Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-02
A PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY.
A very remarkable case of suicide has
just been unraveled at San Francisco. a
week ago the body Of a young man was
found lying in an empty lot in that city.
He had evidently shot himself through the
heart, and had been dead some hours. On
his person were found letters, signed W.
II. Ward, stating that he had killed man |
named +. III. Bates, and that he had sent
the trunk and some of the property of his
victim to the latter's sweetheart, girl
named Lizzie Smyser, living at Salt Lake
City. The letters, one of which was adj
dressed to local newspaper, contained
also a rambling story about two men who
had been accomplices with the deceased in
the murder of Bates, and in other crimes,
and minute description of these men was
given, ogtensibly with view to their ar
rest. The letters both contained requests
that Miss Smyser should be informed OF
the murder Of her lover and of the suicide
of the murderer. The case as it stood
persistence with which the dead man had
dweit upon the Salt Lake love affair, how
ever, did not appear to the police to be IN
harmony with his general narrative. and
Chief Crowley almost Immediately sus-
pected that the corpse was really that OF
Bates himself, and that he had taken this
singular method of killing himself for the
purpose of retaining the affections of his
betrothed, and perhaps of dissipating sus-
picions the grounds for which were only
known to himself.
The detectives at once went to work on
the case. however. They communicated
with the police of Salt Lake City, and by
means of photographs they succeeded in
establishing the identity of the dead man
with Bates. After careful research it was
discovered that Bates had engaged himself
to Miss Smyser at Salt Lake City that he
had left that place ostehsibly to take
clerical position in a Nevada store, with
the purpose of purchasing an interest in
the business ultimately /; that he had failed
to secure the partnership through lack OF
means that he then proceeded to San
Francisco, as he alleged, for medical ad-
vice that he had there gone from one ho-
tel to another, no doubt for the purpose of
concealing his identity, since he registered
under different names at each new place
that he had then sent his trunk to Salt
Lake City, together with diary which
pretended to give some clue to his fate
and that having made all these elaborate
preparations he had finished his work by
shooting himself.
The pains which he took to give an air of
reality to the strange fiction he had in
vented is shown by the entries in his diary,
in which he quite skillfully introduces
casual mention of a rencontre with one
Wayde, or Ward, whom he speaks of as a
"elever thief" and as dangerous" and
concerning whom he writes that he will
watch him closely. More than once this
/
''clever thief" is brought into the diary,
and at the same time Bates intimates that
he himself has plenty of money, which it
behoves him to keep a guard over. Evil
IDENTIFY this part of the diary was devised
with the express purpose of bearing out
the letter subsequently written, TO the
effect that poor Bates had been murdered
for his money, despite his suspicious and
his watchfulness. But though the plot
was somewhat ingeniously constructed for
an amateur, the intending suicide could
not sufficiently conceal his anxiety in
regard to the sentiments of Miss Smyser,
and this it was which betrayed him. He
failed to realize that real murderer, such
as he represented him to be, would have
been the very last kind of person to take
any trouble about the sweetheart of his
victim, while by representing the magma
ry Ward as sort of professional assassin
he overdid the thing completely, and
rendered all the sentiment of the fabricated
letter as unnatural and incorgruous as
rouge on the cheeks of corpse.
The only theory of the case thus far
reached is that Bates had engaged himself
to Miss Smyser under false representa-
tions that he had pretended to be man
of means, whereas he was poor that fail
ing in his efforts to establish himself, and
being equally unwilling to marry his be-
trothed under false pretenses, and to con.
TESS the truth to her, he finally determined
to kill himself as the shortest way out of
| the difficulty, but resolved to do this in
not come to the knowledge of the truth,
but would mourn him as the victim of
dreadful murder. OF course it must have
| been very peculiar kind OF mentality
that could deliberately arrange and coolly
work out a plot of this character, and
the easiest explanation of it would be
We cannot indeed assert that he was
not mad, but certainly there was no sus-
picion of his insanity during his life.
At the hotels where he stayed he
was regarded as a sober, quiet young
man, who talked very little and read
great deal He appears to have acted in
rational way wherever he went, and if he
was insane there certainly was great deal
OF method in his madness. one point,
however, seems clear, and that is taat he
belonged to the peculiar class in whom the
love of life-usually the strongest OF ipau-
ences-is very feeble. No man attached
to life as the generality of men are could
have thus coolly killed himself for so COM
paratively slight a cause. Apparently i.
was nothing more than morbid sensitive
ness which impelled him to suicide. Alto.
oether the case is one of the most sinunlar