Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, August 3, 1923, Page 2

NATION IS PLUNGED INTO SORROW BY DEATH OF PRESIDENT Members of President Harding’s Official Famil at the Time > of His Passing DEATH STRIKES DOWN CHIEF AS HOPE FOR RECOVERY IS BRIGHT (Continued from Page One) victory against disease, but it ap- peared in a more insidious form and he lost the battle. GREAT SHOCK COMES TO MRS. HARDING. Great as was the shock to all who @well under the American flag and to peoples in many lands, for Mr. Harding by virtue of his office, and his kindly and his lovable personality had become a world figure, the great est shock came to his wife, reading by his side, But she did not collapse. “She was shocked, of course, and at first unable to realize that she had lost the husband who had made up all the interest in her life for so many matement issued Inte Inst night and signed by all of them they declared it was due to “apoplexy of a rupture of a blood vessel in the axis of th brain near the respiratory cente! ‘The statement emphasized that death from such @ cause might have ocourr- ed at any time and came atter re- covery from the acute il'aess he had suffered for a week was in progress. The statement showed concl sively that the physicians as well as every- ono eise believed up to the minute the executive was subjected tc the apoplectio attack that he was on the road to recovery. Three hours before the end came the most optomistic bul- letin ‘issued since the president was proud and happy years,” said Gen-/ 41 yr gaid that he hal avont the eral Sawyer later. ‘But there was! “mos: comfortable day sine tis iil no collapse, no hysteria. Just ®!/ ness began." The bul'etin was timed brave rally to face her sorrows and pine the duties devolving upon her at this “The evidences of infection are sub- siding but he has been left in a very weakened condition by the hard bat- tle he has made,” the bulletin added. rhis afternoon the temperature is remaining around normal with pulse rate around 100 and the respirations averaging about 30... Other factors re- main the same." ‘The bulletin was so optimistic that there was @ general letting down in the watchfulness that has attended the president's illness. Members of the cabinet and their wives, the per- sonnel of the executive's staff and many of the newspaper men went out to dinners where most of the talk was when the trip back to Washington would be started. At no time since the president was brought to San Francisco Sunday morning was the inity of the presidential suite as deserted as it was about 7 o’clock last night, Outside the suite the usual secret service men stood guard—They also were discussing when they would get back to Washington—and down the corridor a little handful of newspaper men were gathered. MRS. HARDING AND SAWYER AT BEDSIDE Mrs, Harding, General Sawyer and the two nurses, however, had not re- linquished their watchfulness, and it is truly typical of Mrs. Harding that she should have been there for no first lady of the land was ever more devot- ed and faithful to her husband than was Mrs. Harding. Mrs. Harding was reading to the president an article entitled “A Re view of A Calm Man," written by Samuel G, Blythe a noted political writer, and published in a current magazine, It described the man to whom she was reading, and he was in- terested in it. She paused tn her reading, and glancing up he raised his hand and said: “That's good. Read some more.” Those weve the last words President Harding spoke. In an instant the shudder shook his frame, his hand dropped and he collapsed. Mrs. Harding was at the door in- stantly and called: “Find Boone and the others! Quick!” One of the secret service men rush- ed down the corridor searching for Dr. Boone, while General Sawyer worked desperately within the room, applying restoratives.. Dr. ‘Boone could not be found on the eigth floor, and messengers were sent out. He was found and came in almost run- ning at 7:37 o'clock, Several others had gone into the room in the mean- time, and those that came out were plainly greatly distressed. One of these was Secretary Hoover, whose face was blanched and his eyes dim. All he could say to newspaper men was that there would be a state- ment soon. At 7:45 o’clock it was an- nounced that there would be a formal statement within a few minutes, and at 7:51 o'clock it was issued, AL BULLETIN hour.” Mrs. Harding was standing the shock well early today but whether she could stand up under the grief that bore down upon her as the sad journey back to Washington fs made was another question. Those who know her best say that she will. When dawn crept over the moun- tains and lighted up the Golden Gate this morning almost all of the ar- rangements for this trip—the saddest transcontinental journey in the: his- tory of the nation—had been made. The trip will be started about seven o'clock this evening, and should end in Washington Tuesday morning. From that point the arrangements have not been definitely made but it is expected that the body will lay in state in the rotunda of the capitol where a sorrowing people have often times before paid their last respects to the leaders and the heroes they have lost. BURIAL TO BE MADE AT MARION. The burial place will be made at Marion, Ohio, the small Ohio city which Warren G. Harding made known around the world because there from poor and humble sur- roundings he struggled upward until the American people awarded him the highest gift and paid him the greatest honor within thelr power to bestow. President Harding was a man who loved “the home folks,” and it he had had {ime to leave a parting word last night it undoubtedly would have contained instructions that he be buried in the town that knew him as “Warren” and where he called most everyone by their first names. ‘The trip across the continent will be made on the same train that car ried the chief executive a well, happy and hopeful man to the Pacific coast. Its route will take it through Reno, Ogden, Cheyenne, Omaha, Chicago and thence to Washington. It will make no stops except to change en- gines and for other operating pur- ‘The body of the president will be borne in the same car as carried him to the west. It will be accompanied by! the same party that accompanied the executive when he left Washing- ton June 20, with the addition of At- torney General Daugherty, General Pershing and Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Remsberg and family of Santa Ana, Calif, Mrs. Remsberg being a sister of Mr. Harding. NAVAL AND MILITARY HONORS ARE PLANNED. Naval and military honors will be paid the dead commander by the army and navy throughout the whole trip. Two soldiers and two sailors, members of the guard of honor of 16 enlisted men and two officers, will stand at attention beside the casket. The car bearing the body will be lighted at night and the whole train probably will be draped in black. The body of the president Iny today fm the room in which he suffered and @ied. It will remain there before be AT 7.51 P. Mo — ing taken to the train, and just be It said: fore that is done the very simplest| «nn president died instantaneously and without warning and while con- versing with members of his family at 7.30. Death was apparently due to some brain evolvement probably an apoplexy. “During the day he was free from Final Resting Place ~* ATH ns who attended united in their de cause of death, In ON CAUSE OF D The five physi the president we cisions as to t The Harting burial plot at Marion cemetery, Marion, Ohio, where the| following a long period of overwork remains of the late president will lie in final rest,’His mother and his sister, | nd great strain, was confined to his Mary Clarissa, are buried here, Him, Say Employe. @he Casper Hally Cridune % AS HARRY M. DAUGHERTY World Never Knew Harding as We Knew 's of Newspapers Who Worked With Late Editor |. MARION, Ohio, Aug. 8.—(By The Associated Press).— At the Marion Star news of the president’s death was receiv- ed with sincere sorrow for it was here that Mr. Harding spent the best years of his life in the profession he most loved. Most of his employes of the Star had been with him since early in his newspaper career. worked with Mr. Harding at the machine or helped him fashion edi- torials or perhaps collect a bad ao- count, for there wasn't an activity of the paper that he did not take part in, recounted today as they sat with sorrowful faces, in true newspaper fashion the mile stones in the life of their beloved chief. They told how he earned his first dollar; of how he made known his esteem and love for the associates who helped him “make” the Star and made known many intimate things which showed the character of the late president. One of the men in the editorial department sald: Destiny alone never reached out for Warren G, Harding. Destiny in his case had an ally in a woman—his wife. Mrs. Harding made her hus- band president. She blazed the way. She had faith in his future. She be- Meved he had the making in him of a great man. She urged him on and on. It was not a mere handful of politicians who nominated him for the presidency. It was not even the a of hi discomfort and there was every justi- fication for anticipating a prompt re- covery. (Signed- ‘Cc. E, Sawyer, M. D. “Ray Lyman Wilbur, M. D. “C, M. Cooper, M. D, . J. T. Boone, M. D. . ‘Hubert Work, M. D.” ‘This was followed by second bul- letin which made the flat announce- ment that death was due to apoplexy and that Mrs. Harding, General Sawyer and the two nurses were in the room at the time. A. P, REPRESENTATIVE HEARD SUMMONS One of the Associated Press repre- sentatives, who have been on watch ever since the president was brought to San Francisco jt Sunday morn- ing, heard Mrs. Harding’s appeal for the doctors, saw the secret service man hurry down the hall in search of Dr. Boone, and 7.29 o'clock sent a bul- letin traveling over the wires to all parts of the country telling of the call for the physicians and then followed with bulletins giving more details of what was occurring in the vicinity of the presidential suite. Thus news- paper editors were aware of some- thing impending fully 22 minutes be- fore the announcement of death was made. ‘When the death announcement was made, it was flashed to all parts of the nation by the Associated Press by telegraph and telephone, and to the most distant parts of the world by cable and radio, Thus it was that newspapers were on the streets in New York with announcement of the passing of the republic’s chief before {t became at all generally known about the hotel. CABINET MEMBERS HOLD MEETING The announcement was followed momentarily by confusion in the vicinity of the presidential suite, but soon the trained members of the exe- cutive staff took charge, the phys!- ‘clans conferred and later issued their detailed statement as to the cause of death, and the cabinet members meet- ing together decided upon and sub- mitted to Mrs. Harding for approval the plans for the return trip to Wash- ington. Messages were dispatched telling of the sad news, to George B. Christian Jr.., the president's secretary, who had gone to Los Angeles to speak for the president at a Knights Templar meet- ing, to the other cabinet members, and to Calvin C. Coolidge, the vice-prest- dent, who early today took the oath of office at his home in Plymouth, Vermont, and became the head of the nation. The detailed statement by the phys!- clans described the changes in the President's physicial condition, dating from last spring when the president b a th rt A a a i bed with an attack of influenza, This: who enjoyed t general public ever realized and effects had not been entirely dissipat- ed when the present trip was started in June despite the five week's vaca- tion spent in Florida and Georgia in March and early April. HARDING SUBJECT TO SUDDEN ATTACKS dominal pains and there had for some time been evi- on going through with his program in Vancouver, B. C., a week ago Thurs- terday. The “Boys” those who had type; people who elected him that really made him president. These wero mere bulletin board events in @ life that never became embittered the background of it all was a sweet In lomestio influence, the guiding star ¢ Warren G. Harding's destiny. Mrs. Harding made him president. It was er counsel and her urge long years ago before the Chicago convention that made him presidential timber.” KEEN APPRECIATION OF LOSS OF PRESIDENT IS FELT AT MARION STAR him. Hoe never forgot @ friend, he never failed to reward one. No mat- ter what others said, he never know- ingly turned down any one whose loyalty had won his friendship. “& loyal American, whose. soul trembled at times for the future of America, he nevertheless maintained @ steadfast faith in @ patriotic Amer ica, to save America in any crisis.” Ce George H. McCormick, who 20 years fo entered the Star organization as @ reporter and today fills the manag- ing editor's chair, said: “The world may never come to a full and understanding appraisal of Mr. Harding as a man; only those Intimacy of his asso- ciation for years can know that. “Mr. Harding's greatness lay in his humility. He was always humble in the sight of God. He was never boastful. Despising pretense and flattery he was sincere in every word and deed. condemned anyone; he was a booster. Loyalty! physicians in attendance was an outstanding attribute with dent Harding in San Francisco, He was never servile. “Mr. Harding never attack was more serious than the The president, it was revealed, had een subject to some attacks of ab- indigestion, and ences of arterial sclerosis, enlarge ment of the heart and defective ac- ion of the kidneys. The statement then recited that the executive had suffered an acute gastro-intestinal at tack associated with abdominal pain nd fever on the return trip from Jaska and told how he had insisted lay, and at Seattl week ago yes The statement then told of the can- cellation of the proposed trip into the Yosemite, of his arrival here Sunda} morning and traced his varying con ition during the week. “Most disturbing of all,” it said, “was the rapid and irregular breath- ing suggestiv the brain vessels {: respiratory center.’ of arterio-sclerosis of the region of the The physicians reviewed the favor- able conditions existing just prior to the apoplectic attack and concluded by saying: “He was resting comfortably in bed and conversing with Mrs. Harding and General Sawyer, when he died instan- taneously without a word or a groan.” BODY LIES IN HOTEL ROOM. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8—(By The Associated Press.)\—As in life, so President Harding in the qui The Nation Moums Its Chief Slow sobbing through space, Sounding a Nation’s grief, Sad-toned bells are ringing— The Nation mourns its Chief. Flags droop in silent woe Beneath sorrowful skies. Softly a Nation weeps As its great Chieftain dies. The roll of muffle Throbbing with words unsaid, Comes sorrowing through the night— The Nation mourns its dead. Slow sobbing thro Sounding a Nation's Sad-toned bells are ringing— The Nation mourn DR. JOEL T. BOONE Medical officer of tho yacht Mayflower, who was one of the dignity of death, calm, composed and of peaceful mien. * In a gray-draped room far above San Francisco's busiest street, all that is mortal of America’s 29th president reposed today. Death in coming, had left no mark upon his countenance. So suddenly, so pain- lessly, had the end come that his face, but for its pallor, might have been that of a man in sleep. But for the closing of the eyelids by loving fingers, it was as it had been a moment after the president, pleased by what Mrs. Harding was redaing to him, had said: “That's good. Go on. more.’ The body is robed in white, dress- ing for burlal having been deferred until late in the day, and lies upon the bed where the president made his losing fight for health. The face is ¢lmost of its natural bt ‘The lips are slightly parted. Pioneer Resident Of Cheyenne Dead CHEYENN®E, Aug. 8——Mrs. Margn- ret Shannon, pioneer resident of Cheyenne, died Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the death of her nephew's wife, Mre. Frank Ca- hill, to whom she was greatly attach- ed. She had been in poor health for several months and grief over Mrs. Cahill’s passing precipitated a fatal collapse. Mrs. Cahill, wife of a well- known government employe, died Tuesday afternoon, after submitting to an operation. Funeral services for Mrs. Cahill were held Thursday. Those for Mrs. Shannon will be held Friday. d drums, ugh space, grief, 8 its Chief. « E. RICHARD SHIPP ft y in San Francisco | IFE HISTORY Big Haul Made valued at $80,009 weer stolen from 4 safe on the steamship Boswell of the Lamport and Holt line, which arrived Yearned today, | FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1923, CALVIN GOOLIDGE TAKES OATH AGNEWPRESIDENT OF COUNTRY - (Continued from Page One.) to some brain emboli, probably apoplexy.” Mr. Coolfdge’s father, John C. Coolidge, received the message short- ly before midnight and took it up- stairs, where he read it to the vics- president, who was in bed. Mr. Coolidge quickly dressed in a suit of black and came downstairs, followed & moment later by Mrs. Coolidge. Shocked by the hews but outwardly showing his accustorned calm, he dic- tated two brief statements to hi - retary and then distributed cop! the newspaper men who had gathered in the living room of the farmhouse. His first statement follows: “Reports have reached me, which I fear are correct, that President Hard. ing {a gone. The world has lost great and good man. I mourn his loss, He was my chief and my friend. It will be my purpose to carry out the policies which he has begun for the service of the American people and for meeting their responsibilities wherever they may arise, For this purpose I shall seek the co-operation of all those who have been associated with the president during his term of office, Those who have given their efforts to assist him I wish to remain in Office that they may assist me. I have faith that God will direct the destinies of our nation.” A ltle later Mr. Coolidge made this statemen: “It is my intention to remain hero until I can secure the correct form for the oath of office which will be administered to me by my father, who is notary public, if that will meet the necessary requirements. I expect to leave for Washington dur- ing the day.” To Mra. Harding the vice-president and Mrs. Coofidge joined in sending the following telegram: “We offer you our deepest sym- pat! May God bless you and keep you, Mr. Coolidge, who had come here for a complete rest, had welcomed the absence of a telephone from hi: father’s home and during the presi- de ilIness had walked several times @ day to the village store to re- ceive over the telephone there the latest word from San Francisco. But with the news of the president's death, telephone company officials immediately set to work to give Mr. Coolidge every possible facility for communicating with Washington and elsewhere and Within an hour a tele- Phone had been installed in the farm- house. It was through a telephone com- munication with Washington that the vice-president obtained the exact form of oath’ which the constitution re- quires the president to take upon assuming office. Then in the pres: ence of Mrs. Coolidge, Congressman Porter H. Dale and a little party of friends and acquaintances, Mr. Cool- idge quietly went through the sim- ple ceremony which made him presi- dent. His father read by the light of an ofl lamp on the table the impres- sive words of the oath of office: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of presi- dent of the United States and I will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States.” Mr. Coolidge calmly and clearly re- peated the words and added: “Bo help me God. The ceremony ended, the president turned at once to preparations for his OF PRESIDENT (Continued trom Page One) ling the continuel drain w! the operation of the war-bullt com- mercial fleet had become upon the treasury. His greatest single effort in the field of domestic legislation was in behalf of this measure, Not infrequently Mr. Harding was called upon to play the role of peace maker in governmental affairs. He intervened in @ dispute between Congress and the treasury as to the form general tax revision was to take, and the program he approved was carried out in the main with a reduction of more than half a bil- Yon in the national tax burden. Likewise, his counsel settled the long controversy between the house and senate on the question of Amer- joan valuation in the tariff law. He Proposed in its place a flexible tar- iff arrangement under which the tariff commission was given author- ity with his approval to increase or lower rates within Umi- tations. Upon signing the bill the president declared it constituted the greatest tariff reform in American history, Mr. Harding came of pioneer stock. He was born at Blooming Grove, Morrow county, Ohio, No- vember 2,.1865, the son of a coun- try doctor, George T. Harding. Like most country boys, he went to country school between morning and night chores and /later attend- ed college at Iberia, Ohio. He tried school teaching for a year, but hay- ing had a gmell of printers’ ink while sticking type for his college paper, the lure drew hint into the newspaper field. His tamily, meantime, had moved to Marion, in an adjoining county. ‘Where he obtained his first news- paper job and where his life inter- eats were centered thereafter. Mr. Harding's ambition was to become a publisher and it was realized at the age of 19, when he bid in the Mar- jon Star at a sheriff's sale. The paper was purchased under a heavy mortgage and his friends had often sald that the struggles and hard- ships which were his in making his paper a success had much to do in fashioning his character and devel- oping a broad patience and toler- ance which were his chiew charact- eristios, ernor and in 1920 vice-president of the United States. In the more than 20 years he gaye to these duties his time wns almost exclusively devoted to the problems of public affairs, Only incidentally did he turn ot the law, although he always maintained an office with an associate at North. ampton. He was born in the village of mouth, Vt. on July 4, ters, ae Puriten ancestors who came to this country and settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1630, He left the farm in 1891 for Am- herst college and graduated with honors in 1895, Immediately upon leaving college he went to North. ampton to study law and settled there, * a It was Mr. Coolidge» sense, his insight into legislative tactics and his mentality which first attracted to him the attention of political leaders. The late Sena- tor W. Murray Crane, who was a resident of Coolidge’s congressiona) district, was among the first to note these qualities, and he resolved to utilize the first opportunity to Project Mr. Coolidge into the na- tional political arena, By hard work and steady prog- ress Mr. Coolidge continued hia rise until he could be considered for high state office and then it was that Senator Crane and other lead- ers exerted their powers to have him nominated for the HMeutenant governorship. He was elected tn the first campaign won by the re publicans in Massachusetts for sev- eral years, due to the progressive party split, Thereafter it was but logical for him to succeed to the governorship, an office which he held for two terms and which he left for the vice-presidency. The dramatic events of the Bos- ton police strike, in which the gow ernor took a firm and unyielding stand for lew and order, focussed upon him in 1919 national attention and made of him almost over night a national figure. For a while he was talked of prominently as a Presidential possibility, As vice-president he became « regular attendant at the president's cabinet meetings, a custom estab- Ushed for the first time in his case, Mr. Coolidge married Miss Grace Goodhue, whom he first met in Northampton as a teacher, in 1905, and they have two sons. ae oes MRS. HARDING ‘ATTENDED BY NIGHT NURSE SAN FRANCISOO, Aug. 8—Mrs. Harding, though bearing up well un- der her grievous loss, had the ser- vices of a nurse throughout the last night. Wives of cabinet officers who 7 ‘Whatever his other attainments, Mr. Harding’s greatest pride was in his professional accomplishments and training as printer, editor and publisher. Nor did the interest and exacting duties of his high of- tloe serve to dull his delight in put- tering about a composing room. On his first trip back home after his inauguration, he went to the Star office, pulled off his coat, rolled up hiy sleeves, borrowed a chew of to- bacco and helped “make up” the His luck charm was a print- ers rule, carried always in a vest Docket. As his ambition had carried him into the ranks of publishers, so his fancy took him inte the realms of politics, From the first he was an ardent partisan and his insistence upon wearing a “stove pips hat’ was the badge of support of James G. Blaine, while a reporter on a Democratic newspaper brought him @ sharp reprimand from his chief, who held {t to be inconsistent for a worker on a democratic paper to #0 prominently display the symbol of republicanism. ‘The future president's ability as a stump speaker won his early recog- nition from his local party leaders, Marion county then was in the dem- ocratic column and he undertook to switch it to the Republican party, but his first effort at office on his party ticket resulted in @ defeat though he commanded an unex- pected vote. Mr, Harding's first political office was that of Ohio state senator, to which he was elect- ed at the age of 34. He served two terms end later waa elected lieuten- ant governor of his state. In 1910 he sought the governorship but was defeated. Four years later he was elected to the United States senate where he sorved six years, much of the time as a member of the important for- eign relations committee. From this place he was elevated to the presi. dency, the first senator to be elected chief executive. Early in his years of political ser- vice he met William McKinley, to whom his close friends have most likened him and with whom he had in common a predominant passion for obliteration of class and section- al lines. A friendship sprang up between the two men, Mr. Harding also was close in later days to Theo- dore Roosevelt, Senators Foraker and Penrose and others high in party counsels. ‘The president was a life long Bay- tigt and was a trustee of his home church tn Marion. He also had been a member of the Elks and Moose fraternities for years and after his election as president he became a 33nd degree Mason and a Shriner, Golf was his favorite recreation, but he also liked to fish, althou; his opportunities to that sport we! limited after he came to the White House. He played hard and pos- sensed the faculty of putting all his worrles behind him during his reo- reation hours. One of these today said the ageous help-mate of the late execu: \., tive had stood the strain well but had 4 had Uttle real rest, She emphasized, however, that Mrs. Harding was far from collapse or hysteria and had made no evidence of emotion beyond the expression of her grief, natural in the circumstances. Guard Instractor "yi Returns to Fort — CHEYENNE, Aug. 3.—Major Clyde V. Simpson, United States army, who has been instructor of the Wyoming National Guard during the last two years, has been relieved from duty here and ordered to Fort Leaven- worth for instruction. Captain Thomas of Lander, Wyoming, will succeed Ma jor Simpson as National Guard in structor for Wyoming. President Harding's Church journey to Washington. Calvin Codlidge, although by pro- fession a lawyer, entered the public wervice almost immediately upon leaving college. First elected a member of the city council of Northampton, Mass., the city which had been his home since he became a voter, he prog- ressed steadily upward through the offices of city solicitor, mayor, mem- bership in the house of representa- ttves and of the senate of Massa- chusetts, serving as president of the latter body, and then as a leu- tenant governor until elected gov- By Jewel Thieves NEW YORK, Aug. 3— Diamonds ‘The Trinity Baptist church on South M 10). ich President and Mrs, Harding attended during: thee log roms Ohio, wie thet ~ nd from which final burial services probably will be held, ee?! rom South America yesterday, it was ~