Campaign button, 1908, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

COWHERD, William Strother, a Representative from Missouri; born near Lees Summit, Jackson County, Mo., September 1, 1860; attended the public schools in the town of Lees Summit and was graduated from the literary department of the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1881 and from the law department of the same institution in 1882; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Kansas City, Mo.; appointed assistant prosecuting attorney of Jackson County in 1885, and served four years; appointed first assistant city counselor of Kansas City in 1890; mayor of Kansas City in 1892; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1905); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Kansas City, Mo.; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1908; moved to Pasadena, Calif., and continued the practice of his profession; died in Pasadena June 20, 1915; interment in Lees Summit Cemetery, near Lees Summit, Mo.