The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-06-12
A Strange Suicide in Georgia.

A Strange Suicide in Georgia.
The readers of the Telegraph and Messenger
will probable remember some notices that were
made in the early part of April of the disap
pearance from Macon of German confectionel
named Charles Baswldebald. At the same
time notice was published by some of the
friends of the missing man, offering reward
| for his recovery.
The man had been drinking and was known
to have been laboring under mental alteration
caused by the use of strong drink, and it was
apprehended that he was wandering in the
woods somewhere around Macon, or had per-
haps lost himself in the swamps down the river
Several parties went out to search for him, but
without finding any trace of him. Once, how.
ever, they thought they found indications that
he had wandered into the swamp and had sunk
forever in the water and mud, finding therein
grave, the precise location of which would
never be ascertained.
When these signs were discovered. further
search was deemed useless, and his friends gave
up all hope of ever finding his remains. They
were fully satisfied that he had lost his life in
the swamp, and though they desired to give
him Christian burial, they felt compelled to
forego the pleasure Of that melancholy duty
The man wandered away on the 28th day OF
March, and for three or four weeks the search
for him was kept up pretty steadily.
The mystery of his disappearance was not
fully explained until yesterday, when some
boys, who were in the woods, about two and
half miles from the city, near the Houston
road, discovered the body of man hanging IN
pine tree, near the top, and some fifty or six
ty feet from the ground.
The unfortunate man seems to have climbed
fbo troo rooda .,ooco of hie susDenderS and
hanged himself to the limb, where, for two
months, his remains have been hanging, beaten
upon by the rain, withered by the sun, swung
and swayed by the winds, while his requiem
was sung in the branches of the pines in grand
er diapasons than were ever breathed from the
organ. >.
There is no doubt that this skeleton, which
is dangling there in the top of that tall pine,
is all that is left of the mortal part of Charles
Baswildebald. Though it has not yet been cut
down, his friends are all entirely satisfied that
the lost is found Coroner Dewberry will go
out at nine o'clock this morning, when the re-
mains will be cut down and an inquest held.
1t is almost certain that he will be identified
BY the clothing, as we'll as by the contents OF
his pockets. He had some fifty or sixty dollars
in his possession when ne left his room. The
remains are hanging in full view of the resi-
dence of Mr.. j. r. Rice, and can be distinctly
seen therefrom.
The deceased was native of the Kingdom
of Bavaria, and came of good German family.
He was literally educated, and was confec-
toner by trade. He came to Macon in 1868,
and obtained employment with S. Helfrich,
with whom he remained up to the time OF his
disappearance. For two years after he came
here he was strictly sober, but he got to drink
ing and finally began to take sprecs which
lasted several days at time. MIR. Helfrich
frequently demonstrated with him, but his reply
always was that he would as soon die as live.
He kept drinking more and more until his
mind became unsettled, and in this derange-
ment he wandered off and put an end 70 his
existence.
There is some romance connected with this
man, the facts of which are not known, but
which may have had much to do with bringing
about the tragic results above narrated. He
was evidently in an unhappy state of mind,
and took to drink to drown some trouble that
was preying upon him. At the head of his
bed hung picture of beautiful German girl.
To this picture he often expressed the greatest
attachment; but he would not tell whose the
picture was, nor any connection that he may
have had with the original of it, 1t remains
secret, probably forever, and the reader can
only conjecture the real nature of the romantic
articuars-Alacon Telegraph and Messenger.