Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-12-24
RUINED BY A WOMAN.
Il. K. Kirste of the Santa
Fe a Defaulter.
A THOUSAND DOLLARS SHORT.
He Makes Futile Attempt At
Suicide-Of ''By the Light
Of the Noon"

There is sorrow among the railroad
men oil the city, for the shadow of dis
honor has fallen over one of their mum.
ber, Rudolph +. Kirste, the assistant
ticket agent of the Santa Fe Company
having, it is alleged, during the past two
weeks, appropriated to his own use
money of the company amounting to
over one thousand dollars. No one sus-
pected anything wrong of Kirste. From
the first moment of his entering into the
compaDy's service he was regarded as an
able and continental man, and Ticket
Agent Charles Parsons always alluded to
him as bis right-hand bower He estab-
llshed his home on Beaudry avenue and
graced it with his vile and two
children. with whom he was always un-
derstood to be living on the most
amicable terms. AS next in author-
ity to Mr.. Parsons he had the hand
ling OF nearly all the money that poured
into the the ticket Office in the Phillips'
Block, no check being made on him un-
til the end of each month, when the ac-
counts and cash were turned over
to the Auditor. The members OF
his family were probably the only
ones who noticed any change in
his habits during the past month, for
he was on duty punctually on time in the
morning and transacted his business in the
same methodical manner as usual On
Wednesday morning last about O'Clock
Mr.. ]. W. Adams, who was a particular
friend OF Klrste's was awakened by q
messenger bearing note. He opened
it wonderingly and saw that it was ad-
dressed from the New Arlington Hotel,
and as be read on he could scarcely be-
lieve that he was not dreaming. It was
q farewell epistle from K1ste. In it
the writer said that some time previously
he had become enamored of q woman
OF the town, and that to keep
her supplied with money he had
appropriated ticket moneys of the
company to what amount he did not
know. but it was somewhere in the
of thousand dollars.
The spell had broken and he now saw
himself confronted with lifelong dis
grace, not only to himself but to his
family, and rather than face il he had
chosen death. The letter concluded by
saying that by the time it was read it's
writer would be no more, and asked that
the matter be smoothed over as much as
possible for the sake of his poor wife and
children.
Mr.. Adams did not waste minute.
He threw on his clothes and rushed
down to the Arlington whore he gave the
night clerk an inkling of what had
occurred and the two proceeded
hastily to the room that Kirste
had engaged over night. The
door was locked, so they broke it in,
and were confronted by the would-be
suicide, who was lying stretched across
the bed and breathing heavily. On the
ground was paper which had
EVIDENTLY CONTAINED MORPHINE,
This being the death which Kirste had
selected, on account of it being compar-
atively painless. With the aid of .
doctor who was brought to the
scene he was soon brought back to
consciousness and in order to hush up
any scandal he was taken to his home in
a hack before the morning light had yet
set the city astir. Leaving the sick, and
now thoroughly repentant man, in bed
Mr.. Adams went down to the Santa Fe
Office to break the news to the officials
there, and about the first man he met
was Ticket Agent Parsons who was evil
IDENTIFY in very disturbed state of mind.
A few words passed between them and
then it was found that Mr.. Parsons was
also the recipient of q note from Kirste,
couched in language similar to that used
in writing to Mr.. Adams. The writer
had evidently made some miscalculations
as to the hour when his epistles would be
delivered, for he referred in them to the
fact that they would not be read until
about s O'Clock the next morning,
whereas they both reached their destina-
ton five hours before that time. Before
taking any legal steps it was decided to
make up the accounts and discover ex-
actly the amount of the defalcations, so
all the force in the ticket department
were set to work, and did not conclude
their labors until last night, when the
result showed that considerably over
81 900 was missing. Kirste had mean
while been confined to his bed through
his attempt to "shuffle off this mortal
COLL" and was cheered up by the
hopes that his friends woald come
to the rescue, and making
up his deficiency to the company, give
him chance to turn over a new leaf.
The, undoubtedly would have done so
had the amount been of not too great
proportions. and the railroad officials as
good as promised that they would hush
up the matter if the defalcations were
made good, ON account of Kirste's family,
his previous good conduct and the fact
that by prosecuting him his life would
be ruined forever. As the Investigations
drew to close yesterday afternoon it
became evident, however, that the
amount would be more than his friends
could furnish, and it was decided
that this morning the matter
should be placed in the hands of
the law and justice to take its own
course. Kirste must have got wind of
this in some manner, for although he
had hitherto been unable to leave his
bed, at late hour last night he got up
and literally Skipped by the light Of the
moon" leaving no clue as to his object
i've point. The sleuthhounds of the law
will doubtless be placed on his track to-
day, but with the good start he has got
and his intimate knowledge of the
country, their chase is liable to be diff
cult one.
Thoee who know Kirste intimately say
that he must have been simply infatu-
ated head over heels with the woman
who has wrecked his career, for his mar
ried life has always been apparently q
pleasant one and he was never prone to
dissipation. As an evidence that he was
honest before the fatal passion seized his
soul, a ticket broker states that he, .