 A chief plank of Murphy's platform was the restoration, as an agricultural relief measure, of the legality of beer.Murphy served from March 4, 1933, until his death in an automobile accident near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, on July 16, 1936.He and his wife, Ellen, were returning to Dubuque from a week's vacation in Hayward, Wis., with Fred W. Woodward, publisher of the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, and his wife, Elsie, according to the Telegraph Herald (July 16, 1936).