The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-02-19
THE CHARLOTTE SUICIDE.
Further Particulars of the Sad End of Mr..
Eiddick.

Further Particulars of the Sad End of Mr..
Kiddick.
The Charlotte Observer of the 10th in
slant gives the following particulars OF
the death of MIR. Ed. F. Riddick, the tel
egraph operator who committed suicide
in that city last week, brief mention Of
which we made in our last issue:
At $50 yesterday afternoon the an
nouncement was made that Ed. +. Rid
dick, operator in the Western Union
Telegraph Office, in this city, had COM
mitted suicide. 1t was shock to n
large number of persons who knew him,
and at first the report was discredited.
In ten minutes, however, the whole story
became known. The deed was commit
ted upon the premises of his brother-in-
law, Mr.. E. R. Dodge, manager Of the
Western Union Office, with whom Rid
dick lived, and the instrument used was
a pistol, which had been placed to his
heart and fred. 1t was thought for a
while that it might have been accidental,
but the closer the inquiry the more GER
tain it became that the young man,
though apparently in the most robust
health, and surrounded by circumstances
peculiarly conducive to happiness, had
died by his own hand.
Upon inquiry at the office it was
learned that during the morning he had
conducted himself as usual that he had
been taking the press dispatches, when
about 2 o'clock he got up whistling, and
called to the boy, "Here's your press"
and left, saying he was going to dinner.
A gentleman who was standing at the
door when he went out said he spoke to
him very naturally, and several persons
who saw him on his way home noticed
nothing unusual in his appearance.
When he arrived at home he declined
to eat any dinner, but on his wife's en-.
treaty, he swallowed few mouthfuls of
boiled custard, and getting up from the
table, walked out from the dining room
through Mrs. Dodge's chamber, where,
upon the bureau, lay Mr.. Dodge's pistol
Ia Smith & Wesson thirty-two calibre
revolver). Mrs. Dodge, however, who
was in the room, says she did not see him
get it then, and that he must have gotten
It before be went to dinner. He then
went into the yard, and on his way he
asked his wife-who by this time had
gone outside-to tell him what time it
was; she looked and called to him that
it was nearly three. He replied, "thats
all right" and went into an clubhouse in
the yard, and his wife turned into the
house. A moment later she heard a pis-
tol shot. She Immediately went to the
house into which he had gone, and found
him in the last agony of death. He was
lying on the floor, the pistol beside him,
and blood oozing from a wound in his
breast, directly over the heart. His coat
was buttoned, but there was no bullet.
hole through it, showing that he had
placed the pistol under the coat. The
Shirt was blackened with powder, so that
the muzzle of the pistol must have been
almost against his body; in short, the
nature of the wound left no doubt of the
way in which it happened. He had evil
dently searched for the very place where
he could feel the beat of the heart.
The agonized wife screamed for assist
ance, but he was beyond all human aid.
In q very few moments he died, with
out ever having spoken word in expla'
nation.
The reporter asked Mrs. Dodge if she
had ever remarked any low spirits, or
knew of any cause for low spirits in MIR.
Riddick's circumstances. "He bad," she
said, "been for some time complaining OF
burning in his head, nervousness and
slceplessness." His wife had told her
that often in the night she awoke and
found her husbands eyes wide open, but
no account had been taken of this, as
during the day he had seemed very well,
and his uniform cheerfulness had ever
been remarked by the family. These
complaints had been made from time to
time for about month.
Mr.. Dodge said he knew OF no trouble
which the young man had which could
have been the cause of his killing him
self. He was not involved in debt,
seemed to be perfectly happy with his
wife, was in s,ood health with the excep-
ton of indigestion, from which he some
times suffered, "and," added he, 81 have
never remarked any lack of cheeriulness
on his part"
So entirely without reason does this
action on the part of the young man
seem, that we're it not for the indications
of the wound itself, it would almost seem
that the shooting was accidental: The
generally accepted theory is that he be-
came depressed on account of dyspepsia,
and in moment concluded to end his
suffering.
Mr.. Riddick was born and raised in
Richmond, Va, and has brother in En-
field, North Carolina, with whom his
mother resides. He short time ago be-
came member of the Tryon Street
Methodist Church in this city, and his
habits were most exemplary. He was
reserved and sensitive, but all who knew
him we'll loved him much, and the SYM
pathics of the public arc enlisted with
his young wife and many friends.
A mother who starts out in the battle
e I; r. ,,,;,I,ont m I,otfIo of Shrip Tn1i-