Morning journal and courier., 1891-08-14
ONE OF KAwRAH,s VICTIMS.
Hodeck Kills Himself After q Dis heartening Experience In the Co- operative Colony.

ONE OF KAWEAH,S VICTIMS.
 Hodeck Kills Himself After a Dis
 heartening Experience In the Co- operative Colony.
 l From the San Francisco Chrouicle.l
 "Driven to death by the Kaweah colony" :"
 ought to have been the verdict of the cor
 onor's jury upon the remains of Gus Ho-
 deck, who committed suicide on Thursday | night.
 For some reason the facts in connection
 with Hodeck's death-or, rather, his ex-
 perience immediately prior thereto, which
 unmistakably led to his self-destruction-
 were not brought out at the inquest.
 There are but few people in the city who
 were acquainted with those facts, and no
 opportunity was afforded for them to make them public.
 Hodeck was German by birth and @
 machinist by trade, an honest, industrious
 young man about twenty-five years of age,
 and with no relatives, so far as known, on
 this coast. About two years ago he fell in with some of the members of the Kawesh CO., operative colony, and was so carried away
 with the glowing accounts given of that institution that he decided to join it. He
 had some money which he had saved up by working at his trade at the Union Iron
 works. and he gladly put it into the com
 mon stock-or, rather, paid it over to the trustees, for he never saw a cent of it
 again. He threw up his job here and went to the settlement in Tulare county, where he took up his abode with his fellow dupes.
 Being an intelligent fellow and good worker, he got tasks to perform for which he was paid in the time cheeks that are
 the medium of circulation in the colony,
 the trustees keeping in their own control all those tangible evidences of wealth which pass current in the outside world. Hodeck, however, possessed fearless and independent spirit, and before he had
 been many months in the colony be learned how things were being managed by the trustees, and he was not backward in ex- pressing his opinion of them. He asked uncomfortable questions of the trustees, and refused to be bulldozed or browbeaten into silence.
 At the business meetings of the colonists he did not ally himself, either by speech or vote, with the controlling element, and be- ing withal little Cranky" he became very unpopular with the leading spirits of the colony. He could not be quieted, for he believed he was right, and indeed there were many of his fellow colonists who sid ed with him.
 Then the same plan of reducing him to submission that had ben tried with others was put into practice. He was refused supplies from the colony stores, al though he had several hundred dollars in credits entitling him to what he needed. Neither food nor clothing could be obtained on the checks, and Hodeck, in order to obtain the necessaries of life, was obliged to go outside the colony and work to obtain little money.
 After working for a while in Tulare county and earning enough to buy some clothes and have a few dollars ahead he went back to the colony. Again he tried to obtain something in exchange for his time credits, but was met with a second refusal. He then paid in cash for some tickets entitling him to meals at the colony | restaurant, but when he went there to eat these also were refused. They had eager ly taken his money, but refused to give him any consideration therefor. Besides being refused what he had earned and what his own money had paid for Hodeck was subjected to petty perse- | cutions of all sorts, until his life was made a burden to him. He remained, however, as long as he could, but finally found that 1 it was of no use, and that he could expect | nothing more of those who were indebted | to him. To crown the indignities to which | he had been subjected a mock trial was held, and Hodeck was expelled from mem | bership by the faction that "runs things | in the colony. The flimsy pretext was giv- | en that he had abandoned the colony when ha fp ir,f fha vo1lar tho fant ha | ing as already related, that the veH ele- | ment which expelled him had forced him | to take the step of going to work for out l siders in order to avoid starvation and to | obtain clothes to take the place of those he had worn out in the colony's service. Thoroughly disheartened, Hodeck made | up his mind to return to San Francisco | and try to obtain employment at his trade. He reached here fortnight or so ago, but | soon found that there was an overplus of | machinists in the city, and that, having no ! influence, it was impossible for him to ob- | tain employment.
 Having thus been literally starved out by | the colony, Hodeck then apparently came | to the conclusion that life was not worth
 living and made deliberate preparations to end it. To the two or three friends who knew of his experience at Kaweah he gave no inkling of his intentions. Hiring room | at 21S Tehama street last Thursday, he ob-
 tained piece of rubber hose, fastened it | to the gas jet and deliberately smothered | himself to death.
 1 He had kept his place of residence SC.
 cret from his few friends, and if he had
 any baggage or effects they have not yet been found.
 After the inquest had been held young
 man giving the name of F. D. Jackson
 called at the morgue and inquired what disposition was to be made of the remains.
 Being told that they would be buried as
 those of pauper, Jackson volunteered tc
 defray tht expense of a decent burial him.
 self, which he did. It subsequently, ap, peared that the dead man and Jackson were fellow colonists.
 If some of the former Kaweah colonists
 are to be believed, this is not the first death
 which can be ascribed to the disappoint ment and suffering needlessly entailed
 upon those who went enthusiastically intc
 the scheme and sacrificed all that they
 had in the cause of pretended cooperation