The Daily Alaska empire., 1935-11-07
BILLY SUNDAY DIES SUDDENLY
 LAST EVENING
Noted Advocate of Hit the Sawdust Trail, Pass
 es Away, Chicago

William A. Billy" Sunday, aged 72 years, noted evangelist, died sud- denly last night as the result of angina pectoris. at the home of Will liam J. Thompson, his brothcr-tln- law.
 He came here last Sunday night with his wife from Winona Lake, Indiana, for short visit. Shortly after 8 o'clock last night, after din- ing, he went upstairs complaining that he was ill He died before a physician arrived.
 Mrs. Sunday said her husband had a severe attack of heart trouble last May. Meanwhile he attempted to keep up his revival work but his strength waned steadily during the summer.
 Sunday lived quietly at Winona Lake at his ranch at Hood River, Oregon.
 Survivors, besides the widow, in clude two sons. William Jr, and Paul, both of Los Angeles; broth- CT, H. E. Sunday. North Dakota resi- dent, and nephew, son of H E. Sunday who is manager of the Hoof River ranch.
 Planned Alaska Trip
 Several years ago, while visiting on the Pacific Coast, 1t was an- nounced that he planned trip to Alaska, intending to visit all coast cities, going to the interior to Fair banks, up the Yukon River to Daw- son and out via Whitehorse. This trip was abandoned, it Is said, when he was taken i'll and went east to his home at Winona Lake.
 Of Dramatic Type
 The Rev. William A. Sunday, fa- niliarly known throughout the coun- try as Billy" Sunday, was the orig inator of the most dramatic and sen- sational type of religious service ever introduced to the American people. Turning from professional baseball when he was at the height of his career, he became one of the most successful eyangelists in the country and even the large cities were unable to provide auditoriums of sufficient capacity to accommodate the crowds that sought admission to his revival meetings.
 It was not that Sunday presented anything new to his audiences, but it was the manner in which he de- Iivered his sermons that made them reach their mark, cause the sinners to repent and then inpel thousands of them to Init the sawdust trail" The two principal objects of his at tack were the devil and rum. He began his sermons in the ordinary religious manner of any preacher. but when he warmed up to his sub ject the entire aspect of the meet ing and preacher were changed He worked hard with his voice and his body; so hard that on many occas- ions it was necessary for him to re- move his coat and vest to enable him to proceed with any degree of comfort. At times he went further and took off his collar and necktie. Method Popular This form of preaching seemed to meet the approval of Sundays au- diences, and apparently as popular, if not more so, was his language. In his sermons he discarded to a large extent Biblical and religious lan- guage and resorted to the vernacu- lar, especially when he desired to place emphasis on his point. On these occasions he used words and phrases that never before found place in a religious sermon. He was ably assisted in his revival meetings by his wife, who became faniliarly known to his audiences as Ma Sun day.
 These revival meetings were con- ducted by Sunday in many of the larger cities of the United States. in each of which his converts ran intoi the thousands. A feature in each campaign was the sawdust trail. which the converts were invit- ed to Init" after listening to Sundays sermons for two or three days and nights. The converts would follow the trail to the platform, where they would make their confession. Ths financial success of his campaigns tContInued on Page Five)