Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-16
BURNED HIMSELF UP.
A Sensational Manner of Com m 4
ting Suicide.

, A Sensational Manner of Com NIT
ting suicide.
At s o'clock last night Coroner Mere
dith held an inquest upon the remains of
the body of Louis Bate, native of Ger
many, AZ years of age. who committed
suicide under somewhat sensational cir
cumstances on Tuesday night last. From
the testimony given to the Coroner's
jury it was learned that about s O'Clock
Tuesday night man named James Col.
Inns crawled into stack of hay, con-
tanning about 200 tons of fodder, on a
vacant lot between Vermont and Wesley
avenues, and in the rear of the Univer-
sity, for the purpose of spending the night
/ there. He was out of ofemployment, but had
been offered situation by V. J Rowan,
at 26 West Adams street., which he in
tended to accept in the morning. A few
minutes after he had fallen asleep he
was awakened by a cracking noise, and
found, to his surprise, that the stack was
on fire close to where he lay. He was
just about to attempt to extinguish the
blaze before it spread, when tall man
with q black hat and grey suit, ap-
preached him, pistol in hand. and or.
dered him to leave the stack Immediately
or he would be shot. Before he dropped
from the pile of hay, the stranger in
formed Collins that he had fred the
stack, and was resolved to per-
ish in the flames. Collins at once
ran across the street and told two men
named W. w. Grace and A, E. McCon-
nell, both Of whom corroborated his
statement of what had occurred at the
stack; but his story seemed too improba-
BILE for credence, and no attention was
paid to it at the time. Collins was
placed under arrest by Chief Strohm on
suspicion of having caused the fire, and
was taken to the Police Station, where
he spent the night as "lodger" Yes
tterday morning, the fire having burned
itself out, Mcdonnell, who resides in
the neigh hborhood, more out of curiosity
than belief in Collins story,
searched among the ashes and dis
covered pile of bones and pieces of
revolver. The Coroner and police were
notified OF the discovery, and the charred
remains were brought to town. They
we're as follows: Part of the left collar
bone, part of the right jaw bone, part of
the left thigh bone, the remains of the
bones of the legs, several pieces of the
bones of the pelvis, several pieces of the
skull, the liver, the left kidney, the bones
of the lower portion of the spine, all
badly charred and in pieces.
The identity of the corpse was a ques-
ton OF some doubt, but Jacob Johansen,
the proprietor of lodging house at No.
40 Wilmington street, testified that
his wife in cleaning up the
room of one of his dodgers. who
had not since been heard from,
pinkad up note on Tuosaey morning
signed "Louis Bate" and was to the
effect that the writer had determined to
commit suicide, owing to his inability to
obtain employment. 1t was taken to
the Police Station, but for some unac-
countable reason nothing was said or
done about it. The missing lodger was a
native of Germany and AZ years of age,
and had been an inmate of the house for
some time past. The jury, after brief
deliberation, decided that the deceased
came to his death by "being burned in a
fire at or near University station, that
said fire was started by deceased with in
tent to take his own life, and we further
believe that the name OF the deceased was
Louis Bate"