St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-03
SUICIDE OR ACCIDENT?
Lieut.. Schwatka Picked Up
Unconscious on the Streets
Of Portland, Or.
He Died in a Few Minutes
After Arrival at the
Hospital.
An Empty Laudanum Vial In
dictates That He Commit
ted Suicide.
A Theory That an Overdose
Of the Drug Was Taken
by Accident.

PORTLAND, Or, Nov. 2.-Lieut. Fred
erick Schwatka, of Alaskan exploration
fame, died here at 4:50 this morning.
a. IN. in an unconscious condition.
Beside him was found on empty lauda-
mum bottle.
When found Schwatka was lying on
the sidewalk in ali apparent drunken
Stupor. All efforts to arouse him were
futile. The two-ounce vial found near
him was about half full OF laudanum.
He was carried to hotel, where fur
Their attempt to awake him was made,
put without avail. He manifested
symptoms of opium poisoning, and the
physician summoned, after hasty
examination, ordered him conveyed to
the hospital, where after few mo-
ments he expired. He never regained
consciousness. The body now lies at
the morgue. where an inquest will be
held tomorrow morning.
DR.. G. H. Wheeler. the attending
physician, was this afternoon asked for
| his opinion as to
The Cause of Death.
He stated that he would insist upon
| poSt-mortem examination, and before
that was held he could give no opinion.
That, although symptoms indicated
opium poisoning, there might be other
causes, such as apopleXy. He would
rather think that Lieut.. Schwatka car
ried laudanum for some other purpose
than suicide, as he was a man we'll
versed in the use of medicine. Lieut..
| ah, 90 iir from q
to Salem, Or, his former home.
Lieut.. Schwatka has of late years
been troubled with a stomach com
| plant, and was in the habit of taking
laudanum to allay the pain. Last night
he was attending meeting OF the
| Stevenson club. and while there COM
| planned to friend that his stomach was
''killing him." He then went to drug
! store and purchased tWo-ounce bottle
| of laudanum, remarking to the clerk
| that he was graduate of medical col
| lege and that he was accustomed to TAX
ing fifteen or twenty drops of laudanum
when his stomach was troubled. When
last seen last night he appeared i'll a
cheerful mood and gave no evidence
that he contemplated suicide. The
theory that he committed suicide is fast
giving way to one that he took ap over
dose OF laudanum by accident.
His Career.
Frederick SchWatka was born at Ga.
lena, Ill.,, Sept. 90, 1S49. In 1853 he re-
moved to Oregon with his parents. and
in 1867 he received an appointment to
the United States military academy. In
1871 he served in the United States cav.
airy on garrison and frontier duty until
1878. He also received medical degree
at Bellevue Hospital college, New York,
a year after he had been admitted to
the bar in Nebraska. From June, 1878,
to September, 1880, he had command of
the Franklin search party in the Arctic,
which accomplished the longest sledge
Journey on record, 3,251 miles, occupy.
ing eleven months. The search party
discovered and buried many of the
skeletons of Sir John Franklin's party
Schwatka's second expedition was fol
the government in Alaska along the
Yucon river. His effects were carried
bv about seventy-tive indians across the
mountains, and raft WAS built OF
which the party
FloateA Down the River
1856 miles-the longest recorded raft
journey. By this expedition the length
of the Yucon was found to be 2.045
miles. and navigable for 1855 miles.
In 1884 Schwatka received the com
mission OF first lieutenant First cavalry,
and two years later he made an expedi-
ton for the New York Times amongst
the ST. Felice Alps. the highest mount
ain being assembled over 1000 feet. LII
1889 he made an expedition to the north,
ern part of Old Mexico, practically un
explored OH account of the presence o.
warlike Apaches. Many interesting
relics of Aztec civilization were found,
and studies made of the cliff and cave
jewellers, of whom SchWatka estimated
there were from 5000 to $4,000 in Chlhu
ahua alone. Schtwaka received thu
Arctic Roquet medal from the Geogra-
phical Society of Paris. and he was hon
orary member of several foreign soci-
cites. His books are along Alaska's
Great River" ''Nimrod in the North
and THE Children of the Cold"