Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-20

His Last Letter.

The man Geiger, who was found lying
in a lumber yard with his throat badly
out. made a second attempt on his life at
the county Jail, where he was cared for.
He seemed quiet enough, though no had
not got over the notion that somebody
was chasing him, so when suppNr was
served to him, he was furnished an old
case knife with which to cut his meat.
AS soon as the jailor had turned aside, he
took the knife and made another cut for
his throat, the cash extending from the
opposite side to hat of the first wound,
clear around till it nearly met the
old wound. This second attempt to
take his own life was more
serious than the first one, but it was
thought that he might still survive, but
yesterday, about two o'clock, he had a
terrible CONFUSION, which ended in death.
The body was taken to Coroner Connells
undertaking establishment, and the in
quest was held late yesterday afternoon.
The knife with which the man made this
second cut at his throat was an old bro
ken case knife, which at one time was
struggled into the Jail by some of the
prisoners, who made a sort of saw of it,
and used it trying to cut away iron bars,
until they had worn the teeth away, and
got the edge so dull that it seemed i'm
possible to cut anything with
it. 1t was this old knife
which was given him by the %jailer, with
which to eat his supper.
The man was very violent for some
hours before cutting his throat the second
time, and wanted very much to be re-
leased, he still f~ancying that some vigi-
lance committee was after him. Before
cutting his throat he wrote with a pencil
a scrawling letter to his sister, Mrs.
Amelia G. Geiger, Rossville, Warren
county, III. 1t was 30 written that it
could not all be read, but was about as
follows:
To MELIA: an in Council Bluffs in Jail
for safe keeping. You must do the best you
can until l get home. l have been robbed of
all l had. l told the sheriff to telegraph to
Bob for 500 till | come home; so, you see, l
can not tell whether l will get home alive or
not. The - - lynchers are after me. 1
don't know whether they will get me out If the
Jail or not. SO good bye to my little wife and
little boys. You must have them taxes paid
right os. Let father tend othemi if 1 don't
get home alive. Tell him it wasn't
whisky that caused 1t at all, but
of me last night. | tried to get in the Jail for
safe keeping, but the jailor would not let me
in. Then 1 had to do the best l could. They
was looking for me. You know it would not
do for me to go in a house, for the chances was
slim. Now Melia if 1 am hung l will be in
nocent in it; I feel SO, but will try to cut my
throat. I'll see you in the next world. Melia,
tell Robert to stay where he is, and don't come
west. 1 have no land here, nor do 1 want
any. l suppose that T. -- takes
care of everything of mine. You tell them
all that little Katie said about me, if all
don't go right. You take Charlie and
go to the little farm and stay there while yon
live. If the jailor takes care of me it will be
all right if not, it will be all wrong. Don't
you never bel eve that 1 deceived -. l
shall die an innocent death, you know that. l
never did join anything but the grand army.
The lot is after me. Tell Robert to send the
boys to school every day that he can, for /
want to see them sharp enough to be in the
classes with all the rest. Now, good by to all
till l see you all in happiness.
Yours truly,
f. p. GEIGRR.
The man bad with him a letter from,
apparently, the same party to whom he
wrote the above, a we'll written one, and
bearing evidence that the writer was
well educated and somewhat cultured.
In the letter there we're names men,
toned, the same showing, that though
crazed, the man still had a clean memory
on some points at least. 1t appears that
he came from O'Neil and was bound to
Illinois.
Bushnell sells railroad tickets cheap to
all points.