Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-03-19
Colonel Coolidge Dies
Continued from Page one)

that his son was on the way to see
him. He nodded his head slightly
and DIR. Cram said he believed he
understood the message. Although
the final phase of his illness dated
from last Thursdays sinking spell,
Colonel Coolidge had been declining
for almost a year. A slight cold
contracted in March, 1925. brought
him first under the care of the ply
stefan.
Later a strange heart condition
made it necessary for DR.. Cram to
take his patient to Boston to con-
suit specialists. The malady was di-
agnosed as heart block" During
the year heart attacks developed
many times which seemed to threat
en- imminent death, but each time
until the last the colonel rallied.
In June last an operation was per-
formed to relieve pressure on the
bladder and from this time DR.. Cram
dates the real decline in strength.
Early in the winter a serious heart
condition developed again and on
December % the patient lost the use
of his legs. The paralysis was not
cerebral, but an involven. ent of the
spinal cord, and was attributed to
the heart affection. Colonel Cool
idge was bedridden from that time
until his death.
Only an indomitable will kept
alive the spark of life on many oc-
casions, those near to Colonel Cool
idge said. At the worst of his heart
attacks he would throw off his
weakness If he thought of some
duty unperformed, the physician
said.
With him when he died, in addi-
ton to the physician, and Mrs.
Johnson, the nurse, was Deputy
Sheriff MacAulay, who has been in
attendance as bodyguard since last
June.
Prepare for President
with the certainty that the Pres
ldent was on his way here, Select
man Asro johnson and other town
oihctals set about making the little
village MT to be the nations mid-win-
ter capital. Gangs of shovelers were
set to work in the drifted roadway
In front of the white farmhouse and
several teams carried away the snow
on sleighs. Oldtimers said it was
the first time in Plymouth's history
That snow had been removed in this
manner.
The front yard of the Coolidge
place was shovelled clean, as was
also the approach to the little Union
Meeting House over the way. The
workers carried their efforts on un-
til the path to the crossroads at the
general store also was free of snow.
There was more work to be done
before the way was paved for the
PRESIDENTS arrival. A rotary snow
plow was pushed up from Ludlow by
1--WE ton state tractor, but word
came that many days would be re-
CURED to make this route practicable
Tor automobiles. So District High
way Commissioner Carl NJ. Law
renee drove his men on past Ply
mouth to clear out the Woodstock
route.
All afternoon the great tractor
drove its plow up and down the last
three miles of the road between
Walkers sawmill and Plymouth. BY
nightfall this stretch was clear. AS
the remaining 10 miles had been
opened previously, the automobile
route lay open from Woodstock sta
ton to the Plymouth farmhouse.
Arrival Plane Exeites
Plymouth, excited even in it's time
of sadness over the coming of the
President, had one new thrill to-
day. For the first time in the towns
history an airplane landed on Ply
mouth territory. Three planes fly
ing from New York in the interests
of picture organizations came down
on Amherst Lake, 4 miles from here.
The place of the landing, like almost
every part of Plymouth, has Cool
idge associations. 1t is on the old
military road that led from Charles
ton, N. H., to Fort Ticonderoga, on
Lake Champlain. A mile from the
lake Captain John Coolidge, return
ed from the Revolution, built the first
frame farmhouse in the Plymouth.
He was the great-great grandfather
of the President. The resources of
the village, already stretched by the
arrival of many outsiders, faced a,
new strain with the coming of the
presidential party. Every single foot
OF living space had been reserved to-
nigh. The farmhouse of Selectman
AFRO Johnson will be the home of the
Presidents secret service men: the
hall over Uncle John Wilder's house,
next to the Coolidge home, is re-
served for a unit of state national
guardsmen. Miss Florence Cilley,
general store now houses a score or
more of newspaper correspondents
and photographers. They sleep on
| cots in the public hall over the store
| and take their meals In relays in a
| sunparlor below. Despite the hard
| travelling conditions ON the roads,
! many incoming guests have made
| reservations in Ludlow. Bridgewater
and Woodstock.
The presidential party has reserv-
ed rooms at the Woodstock Inn in
WO0dSfnck wharo tho froir, iS
pected to arrive about o'clock in
! the morning. At $50 the party will
leave by automobile for Plymouth.
They will change at Bridgewater
Corners to sleighs or snowmobiles If
necessary, but state highway de-
partment officials tonight promised
good automobile footing all the way.
A unit of rs nationaN guardsmen
reached here tonight from Ludlow
and Windsor: They will be used to
control traffic and act as guards
during the visit of the President.
| Although events of week had pre-
! pared friends and neighbors for the
! end, news of Colonel Coolidge's death
} came as a heavy shock to those who
! had been associated with him all
! their lives. The general store, the
| only place Of assembly in the village,
remained open throughout the night
and about the stove the tragic event
of the night was discussed in hushed
! tones.
Miss Florence Cilley, who conc cts
! the store. and her youthful ward Vio-
! let Hickory, were the center of inter-
ested groups far into the night. To
! them fell the distinction of having
! been the last visitors to the Coloners
/ sickroom. AS neighbors who were adj