Evening star., 1933-03-02
THOMAS ! WALSH
| EXPIRES SUDDENLY
Montana Senator Victim OF
Heart Attack in Brides
Presence on Train.
Continued From First Page.)

Walsh instant recognition from the
leaders of the Democratic party, who
selected him as permanent chairman
OF the turbulent New York convention.
The convention would have given him
further reward by choosing him for sec
ond place on the presidential ticket with
John w. Davis. but he would not per-
NIT it.
Born at Two Rivers. Wis. on June
IL, 1859, Senator Walsh started out to
be school teacher after receiving his
education In the public schools and the
University of Wisconsin. but became in
terested in the law and began practice
with his brother, Henry c. Walsh, at
Redfield, S. Dak.. in 1884. Six years
later he moved to Helena, Mont. Be-
coming interested in politics there, Sem
ator Walsh offered for election to the
House OF Representatives In 1906, but
was defeated. He was also defeated for
the Senate in 1910. but was elected In
1912.
Senate Orders Oil Probe.
Mr.. Walsh had seen 10 years of serv-
ice in the Senate when that body de-
cided that the secrecy surrounding the
leasing of the oil reserves to Doheny
and Sinclair by Fall during the early
days OF the Harding administration re-
CURED investigation. He had come to
be recognized among his fellows as q
learned lawyer, but he was little known
to the country.
When 1t was put underway the oil
inquiry itself created scarcely ripple
and when the weeks of the inquiry had
run into months with nothing Of the
sensational developed 1t was almost lost
sight OF. Painstaking examination o1
vast volumes of the record had con-
vinced Senator Walsh, however, that the
transaction had not been wholly in the
interest of the Government. With this
conviction he kept hammering away
until Doheny furnished his sensational
testimony that at the time of his ne
gotiations with Fall for the lease to the
California reserve he had loaned the
then Interior Secretary 100000, send
ing the money to Washington in "lit-
tie black satche" transported by his
son. This testimony loosed the food
gate, and as disclosure followed dis
closure Senator Walsh found himself
one Of the most talked-of men in the
country
In the closing days Of the inquiry
many of the friends of the Senator
urged him to become a candidate for
the Democratic presidential nomination
but he adhered to his original plan ia
support William G. McAdoo, and in a
public announcement argued that the
bringing Of McAdoo's name into the oil
inquiry as one of the several former
cabinet officers empolyed by Doheny at
one time or another as counsel had in
no way impaired his availability as q
presidential candidate.
Fate had 1t that Senator Walsh
should become chairman of the Madi-
son Square Garden convention, a sort
of arbiter in the history making strug-
gle between McAdoo and Alfred E.
Smith, the New York Governor, and
also in the religious and racial row
which was bound up in the controversy
over a proposed platform plank de-
nouncing the Ku Klux Klan. Like
Gov Smith, whom he refused to sup
port the Senator was a Catholic and
so no friend Of the Klan: but he told
the leaders Of the warning factions
that as presiding officer he could show
no favors as to either candidates or
policies.
Convention R0uses His Ire.
Several times during those three
teeming weeks the convention was on
the point of a riot, and the Senator
smashed several gavels in his efforts
frequently vain, to maintain some
semblance of order. Many times his
own fighting Irish blood was aroused
and once or twice ne threatened to
clear the galleries of boisterous spec
tators who made the difficult work OF
the convention doubly hard.
When McAdoo and Smith finally were
eliminated and the convention In the
late afternoon Of swelterlng July DAY
had nominated John w. Davis, the dele
gates set up a cry for Walsh for Vice
President, and they would have STAN
peded themselves into nominating him
forthwith had he not declared the con-
vention adjourned.
Later. informally notifying John W
Davis of his selection as the party
standard bearer, Senator Walsh brought
some criticism upon himself by advert
ing in his address to Mr.. Davis formel
connections as counsel for Wall Street
interests" This was subject which
Mr.. Davis himself hao viewed as having
been closed by his pre-convention state
ment.
Senator Walsh's first national politi-
cal service was as a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention ir
1908 He represented his State also in
the Baltimore and ST. Louis conventions
which nominated Woodrow Wilson anc
at the San Francisco convention ir
1920. He married Miss Elinor c. Nc.
Clements of Chicago in 1889. She dice
in 1917. They had one daughter, who
became Mrs. E. c. Gudger, wife oi
Comdr. Gudger, U. S. N