GOVERNOR CRITTENDEN
STRICKEN BY APOPLEXY.
FALLS FROM SEAT WHILE
WATCHING BALL GAME.
Age and General Ill Health Believed
by Doctors to Render Recovery
Problematical -- Has Not Re-
gained Consciousness.
As the result of a stroke of apoplexy which came upon him yesterday afternoon while watching a baseball game at Association park, former Governor Thomas T. Crittenden is lying at the point of death at his home, 3220 Flora avenue, with physicians in constant attendance.
Slight hope is entertained for Mr. Crittenden's recovery. His age and general ill health are said to be factors against his rallying. Though Mr. Crittenden had not regained consciousness up to a late hour last night, it was ascertained by the attending physicians, Ned O. Lewis and J. C. Rogers, that Mr. Crittenden's entire left side is completely paralyzed. The left side of his face is badly bruised where he struck the benches in front of him when he fell forward at the ball park.
Mr. Crittenden had been sitting in the grandstand near the third base line during the first of the two games which were played between Kansas City and St. Paul. Other spectators who were sitting near him said that he had not displayed any unusual excitement over the game and had been sitting rather quietly.
It was the beginning of the second inning of the second game when Mr. Crittenden was seen suddenly to fall forward and outward into the aisle.
CONDITION IS CRITICAL.
Thinking that Mr. Crittenden had but fainted, his immediate neighbors rushed to pick him up and placed him on the bench, where they attempted to revive him. Dr. Stanley Newhouse, the park physician, was hastily called from the press box, where he had been watching the game. He gave Mr. Crittenden prompt attention, but was unable to revive him.
Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., was summoned from the city hall. He was driven to the park in an automobile, and suggested that he drive his father home in the motor car. Dr. Newhouse advised an ambulance, and one from the Walnut street police station was summoned. Then Mr. Crittenden was taken to his home.
After a long consultation with Dr. Lewis and an examination of Mr. Crittenden, Dr. Rogers stated that while the patient was in a precarious condition and that he was critically ill, there was a little hope for his recovery.
"It all depends upon the size of the hemorrhage on the brain," said Dr. Rogers. "It appears that the hemorrhage is from a ruptured small blood vessel, but we do not know whether or not the flow had been stopped completely. Governor Crittenden has been in poor health for several months. That taken into consideration with the fact that this is the second attack, does not argue well for a speedy recovery."
Dr. Newhouse, who first attended Mr. Crittenden, is not so sanguine as Dr. Rogers. Dr. Lewis remained with his patient all night, and did not make a statement.
HIS SECOND SEIZURE.
Eighteen years ago, while Mr. Crittenden was a practicing lawyer, he had his first stroke of apoplexy. No ill effects resulted from the first stroke, other than to make him more susceptible to the second.
Mr. Crittenden has long been a baseball enthusiast and there have been few games this season, according to his son, that he has missed. It has been his chief recreation, and though his family feared for him to go alone to the games on account of his age and declining health, Mr. Crittenden persisted in doing so. Mayor Crittenden said last night that his family had feared some untoward incident as a probable result of his innocent recreation.
Dr. Newhouse stated last night that he believed the attack was caused from an overwrought nervous condition. He said that it occurred at a lull in the game and excitement, and was the result of a reaction upon the nerves, even though Mr. Crittenden had not appeared excited.
Mr. Crittenden in 77 years of age. He was born January 1, 1832, in Shelby county, Ky. His father was Henry Crittenden, a farmer, and the former governor was one of eight children. He received his education at Center college, Danville, Ky. Among his classmates were Judge John F. Philips of this city, who was by his bedside last night; W. P. C. Breckenridge, John Young Brown, and other noted men.
LAWYER AND SOLDIER.
Mr. Crittenden studied law at Frankfort. Soon after his marriage to Miss Carrie W. Jackson he moved to Lexington, Mo., where he first practiced law. There he remained until the civil war when he and Judge Philips raised a regiment of federal sondiers, and were engaged in the war for three years. Many of his battles were fought in Jackson county.
At the close of the war Mr. Crittenden formed a partnership with Francis M. Cockrell, afterward United States senator. During that time Mr. Crittenden was sent to congress from Missouri.
In 1878 Mr. Crittenden became governor of Missouri, and the four years of his administration were stormy ones. At the close of his term he moved to Kansas city, where, with the exception of four years, he has resided since. That exception is during the time he acted as consul general to Mexico under President Cleveland.
Mr. Crittenden has three sons, H. H., Mayor Thomas T., both of Kansas City, and William J. Crittenden of Pittsburg, Pa., now in Japan.
