Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-06-26
TRUMAN LEWIS ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

Cast on by His Father He Turned On
the Gas I'm New York Lodging
House and Gut His Wrist with q.
Razor. i
Saturday morning, June 10, Truman
Lewis, son of E. G. Lewis, said goodbye
to his friends and started for Seattle,
Wash. 1t was given out that he was
going on pleasure trip, but subsequent
young man was in reality going west to
grow up with the country. Yesterday
afternoon Mr. Lewis was shocked by re-
ceiving a telegram from New York,
stating that his son had attempted to
commit suicide in that city. The story
of the young mans career in New York
is told by to-day's New York Sun as fol-
lows:
About two weeks ago a short and
lodgings at Mrs Louise Lubin's, 239 East
Eighteenth street. He said he was
Truman s. Lewis from Waterbury, and
had come to this city in search OF EN-.
ployment. Yesterday afternoon young
Lewis was found lying upon his bed in
a pool of blood from self-inflicted
wounds, and with two gas jets turned
on.
About nom yesterday other dodgers
odor of gas. Between 1 and o'clock
Emma Livingston, a domestic, found
the keyhole of Lewis room stopped up.
The door was barricaded on the inside.
She forced it open and found Lewis
lying face downward upon the bed.
Blood " as flowing from several wounds
upon the mans left wrist and arm. A
bloody razor lay upon the mantelpiece.
A sheet was stuffed in Lewis mouth.
TnUia annaFontlu had fHrnoH nm tho
gas when he went to bed the night be-
fore, and had walked up later on, and
concluded to finish things with the
razor. The room was full of gas.
DIR A. w. Palmer of 1856 East
Eighteenth street was summoned, and
by artificial respiration Lewis was
brought back to consciousness. The
doctor found that the principal cut on his
left wrist was three eighths of an inch
deep, and found several ragged cuts
further up as though he had hacked at
himself again and again. The would
be suicide was removed to Bellevue.
In the room was found a letter from
Lewis's father on which he himself had
made some scrawls in pencil. His
fathers letter bore the letter head of the
Farrell Foundry & Machine company.
His father, E. G. Lewis is the president.
The letter read:
WATERBURY, Conn, June 90, 1891.
my DEAR TRUE:
Yours received, and if 1 had been
struck by lightning l could not have
been more surprised. ! would not dare
to convey your expressed love to your
mother, as she expects you are in
Seattle. To think that you have done
as you have would only add to the
trouble you have already caused her.
Go to work at any honest and respecta-
BILE job and be man. 1 don't want to
hear from you until you can be honest,
truthful, industrious and self-support-
ing. Not one cent from me.
FATHER"
The last sentence was heavily under
scored. The words my Dear" in. the
address my Dear True" had been
vigorously erased with pencil marks.
On the reverse side of the letter young
Lewis had written in pencil:
81 am glad that you want to hear
from me some time.
''God help my soul, and help the poor
girl that is in Hartford, for she is all l
loved, and suppose 1t will break her
heart, but somebody do something for
her, and don't make her life miserable.
Annie Conlan is the one 1 care for.
Yours, CRAZY TRUE"
"This sounds as if 1 was crazy
Penciled in between his fathers lines
and on the edge of the sheet were these
sentence
only love Annie c., Hartford"
Il have no money, not so cents"
Il may be thought crazy but am not"
At the lower end of the page was an
illegible sentence which was blurred by
! spot of blood. The drift of it seemed
to be apropos of his fathers statement
that his son need not expect cent
from him, that he woulden't have any
use for it.
But little was known of Lewis at his
lodging house. He took large double
room on the second floor paying Mrs
Lulin two weeks in advance at the rate
of "a a week. He was not ON speaking
terms with any of his fellow dodgers. It
was his custom to lie abed until nearly
noon and come in somewhat late at
night. Nobody heard him come in on
Wednesday night.
He had between $50 and $40 when he
reached the city, and of this only thirty
cents was left.
At Bellevue, Lewis told DIR Frank Hul-
lister that he had fallen in with a set of
boon companions and had been on
protracted spree. He said he was fool
for trying to kill himself and that he
wanted to live as much as anybody. DR.
Hollister said his injuries were slight
and that he would be able in u few days
to answ to the charge of attempted
suicide.