The sitting Speaker of the House dies after a long illness
Speaker Michael Crawford Kerr of Indiana dies of cancer at the Rockbridge Alum Springs health retreat in Virginia four days after the end of the first session of the 44th Congress. He will be buried in New Albany, Indiana. At the beginning of the second session the the Congress in December, the House will elect another Democrat, Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania to fill the Speaker's chair. (By John Osborne)