Evening star., 1951-04-23
Tom HefIin, Who Helped Split
Solid South in 1923, Dies
Bitter Fight Against
AL Smith Cost Him
His Seat in Senote
sy the As.oeieted Press

by me ASSoctuteu FFesS
LAFAYETTE, Ala, April 3d.
j. Thomas Cotton Tom" Heflin,
former Senator and one Of Ala
bama's most stormy political fig
ures, died at his home here yes
terday. He was 50.
The former Senator and House
member, whose political career
ended in 1880 after his break with
the Democratic Party two years
earlier over the presidential NOM
ination of Al Smith, had been in
declining health for several years.
Funeral services will be held
here at II am. tomorrow.
Survivors are four brothers, DR.
Wyatt Heflin, the Rev. w. w.
Heflin and Robert Heflin, all Of
Birmingham, and the Rev. Mar
vim Heflin of Pell City. and one
sister, Mrs. H. B. Reid of Elmore
and Lafayette.
AStute Politician.
An aStute politician and notable
as a campaign and legislative
orator, Mr.. Heflin stood up against
all sorts of political fire for nearly
40 years before losing a battle.
His career ran continuously
from the mayoralty Of Lafayette,
in 1893. through 26 years in Con-
gress. In 1880 he suffered his
first political defeat as candidate
for reelection to the Senate, of
which he had been q militant
member since 1920.
Outspoken in all his public ad-
dresses. Mr.. Hefiin kept his ora
torical guns trained most con-
stantly upon "the wolves of Wall
Street" Tammany Hall, the Ro-
man Catholic hierarchy and the
liquor interests. He was noted,
too, for his continued fight for
better cotton prices, a drive which
gained for him the sobriquet of
"Cotton Tom" in his home State
and which led his followers to
chant Cotton Tom, right or
wrong" as a campaign slogan.
Startles Senate Colleagues.
But it was his enmity toward
Tammany, liquor and the Roman
Catholic church which finally
brought him down to defeat. AS
early as 1925 he startled his COL
leagues in the Senate with a
charge that the knights of Co
lumbus. under orders from the
Vatican. were attempting to cause
war between the United States
and Mexico because of the latter
country's anti-church laws. Demo-
Gratis and Republicans alike de-
nounced him for thus raising a
religious issue in Congress, but he
stuck to his guns and took his
fight to the lecture platform, tour
ing the country.
The Democratic pre-convention
campaign of 1928 saw Gov. Alfred
E. Smith of New York, a member
OF Tammany, an avowed wet and
a devout Catholic, seeking the
party's presidential nomination
Mr.. Het1in fatty announced that
If Mr.. Smith were nominated he
would bolt the ticket, and when
the Houston convention chose the
New Yorker as its standard bearer
Mr.. Hef1in kept his word.
He campaigned in his home
State of Alabama and in othe,
States, urging Democrats to vote
against Mr.. Smith. He charged
that the party had been subsidized
by "the liquor interests, Tammany
and the Roman Catholic machine.
Mr.. Smith lost several Southern
States and carried Alabama, nor
mally overwhelmingly Democratic
lby bare 1000 votes.
: Shortly thereafter the Demo.
|cratic State committee ruled thai
no "bolter" from the 1928 nationa
ticket would be eligible to run il
: the party's primary in 1880. Mr.
Heflin had announced his candid.
acy for reelection and fought tn,
committees decision in the courts
; but lost the case.
Then he organized the "Jeffer.
sonian democrats" who placed {
ticket in the field headed by MIR
! Hef1in as senatorial nominee. HI
was defeated by John H. Bank
: head, regular Democrat. by 50.00|
a votes, but claimed the election wa
! "the most colossal piece Of bale
thievery ever perpetrated in Ala
bama."
t He filed a contest in the Senate