Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-02-08
DEAD AT THE CAPITOL
Suicide Of the Governors Secretary,
James +. Waller.
THE CAUSE A MYSTERY.
Particulars Of the Occurrences and Personal
History Of the Deceased.


rc,ary, committed suicide at the Capitol
nigh, before last; though the discovery was
not made until Yesterday morning.
Deceased stretched himself in an easy po-
siteu upou a lounge, placed the pistol Just
below bis right esr, pulled the trigger. and
all was over.
The room Nherc this tragedy was enacted
i' on TIE ihi-d noor oi the Capitol building.
and looks ont 10 ihe north, and is really the
anlc-chsmher 10 the Governor Office. Here
visitors who desire to see the Governor pre-
sent tbcmstlves. aud as soon as ;hc Governor
can give item audience thcy arc u,her,d
from tie sccrtary's room into the Cover
nOf's.
Mr. Waller vos q qood-loohing gen.
fem9u: wss thirfv.tw0 years % age
W7s about Eve feet eleven inches high, and
iust nttlc Inclined % De stout. his hair
ard eyct Nrr" dark aud De wore a nous
fache of the 6. nc color. l,e was rather q
quiet man: always dressed wcii and looked
neat. and 1a, q model man for bis place.
Why he wished 20 end his life is not
known. Oi ifc he had been melancholy,
hut 70 W1s not much noticed nj the time,
though wei remembered uow by many who
were intimate witb bum. lie probably
killed himself early wednesday night. lie
W.s known 10 be alive between 4 and .
O'Clock. aud he then spoke Oi going 10 sup
per. he had lli the gas in his office and
from that ci cumsiaure 10 Is concluded that
he wss i've 20 dark.
There wero number 81 policemen and
others in the basement oi the building, but
thr shot was not heard by any one. HIS
oGice.door was clOssd tu' not locked, and
the report. which from the siIs oi the pistol
could not hnvc bccu "A loud one, did not 90
beyond The room. Not until YESTERDAY
morning, when the Governors messenger
went 90 the office. wls Nr. Waller's fate
known, aud even then the discovery was not
immediate. After the suicide became Ccu-
orally known al sorts of theories 10 explain
u were advanced, bat none Of them can De
accepted as yet.
MR.. JoNEs's ACCOUNT.
Mr.. r. g. Jones, messenger an the Gov
cruor's office. said: I came into the Office
sbout 1870 O'Clock. The door TO the sccre-
tary' g Office vas unlocked. aud "a / walked
IN saw Mr.. Waller was lying uDon the sofa
sslecp, a. thought | passed on through 10
the Governors Office and did not disturb
him, ~ he had been colsplsining Of feeling
badly for the past fcw days. | came back ia
about ten minutes and happened 10 csst nv
eye down 90 the carpet and saw pistol
upon the floor. and also two pools of
NifUUs ] WIS Nt'NtI blNlf NNp| hfil W i4lf JUG
than ~ that moment. when / realized that
Mr. Waller ha5 taken bis liie hurried down
into the Office ~ the Register ~ Lands and
broke the news and Policeman Durrelt went
up 10 stay with the remains until could go
for Governor Lee. The Governor was m
bed when ! cot to the house. told him
what had happened aud bceXcaimcc "Oh,
Tom. YOU don't tell me that Waller has shot
himsclfl" The Governor then told mr.
had better co Tor some OF Mr.. walters lnti-
mate friends, aud / hurried 20 Mr. Willie
Daniel. We came bsck TO the Capitol aud
The Governor sud several Of the Capitol
officials were there.
When lcft the Capitol about 3.lj O'Clock
Wednesday cyeuiuc Mr. Waller was still in
hi. Office aud / asked him If he Vas not
ready 10 60. aud ho replied that be- would re-
main while longer aud would lock the door
when be- came ont. lie was writing when
ien.
Alr. Waller came 10 the Ctpi,ol Yesterday
"wednesday about 9 O'Clock and wa, closrly
onrsged In writing until II O'Clock, when he
went ont and remained for nali an hour.
After ms return 10 the office he continued TO
write. but don't know what was The cbarac-
ter ~ the writings Deceased and usually
left the Capitol about O'Clock every after
noon.
Mr. Waller had been complaining Of feel
ikE tdliN INl M'NNIAl NrNNs last NfuiRNillf
(lanusry 30th) he went mp 10 stafford 10 at-
tend the marriage Of his cousin snd returned
on saturday evening. lie came % his Office
Monday morning and remained only few
fntnutos. Tuesday he wss at his de'k nearly
nll day. ! noticed nothing unusual about
has manner recently. though for the past few
DAYS he has complained Of feeling SICK.
Mr. Waller and both bad been here ever
since Governor Lee was insueura'ed. De- !
ceased was one OF The best men I ever knew. !
He was Kind and courteous toeyery one who
called. regarded him as an excellent man, |
ard his sad ending ha. been great shock 50
me.
THE GOVERNOR AND MS SECRETARY.
Governor Lee said Yesterday afternoon
that Mr Waller was the son Of q gentleman
who resided near his farm Ia Stafford county.
aud who was KILLED In the war. Deceased
had been IN business in Richmond for three
wears, and had made an engagement with
wholesale druggists house in Wilmington. /
y. G., when appointed secretary. lie was q
useful. amiable, aud wcl-hehayed mau, said |
the Governor. and. thought, had peculiar
qualifications Tor the place OF secretary. lie
wss pleasant and agreeable 20 alI who called, /
and was very valuable 10 me. ON Wcdncs- /
d4y oi last week hc went 10 mar /
Ilge in stafford. II took place At /
Clifton church. aud one Of hi, cousins mar /
ried Mis- Nelson. lie did not return 10 the /
city until saturday evening after office /
hours. sometimes on SUNDAY he would /
come O. me aud ask II there wss anything /.
90 be done. hu; I did not see him last sun /
dN. lie came 10 the Oilcc on Monday, but /
sttsed very little while, ard left word With !
Mr. Jones hat he was unwell aud was go. /
ing bark home On Tuesday he was al the I
Office and dld some work. hui stll com. /
planned Of being unwell and went home 1
sooner than usual. That was The |
last ever saw oi HIM. lie ap- /
ptarcd to be cheerful. and there WAS 4
nothing DO hi- deucanor or IN ANYTHING that .
be- -sid indicating that he had any trouble I
Ir,oDd temporary iudspoSition. We'd
r,sday visited Petersburg. went from
h0mc 10 the raiirold station and dil not see
Nr Waller that day. though he was at the
Office 10 seems that he dad good dca. OF
purh. aud yesterday morning | found he
lsd afrangei number = my papers on NV
dr.k ready Tor me 10 sign or otherwise act
rlon tits hsnd was hrm ana his writing
OIL, usual The first that knew OF
tnr shoOtu. was about hali-past
O'Clock TINS morning, when Mr. Jones
came over 10 the house aud told
me that Mr.. Waller was dead aud bad
probably committed suicide. at once got
uu. dressed, and went over TO the Office. and
iONuu hiiu on the lounge IN uiN w attt =
ofice. hi, legs crossed. bis lefl band on his
breast, his night arm Outstrctchcd. and the
pistol on toe hoor he had evidently been
dead Tor hour, how many DO not know,
bu, Mr. Daniel. trieud Of hi, from Frede-
rlckshurg. told noe ihsi Walter had teles
phoncd bim (DanieD about hsi'.paSt O'Clock
Wcdnesdav evening asking mm where he
was going 81 night snd Un0n receiving an
answer replied that he (Nallcr) would meet
81. Daniel AZ supper
never knew il until yesterday. said the
Governor, but Mr. Jones tells me Waller for
wears had pistol M an unused desk m the
room. aud always keat the drawer locked. IL
seems 10 me ibst Waller must bqve reached
bis determination with great suddenness,
sud then that be went 10 The drawer un-
locked II aud took out the pistol, and, with.
on, lsylng down tie keys. stretched himself
ON the sofa and fred thc si0t. The KEYS
Oere fopnd IN hs eff hsnd. Death must