St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-09
SUICIDE OF AN EDITOR.
HENRY KERSHAW, or NEW ORLEANS.
KILLS HIMSELF IN CHICAGO.
HIS NECK PUT ACROSS A RAIL,


fore Anybody Can Interfere
Letters Indicate That He Left
His Wife and Children and
Went to Chicago With a
Woman Named Libbie Bloom.
CHICAGO, Oct. S.-What promises to
develop into sensational suicide oc-
Cured today on the railroad tracks at
the foot of Monroe street. From pa
pers found on the suicides body he is
believed to be Henry Kershaw, editor
and manager of the New Orleans
Commercial. Early this morning
the police at the central detail
station saw well-dressed man stand
ing on the railroad tracks, apparently
engrossed in deep thought. A long
freight train was approaching, and as it
drew near him the man threw himself
upon the track and placed his neck on
the rail. Police Lieut.. Hayes and two
patrOlmen hastened from the station,
but were too late. The train reached the
man before they had crossed half the
intervening space, and severed the sui
cide's head from his body. AS soon as
possible the train was stopped and the
mangled remains
REMOVED TO A MORGUE.
Letters found in the mans pockets
led to his Identification, and the con-
tents, if true, tell a sensational story.
In all of the letters which he had writ
ten Kersaw speaks of a crime charged
against him, which was prosecuted by a
woman, whom he deSignates as Libbie
Bloom, and a number of secret So
cieties, and he claims that he was
bounded to the grave. He speaks of an
unfair trial, in which a detective and
an attorney were bribed and induced to
work to his disadvantage. What the
outcome of the case was he does
not tell, but he evidently be-
lieved that his enemies intended
to murder him. He hinted in
one of the letters of lynching, but
stated that he never feared them, be-
cause he did not fear death. Letters
were also found signed by Libble
Bloom. These letters, taken in connec-
ton with those written by himself,
show that
KERSHAW BECAME INF ATUATED
with the Bloom woman, and left wife
and children in order to live with her.
In his letters he often speaks of his
wife and children in New Orleans and
the disgrace he had brought upon them
for the sake of a woman who, he
claims, ruined him and by persecution
drove him mad. He fled with her to Chi
cago, but Kershaw was a dissipated
man and she soon left him. Some of
the letters read like the product OF
deranged mind. He in particular ac-
cuses the Masons (Elks lodge of per-
scouting him, and says that Libbie
Bloom must nave lied to them to make
them take his life. He demands to
know why somebody did not challenge
him if he had done wrong, declaring
his willingness to accept any and all
challenges. This letter to the Masons
winds up as follows: "If you call it a
crime for woman to love man and he
her, and nothing wrong be done, then
fire your Gatllng guns. hope God will
forgive me for all my SINS"
New ORLEANS, La, Oct. S.-Henry
Kershaw, who committed suicide in
Chicago today, is not we'll known here
and has not been in journalism for
some time. He issued commercial
bulletin about year and at one time
was partner in large printing office.
Nothing is known of his connection
with the woman, Libbie Bloom, or of
biS domestic affairs