The Exchange A Lot to Swallow

William Jennings Bryan was the famous lawyer who died as a result of overeating after he had lost an important case. Four readers agreed on this answer to Mrs. Howi son's question ("The Exchange," Fall 1970). Reba Smellage of the Library Division of the Special Services Agency recalls that in Inherit the Wind Bryan was depicted as dying follow ing a heavy meal. Anthony Shipps from Indi ana University Libraries quotes Clarence Dar row in The Story of My Life as saying that Bryan died "from indigestion caused by over eating." J. Myron Jacobstein, law librarian and professor of law at Stanford, also referred to Darrow and added that any of the many books on the Scopes trial would document this fact. Walter C. Allen, assistant profes sor in the Graduate School of Library Science at the University of Illinois, added a further note explaining that "shortly after the trial Bryan ate an incredible Sunday dinner in the midst of a summer heat wave, and died that afternoon of a heart attack."