Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1880-05-14
another Suicide.

i
morning our community was
startled by the report that a
man had suicided at the Pea
body house. 1t appears that
Thomas E. Owens, a WEIGH
man, aged about 50 or IS years,
did not make his appearance at
the breakfast table, and upon
going to his room the door was
found locked and no. respose
was received upon knocking on
the door. Looking over the
transum Owens was discovered
lying on the bed on his back
with one hand up near his head
and the other arm extended
down his side, he had on his
trowsers, shirt and socks but
had removed his shoes. Mr..
Owens had been in the city two
or three weeks and came here
from Houston. Since his arriv-
al here he had been cndeavor-
ing to obtain employment as a
clerk, but unsuccessfully; he
wrote a fair business hand, was
tolerably well educated and
had the bearing and manners Of
a gentleman; he was scrupu-
lousy neat in his attire and al
ways appeared with his shoes
polished. For the past week
or ten days he had made his
headquarters at the fruit stand
in the store on the southeast
corner of Sandy and Ant streets
, and on several occasions had
borrowed small sums ofmoney |
from the proprietor. For sew
eral days Owens had been quite
dispirited and on Thursday last
he bought, with borrowed
money, several doses of NOR
phine. On Friday evening he
bid the proprietor of the fruit
stand good night, saying, "You
may never see me alive again
On Saturday he was at the
stand as usual. On Sunday he
was with the fruit dealer until
half past one or two d clock r
NJ. at which time he went to his
room and during the afternoon
was heard breathing heavily,
but nothing was thought of it.
This is the last that was heard of
him alive. He was what is
technically known as "strapp-
ed" but said he had a legacy
3
coming to him from England.
From papers in his possession
he appears to have relatives
named Thomas living in Penn
broke England; one a married
sister named Harriet 0smond,
from whom he had a letter da-
ted February 1873. A scrap of
paper containing several adj
dresses was also found in his pos
session upon it was written in
pencil in a hurried and slightly
nervous hand, God and my
honor has been my motto thro'
life and will accompany me in
to the shadows Of deatf,g An
inquest was held by justice Nc
Chung. the jury returning a YER
dict that deceased came to his
death from an overdose of NOR
phine administered by his own
hand. "A subscription was Ia
ken up and with the $40 allow
ed by the county decent cof-
fin was purchased and the de-
ceased was buried Monday
afternoon. Dependency seems
10 have been the cause OF the
act. From the letters in his
possession it appears that his
name was David P. Thomas,
but why he had changed his
name is not shcwp. From a
certificate he appears to have
been salesman for A. Reich
nan of Savannah, Ga, in 1867.
lnder the name Of Thomas.
AccIDENTALs.-This is the {
lame adopted by the boys
Imateur fire company, "Sar-
line" company is too small a !
lame for them. On Monday
seth Testard and Edgar Rankin, ;
lged about IL years each, star !
ed out with a subscription list
o raise money for the purpose \
If building a truck. IS leash
vas raised and turned over tc S
A. Meyer, assistant ehiefof fire l.
department.. Mr.. August Plug
iaupt agrees to build a new i,
ruck for the boys for the sum il
If SIS. Mr.. w. K. Lewis stands c
IS godfather for the compasy 6