Evening star., 1955-06-27
ISiIIimon Evons Dies; Publisher
And Democratic Party Leuder

4SAe4 "O4S44 444S 4CAsy JUAN q
IR.-Silliman Evans, publisher
of the Nashville Tennessean and
a leader in the national Demo-
cratic Party. was found dead in
his bed yesterday. He died of a
heart attack.
The body will be flown to
Nashville tonight.
Mr.. Evans. 81, died in his
sleep Saturday night a few
hours after attending the funeral
of his old friend and former en-
Iployer, Anon G. Carter, pub
fisher Of the Fort Worth Star
Telegram, who died Thursday.
The crusading son Of a CRU
Isading father, Mr.. Evans rose
from virtual obscurity to emf
Inence in the newspaper world
and a place of leadership not
only in Tennessee politics but in
the national Democratic Party.
He had suffered from a heart
ailment since World War I when
it caused his discharge from the
Army.
Dies In Sleep
A physician said Mr.. Evans
died in his sleep several hours
before his body was found at
$3.50 am. by o. M. Mozier, an
American Airlines offic..l with
whom he was to return yester-
day to Nashville. Mr.. Evans had
gone to his room in the Fort
Worth Club Saturday night after
complaining Of feeling tired.
Mr.. Evans was the son of the
Rev. Columbus Asbury anc Alice
Silliman Evans. The father was
an ardent prohibitionist. Mr..
Evans, in his early days with the
Fort Worth newspaper of his
friend, Mr.. Carter, uncovered the
highway scandal of the Ferguson
administration which resulted in
the election of Dan Moody as
Governor of Texas.
One Of Mr.. Evans first politi-
cal fights in Tennessee was
against the administration of
Gov. Gordon Browning, whom
Mr.. Evans successfully supported
for the same Office a decade
later.
The newspaper under Mr..
Evans leadership also embarked
on long campaign for repeal
of Tennessee's poll tax and bat
tied successfully the political or
ganization headed by the late
Ed H. Crump.
1t was the Crump machines
defeat in 1948-its first in 20
years-that led a State political
writer to describe Mr.. Evans as
occupying "the No. ! place in
Tennessee politics" In that CAM
paign Mr.. Evans supported Mr..
Browning for Governor, Repre-
sentative Estes Kefauver for the
United States Senate, and Presi-
dent Truman, who won election
to his first full term as Presi-
dent.
Once Printers Devil
Mr.. Evans started in the news
paper business as a printers devil
at the age of IL on the DeLeon
(Tex) Press, not far from
Joshua, Tex, where he was born
April 2. 1894.
Later he worked at the old
Fort Worth Record at $3.50 per
week and then went to editorial
jobs in Waco and Houston. He
worked for United Press and m
ternational News Service in Chi
cago before returning to Fort
Worth before World War I.
After his army discharge he
served until the wars end as le-
cation secretary at Copenhagen,
Denmark. Then began in Fort
Worth his long and intimate as
ISOLATION with Mr.. Carter, who
sent him to Washington as the
Star -Telegram's staff CORES
pondent.
He married Miss Lucille
McCrea Of Cisco, Tex. in 1923
and their two sons, Silliman, jr..I
and Anon Carter Evans, were in
Fort Worth with him when he
died. Other survivors include a
brother, Henry Moore Evans,
and a sister, Mrs. Edgar T. Neal.
Another old friend, former
Vice President John Nance
Garner, had Mr.. Evans handling
publicity for Mr.. Gamers cam
paign for President before the
Democratic Convention in 1892.
Then he was a leader of the
Texas delegation which switched
the Garner vote to Franklin D.
Roosevelt and nailed down Mr..
Roosevelt's nomination.
After the election, Mr.. Evans
was made fourth assistant post
master general. a post he held
until he took over in 1884 the
presidency of the Maryland
Casualty Co. in Baltimore.
Bought Bankrupt Paper
But newspapering still inter-
ested him and when the bank
rupt Nashville Tennessean was