Maurice E. Crumpacker

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Maurice E. Crumpacker
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oregon's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1925 – July 24, 1927
Preceded by Elton Watkins
Succeeded by Franklin F. Korell
Born December 19, 1886
Valparaiso, Indiana
Died July 24, 1927 (aged 40)
San Francisco, California
Political party Republican
Spouse Cully Cook Crumpacker

Maurice Edgar Crumpacker (December 19, 1886 – July 24, 1927) was a Republican U.S. congressman from Oregon.

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[edit] Early life

Crumpacker was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1886, where he attended the public schools until his father, Edgar Dean Crumpacker, was elected to the United States House of Representatives when Maurice was 10 years old.[1] (Crumpacker's cousin, Shepard J. Crumpacker, Jr., would also serve in the House of Representatives representing Indiana.[1])

The younger Crumpacker completed his primary education in Washington, D.C., then returned to Indiana, where he graduated from the Culver Military Academy in 1905.[1] Crumpacker attended the University of Michigan, where he was starting right tackle for the Michigan Wolverines football team in his senior year.[2]

After graduating from Michigan in 1909, Crumpacker studied law at Harvard University School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1912.[1]

[edit] Move to Oregon

Crumpacker set up his law practice in Portland, Oregon in 1912.[1] In 1917, he was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, working in its Spruce Production Division and with the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen to supply lumber for military aircraft needed for World War I.[3] He was eventually promoted to captain of the division and was honorably discharged in 1918.[1]

[edit] Political career

In 1921, Crumpacker was appointed special deputy district attorney for Multnomah County, and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress in 1922.[1] In 1924, he won the nomination, and was elected representative for Oregon's 3rd congressional district. He was re-elected in 1926.[1]

[edit] Mysterious death

In July of 1927, Crumpacker was invited by House speaker Nicholas Longworth to journey down the west coast from Seattle in a special train car as the guest of a Northern Pacific Railroad director. Crumpacker, who was 6' 2" tall and weighed 200 pounds (1.88 m, 91 kg), was uncomfortable during the travel through California's hot Central Valley. The train arrived in San Francisco on July 22, with plans to travel on to Salinas and then to California Senator James D. Phelan's ranch the next day. But when it was time to depart, Crumpacker could not be found, and the party left without him.[4]

He was found later that day on a curb, acting strangely and claiming he had been poisoned.[5] He was eventually subdued, handcuffed, and taken to the hospital, where the evaluating physician noted that he appeared to be "under a great nervous strain" and showing "symptoms of a paranoiac."[4] Crumpacker eventually persuaded hospital officials to release him the next morning.

Word of Crumpacker's strange behavior had reached Thomas Smart, a Seattle newsman on vacation, and he agreed to accompany Crumpacker back home to Portland that night. But as Smart went for a walk with Crumpacker along San Francisco Bay, Crumpacker suddenly ran and jumped into the Bay. By the time Smart and others pulled him from the water, he was dead.[4] Crumpacker left several notes indicating that he believed he had been murdered by his friends.[4]

[edit] Legacy

The Maurice Crumpacker House in Portland's Dunthorpe neighborhood
The Maurice Crumpacker House in Portland's Dunthorpe neighborhood

Crumpacker's body was returned to Portland amid effusive praise for his service.[4] He was buried in River View Cemetery in Portland.[1] He left a wife, Cully Cook Crumpacker, and three sons, James, Edgar, and Peter.[6]

His Portland home, the Maurice Crumpacker House, was built by acclaimed Portland architect Wade Hampton Pipes and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[7]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  2. ^ University of Michigan Athletics History: 1908 Football team. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  3. ^ The Waking of a Military Town: Vancouver, Washington and the Vancouver National Historic Reserve, 1898-1920. Center for Columbia River History. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  4. ^ a b c d e Terry, John. "Rising star's death an enduring Oregon history mystery", The Oregonian, July 30, 2000, p. A24. 
  5. ^ "Milestones" (August 1, 1927). Time magazine. 
  6. ^ Maurice Crumpacker House. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  7. ^ National Register of Historic Places: Multnomah County, Oregon. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
Preceded by
Elton Watkins		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oregon's 3rd congressional district
March 4, 1925 – July 24, 1927		 Succeeded by
Franklin F. Korell