Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-11-21
SUICIDE.
A Eurekan Tires OF Life aud BIoyys
His Brains Out.

Smith, for many years a resident of En-.
reka, bad killed himself. The report was
soon found to be true. A number of per.
sons vent directly TO his carpenter shop
between IL O'Clock and midnight and
there saw him laying out at full length on
his working bench, dead, with a bullet hole
through his head from the right temple to
a point opposite below the left ear. The
terrible job was lone with a 41.calibre
Colts pistol. The hole made was as large
as the end OF a mans thumb. The act
was coolly determined on, and was lone
with the utmost deliberation. As stated,
the body lay on the carpenters bench. 1t
was stretched out, leaving q margin OF a
few inches of the bench on the
right side. The suicide placed his
head just at the end OF the bench,
80 that not a drop OF blood stained il, In
stead, his blood flowed in q pool Cd to the
floor. He had calculated everything
nicely, not even forgetting that his work
bench must be kept clean. He lay down
quietly, placed the pistol to his brain and
pulled the trigger. He was dead in an
instant, and. as the muscles Of his arm
relaxed, his hand dropped by his side and
the pistol was neatly deposited on the space
seemingly left for it. Only the one shot
was fired. The other chambers OF the
pistol were all found charged. There
probably never was a better planned or
better finished suicide than this. 1t must
have been attended by the least pain pos
sible, that is, the pain must have been Of
the shortest possible duration. One par
alyzing shock to the brain and all sensa-
ton was ended.
THE MOTIVE.
What led the unfortunate man to kill
himself is not clearly known. He went
some three mouths ago and bought a piss
toll, u 41-caliber Colts revolver, from the
gunsmith, George Young. He was not q
quarrelsome man, and he had no use for
the weapon. unless, perhaps, for the pur-
pose for which it was ultimately used. He
loaned it to Billy Mulick Of the Opera
House saloon and never called for ii until
the night Of his death. He then give some
excuse for asking for it as though he
thought it necessary to apologize for his
having q pistol at all. Early Wednesday
| evening he was in Dale's saloon
| and had a conversation with him in
| which he showed that his mind was fighty.
He told Mr.. Dale that he never got
| over the loss OF his only children, two
daughters, who, had they lived, would
now De grown up young ladies; that since
their death he had never been the mar he
was, and that he had nothing more to live
for. He seemed TO take q morbid pleasure
in dwelling on gloomy topics. He said he
was going to be buried In his Knights Of
| Pythias uniform suit. When Dale re-
marked: THAT will be o pretty expensive
shroud, won't it ?" he answered: Yes;
but / had my funeral in mind when l
Joined the Uniform Rank and bought my
suit. You see a man laid out in o fine
uniform like that and it makes people re-
spect him." He is reported by Others to
have said strange things and asked strange
questions, such as this: II was married
in 1866, now how long ago was that2" 1t
may be that, as he said, having 'let go all
holds" he felt that he had become demon
allied to such an extent that his pleasures
could not be made equal to his pains and
he would end his life. He evidently had
a strong affection for his wife, in whose
name he had his life insured for $4,000.
THE INQUEST.
A jury Of inquest. summoned by Judge
| Harmon, inquired, yesterday afternoon,
into the cause of the death Of the deceased.
The verdict was suicide. The testimony
OF two witnesses was tsken-Louis Brandt
and Mrs. o. H. Smith. the widowed wife.
Mr.. Brandt says he and the deceased were
at the Opera House saloon until a few
minutes after IL O'Clock, when Mr.. Smith
said: Lets go home, Louis" They
went away. and as they separated in front
Of Mr.. Smiths house, the latter appeared
all right and said: "Good-by, Lou" The
witness went to his house near by and re-
tired to bed. He heard a shot soon after
wards and got up to find Mr.. Smith dead
and his widow at the side Of the corpse al
most out Of her mind with grief. She
carressed the hands OF her husband
and besought him to wake up and
speak to her, but his soul had he'd.
| Mrs. Smith testified that her husband was
4s years OF age on the 18th Of last October
and that he was a native OF Rising Sun,
Ind. She said that when he came into the
| house Monday night he walked her up and
/ said he wanted her TO look over his BOOK OF
| accounts with him. She supposed he mad
| been drinking too much and only replied
| "Not TO. night. There will be plenty OF
| time in the morning. Leave the accounts
| till then and I'll look over them with
| you." He said nothing more just then,
| and appeared to be occupied several min
! utes in the kitchen, after which he came
into the bedroom where she was, and.
throwing his arms around her neck, kissed
her and said good-by. He then TOOK a
lamp and went over to the carpenter shop
which stands only a few feet from the
| dwelling and faces the Big Ditch on bue
street. She heard o pistol shot in . Few
I minutes afterwards, and running over TO
the shop found her husband, as described
! wing out on his carpenters bench, dead
Il NOTE he LEFT.
Sheriff W. Il. Sweeney, who was among
the first to reach the scene OF the tragedy
made search for some paper LETT by the
deceased which might throw light upon
the deed. Nothing Of the sort was 70 Dc
found high or low In the carpenter shop,
Notbipg there but the corpse with its
| nallid cheeks and CHASTITY bullet hole
| Carving his search farther, into the resi-,
dance. he discovered the account-book OF
| the deceased on the kitchen table. win MS
sneotacles closed and lying on II. hun,
/ Ming over the leaves Of the book be iouno
| thjs last, sad entry. II was written across
| both pages. Up 10 chat point In MS pook
/ he had spelled Eureka correctly, but snere
-. Sorhtlass aomeWhat agitated ana