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When the curate of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Bridgeport, had administered the sacrament of extreme unction, John T. King, 51, formerly Republican National Committeeman from Connecticut, sank overcome by six days' illness with pneumonia and died. His death closed a strange career. In youth he studied Latin and philosophy to become a priest, but instead became a $7-a-week bookkeeper for an undertaker. He became a bond salesman and learned the art of lobbying in the Connecticut legislature, getting his bonds made nontaxable. He became a power in Connecticut politics, a great friend of Boss (Senator) Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania, and had been chosen by Theodore Roosevelt as his political manager for the campaign of 1920. After Roosevelt's death, he managed General Wood's campaign for a time before he fell out with the Wood supporters. He finally went to Chicago as an anti-Wood man and did much to block Wood's nomination. But the rest of the Connecticut delegation was for Wood, and the incident cost King his place as National Committeeman. His last appearance in the public eye was when he was indicted three weeks ago with Harry Micajah Daugherty and Thomas W. Miller for conspiracy in securing the payment of $7,000,000 to a Swiss corporation by the Alien Property Custodian -- as a reward for which they were supposed to have received $441,000 (TIME, May 17). Dying, the former undertaker's clerk, left besides his family, the history of a unique career, a home in Bridgeport and another on Park Avenue.