The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-20

His deatii has closed his lips, but the last
ct of his life surrounds him with evidens
uilt
The attempt to burn the city hall is by
ne police consJ rued as the act of ii guilty
nm, whose only chance to escape detec
on Was In the destruction OF the records
he CITY trea~ur rs office, of which hr
al control The police cannot snake off
4- suspicion tbat young Foer9tel set h
II G hat was discovered in time 10 saw
ne records They believe th It hr Laid his
lans 10 prove an alibi. in casa the CITY
all was total wr-ck and in the ruin,
y the records of he treasurer's offic-
he evidence Slows that he occupied his
pnm after midnight and left al an early
5Hr this morning HIS movements AT ter
tr;ng the house c44not b traced uuIil
e pOiut after The Gu uching OF the fir
reached Il is known that about $50
p'clock he borrowed the revolver with
yh ch he committed suicide from james
Harrison. Il friend, and the theory is tha;
had learned of the fai ure of his plot to
iestroY the evidence OF his guilt and was
thereby forced to resort 10 death as his
only escape
Young Foerstel's record is that OF Il
lid young man and plunger On boards
OF trade he was a heavy better, placing a
hoUsand or more at time. He WAS also
Interested in real estate deals beyond his
ability 10 handle, as shown by recent
developments in court proceedings, in he
nature of injunctioas, etc. Young Foers
'ei was generally liked. He was about 23
years OF age. but was old in experience,
and especially in financial matters. for his
years. In his capacity as ASSISTANT treas
urer of the city over SO, 100000 of the city's
funds and securities passed through his
hands each year. He was treasurer OF
two large building associations (the Phe
al Cn,Y,fo-fN hnr
counts with these are known Is be all
right. He was also the senior member of
The firm of Foerstel & Saxton.
Another theory tor the suicide, but
which Is receiving little attention except
as Indirectly confirming the other state
mcnt, is that of r. g. Delane, who refer
ring TO the suicide, today said:
"Foerstel has called upon me in the past
three or four weeks almost daily to confer
about an attempt which certain party
was making TO obtain money from him
He said that this person had demanded
$1,000 as the price OF his keeping his
mouth shut concerning what lie knew
about the city treasurer's office At no
time in these Interviews did Foerstel adj
NIT that there was anything wrong in his
office. On the contrary, he always de
clared himself ready to stand any investi-
cation, and his sole purpose In consulting
with me was to devise some means OF
silencing his slsnderers by pnblic
prosecution for blackmail. Foer-
stel never succeeded III getting
a written proposition, but in the course of
the negotiations the fellow reduced his
demand to So 600. When it came to COM
plying with our demand for proof. he
utterly failed to furnish any. The matter
worried Ed terribly. One day he eX-
claimed: My God, 7 can't stand this
much longer. This man is going around
talking about me and leaving me no
reparation, except perhaps to kill him.
think that this slauder affected him until
he got out of his head and in moment OF
insanity killed himself"
Charles Parsons, weli-known banker
of this city, has been appointed TO sue
ceed Treasurer Foerstel and has given
the required bond of 100000
Late tonight the investigation of the
treasurer's accounts was finished, showing
an embeZzement of S63, 020 Great sym
pathy is expressed on all sides for ex-
Treasurer Foerstel, aud it is settled by the
inquiry that he is personally innocent of
wrongdong.