Evening star., 1945-01-27
Rites SET for Monday
For Tom Pendergast,
Former Political Boss
BY the Associated Press.


died last night Of heart disease.
big Tom" entered a hospital last
Tuesday. He had suffered from a.
heart ailment and complications
since an attack Of coronary throm-
bosis while attending the 1895
Democratic National Convention in
Philadelphia.
With him at death were his two
daughters, Mrs william e. Bur-
nett, jr., and Mrs. Thomas F. Houli-
han. His wife, Mrs. Carolyn E..
Pendergast, and a son, T. j. Pen
dergast, jr., were summoned, as
was Father Edward j. Taney of the
Visitation Catholic Church who had
administered the last rites We'd
nesday.
Funeral Set for Monday.
A nephew, James M. Pendergast,
who took over direction Of the
Pendergast machine in 1880, was on
the way home from Washington
where he attended the inaguration
OF President Roosevelt and Vice
President Truman.
Funeral services were set ten
tatively for 9 o'clock Monday morn
ing at the Visitation Church with
Msgr. Thomas B. Mcdonald Off
ciating.
Tom Pendergast's political empire
collapsed with a resounding crash
in 1899 when he was sent to Leaven-
worth penitentiary by the Federal
Government for tax evasion, but it
began tottering ominously during
the mid-thirties when the rumbling
of rebellion among the Kansas
citizenry was becoming audible.
Pendergast's entry into prison in
May, 1899, ended 80 years of boss
rule in Kansas City that ranked
among the most powerful in the
history of the Nation. To outsiders,
unused to machine politics on the
grand scale, the extent Of Tom
Pendergast's operations seemed in
credible. He virtually owned"
nearly every off1ceholder in the
State, from United States Senators
to the lowliest city hall clerk. AL
of them owed their jobs to him.
Grip Broken by Protege.
It was one of his political proteges,
former Gov. Lloyd G. Stark, who
held personal integrity higher than
party loyalty and succeeded in
breaking the iron grip of Boss Pen
dergast, with the help of Federal
authorities.
Another man whose public career
was fostered by the Pendergast ma
chine Is now Vice President of the
United States-Harry s. Truman.
When the tide turned against Pen
dergast In 1899, Senator Truman re-
manned loyal to the Boss" and
stoutly defended him on the floor
of the Senate. The following year,
when Senator Truman was up for
reelection, it was charged that
Pendergast, who had just left prison
after serving one year Of a l5-month
sentence, was his behind-the-scenes
manager, in violation of his parole
Probation authorities investigated,
but found no substantiation Of the
charge.
Pendergast's beginning was in the
true tradition of American boss
rule. He came to Kansas City in
his childhood from st. Joseph, Mo-,
where he was born on July az, 1872.
He was educated at st. Mary's Col
lege in Kansas City and later turned
down contract to play professional
baseball.
Succeeded Brother Jim.
His brother Jim operated a saloon
In Kansas City's old 1st Ward and
controlled the wards politics. When
Jim Pendergast died in 1911, Tom
took over the saloon and the in
cipient political machine. It was a
modest beginning, but he knew his
business. He took care of his con-
stituents. If they needed a small
favor at the City Hall, he saw that
it was done. If they needed coal,
they got it. And. on election day. he
made sure that these people went
to the polls to vote for his candi-
| dates.
Pendergast himself disdained
political Office. Early in his career,
he served variously as street COM
missioner Of Kansas City, marshal
OF jackson County and alderman
Of the 1st Ward. But in his heyday
Of power, he preferred to remain
out of the public eye.
He became involved in long list
Of commercial enterprises, including
cement and concrete company, q
paving firm, oil distribution COM
panies, race track, q wholesale
liquor company and q taxi concern.
ALI of the firms prospered, and Tom
Penderguast became rich man.
Vice in City Thrived.
Under his regime, gambling and
prostitution thrived. If he heard
criticism of the protection afforded
vice in Kansas City, Boss" Pen
dergast had an answer:
well, the rich men have their
clubs where they can gamble and
have good time. Would you deny
the poor man an equal right?"
Charges Of political corruption
and bribery Pendergast never an
swered. He never needed to. When
any of his loyal party followers was
brought into court, Pendergast saw
to it that he obtained the best legal
defense. Until the pressure started
late in the 30s, few Pendergast men
ever saw the inside of a Jail CELL
Despite his wealth, culled from
the city he ruled, Pendergast never
lived lavishly. His principal luxury
was horse-racing, and eventually it
led to his downfall. His bets ran
into thousands of dollars a day
In 1885 alone, he bet $4,000, 900 on
the horses, losing 100000 of it. ac-
cording to United States District
Attorney Maurice Milligan, who
n