St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-16
HAS A QUEER LOOK.
The Body Of "Biddy" Doyle
Found in a Minneapolis
Lodging House.
A Bullet Hole in His TEMPLE
Tells the Manner Of His
Taking Off,
But Whether He Died by His
Own Hand Still an Open
Question.
His Companions Before the
Fatal Shot Are Strikingly
Uncommunieative.

a Hdn was killed in minneapolis las,
night. Those who knew him best pro-
nounce it suicide. The skeptical call
1t murder. Anyhow. his death is sur
rounded by most peculiar circum.
stances. The scene of this murder OF
suicide was Smiths lodging house, 62i
Washington avenue south. The victim
was John Doyle, or "Reddy'' DOYLE,
as he was known to his intimates. His
body now lies at Gleason & Byorum's
morgue with bullet hole through the
temple. No one heard the shot. No
one saw him kill himself. The men
who were with him few minutes be-
fore his death have disappeared. If it
was murder, what was the incentive?
SO far as any one knows he had no
money. But why did he kill
himself? The door of his room
was locked and no one could
find the way. The man was killed at
O'Clock in the evening. The police
knew nothing about it until some hours
later. Doyle was a railroad man. He
had been in Minneapolis only since last
Monday, and had been working for the
Milwaukee road. His mother and sisters
live i'll st. Paul, where they keep mil
linery store near Seven corners. They
have not yet been heard from. DOYLE
was only twenty-three years old, and
was fine,
Manly Looking Fellow.
But he had been drinking pretty hard
since he came to Minneapolis. 1t seems
that that may have driven him to take
his own life. He had been drinking so
hard that he was on the verge of tre-
mems. Yesterday he went to see doc
tor, who gave him a potion to make
him sleep and to counteract the
effects of the liquor. The potion
must have been too strong.
for 1T made Doyle sleep so soundlY that
he could not be walked. Smith, propri-
etor of the lodging house, became
frightened, and went out for doctor,
leaving DoyIe's roommate, young man
who is called .BloDdyp; young man
named Wood. and another whose nam
is unknown, but who works for Dog
catcher Lovely. These three were in
the room with Doyle when Smith
went out. When he returned
ali three were gone and the door was
locked. By the aid of pass key Smith
secured an entrance. Horror at what
he saw struck him dumb. On the bed,
in precisely the same position as when
Smith had left the room, lay the dead
body of Doyle. The pillow beneath his
his head was already
Soaked With Blood.
which trickled from hole n his tenn
pie. His hands lay beside him, and a
revolver. with one chamber exploded,
lay across mis- breast. That was all.
Wood and the dog catcher were hunted
up and questioned. They said they left
Doyle Just after Smith, leaving
"Blondy'' alone with him. "Blondy"
kept out of the way. The coroner and
the police were notified later, and the
body removed to the morgue. The
police investigated and sharply ques-
toned Wood and the dog catcher with
out result. They were released.
"Blondy'' slipped out of the house be
fore Detective Hoy appeared. That IS
all that any one knows about it. 1t
looks like murder and it looks like
suicide. The uncertainty will probably
never be cleared away. The suspicious
circumstances are that Smith found
the door locked. Careful search
failed to find the key in the
room. Doyle would scarcely have
thrown it out of the window after kill
ing himself. He lay as Smith had left
him while he slept soundly. The re-
volver was not in his hand, but across
his breast, while his hands had ap-
parently never moved. Nobody knows
ought about the actual shooting. Doyle
had been left with three men, one of
whom has disappeared, and the other
two don't say much. 1t looks queer.