The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-04-28
IS KILLED BY A BULLET.
Y0UN0 1H0NAs o. sP11R's DkATH IN
HIS OWN ROOM

Ne AsA Dssa At banquet ana HsA Takes
Two Friends Home with Hin - EEis
Friends Insist It Was Not ssSsfas.
Thomas oliphant speir. . son Of Francis
Bpeir Of South Orange. was shot ct about 1 Y
o'clock yesterday morning in his fathers
house. and he died two hours afterward.
The stately speir residence 10 reached By q
path leading OF from the Ridgewood road and
winding between beautiful pines until II
reaches the crest Of tho hill. The young man
had three brothers. Francis. Jr, r. W.. and
Lewis Speir.
The brothers said yesterday that one Of his
intimate friends. Graham Brewer. son OF
William A. Brewer. the President Of the WASH
ington Life Insurance Company. was to be
married to-day to Miss Humphrey Of South
Orange.
He had selected ten OF his friends to be
ushers at the wedding. and to these he gave
banquet Tuesday night in his fathers house
In South Orange avenue. All were In
good spirits. and after pleasant even
Ing Thomas Speir. accompanied by three
OF his friends. Albert Wall. Stewart Brown OF
Ill East Sixteenth street. this city. and j.
Parker Dodd Of 10 Clinton avenue. Newark.
started to walk across the valley to his house.
he having invited them to stay with him.
They reached the house soon after o'clock.
Speir sat UP for a time talking with his
mother. discussing his prospects. &c. Mr..
Wall went to his room. and Mr. speir. with
Messrs. Brown and Dodd. retired to Speir's
own room. They chatted pleasantly as they
told as follows hy ono o. the brothers: ..,u,
bureau. 50 We are told By his two friends. and
oss Of me
$ SsS Smith { Wesson, lie looked at
the weapon and started to take - on his collar
was q. report and Immediately follow
as ths and %o bod
and after about three hours Without once re-:
The two friends say they did not see The re,
HAPPENED @ In one or two Ways. The floor was Of
hard wood. polished and slippery: My brothers at
the time vas standing on rig in front Of the
the se rug PROBABLY ~ sid. he SLIPPED. and the
revolver was discharged. It was. on the
that as he was removing his clothing and at
tSs hammer !nishs h%ys been .a Ssprht in some
Tho brothers said there WINS utterly no
foundation fer suggestion that It WASP Hos case
circumstances in ali respects: with a. brilliant
record in the past and with the brightest OF
prospects IN the future.
Tho bullet had gone in on the right side OF
tho head. Just in front Of and slightly above the
oar. 1t had passed out on the left side OF the
head, struck tho cornice,, Of the 1room.
at some distance from tho hcnd when Il vas
discharged. for DR.. Runyon. who was called In.
said there was no trace OF powder or smoke
about the head. County Physician Wrightson
OF Newark Vowed the body in the afternoon:
by bullet DR.. Chandler said It was prepos-
ferrous to say that death was not accdentai
stature. with attractive features. He was a
member Of the class Of 81 In Princeton Col
lege. hut he left college in his sophomore year.
For four years he WAS captain OF the Orange
Athletic Club football team. He played half
back.
He was an architect, and had an office at 81
State street this city. He drew the designs
for the new athletic building ut Princeton. also
for the new field club houses at Princeton.
Recently hc had been engaged upon plans
for remodelling George Morgan's summer
house at Lenox.
The funeral will be held at 1870 Friday
in the Church Of the Holy Commun-
ion. u short distance from his fathers house.