The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-13

sulser laasang only one year. Tn 1el4 sulSer attempted . CoEaes back. He had himself nominated by the Progressive party and ran for Governor against Martin H. 0lyrn, who aS xAeutenant-d Governor, succeeded him when he was iIns peached; and Charles S. Whitman, the Republican candidate. sulseF boiled ii6,OO0 votes lSa the State, less than Whitman's plurality over 0lynn.
 From that time on MT. sulseY was gloneptity in the State of which he had been elected Governor by an overwhelming majority only two years before. Og late years he travelled much ia Alaska, where he was interested with his brother, John, in gold mines. John died in September, 1917, leaving an estate of about 90B 900 to William, his two sisters and their mother. An islend of tho Alaska coast iS named gul. ger Island.
 William Suizer was born in Eilza. beth, N. J., on March ie, 1883, the second son of 6 family Of seven children. His father, Thomas @ulS Fer, was native of Germany, who came to America in leBl and mar Sted soon after. Thomas eulSer set- tied on . farm near Elizabeth, where William assisted him In the farm work until ho was lA years old. He was educated lii the Grana-
 mar schools of Elizabeth, attended lectures ct Columbia Lew School and studied law in the office of Parrish G Pendleton ia this city, to which his parents had moved. The elder eulSeEs settled on the East Side in district then strongly German, which William asterwaTd represented in the Assembly, and which was included in the Congress districts which he represented for many years. William Sulger was ad- Fiitted to the bar on reach his Eaas jority in iSe4. He opened an once and began the practice of law in this city.
 Having . natural gift of elo- qence and theatrical flair, he was early attracted to politics. Tn i0e4 he gained considerable fame as . campaign orator for Grover Cleveland in his first campaign for the presidency. He attracted the attention of Tammany Hall, and, having unbounded assurance, and love Of politics, he became the Tammany candidate for the AsseEsi. biy in his district in 1889 when he was 20 years old. Even then he was.~known as the "boy orator." and on being told b ysome admirer that he locked like Henry Clay, be. gan to cultivate what he conceived to be the mannerlsms of that states man.
 He was an honest, able and con. scientious aSsemblyman and was reelected every year for five terms of one year each. Tn 1893 he served as Speaker of the Assembly and in 1894 was the leader of the Demo cratic minority. To this day he re. mains probably the youngest man who ever served as Speaker Of the Assembly. Such was the record of achlevn1ent he made that he might have been reelected year after year for as long as he desired. But he had higher ambitions and retired in l04. There was a legend in Albany that when he wound up his career as an Ahhemblyman he prophesied that when next he came back to the Capitol Building it would be to the private office of the Governor.
 Tn the same year that he voltn. tarily left the Assembly Tammany nominated him as the Representa- tive in Congress of the old Tenth district. He was reelected every two years in the Tenth or the Eleventh districts untu 1912, when he ran ncbsder6eta aoinshrdlc lcmfwypcEnfwypp for Governor.
 During his term as Representative he became one Of the leading fig- ures in Congress. He took prom lnent part in most debates and introduced much useful and praise worthy legislation. Among the measures he sponsored was the one providing for an amendment to the Constitution making the office Of United States Senator an elective ono and enc providing that ColuEa- bus Day be 6 legal holiday. They were only . few oS his projects, end were popular then. whatever they have become since.
 While @sll1er was repeatedly re- nominated by Taualnally Hall he was more or less independent of taht organization. Along about lD06 he let it be known that he thought it vas tine he was nominated for Governor. There had not been 6 Dem0cTMtic Governor cf the State since 1901 and Mfr. Huizsr cpined that had he been saoaninaked ct any time victuEy would have been cer- tain. He wan spoken Of aN @ prcs~ pectivo candidate in every State convention in fhs early gears oS Inc century, but waa always put ogf