The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-05-08
A Starving Wretch Commits Suicide
While His Wife and Ills Daughter
RnII In Wealths

Roll In Wealth.
New York Letter to Boston Heraldl
The case ofDr. Sheafe, who committed
suicide by cutting his throat with razor
las; week, deserves more extended notice
than has yet been given 1t, IL what bis
friends In this city have related be true
lie was descended from one OF the oldest
families Of New England, the original
SheaIe having come over with MilGa
Standish. The name Is frequently men,
toned in SheAte's history Of New England
and always in connection with somU
creditablc action. Many Of your readers
will doubtless recollect his relative, old
Major Sheaie, who go long had charge oil
the Watertown arsenal. The Doctor, as
he was called, passed through Harvard
College with all the honOrs. He entered
business in State street as a broker while
still very young, and soon accumulated o
large fortune.
In 'G7 he went down in the panic, and
had his conscience been as elastic as those
of the generality Of his brother brokers
who also suffered financial ruin ut this
crisis, he would probably be alive, rich
and respected to this day. BE was 50
honest, however, that he insisted on pay.
ing his Indebtedness 10 the last farthing
His famous yacht, the Briston, his fine
horses-everything was swept away in
consequence, and he found himself pau.
per. His wife had, and still has, large
fortune in her own right, but taking UNI
bragg ut his conduct In dispOslDg oil his
property, she refused to extend him a
helping hand. She is described as a stiff,
rigid, obstinate woman, but otherwise
very estimable. Unable at length to bear
her upbraidings and the GOODNESS Of the
friends of his prosperity, the poor gentle
man came TO this city, resolved, as he told
his wife, ITO 60 back rich or feet FORE
most" Broken down and helpless, no has
met nothing but disappointment at every
turn. A few Of the friends who had
known and loved him III Boston, gave him
occasional jobs at literary work, and for q
time he acted as common messenger,
but these friends were generally too poor
and had TOO many urgent
calls for their money Of home to DO Of a
great deal ofuse.
Several times in his despair he has
TO commit suicide, and 1t was
sheer hunger that at last drove him to the
act. His vile never offered him any as
slstance, and his daughter, a young lady
Of twenty, who has recently come into
possession oil large fortune lett her by
her grandfather, was not allowed even 10
come TO see him, although she begged the
favor on her knees. His body was taken
charge Of by well.known journalist, a
native Of Boston, who, although hardly
able to afford the expense, had Il properly
laid out, coffined and buried, out Of his
own pocket, truly sorrowful ending to a
life which in It's prosperity was replete
with good deeds 10 his fellow creatures
and to the city of his birth. Among the
many actions for which he should have
received a better need Of gratitude, may
be mentioned the part he took in found
Ing the Boston Institute Of Technology.
Besides contributing largely to it in mon.
Dy, he did much toward Its success by
bis personal exertions and the influence
Of his yen. He was long ono Of its direc-
tors