Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-02-08

accl1eni1NY. lie SAID OF course II was pOssi-
bic, hut Il did not seem probable. IL looked
IKE suicide and suddenly resolved upon, be
thought.
Governor Lee and his family arc very
much distressed. The deceased wss dear 10
them al and seems 20 have been worthy Oi
their love; for he was loyal and kind; 20.
liie and attentive; confederate and OblgiDG
70 al about bIni. and he had that suayltY
and cheeriness OF manner which particularly
tilted his place. where great part Of bis
duty was 70 receive callers and make their
stay pleasant whilo they awaited entrance TO
The Governors Office.
JUDGE FLoCRNoY INFORMED.
Hon. Henry ". Fiourney In couyersstIon
with Di'pl,ch reporter expressed the
deepest rerrct at the occurrence snd added /.
"SOon sitr 8 O'Clock this morning Tom
Jones, the messenger 10 the Governor, came
over to my room aud tod nc that be was
sent by the Governor 10 inform me that Mr..
Waller had shot himself. | dressed a.
hsstily A. possible and hurried 10 the Capitol
before ! bad breakfast. found the Gov
ernOr and several others In the Office where
The body was. The body was lying on the
Office coucn in whist 10 liymc man wonld
be very comfortable position, aud the face
ceased WAS sleeping peacefully. To all ap-
pearances Nr. Waller acted very hastily.
lle had FOR two or three years kept pistol
In bis office and AZ one time he bad 10 In the
drawer 20 bis ofice.desk. bot more recently
q had been laid in The drawer OF another
desk m The room which is u.ed for stationery
and odds and ends. To all appearances Mr.
Waller took bis keys from his pocket, un>
locked the drswef, took out the pistol. laid
him,elI down in an entirely comfortable pO-
,iti0n, and then fred The fatal shot
"As said before, the position Of the de-
ceased was vcry comfortable one. lie lay
on his back, with hl- head well IN on The
high pillow Of the couch. hi. limbs extended,
and the left foot crossed over the right. His
leit hand in which ne held his bunch Of
keys gently clasped, lay across bis body. ana
MS right hand extended toward and slightly
above the pistol, which was on The floor a
few inches from the couch. His head leaned
slightly TO the right, so that had MS eyes been
open h', cazc would have been upon the
door leading TO The Governors Office. HIS
eyes. however, were licntly closed and the
cVeIy appearance Of the deceased was that OF
man VINO had quietly fallen asleep There
must mol have been the movement Of mus
cic after the firing o. the fatal shot.
There were three pools OF blood on the
1oor. one Nas under he couch where the
blood bad driDped after saturaung the
clothes ard the couch. and the other tHO
were fcY inches apart. where the blood
had trcklcd down the sofa and run of. Ny
theory Is that M. Waller went into the
drawer for some other purpose, and seeing
ihc pistol and being IN a depressed condition
be was scizod with 4 determination to end
bis existence and proceeded quickly to exc
cute this purpose.
40 CLUE.
"Wse anything found IN the papers Of the
deceased 10 indicate the cause u his rash
actr" was asked Judge Floun0y.
"No, think not. Mr. Jones told me that
Mr.. Waller was writing for q long while
Yesterday. and wrote several pages OF mat
ter, but on what subject do not know, nor
did Mr.. Jones. While the drawer to bis
desk was on~n this morning ] s1W an en-
velorc addressed TO MIR. Waller himself in
his own handwriting. and This either con-
tanned numerous papers or one paper ot
considerable volume. The matter tnlt Mr.
Waller vas wriiiny Yesterday NAV be in this
envelope, but there is no good reason for
believing that IL i..'
Judge Flounoy spoke in ihehiehest terms
OF the dccca.ed, who was, he says, always
polite and ploasant and under no circum-
stances obtrusive.
Al the request Of the Governor Mr.. vii.
liam Daniel examined Nr. Walters desk aud
all Of his private papers with the hope thai
something might be found throwing lighton
The tragedy, but nothing was discovered.
Tug JtSIToR's CALL
Walker Howard, the colored jsniior on the
upper llo0r ot the Capitol, says th9t about
o'clock Wednesday he went 10 Mr. Wall RS
oflcc 10 tell him that Mr kjnoch vas about
to make his last trip witt the elevator. Mr..
Waller was not in. but his hat and overcoat
were uDOn the sofa. The door between de-
ccasrds onlcc ana the Governors was lock.
ed, and Walker concluded that deceased was
attending 10 some important business and
that be would not interrupt HIM.
THE NOUND.
DR.. G. W.P. Brock said: | was aroused
by q messenger anOut 3 O'Clock. and was in
formed that Mr.. Waller had shot hlmscN
lllsuv dressing / hurried 10 the Capitol.
The body was lying upon the sofa Just as
when hrst discovered. never saw more
calm and placid expression than he had
upon his face; nota turrow or wrinkle could
be seen. The eyes were gently closed, aud
MIR. Waller looked like he WAS only asleep.
The body was cold and stil. and the deed
must have been cOmmitted early in The
night. / think death mast have been al
most instantaneous
TuE LAST PLACE.
From all that can be learned It appears
that TIE deceased never left the Capitol after
going there Wednesday morning. ON his
way 10 The office he stopped A. iafter's
slloon, corner OF Tenth and Broad streets,
and drank milk toddy with egg. After
taking this be sat i'm the back room FOR a few
moments reading the morning papers, and
then walked over 10 the Capitol. few
hours later perhaps between - and /
O'Clock Mr.. Waller came down on the ele-
vatnr 10 the basement tl0or OF the Capitol
building and remained out of bis office
about ball an hour. but whether he went
outside OF the building does not seem al all
certain.
Veteran Klnloch, who was in charge Of
the elevator until twenty minutes sfier 8
o'clock IN the afternoon, says Mr. Waller
aid not cORe down after the trip referred 10
above; aud Officer Gaines, Of the Capitol
police. who was on duty until I. NJ, said
he did not come down between l and Z
d clock.
Neither Night-Watchman Foley nor
Policeman Durreit, both cf whom were on
duty "wednesday night from o'clock, saw
,r heard anything OF the deceased after theT
reached the capitol, nor did any one. so far
as can be learned, hear the report OF the
pistol. which was small weapon and the
report from which would not be loud. 1t
Sas smith Is Wesson ,oid style 22-caiibre
revolver, and when picked up yesterday
morning one chamber was empty. Judge
Flournov, who as above stated was among
hose who arrived earliest, took Charge OF
ho little piece which had done such deadly
work.
TIE LIGHT NOT NOTICED.
Mr.. Harris. clerk in the Register OF the
and Office, sad: ~ was here last night
intil Q:30 or 10 O'Clock. aud heard nothing
\ hateyer OF Mr.. Waller. Everything was
,losed IS usual. and there is nothing 10 ndi-
ate that the iron doors upstairs were
unlocked after being closed AT f. VI. Mr..
Waller had a hey 10 this door, and could
laye passed out aud back, but he would
laye been compelled to come down stairs to
cave the building, and as some
me was IN sight Of the steps
n the time be would hsye been
eeu when he went out. | was away
lunng the afternoon. but returned about |
800 o'clock. Ididuot notice the light in the |
a 4 4,,t a.