"FROM A SEVERE COLD & OVERWORKED CONDITION"

SAMUEL GOMPERS REPORTED DEAD

El Paso, Texas (JFK+50) On December 11, 1924, the death of the president of the American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers, was reported by The Evening Star.

The source of the famed labor leader's passing was a dispatch to El Internacional, a Spanish language daily published here in El Paso.

Cause of death was given as the result of a "severe cold and...overworked condition."  He also had a "heart condition" which had been aggravated by being in "high altitude."

Mr. Gompers had been in Mexico City attending the Pan-American Labor Conference when he became severely ill on December 6.  He had requested to be taken back into the United States to die.

He was 74 years old.

JFK+50 NOTE

Samuel Gompers actually died on December 13, 1924.  The front-page story citing his death published in The Evening Star on December 11, 1924 was obviously premature although the headline does describe the death as a "report."

Apparently the source of the story, El Internacional, is now a popular bar in downtown El Paso.

*Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) was born in London, England & emigrated to the United States where he founded the AFL & served as president 1886-1894, 1895-1924.  

SG promoted collective bargaining between workers & employers & secured higher wages & shorter hours for members of the AFL. 

SOURCE

"Gompers Expires On Train Speeding To U.S., Is Report," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., December 11, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Samuel Gompers

Photo by James E. Purdy

Library of Congress

"TO SHOW GENUINE PEACE EXISTS THROUGHOUT MEXICO"

MEXICAN MAN & AMERICAN WIFE WALK FROM WASHINGTON D.C. TO MEXICO CITY

Mexico City (JFK+50) On September 9, 1924, The Chicago Daily-News reports the arrival here in Mexico City of Valetin Ovando, a Mexican, and his American wife "after having walked...from Washington, D.C."

The couple left Washington on March 15 and received thousands of good-will messages along the way to Mexico City.

The Daily-News says that the couple's intent in making the walk was "to show the American people that genuine peace existed throughout Mexico."

SOURCE

"Man and Wife Walk From D.C. To Mexico," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 9, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Flag of Mexico

Photo by Jorge Mendoza

2008