William U. McCabe (1880 – May 5, 1931) was an attorney and politician from Mountain Home, Arkansas. He served in the Arkansas Senate from 1921 to 1924, and the Arkansas House of Representatives from January 1931 until his assassination on May 6, 1931. McCabe worked to reform the Arkansas Constitution and state highway funding system during a period of good government reforms in the state.
Career
McCabe entered government by serving in the 1918 constitutional convention to replace the 1874 Arkansas Constitution. The proposed constitution included women's suffrage, but was not ratified.[1]
Throughout his political career, McCabe fought to increase highway funding for small, rural counties like Baxter County. He introduced bills in 1924[2] and 1931.
House of Representatives
During the 48th Arkansas General Assembly, McCabe authored a bill proposing a constitutional convention to reorganize the state government.[3] Proposed during the peak of the good government movement, McCabe's bill echoed many of the retrenchments proposed by Governor Harvey Parnell.
Death
McCabe was shot in his hotel room early in the morning of March 12, 1931. With a bullet embedded in his heart, McCabe recovered sufficiently to return to Mountain Home, but succumbed to pneumonia at a Little Rock hospital on May 6, 1931.[4] Another hotel guest, H.G. Lansdale, a traveling salesman from Atlanta, Georgia, was charged with murder after a pistol was found in his room. The two men had both complained to a hotel clerk about noise.[5] Lansdale was later acquitted by a jury on June 20.[6]
References
- ^ Goss, Kay C. (December 28, 2017). "Arkansas Constitutions". Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Staff of the Fayetteville Daily Democrat (June 24, 1924). "Flood of Bills Marks Opening of Special Session". Fayetteville Daily Democrat. Vol. 30, no. 184. Fayetteville: Democrat Publishing Company. p. 1. OCLC 18126013 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
- ^ Dorris, Henry N. (January 24, 1931). "Legislative Sidelights". Hope Star. Vol. 32, no. 84. Hope: Star Publishing Company. p. 1. OCLC 23187909 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
- ^ Staff of the Fayetteville Daily Democrat (May 6, 1931). "W.U. M'Cabe Succumbs in Little Rock". Fayetteville Daily Democrat. Vol. 37, no. 55. Fayetteville: Democrat Publishing Company. pp. 1, 4. OCLC 18126013 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
- ^ Staff of the Fayetteville Daily Democrat (June 19, 1931). "Solon Death Case Starts". Fayetteville Daily Democrat. Vol. 37, no. 179. Fayetteville: Democrat Publishing Company. p. 1. OCLC 18126013 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
- ^ Staff of the Fayetteville Daily Democrat (June 20, 1931). "Salesman Free of Blame for M'Cabe Murder". Fayetteville Daily Democrat. Vol. 37, no. 180. Fayetteville: Democrat Publishing Company. p. 1. OCLC 18126013 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.