Video: 'Schuyler Colfax - 17th U.S. Vice President'

(Tuesday, January 13, 1885, 10:35 a.m. CST) — Schuyler Colfax, the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873 during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, died heart attack brought on by extreme cold and exhaustion this morning inside a men’s waiting room at the Omaha Road depot in Mankato, Minnesota. He was 61.

Video: 'Artifact Alley: Schuyler Colfax'

An 1872–73 congressional investigation into the Crédit Mobilier scandal identified Colfax as one of several federal government officials who, in 1868, had accepted payments of cash and discounted stock from the Union Pacific Railroad in exchange for favorable action during the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Though he vociferously defended himself against charges, his reputation suffered. Colfax left the vice presidency at the end of his term in March 1873, and never again ran for office.

Afterward, he worked as a business executive and became a popular lecturer and speechmaker.