death.
It is the present plan to take the
body to Madison for burial.
Tentative arrangements also call
for the funeral services to be held
ut Madison instead Of at Washing
ton. If these are carried through
the funeral party will leave here to-
morrow afternoon, arriving in Madi-
son Saturday.
Long Storm Center
Robert Marion La Toilette, consid-
cred one Of the most powerful orators
of his time, was 4 storm center of
personal and political controversy
throughout the nation and in his
home state Of Wisconsin for more
than quarter Of century.
Fighting Bob" the name by which
he was known to political friends and
enemies alike, was title we'll earned
almost from the moment he stepped
into the political arena when scarce
ly more than a boy. Facing battles
such as few, if any, of his political
contemporaries were compelled t.
fight, he served three terms as a
member of the House of Represent.
tives and three as Governor Of Wis.
consin, was four times elected to the
United States Senate, and finally, be-
came an independent candidate Cor
President in 1924.
Bitter Criticism
Perhaps few American public men
ever drew such bitter criticism as
was heaped upon Senator La Toilette
during and Immediately after the
World War, and certainly none could
by his friends. His speeches and pub-
aAS pOIIcIeS HaO OeeH Tie C6TEet 1Of
widespread denunciation previous to
1917, while the great conflict WAS
raging in Europe, but the crisis came
when he voted against America en-
tering the struggle when the Lusi-
tania outrage and other violations of
our neutrality were. still burning in
the public mind. He was hung in
effigy and even threatened with ex-
pulsion proceedings in the Senate, but
in the 1922 elections he was sent
back to his place in Washington by
. tremendous majority.
Thrice Senator La Toilette was
placed in nomination for the Pres
idency in Republican conventions
in 1908. in 1912 when he charged
Theodore Roosevelt with promising
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