J. McCan Davis, former clerk of the Illinois supreme court, candidate for congressman-at-large on the republican ticket in 1914, and prominent as a newspaper writer and correspondent, died suddenly of apoplexy at 7 o'clock last night at his home, 713 East Capitol avenue. He was in his forty-ninth year. Mr. Davis had just returned from a drive about the city with his wife. He complained of being ill and asked Mrs. Davis to call a physician. When Mrs. Davis returned from the telphone she found her husband on the floor, where he had slipped from the chair in which he was sitting. He died before medical aid reached the home. For six months Mr. Davis had not been well. Recently while on a passenger train between this city and Chicago, he suffered an injury which resulted in the loss of the sight of his right eye. The blade of a pair of manicure scissors, with which he was trimming his eye lash, pierced the eye ball. It is believed that suffering resulting from the injury to his eye and the worry it occasioned was a contributing case to a weakened condition which Mr. Davis experienced in the last three weeks of his life.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Florence F. Davis; his father, M. L. Davis, of Peoria; two brothers, Dr. D. L. Davis of Omaha, Neb., and Joseph Davis of Glasgow, Ill., and two sisters, Mrs. Anna Hickey of St. Charles, Ill, and another married sister. Mrs. Davis was formerly Miss Florence Fowler Packard of Canton, Il.
Aside from his newspaper work, Mr. Davis was widely known as an authority on the life of Abraham Lincoln and was the author of a number of books on the subject. He was also author of "The Breaking of the Deadlock," a history of the famous deadlock convention of 1904, which resulted in the nomination of Charles S. Deneen as governor. Few men in the state possessed such a grasp of political conditions as did Mr. Davis. He was an authoriy on the history of Illinois politics and at one time began a book covering the ground, but it was never finished. As a writer his style was clear and incisive without useless verbiage. He had a nack of getting to the heart of things about which he wrote.
Mr. Davis served one term of six years, 1908-1914, as clerk of the Illinois supreme court. He was a republican. The last political campaign in which Mr. Davis engaged as a candidate was his race for the place as congressman-at-large, in which he was defeated by Congressman W. Elza Williams of Pittsfield, who polled 1,783 votes more than Mr. Davis.
A good deal of Mr. Davis' life was spent in Springfield. He at one time managed and had a controlling interest in the old Springfield News, and was for a long time a member of the staff of the Illinois State Journal. For a number of years he was manager of the Springfield bureau of the Associated Press, and acted as correspondent for a number of metropolitan newspapers. Mr. Davis organized the Capitol Engraving company, since consolidated with Lawson & Shores Engraving company. He published in this city "The Illinois Statesman," and at one time issued a pamphlet called the American Associated Newspapers.
J. McCan Davis was born in Fulton county, Nov. 19, 1866, and obtained his early educaton in the public schools. Early in life he developed a taste for journalism and began contributing to the newspapers. When yet a boy he applied himself to a study of shorthand and was able to report speeches. Before he was nineteen years of age he taught school, but gave it up to become editor of a weekly paper at Canton, Ill. During this time he acted as court stenographer. From this field he went to become managing editor of a daily paper at Council Bluffs, Ia. In the fall of 1888, Mr. Davis came to Springfield and associated himself with the Illinois State Journal. Between the years 1895 to 1899 he practiced law in Springfield. In 1897 he was appointed secretary of the state board of administration and became an authority on industrial conciliation and arbitration. In 1900 he was called before the United States industrial commission for expert testimony and drafted the acts passed by the legislature in 1899 and 1901 amending the arbitration law.
Mr. Davis was a member of the American Bar assocation, the Illinois State Bar association, the National Press association, the Illinois Press association, the National Press club of Washington, D.C., the Hamilton club of Chicago and the Illinois State Historical association and others. IL State Register, Springfield, IL 5-12-1916
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Florence F. Davis; his father, M. L. Davis, of Peoria; two brothers, Dr. D. L. Davis of Omaha, Neb., and Joseph Davis of Glasgow, Ill., and two sisters, Mrs. Anna Hickey of St. Charles, Ill, and another married sister. Mrs. Davis was formerly Miss Florence Fowler Packard of Canton, Il.
Aside from his newspaper work, Mr. Davis was widely known as an authority on the life of Abraham Lincoln and was the author of a number of books on the subject. He was also author of "The Breaking of the Deadlock," a history of the famous deadlock convention of 1904, which resulted in the nomination of Charles S. Deneen as governor. Few men in the state possessed such a grasp of political conditions as did Mr. Davis. He was an authoriy on the history of Illinois politics and at one time began a book covering the ground, but it was never finished. As a writer his style was clear and incisive without useless verbiage. He had a nack of getting to the heart of things about which he wrote.
Mr. Davis served one term of six years, 1908-1914, as clerk of the Illinois supreme court. He was a republican. The last political campaign in which Mr. Davis engaged as a candidate was his race for the place as congressman-at-large, in which he was defeated by Congressman W. Elza Williams of Pittsfield, who polled 1,783 votes more than Mr. Davis.
A good deal of Mr. Davis' life was spent in Springfield. He at one time managed and had a controlling interest in the old Springfield News, and was for a long time a member of the staff of the Illinois State Journal. For a number of years he was manager of the Springfield bureau of the Associated Press, and acted as correspondent for a number of metropolitan newspapers. Mr. Davis organized the Capitol Engraving company, since consolidated with Lawson & Shores Engraving company. He published in this city "The Illinois Statesman," and at one time issued a pamphlet called the American Associated Newspapers.
J. McCan Davis was born in Fulton county, Nov. 19, 1866, and obtained his early educaton in the public schools. Early in life he developed a taste for journalism and began contributing to the newspapers. When yet a boy he applied himself to a study of shorthand and was able to report speeches. Before he was nineteen years of age he taught school, but gave it up to become editor of a weekly paper at Canton, Ill. During this time he acted as court stenographer. From this field he went to become managing editor of a daily paper at Council Bluffs, Ia. In the fall of 1888, Mr. Davis came to Springfield and associated himself with the Illinois State Journal. Between the years 1895 to 1899 he practiced law in Springfield. In 1897 he was appointed secretary of the state board of administration and became an authority on industrial conciliation and arbitration. In 1900 he was called before the United States industrial commission for expert testimony and drafted the acts passed by the legislature in 1899 and 1901 amending the arbitration law.
Mr. Davis was a member of the American Bar assocation, the Illinois State Bar association, the National Press association, the Illinois Press association, the National Press club of Washington, D.C., the Hamilton club of Chicago and the Illinois State Historical association and others. IL State Register, Springfield, IL 5-12-1916
J. McCan Davis, former clerk of the Illinois supreme court, candidate for congressman-at-large on the republican ticket in 1914, and prominent as a newspaper writer and correspondent, died suddenly of apoplexy at 7 o'clock last night at his home, 713 East Capitol avenue. He was in his forty-ninth year. Mr. Davis had just returned from a drive about the city with his wife. He complained of being ill and asked Mrs. Davis to call a physician. When Mrs. Davis returned from the telphone she found her husband on the floor, where he had slipped from the chair in which he was sitting. He died before medical aid reached the home. For six months Mr. Davis had not been well. Recently while on a passenger train between this city and Chicago, he suffered an injury which resulted in the loss of the sight of his right eye. The blade of a pair of manicure scissors, with which he was trimming his eye lash, pierced the eye ball. It is believed that suffering resulting from the injury to his eye and the worry it occasioned was a contributing case to a weakened condition which Mr. Davis experienced in the last three weeks of his life.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Florence F. Davis; his father, M. L. Davis, of Peoria; two brothers, Dr. D. L. Davis of Omaha, Neb., and Joseph Davis of Glasgow, Ill., and two sisters, Mrs. Anna Hickey of St. Charles, Ill, and another married sister. Mrs. Davis was formerly Miss Florence Fowler Packard of Canton, Il.
Aside from his newspaper work, Mr. Davis was widely known as an authority on the life of Abraham Lincoln and was the author of a number of books on the subject. He was also author of "The Breaking of the Deadlock," a history of the famous deadlock convention of 1904, which resulted in the nomination of Charles S. Deneen as governor. Few men in the state possessed such a grasp of political conditions as did Mr. Davis. He was an authoriy on the history of Illinois politics and at one time began a book covering the ground, but it was never finished. As a writer his style was clear and incisive without useless verbiage. He had a nack of getting to the heart of things about which he wrote.
Mr. Davis served one term of six years, 1908-1914, as clerk of the Illinois supreme court. He was a republican. The last political campaign in which Mr. Davis engaged as a candidate was his race for the place as congressman-at-large, in which he was defeated by Congressman W. Elza Williams of Pittsfield, who polled 1,783 votes more than Mr. Davis.
A good deal of Mr. Davis' life was spent in Springfield. He at one time managed and had a controlling interest in the old Springfield News, and was for a long time a member of the staff of the Illinois State Journal. For a number of years he was manager of the Springfield bureau of the Associated Press, and acted as correspondent for a number of metropolitan newspapers. Mr. Davis organized the Capitol Engraving company, since consolidated with Lawson & Shores Engraving company. He published in this city "The Illinois Statesman," and at one time issued a pamphlet called the American Associated Newspapers.
J. McCan Davis was born in Fulton county, Nov. 19, 1866, and obtained his early educaton in the public schools. Early in life he developed a taste for journalism and began contributing to the newspapers. When yet a boy he applied himself to a study of shorthand and was able to report speeches. Before he was nineteen years of age he taught school, but gave it up to become editor of a weekly paper at Canton, Ill. During this time he acted as court stenographer. From this field he went to become managing editor of a daily paper at Council Bluffs, Ia. In the fall of 1888, Mr. Davis came to Springfield and associated himself with the Illinois State Journal. Between the years 1895 to 1899 he practiced law in Springfield. In 1897 he was appointed secretary of the state board of administration and became an authority on industrial conciliation and arbitration. In 1900 he was called before the United States industrial commission for expert testimony and drafted the acts passed by the legislature in 1899 and 1901 amending the arbitration law.
Mr. Davis was a member of the American Bar assocation, the Illinois State Bar association, the National Press association, the Illinois Press association, the National Press club of Washington, D.C., the Hamilton club of Chicago and the Illinois State Historical association and others. IL State Register, Springfield, IL 5-12-1916
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Florence F. Davis; his father, M. L. Davis, of Peoria; two brothers, Dr. D. L. Davis of Omaha, Neb., and Joseph Davis of Glasgow, Ill., and two sisters, Mrs. Anna Hickey of St. Charles, Ill, and another married sister. Mrs. Davis was formerly Miss Florence Fowler Packard of Canton, Il.
Aside from his newspaper work, Mr. Davis was widely known as an authority on the life of Abraham Lincoln and was the author of a number of books on the subject. He was also author of "The Breaking of the Deadlock," a history of the famous deadlock convention of 1904, which resulted in the nomination of Charles S. Deneen as governor. Few men in the state possessed such a grasp of political conditions as did Mr. Davis. He was an authoriy on the history of Illinois politics and at one time began a book covering the ground, but it was never finished. As a writer his style was clear and incisive without useless verbiage. He had a nack of getting to the heart of things about which he wrote.
Mr. Davis served one term of six years, 1908-1914, as clerk of the Illinois supreme court. He was a republican. The last political campaign in which Mr. Davis engaged as a candidate was his race for the place as congressman-at-large, in which he was defeated by Congressman W. Elza Williams of Pittsfield, who polled 1,783 votes more than Mr. Davis.
A good deal of Mr. Davis' life was spent in Springfield. He at one time managed and had a controlling interest in the old Springfield News, and was for a long time a member of the staff of the Illinois State Journal. For a number of years he was manager of the Springfield bureau of the Associated Press, and acted as correspondent for a number of metropolitan newspapers. Mr. Davis organized the Capitol Engraving company, since consolidated with Lawson & Shores Engraving company. He published in this city "The Illinois Statesman," and at one time issued a pamphlet called the American Associated Newspapers.
J. McCan Davis was born in Fulton county, Nov. 19, 1866, and obtained his early educaton in the public schools. Early in life he developed a taste for journalism and began contributing to the newspapers. When yet a boy he applied himself to a study of shorthand and was able to report speeches. Before he was nineteen years of age he taught school, but gave it up to become editor of a weekly paper at Canton, Ill. During this time he acted as court stenographer. From this field he went to become managing editor of a daily paper at Council Bluffs, Ia. In the fall of 1888, Mr. Davis came to Springfield and associated himself with the Illinois State Journal. Between the years 1895 to 1899 he practiced law in Springfield. In 1897 he was appointed secretary of the state board of administration and became an authority on industrial conciliation and arbitration. In 1900 he was called before the United States industrial commission for expert testimony and drafted the acts passed by the legislature in 1899 and 1901 amending the arbitration law.
Mr. Davis was a member of the American Bar assocation, the Illinois State Bar association, the National Press association, the Illinois Press association, the National Press club of Washington, D.C., the Hamilton club of Chicago and the Illinois State Historical association and others. IL State Register, Springfield, IL 5-12-1916
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