The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-09-28
JOHN s. WILLIAMS,
0NE-TIME SENATOR
FROM south, DIES
Spent Part Of Boyhood Fleeing
From Federals; Was
Staunch Democrat

Yazoo City. Miss. Sept. 28.-tR-
Former Senator John Sharp Will
liams. who spent part of his boyhood
fleeing federal invasion of his state
and most of his manhood in his
country's congress, died at midnight
Tuesday.
He was 70 and was at his old plan
tation home near here with a group
OF kinSmen when the end came. He
had failed fast during recent months
and his death was not wholly unex-
pected.
It was the cracking. piercing voice
Of John Sharpe Williams = student
connoisseur of beautiful things
planter Of cotton-that helped awat
en- the south from the lethargy thai
almost smothered it after the wal
between the states. The same voice
commanded mighty eloquence and
singing sarcasm as it fought the bat
ties of woodrow Wilson in the senatg
during the trying days of the League
Of Nations fight. And it was the
same voice that told the senate. after
1t doomed Wilson's measure. I'D
rather be hound dog and bay at the
moon from my Mississippi plantation
than remain in the U. s. senate"
Retired in 1923
He retired from public life in 1923
and came home after devoting almost
30 years Of his life to service In con-
ereSc.
Although intensely partisan. Sen
ator Williams was courteous to and
considerable of his political opponents
and was warmly loved and respected
by his colleagues on both sides of the
political aisle. His friends said o1
him that he typified the aristocratic
astute. vigorous, but fair-fightine
statesman of the South Of Civil War
times. He loved a fight and plunged
into the swirl Of every controversy
with intense earnestness. vigor and
power.
A student. master Of several Ian
guages. and equipped with a vast
fund Of information. Senator vii.
liams was besides skilled parliament
tartan. keen of wit and endowed will,
generous humor. He specialized II,
political issues Of national momen.
and often presented voluminous data
and an array of statistics which dis
concerted his opponents He also
gave much study to international
problems and politics and was second
in rank among the Democrats on the
foreign relations and finance CON-
mittees
Born in Tennessee
Born at Memphis. July 30. 1854
Williams as child passed through
the Souths trying days during ano
Immediately following the Civil War
His father. Christopher Harris VIII
liams. colonel of the Tennessee VOL
unteers. was killed at the battle OF
Shiloh. His mother. whose maiden
name was Annie Lewis Sharp, having
died. and Memphis being threatened
by the Union forces. Senator vii.
liams' family moved to his mothers
family homestead In Yazoo county
where at Cedar Grove Farm the Sen
ator made his home.
After tutelage in private schools
Williams entered the Kentucky Mill
tary Institute. Later he attended the
University of the South at sewanee
Tennessee, and the University Of Hei
delberg, at Baden. GERMANY. He
studied law at the University Of Vir-
ginia and was admitted to the Ten
nessee bar in 1877. The year follow
Ing he returned to Cedar Grove Farm
Yazoo county, where he engaged In
the practice Of his profession and the
pursuits OF a cotton planter He was
married Oct. 2. 1877, at Livingston
Ala. to Dial Webb. DAUGHTER Of Dr.
Robert Dickens Webb. They had sew
en- children.
Senator williams was elected ia
CONGRESS- the first tinls IN 1893 anc
served In the house for Is years, re-
ceiving all OF the votes cast when he
last offered for election In 1907 He
was elected to the senate the follow
ing year and took his seat in 1911.