Evening star., 1945-11-19

had retired from
+.'::S': = public life.
Col. Lea. decade ago ant
In recent years had lived In Wash.
inston. where he maintained of.
fees IN the Shoreham Building. HI
was here visiting his family wher
his illness developed and he was
taken to q hospital last Wednes'
day.
Col. Lea Is survived by his widow
two sons, Luke Lea, jr., and Over
ton; two daughters, Mary Louise
and Laura, and q sister, Mrs. Laura
Lea Robertson, all of Nashville.
A brilliant and colorful person
atty, Col. Lea became a Senator at
the age of 81 and had an outstand-
ing career as a soldier, publisher and
financier in the 1920s. but his later
days were marked by a jail term
and other setbacks. In 1881 Col
Lea and his eldest son, Luke, jr.
were convicted after j long legal
fight of conspiracy to defraud the
Central Bank 8s Trust Co. Of Ashe-
vile, N. c.
Received Parole.
Col. Lea was sentenced to serve
from 6 to 10 years in the North
Carolina State prison at Raleigh,
but received a parole after two years
there. Later he was pardoned. His
son was given an alternative Of pay
ing a SIS 600 fine and costs or serv-
ing two years. The son chose to 80
to Jail, but was soon released on
parole because of Ill health.
Ill fortune struck Col. Lea from
other directions.
During his period of rapid finan-
rial expansion in the 1920s, Col. Lea
and Roger Caldwell, president OF
the investment banking house of
Caldwell & Co.. acquired the Men,
phis Commercial Appeal and the
Evening Appeal, as well as the Knox
vile Journal. The colonel already
was publisher of the Nashville Ten
nessean and the Evening TennesSean.
In 1890 Caldwell g. Co. failed,
along with its subsidiary, the Bank
of Tennessee, which held heavy
State deposits. The State Legis-
iature appointed committee to
investigate the failures and Col.
Lea's name was banded about during
3 lengthy investigation. However,
1t was during this period that the
indictment was brought against him
and his son in North Carolina and,
although he was indicted In Ten
nessee, he was never tried there.
During his. Imprisonment he lost
control of his newspapers through
receiverships. .
When. he returned to Tennessee
after his release from prison, Col
Lea was met by the Mayor Of Nash
vile and was accompanied into the
city by a motorcycle police escort.
In 1887 he received q full pardon
from the State of North Carolina
and gradually reacquired some OF
his oldtime political influence in
Tennessee.
The exploit for which Col. Lea
probably was best known-his at
tempt to kidnap the Kaiser-oc-
CURED during the lull after the
Armistice in 1918. He had served
during the war as a colonel OF the
Hath Field Artillery. The audacious
colonel headed a party of eight
soldiers who crossed over the from
tier into Holland and succeeded in
reaching the Kaiser's estate with
the idea of forcibly bringing Will
helm before the Peace Conference
in Paris for trial as war criminal.
Col. Larry MacPhail, head Of the
New York Yankee baseball club,
was a member of Col. Lea's party.
However, while the Kaiser's aides
we're debating what reply to make
10 Col. Lea's demands, group OF
Dutch police appeared and the
Americans beat hasty retreat.
When news of the expedition
reached American Army officials
Col. Lea and his party were con-
fined to quarters for month. Mean
while complaints were made to the
State Department that Hollands
neutrality had been violated. The
case finally reached Gen. Pershing.
Widely Acclaimed for Feat.
No official announcement was ever
made as to its disposition, but Col.
Lea returned to this country aboard
the transport Finland in charge
of his troops and was widely ac-
claimed for his daring exploit.
Col. Lea, who was descended from
a line of famous Tennessee soldiers
and public officials. was born in
Nashville on April u, 1879. His
great-grandfather of the same name
had served in Congress and COM
manded a regiment under Andrew
jackson in campaigns against the
Creek and Seminole tribes. Col. Lea
himself was elected to the Senate
in 1911 by the Tennessee Legislature
but was defeated in 1915 when he
sought denomination.
The colonel, q towering man Of 8
feet 5 3.inches, was married twice, his
wives being sisters. His first wife,
Mary Louise Warner, was the
mother of Luke Lea, jr., and Percy
Warner Lea, who was killed in an
automobile accident while his father
was Ia prison. After her death Col.
Lea married Percie Warner, who
survives Col. Les and is the mother
of his two daughters and Overton
Lea.
Tito Quoted as Denying