Hon. Claude Kitchin Dead. . . Passed Away Yesterday Morning at Wilson—Burial This Afternoon at Scotland Neck
Scotland Neck, May 31—The body of Claude Kitchin, Congressman from the Second North Carolina district, and minority leader in the lower House of Congress, who died early today at Wilson, reached here late today and tonight lies in state at the Kitchin home.
Funeral services for the dead Congressman will be held at the Kitchin residence at 5 o’clock Friday afternoon, and the services will be conducted by Rev. Charles Anderson, pastor of the Baptist church here, of which Mr. Kitchin was a member for many years. He will be buried in the family plot in the Baptist cemetery, one mile from Scotland Neck, near the grave of his father, who also represented this district at one time in Congress.
Long before the remains arrived from Wilson, the streets were lined with citizens of Scotland Neck and Halifax. When the motor hearse bearing the remains of the former Democratic leader touched the city limits, church bells tolled and the throngs bared their heads as it passed on its way to the Kitchin home. Schools and business houses are closed out of respect of his memory.
A continuous stream of friends visited the Kitchin residence tonight to express sympathy to the bereaved family and to get a last glimpse of the man who had represented them in Congress for 23 years an who in that time became known as one of the country’s greatest statesmen. Messages of condolence were received by the family during the day from all parts of the world.
Mr. Kitchin suffered a breakdown in the spring of 1920, due it is generally conceded to the heavy strain under which he labored during the World War as chairman of the Ways and Means committee in Congress.
Since then he has spent most of his time visiting specialists and resting at home in an effort to regain his health. The country recognized him as a great man but the thing that stamped him a big man was a sincere love and esteem in which he was held by his intimates. They loved him as a brother and he them in the same way.
Congressman Kitchin was born in Halifax county, the son of William H. and Mary Arrington Kitchin, near Scotland Neck on March 24, 1869, making him 54 years old on his last birthday. He graduated at the age of 19 from Wake Forest College and was married to Miss Kate Mills, daughter of Prof. Luther R. ills of Wake Forest, on Nov. 13th of the same year. He was admitted to the bar in September of 18990 and had since been engaged in the practice of law at Scotland Neck when not in Congress.
He was elected to the 57th Congress in 1900, taking his seat in 1901, and has been returned to each successive Congress.
As one man this community grieves for him, for it has lost an honored citizen, a good neighbor and a loving neighbor as well as a distinguished statesman.
From page 5 of The Progress, Enfield, N.C., June 1, 1923
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