The morning call., 1892-09-28
CiNlDiY'S SAD SUICIDE.
lie Preferred Death to Living in
DiShOnOr.
CHARGED WITH ROBBING HIS PARTNER.
An Ey-Srgeant.at.irms Of the United States
Senate Claimed TO Have Been Bound
and Robbed.
Special to THE MORNING CALI.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27.-William P. Ca
naday of North Carolina, ex-Setgeant-at-
Arms of the Senate. committed suicide here
this morning. shooting himself through the
head. He had been in financial difficulties
for some time.
Canaday occupied rooms at 712 and ia
Kent street as lodging and office quarters,
where, in partnership with Captain j. @ A.
H0ughton, te conducted the business Of
loaning money on securities such as banks
refused to handle, and was launching a
company to guarantee patents.
The first scene in the tragedy Was about
daylight this morning, when a gentleman
roomlng above was attracted to Canaday's
door by the latter's cries. He found Cana
day bound and gagged, and the latter
claimed this was the work of burglars. who
had forced him to open the safe and take
out its contents. When Captain HOnghton
arrived he told Canaday he did not believe
the story, and thought it was a ruSe to cover
the theft by Canaday of $1,000. which
Hought0n put in the safe the previous
evening. HOughtOn then went out to get
policeman. When he returned he found
Canaday lying dead bathed in blood, with a
bullet-hole through his head.
Charles FL. Stevenson, an emplOye ins tho
Fish Commission, tells the following story:
He says he roOmed on the second floor Just
above Colonel Canaday's rear office-rOOm.
and came downstairs at 5:15 this morning,
having been alarmed by the outcres in
Canaday's apartments. He found Colonel
Canaday bound TO a closet door in room
in which the safe stood and across the hall
way from his sleeping quarters. The safe
was open, and strewed over the floor were
great litter OF papers, and in the fireplace
there was charred mass Of burned papers.
Colonel Canaday was bound to the door,
with his hands behind him. The tWine
with which he was bound was very ordi-
nary stuff, such as Is used to bind large
parcels, so that man Of ordinary strength
ought TO have been able TO break ii with
ease. In his mouth was gag made out Of
torn piece of his nightshiIt, which was
found across the hallway. II had been
o0sened. so that he was able to make an
outcry.
Colonel Canaday's statement to him was
that some time after 2 o. clock in the morning
three burglars forced an entrance through
the rear window of the room in which he
was found bound and gagged into the room
in which he was sleeping, and at the
point of revolver forced him to go
across the hallway to the safe and open
it. They abstracted great part of the con-
tents, burned some of the papers, and de-
parted after binding him.
Captain Honghtou, his partner. was sent
for, and to him Canaday related the story
which his partner refused to believe. An
examination OF the papers showed tnat a
considerable number of negotiable notes
made by Colonel Canaday had been burned
and every book containing record of in
debtedneSs against him had been destroyed.
Affirming his disbelief in the story, Cap
tain Houghton said he would go for the po-
lice and have the story investigated. Of
fcers Hodges and Gilbert accompanied him
on the return to the house, when a servant
girl told them she thought Colonel Cana
day had shot himself. The window from the
rear was forced from the outside and the
dead man found lying on cot.
He had dressed himself after Captain
Houghton's departure, and was lying on the
cot as if resting, but his clothes, and the
sheet and pillows on the cot we're covered
with blood. A revolver was by his side.
The desperate man had pointed it at his
head, just above the right ear, and sent The
bullet clear through his brain. The bullet
came out just above the left ear and dropped
on the floor. Death must have been nearly
instantaneous. The body was removed 10
the undertaker's rooms and an inquest will
be held.
On a desk written on a large envelope was
the following note to Miss Moore:
3fy Dear Friend: / am not guilty OF any
wrong. You may trust in me- The people who
are prosecuting me- are worse than am. He is
villain OF the very largest. God bless you
always is the last prayer of your true friend.
CANADAY.
A note addressed to Captain Houghton
said that after Houghton's conduct this
morning, he (Cauaday) had mo further USE
for lfe."
The police are investigating the state
ment Of Captain Houghton that he put
$1,000 in the safe yesterday. How Canaday
could have made away with it is, under the
circumstances, difficult question to answer.
Miss Moore, whom Canaday visited yester-
day evening and to whom he left a note, is
young lady of excellent family and good
reputation whom Colonel Canaday knew in
North Carolina. She lives here with mar
ried sister. Canaday's call was a brief
social one.
The tragedy Is the climax to 4 decade Of
wild, adventurous speculation in projects Of
a hazardous kind, in the hope. always de-
lusive, that each successive scheme would
bring large wealth.