Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of Other Than Natural Causes While in Office

Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of Other Than Natural Causes While in Office

Order Code 98-735 GOV
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of
Other Than Natural Causes While in Office
Updated March 13, 2002
Mildred Amer
Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of
Other Than Natural Causes While in Office
Summary
This report provides an alphabetical list of the 60 Members of Congress who
have died of other than natural causes while serving in the U.S. House of
Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Each entry includes party affiliation, the name
of the state that the Member represented, dates of service, chamber in which the
Member served, and cause of death.
The report does not presume to be a complete list of Members who have died
from other than natural causes while in office. CRS relied exclusively on available
sources, and the report reflects only the extent to which they indicated the cause of
a Member's death.

Contents
List of Tables
Table 1. Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of
Other Than Natural Causes While in Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Table 1. Members of the U.S. Congress Who Have Died of
Other Than Natural Causes While in Office
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
ANDERSON, Carl Carey
D
OH
03/04/1909- 10/01/1912
House
Died in an automobile accident near
Fostoria, OH on 10/01/1912.
BAKER, Edward Dickinson
R
IL
03/04/1845-01/15/1847
House
Killed in the Battle of Balls Bluff, VA on
03/04/1849-03/03/1851
10/21/1861.
R
OR
10/21/1860-10/21/1861
Senate
BATES, George Joseph
R
MA
01/03/1937-11/01/1949
House
Died in an airplane accident at Washington
National Airport on 11/01/1949.
BEGICH, Nicholas
D
AL
01/03/1971-10/16/1972
House
Died in a plane crash in the Alaskan
wilderness on 10/16/1972.
BOGGS, Thomas Hale
D
LA
01/03/1941-01/03/1943
House
Died in a plane crash in the Alaskan
01/03/1947-10/16/1972
wilderness on 10/16/1972.
BONO, Sonny
R
CA
01/03/1995-01/05/1998
House
Died in a skiing accident at Lake Tahoe,
NV on 01/05/1998.
BOYLE, Charles Augustus
D
IL
01/03/1955-11/04/1959
House
Died in an automobile accident in Chicago,
IL on 11/04/1959.
BRANDEGEE, Frank B.
R
CT
11/05/1902-05/10/1905
House
Committed suicide in Washington, DC on
05/10/1905-10/14/1924
Senate
10/14/1924.
BRODERICK, David Colbreth
D
CA
03/04/1857-09/16/1859
Senate
Mortally wounded by David S. Terry,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
California, in a duel in San Francisco on
09/13/1859 and died on 09/16/1859.
BYRON, William Devereux
D
MD
01/03/1939-02/27/1941
House
Died in an airplane crash in Jonesboro, GA
on 02/27/1941.

CRS-2
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
CHAPMAN, Virgil Mundy
D
KY
03/04/1925-03/03/1929
House
Died from injuries received in an
03/04/1931-01/03/1949
automobile accident in Bethesda, MD on
01/03/1949-03/08/1951
Senate
03/08/1951.
CHICKERING, Charles Addison
R
NY
03/04/1893- 02/13/1900
House
Died from injuries received in an accidental
fall from a window of the Grand Union
Hotel in New York City on 02/13/1900.
CILLEY, Johnathan
Db
ME
03/04/1837-02/24/1838
House
Killed in a duel on the Marlboro Pike, near
Washington, DC by William J. Graves, a
Representative from Kentucky on
02/24/1838.
CLARKE, John Davenport
R
NY
03/04/1921-03/03/1925
House
Died as a result of an automobile
03/04/1927-11/05/1933
collision near Delhi, NY on 11/05/1933.
COFFEY, Robert Lewis, Jr.
D
PA
01/03/1949-04/20/1949
House
Died in an a i r p l a n e a c c i d e n t i n
Albuquerque, NM on 04/20/1949.
COLLINS, George W.
D
IL
11/03/1970-12/08/1972
House
Died in an airplane crash in Chicago, IL on
12/08/1972.
CUTTING, Bronson Murray
R
NM
12/29/1927-12/06/1928
Senate
Died in an airplane crash near Atlanta,
03/04/1929-05/06/1935
MO on 05/06/1935.
DITTER, John William
R
PA
03/04/1933-11/21/1943
House
Died in an airplane crash near Columbia,
PA on 11/21/1943.
EAST, John P.
R
NC
01/03/1981-06/29/1986
Senate
Committed suicide in Greenville, NC on
06/29/1986.
ELLIOTT, Douglas
R
PA
04/26/1960-06/19/1960
House
Committed suicide in Horse Valley, PA on
06/19/1960.

CRS-3
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
ERVIN, Joseph W.
D
NC
01/03/1945-12/25/1945
House
Committed suicide in Washington, DC on
12/25/1945.
FOLGER, Alonzo Dillard
D
NC
01/03/1939-04/30/1941
House
Died in an automobile accident in Mount
Airy, NC on 04/30/1941.
GANLY, James Vincent
D
NY
03/04/1919-03/03/1921
House
Died in an automobile accident in New
03/04/1923-09/07/1923
York City on 09/07/1923.
HAMILTON, Cornelius Springer
R
OH
03/04/1867-12/22/1867
House
Killed by an insane son in Marysville, OH
on 12/22/1867.
HEINKE, George Henry
R
NE
01/03/1939-01/02/1940
House
Died as a result of injuries received in an
automobile accident near Morrilton, AR
while en route to Washington DC to attend
the opening of the 3rd session of the 76th
Congress on 01/02/1940.
HEINZ, H. John III
R
PA
11/02/1971-01/03/1977
House
Died in a mid-air collision between his
01/03/1977-04/04/1991
Senate
charter plane and a helicopter over a
suburban Philadelphia schoolyard on
04/04/1991.
HINDS, James
R
AR
06/22/1868-10/22/1868
House
Assassinated near Indian Bays, AR on
10/22/1868.
HUNT, Lester C.
D
WY
01/03/1949-06/19/1954
Senate
Committed suicide in Washington, DC on
06/19/1954.
HUSTING, Paul Oscar
D
WI
03/04/1915-10/21/1917
Senate
Died accidentally while duck hunting on
Rush Lake, near Picketts, WI on
10/21/1917.
JOHNSTON, Charles Clement
Dc
VA
03/04/1831-06/17/1832
House
Drowned near one of the docks in
Alexandria, VA on 06/17/1832.

CRS-4
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
JOHNSTON, Josiah Stoddard
D
LA
03/04/1821-03/03/1823
House
Killed by an explosion on the steamboat
01/15/1824-05/19/1833
Senate
Lioness on the Red River in Louisiana on
05/19/1833.
KAYNOR, William Kirk
R
MA
03/04/1929-12/20/1929
House
Died in an airplane accident near
Washington, DC on 12/20/1929.
KENDALL, Samuel A.
R
PA
03/04/1919-01/08/1933
House
Committed suicide in his office in the
House Office Building on 01/08/1933
KENNEDY, Robert F.
D
NY
03/03/1965-06/06/1968
Senate
Assassinated in Los Angeles, CA on
06/06/1968.
KINNARD, George L.
D
IN
03/04/1833-11/26/1836
House
Died from injuries received in an explosion
on the steamer Flora on the Ohio River on
11/26/1836.
LANE, James H.
D
IN
03/04/1853-03/03/1855
House
Committed suicide near Ft. Leavenworth,
R
KS
04/04/1861-07/11/1866
Senate
KS on 07/11/1866.
LANHAM, Henderson Lovelace
D
GA
01/03/1947-11/10/1957
House
Killed when his automobile collided with a
train at a crossing in Rome, GA on
11/10/1957.
LELAND, George T. (Mickey)
D
TX
01/03/1979-08/07/1989
House
Died in a plane crash on 08/07/1989 in
Ethiopia while on a fact-finding tour to
study hunger among refugees.
LITTON, Jerry
D
MO
03/03/1973-08/03/1976
House
Died in a plane crash en route to Kansas
City, MO on 08/03/1976, on the night of
his victory in the 1976 state Democratic
primary.

CRS-5
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
LONG, Huey Pierce
D
LA
01/25/1932-09/10/1935
Senate
Assassinated in the State Capitol Building,
Baton Rouge, LA on 09/08/1935; died on
09/10/1935.
LUNDEEN, Ernest
Rd
MN
03/04/1917-03/03/1919
House
Died in an airplane crash near
03/04/1933-01/03/1937
Lovettsville, VA on 08/31/1940.
01/03/1937-08/31/1940
Senate
McCORMICK, Joseph Medill
R
IL
03/04/1917-03/03/1919
House
Committed suicide in Washington, DC on
03/04/1919-02/25/1925
Senate
02/25/1925e
McDONALD, Larry
D
GA
01/03/1975-09/01/1983
House
Died in crash of Korean Airlines flight shot
down by a Russian fighter plane on
09/01/1983.
MILLER, Clement Woodnutt
D
CA
01/03/1959-10/07/1962
House
Died in an airplane crash near Eureka, CA
on 10/07/1962.
MILLS, William
R
MD
05/27/1971-05/24/1973
House
Committed suicide near Easton, MD on
05/24/1973.
MONTGOMERY, John Gallagher
D
PA
03/04/1857-04/24/1857
House
Died on 04/24/1857, presumably from the
effects of food poisoning contracted while
staying at the National Hotel in
Washington, DC.
MURPHY, Richard Louis
D
IA
03/04/1933-07/16/1936
Senate
Died in an automobile accident near
Chippewa Falls, WI on 07/16/1936.
PETTIS, Jerry L.
R
CA
01/03/1967-02/14/1975
House
Died in a plane crash in San Bernadino,
CA on 02/14/1975.

CRS-6
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
PETTIS, Spencer Darwin
D
MO
03/04/1829-08/28/1831
House
During the campaign of 1830, his opinions
on the U.S. Bank issue precipitated a
quarrel and subsequently a duel with Major
Thomas Biddle, and both fell mortally
wounded on 08/28/1831.
PINCKNEY, John McPherson
D
TX
11/17/1903-04/24/1905
House
Assaulted and killed at Hempstead, TX on
04/24/1905.
QUITMAN, John Anthony
D
MS
03/04/1855-07/17/1858
House
Died on 07/17/1858, presumably from the
effects of food poisoning contracted in
1857 while staying at the National Hotel in
Washington, DC.
RYAN, Leo J.
D
CA
01/03/1973-11/18/1978
House
Died from gunshot wounds received while
visiting an American religious commune in
Guyana, South America on 11/18/1978.
SCHALL, Thomas David
R
MN
03/04/1915-03/03/1925
House
Died after being struck by an automobile
03/04/1925-12/22/1935
Senate
in Washington, DC on 12/22/1935.
SMITH, Larkin
R
MS
01/03/1989-08/13/1989
House
Died in a plane crash in the DeSoto
National Forest, MS on 08/13/1989.
STERLING, John Allen
R
IL
03/04/1903-03/03/1913
House
Died as a result of an automobile accident
03/04/1915-10/17/1918
near Pontiac, IL on 10/17/1918.
SULLIVAN, Timothy Daniel
D
NY
03/04/1903-07/27/1906
House
Killed by a locomotive near Pelham
03/04/1913-08/31/1913
Parkway, NY on 08/31/1913.
THOMPSON, Theo Ashton
D
LA
01/03/1953-07/01/1965
House
Died in an automobile accident in Gastonia,
NC on 07/01/1965.
WEDEMEYER, William Walter
R
MI
03/04/1911-01/02/1913
House
Accidentally drowned in the harbor of
Colon, Panama on 01/02/1913.

CRS-7
Member
Party
State
Dates of Servicea
Chamber
Cause of Death and Date of Death
WICKLIFFE, Robert Charles
D
LA
03/04/1909-06/11/1912
House
Killed by a train while walking on a
railroad track in Washington, DC on
06/11/1912.
ZIONCHECK, Marion
D
WA
03/04/1933-08/07/1936
House
Jumped from an office building in Seattle,
WA on 08/07/1936.
Sources: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1998;
various editions of Weekly Reports, published by Congressional Quarterly, Inc.; and various newspaper articles.
a. Note that the date of the Member's death is the same as the last date of his service.
b. Rep. Cilley was a Jacksonian Democrat.
c. Rep. Johnston was a States Rights Democrat.
d. Rep., later Sen. Lundeen, was a member of the Farmer Labor Party when elected to the House in 1933 and the Senate in 1937.
e. Sen. McCormick's death was initially not ruled a suicide. See Kristie Miller, Ruth Hanna McCormick, A Life in Politics 1880-1944 (Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1992), p. 151.