(2 of 2)
Died. Luke O'Connor, 65, of Brooklyn, N. Y., onetime Greenwich Village saloonkeeper; in Brooklyn. In the '90s Saloonkeeper O'Connor gave a job as handyman to a pauperish youth who for two months polished the brass rail and cleaned the cuspidors. The handyman became Poet John Masefield.
Died. Edwin Denby, 58, of Detroit, Mich., onetime Secretary of the Navy (1921-24); of heart disease; in Detroit. Mr. Denby was born in Evansville, Ind. As a boy he went to the Orient with his father, Charles Denby, onetime U. S. Minister to China. There he worked with the Chinese Customs Service. Returning to the U. S., he became a famed University of Michigan footballer, practiced law in Detroit, served in the Navy during the Spanish-American War, became U. S. Representative from Michigan, entered the automobile business (Denby trucks). He enlisted as a Marine private in the World War, saying: "Someone must enlist in the ranks. We can't all be officers." He became, however, a Major. As Secretary of the Navy he was implicated by rumor in the Fall-Doheny oil scandal. In 1924 the Senate passed a resolution that the President "immediately request the resignation" of Mr. Denby. This President Coolidge refused to do, but Mr. Denby resigned a week later. No evidence was ever found against him. The Supreme Court held that "he took no active part in the negotiations and that Fall, acting collusively with Doheny, dominated the making of the contracts and leases."
Died. Sidi Mohammed el Habib, 71, Bey of Tunis; in Tunis. His successor is his nephew, Sidi Ahmed.
Died. The Rev. Frederick Taylor Gates, 75, of Montclair, N. J., longtime (1893-1912) business and benevolent representative of John Davison Rockefeller, chairman of the board of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Baptist clergyman; of pneumonia and acute appendicitis in Phoenix, Ariz.
Died. Jim Connell, 76, of London. English Socialist leader; in Lewisham, England. His biography in the British Who's Who includes: "Education: under a hedge for a few weeks. Has been a sheep farmer, dock labourer, navvy, railway man, draper, journalist, lawyer (of a sort); and all the time a poacher. Publications: The Red Flag and many other Socialist songs and poems . . . The Horse and How to Treat Him . . . The Confessions of a Poacher. Recreation: poaching."