The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-08-20
ACTIVE CAREER OF
DEMOCRATIC LEADER
CUT short sunday
Bronchial Pneumonia CompIi.
Gated by Angina Pectoris
Is Fatal
FRIENDS AND FOES MOURN
Monday Would Have Been 74th
Birthday; Remains Con-
scious Until End

st. Louis. Aug. 20.-(R-Henry T.
Rainey. picturesque speaker Of the
house Of representatives. Is dead.
Apparently on the road to recovery
from an attack of bronchial pneu-
monia. he suddenly developed angina
pectoris Sunday night and died at
7:50 p. m. as three physicians, hastily
summoned, stood by, unable to aid
him. Monday would have been his
74th birthday.
The funeral will be held late We'd
nesday afternoon at Carrollton. lii
nois.
The speakers unexpected passing
brought expressions of deep sorrow
from political leaders in al; parts of
the nation-from President Roosevelt
on down.
The president called him "a human
itarian whose fine patriotism thought
first OF all Of what he conceived to
be the we'll being and interests of the
common man"
His predecessor as speaker, Vice
President John N. Garner, was
shocked speeches."
Leadership of the next house is In
doubt as a result Of the death Of Mr..
Rainey, but Representative Joseph W.
Byrns Of Tennessee, who helped him
put the must" legislation of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's program in the last
congress, is prominently mentioned as
his successor.
Widow May Be Successor
From Senator William H. Dieterich.
tDem., I'D, close friend Of the
speaker, came the suggestion that the
widow, for years her husbands secre-
tary, might become the Democratic
party,s choice for the house seat held
by Mr.. Rainey since 1903 except for
the term following the Harding land
slide Of 1920.
Mrs. Rainey spent the day with her
husband, leaving late in the day for
their home in Carrollton, Ill.
TIL body will be cremated, In &C.
cordance with q wish Mrs. Raiuey
said her husband had often expressed.
Funeral arrangements probably Will
be completed Monday when Senator
Dieterich goes to Carrollton to confer
with Mrs. Rainey.
Mr.. Rainey died peacefully. DR.. H.
w. Soper, physician in charge. said.
He was conscious until just before
the end.
Although sorrow at his death was
nation-wi nowhere was the grief
more profound than in his home town
Of Carrollton in Illinois, town Of 1000,
where the citizens mourned, not for
the passing OF one Of the nations
great but for friend and neighbor.
Faced Strenuous Task
Henry T. Raniey reached the pow
erful post of speaker of the national
house of representatives after service
in fourteen congresses. He was a
white haired veteran of - when
he was handed the gavel at the start
OF his fifteenth term in March, 1888.
He started his congressional service
in 1903 and thereafter kept the tWen-
tieth Illinois district in the democratic
column except in the sixty-seventh
congress, when he was victim Of the
Harding republican landslide Of Nov
ember, 1920.
Faced Strenuous Task
As speaker he was faced at the out
set with the extraordinary series of
legislative acts which marked the
opening months Of the Franklin D.
Roosevelt administration. The ma
tional bank holiday, return Of beer, the
amendment to abolish the eighteenth
amendment, the granting of powers
to the president to slash government
expenditures, the abandonment Of the
gold standard. currency initiation, farm
relief and huge program OF public
works to relieve unemployment, came
III rapid succession.
So expeditiously did the national
legislature push through the acts con-
nected with these developments that
some Of the representatives began to
murmur about rubber stamp legisla-
tion," but Rainey gently, and yet FIRM
~. kept them in line.
He was big man physically. Tower
ing over most Of his colleagues, his
wide shoulders were topped by q neck
like that circus strong man and q
massive head. crowned with 4 name
Of silvery hair that stuck out in Ill
directions from his silk hat on form
al occasions. His square Jaws held .
big black pipe rigidly, but when he
spoke his tones were soft and amiable.
(TaNffvaaen6 AsA 0nNA N