In this classic 1910 photograph, New York City Mayor William J. Gaynor, a Tammany reformer, had just been wounded in an assassination attempt by a disgruntled former city employee who’d lost his job. Gaynor was headed on a vacation cruise when the bullet entered his throat. He survived the attempt on his life, but oddly enough, in 1913, when Gaynor was finally able to take that cruise, he died quietly in a deck chair. An excerpt from the September 13, 1913 New York Times article announcing the Mayor’s death:

“Mayor William J. Gaynor of New York died in his steamer chair on board the steamship Baltic early Wednesday afternoon when the liner was 400 miles off the Irish Coast. His death was due to a sudden heart attack. 

The news reached London a little before 4 P.M. to-day, coming by way of New York, and half an hour later a message was received from Liverpool saying that the White Star Line offices had been advised by wireless of his death.

In the evening a wireless dispatch from the Baltic was received from the Mayor’s son, Rufus Gaynor, describing his father’s death in these words:

‘My father, William J. Gaynor, died on board the White Star liner Baltic at seven minutes past 1 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. His death was due to heart failure, and he was seated in his chair when the end came.

‘The deck steward had been with the Mayor a few moments before his death and had taken his order for luncheon, the Mayor marking the menu to indicate the dishes he desired.

‘I was on the boat deck and went below at the lunch call to tell my father that his lunch was ready. He had been taking his meals in one of the staterooms, and he was seated in the chair apparently asleep. I shook him gently but he did not respond.

‘His trained nurse, who had been with him ten minutes previously, was summoned and the ship’s surgeon, Dr. Hopper, was called. The Mayor was given a hypodermic injection, and artificial respiration was resorted to, but it was quickly apparent that he was beyond any aid. An examination with a stethoscope showed that the heart was no longer beating. The body was taken in charge by the ship’s officers, embalmed and placed in a sealed casket.'”