The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-03-19
PRESIDENT
LOSES RACE
TO BEDSIDE
Spark Of Life Flickered Out
After 4 Week Of Fail.
ing Strength
DIED AT 1O:41 O'CLOCK
Had Been Bedridden Since
Last December. When He
Lost Use of Legs

- 'A"utuS NS.s MufCH IV.-vfJ~--
Colonel John Calvin Coolidge, father
Of the president, is dead, with his
son losing race to bid him fare
we'll
The end came at 10:41 o'clock last
night to the country merchant, justice
Of the peace and former member Of
the governors staff, upon whose
homely rural career special attention
began to be focused when he admin
istered the presidential oath of Of
flee To his son in the family homc-
stead by the light Of a kerosene lamp.
This was at the death Of President
Harding. Colonel Coolidge was the
only father of u president to have
such a distinction. In two weeks he
would have been 81 years old.
Leaving Washington in the after
noon when news came that the en-
evitable ending of his fathers pro-
tracted illness was in sight. the pre-
sident was between New York and
bridgeport, Conn.,, on his special
train as his father died. The news
was given to the train at Bridge
port about an hour after death oc-
| Cured.
John Coolidge Boards Train
| In Northampton, Mass, ut ; a. M.
f, today, John Coolidge joined the train
for the trip to his grandfather's bier.
| 4 student at Amherst, which his
! father also attended, he went by
| trolley eight miles to Northampton
and for three hours paced the sta
tion platform, the station having
! been closed on time at midnight while
| he waited.
| long and valiant struggle with
| illness and age ended when Colonel
(. Coolidge gave up the spark of life
after a week of steadily failing
strength. A heart attack early yes
terday proved to be the beginning Of
the end. His passing was. wltnout
pain and very peaceful.
In the white farm house, where the
president spent his boyhood days. a
faithful guard watched today by the
bier of "The Squire Of Plymouth"
Deputy Sheriff Angus Macauley, who
idgc since his health failed finally
last June. remained at his post. A
few of. the neighbors came to pay
their last respects, but while others
came and went, Macauley kept vigil
always.
! The large parlor of the farm house
where the casket was placed held
many associations. Folding doors
had been thrown open to include in
one room the parlor and the little
sitting room in which the colonel in
August, 1923, administered the oath
to his son as president. In this same
room six years ago the body of the
colonePs wife lay i'm state. while
neighbors passed in silent final tri-
butte.
Fifth Visit To Plymouth
This is the fifth time since he
became the chief executive that Pre-
sident Coolidge has visited Plymouth
and Of these visits three have been
made in circumstances of sorrow.
In the summer Of 1924 the presi-
dent and Mrs. Coolidge came here
in order that their son, Calvin, might
rest with his ancestors in the hill
side cemetery. Last June, the presi-
dent was summoned hastily from his
summer home at Swampscott, Mass.
. when his father was to undergo an
peration. Now the last firm link
let is broken.
: The neighbors recall that the pre-
sident sought to have his father go
: to Washington last fall and that
Colonel Coolidge refused to spend
the winter away from familiar faces
and scenes. Almost persuaded, the
colonel at last went to his physi-
clan, DR.. Albert NJ. Cram.
"Will you guarantee if l 20 to
: Washington I will be alive to return
| in the spring?' he asked the physi-
r clan. DR.. Cram could give no guar
: antee and Colonel Coolidge remain
4 ed in wintry Vermont. Knowing the
desperate nature of his malady, he
G arranged his affairs even to the
: preparation Of his grave, and prepar-
n ed to die, as he had lived, among tho
e Green Mountain home folk.
v Preferred To Remain Home
On one Of his visits to Washing
= ton he said he had q nice time, 'but
e homes pretty good place after
S all"
+ Months ago the colonel instructed
" Selectman' AFRO Johnson. to prepare
c his grave in the cemetery on the
l hillside.
e The colonel was informed late yes
e terday that his SON was on the way
o to see him. He nodded his head
: slightly and DR.. Cram said he believ-
% ed he understood the message.
The final phase of his illness dated
e from last Thursday but the Colonel
l. has been declining since he contract
r ed cold year ago. Then special
It lists in Boston found him suffering
0, from malady diagnosed as heart
block.
An operation was performed in
n June and in December the colonel
It lost the use of his legs. He had
y been bedridden since.
e Only an indomitable will kept alive
d the spark of life, those near to Col
onel Coolidge said.
s. Gained National Prominence
r.. When Calvin Coolidge succeeded K
" the presidency upon the death Of
r President Harding in August, 1923
I'd his father John C. Coolidge, suddenl,
to sprang from the ohscurity Of quiet
e. little Vermont town to natiOna
prominence. Up to that tim ths
Is father of the new president, although
sp he had been actively interested ii
I'd public affairs for many years
Mt scarcely was known on heard OF ont
n side his native state.
o- Not many of the % men who wert
lContinued on page four.)