[4] His re-election campaign ended abruptly in March when his nomination was refused on account of an informality.
[5] He was subsequently nominated to contest the 1903 federal election in the Australian House of Representatives seat of Darwin, held by the Labor MP King O'Malley.
He was nominated as an independent, supporting free trade and opposing the Edmund Barton government.
[6] However, after reports that his campaign was floundering, he withdrew from the race on 10 December - six days before the election - and endorsed the anti-Labor rival and Protectionist Party candidate James Brickhill, though he formally remained on the ballot.
[7] He died at St Margaret's Hospital in Launceston in 1913; his funeral was held in Hobart.