Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-29
"A ia ia D Dr. &
DEAD,AT THE BOTTOM
OF AN ELEVATOR SHAFT.
Was IT ACCIDENTAL, OR SBIsEa.?
no Bruises Found ON His Person suGi.
Client to Have Caused Death "A yef-
dict that Doath was Caused by "
Nervous shock.

Considerable excitement was occa-
stoned yesterday between IL and !
o'clock by the finding Of the dead
body of man in one Of the rooms of
the basement OF the Ponce de Leon
hotel, and in q short time large
crowd of eager spectators assembled
there to view the remains and to learn.
as for rs possible, all the facts in the
case. When found, the dead man was
lying on his face, aud a cursory e1-
animation threw but little light on
the immediate cause Of his death,
Mr.. S. w. Fuqua, workman emf
ployed by Mr.. Smith, the owner Of
the hotel, was the first to discover the
body. He was walking across the stills
on the first floor and looking down
the opening made for the elevator
saw man lying among the rubbish
in the basement. He at once called
the attention of Mr.. W. II. Witt, a
fellow workman, to the body, and as
they were unable to identity the re-
mains, they called on exijustice of
the peace @. A. Turner, who sent for
Judge 8. G. Williams.
AS the body was stall warm it was
decided t. summon one or moro ply
sicians, and in short time Doctors
Jos. A. Gale, G. s. Cooper and L. g.
Pedigo examined the remains, all Of
whom pronounced the man dead, and
advised that the coroner be sum
moned.
Near the man was a silk hat. and
he was neatly dressed. He was ap
parently about thirty-fve years old,
was feet 10 inches in height, and was
inclined to badness. His counter
ance was decidedly intelligent, and
the general appearance was that OF a
man in comfortable circumstances.
Three dollars and ten cents WAS found
in his pocket along with card bear
ing the name OF &c. Hammet, Real
Estate Hustler, Big Stone Cap The
body had not been long found before
it was ascertained that it was the
remains of G. l.. Hammet, q merchant
OF Fincastle.
1t appears that he arrived here last
Friday evening from Fincastle, and
during his stay here he drank
more than was good for him. a gen.
tleman who knew him well spoke in
the highest terms Of his worth "a
man, bnt said he was addicted to peri
odical attacks. which caused him great
mental suffering, and kept his family
and friends in constant anxiety lest
some serious accident should happen
to.him. When attacked by these fits
of depression he seemed possessed OF
an uncomfortable disposition to
climb to some tall point, with the
idea of jumping from there to the
ground Several OF his narrow es
capes from death while under these
Authorizations were reported by the
gentleman, and the discovery of his
dead body in the new building natu
rally led to the conclusion that he had
met death by falling or jumping from
some of the upper stories Of the hotel
building. Several parties saw him
yesterday morning, and some con
vessed with him a short time before
his dead body was discovered in the
basement of the hotel.
He was we'll known in this city and
it is said had made several fortunate
investments in real estate here. His
dealings with our merchants were
marked by strict adherence to bust
ness principles, and he was quiet
and well behaved at first it was re-
ported that he was unmarried; but it
was subsequently ascertained that he
had a wife and daughter residing in
FIncastle.
After jury had been summoned and
had viewed the remains, Coroner
Gray decided to remove. them to the
undertaking establishment ofr. W.
G.. Woolwine where q thorough inves4
tigation was made Of which the
following is q synopsis:
No wounds Of a nature serious
enough to cause death were discoy-
cred on the head or body Of the
dead man. There were some bruises
about the face, and one rib was brok-
en-, otherwise the appearance Of the
corpse was comparatively natural. 10
The jury was composed Of the fol-
lowing gentlrmen: Jas. A.. Pugh,
foreman; j. r. Terry, o.. NJ. Wade,
James Green, n. n. Banghman and
C. NJ. Nails. The substance of the
verdict was ..that G. L. .Hammit came
to his death by. nervous shock OF the
heart. brought on by the fall.n
A further search of his body revealed
pocketbool1 containing $S5. On the
fly leaf of the book was written the
following, dated February 9th: 81
am subject TO heart disease and am
liable to die at any moment. If die
don't bury me for several days"
Mrs. Hammet, his wife, is just! re-
covering from an attack of Ia grippe,
and on Sunday said she seemed to
have premonition OF some impend-
ing trouble, and stated to friend
that she knew something had hap.
pened to her husband.