The morning call., 1893-03-30
MADNESS, DESPAIR.
Suicide of a Defaulting
Cashier.
LIVING BEYOND HIS INCOME.
e. Amsden Prefers Death to Facing
the Consequences of Betraying
the Trust Reposed in Him.

Six weeks ago tomorrow E. Amsden,
cashier of the Continental Insurance Com
pany of New York. left the Office of the
company. 319 Pine street, and nothing WAS
known of his whereabouts till yesterday
morning.
HOn Monday night stranger entered the
Albion House, Grant avenue. and asked
to be assigned to a room. He Immediately
retired for the night.
While the bedmaker was on his rounds
yesterday morning he 'smelled gas in one of
the corridors and traced it to the room occu.
pied by the stranger. He forced the door
open and found the man lying on the bed
dead.
He had attached a rubber tube to the gas
jet. turned on the gas aud then placed the
end of the tube in his mouth so as to render
his death by asphyxiatlon sure and speedy.
On table In the room was note written
Oh a half sheet of note paper as follows;
To the Coroner Of San FTGncisco-DEAR SIR:
Cause Of death, madness and despair. Be noble
enough 10 give only these (the true reasOnsl to
The press and public; further particulars Will
only cause more misery aud unhappiness TO my
already undeserving relatives and friends.
Yours in full faith. E. AMSDEN.
Means employed, "Opium."
The room was searched for opium, but no
trace of it could be found, and the presump-
ing the note as to the means Of his death.
No money nor jewelry was found in the
deceased's clothes.
d. b. Wilson, manager of the company,
said to reporter of THE CALL Yesterday
that Amsden was $500 short in his ac-
counts.
II had every confidence in him." said Mr..
Wilson, "aGd was considerably surprised to
find that he was Il defeulter.
"He had been cashier since last March or
apA hod slxy haa anlla
''Six weeks ago next Friday he came TO me
and said he wished to go out for an hour or
two, and that was the last time l saw him."
"Amsden spent his money freely among
women Of pleasure in this city" said one Of
his friends last night, "but managed to keep
his amOurs in the dark. When he left the
office of the Continental Company he was
afraid to face his neglected wife aud family
and went to a clearinghouse after eXchang-
ing his fashionable garments for shabby
suit and S.
"Amsden, having disguised himself pur-
chased some opium in Chnatow and has
tened to Strawberry Hill, in Golden Gate
Park, where he hid in the brush and took
the poison. He became unconscious and.
after lying for many hours in the copse,
staggered back to the city.
He tried to commit suicide In his lodg-
ing house by inhaling Illuminating gas.
''The gas drove him into insensiblity. but
he regalned consciousness on the next
morning auu WIS Ill LOT several days.
He sent for former associate in the
same insurance Office and told him all about
his trials.
His next attempt at suicide-that in the
Ahlborn House-was successful"
1t was learned from other sources that
Amsden was at one time a member of the
firm of G. T. Marsh & Co.. Importers of
Japanese goods. and had been afterward
sent to Japan as agent of the firm
While there he lived an extravagant life,
and it was not long before he was forced to
sever his connection with the firm.
He returned TO this city and entered the
employment Of the Contin entail Insurance
Company, giving them guaranty bond for
$500 from the Fidelity and Casualty Insur-
ance Company.
showed that he had been giving receipts for
Wells-Fargo express packages containing
money and not entering them on the books;
also that pnstotfce money orders had been
cashed by him and no entry made of them.
His defalcations altogether amounted TO
5000.
On the first of the month the Fidelity
Company was notified that Amsden was a
defaulter and had disappeared. A special
agent OIL the company was put on his trail,
and 1t is believed that somehow he learned
OF this fact. and driven to despair commit
ted suicide.
Amsden was an Englishman and belonged
to a good family. He received his eduea-
ZION lIl Tue lalDOuS bluec0RL ScNO0l OF Lon
don, England. he was about Il years of
age, and was man of fine presence, we'll
informed; In fact 3 thorough man OF the
world. He was of nervous sensitive tenn
permanent, and his friends say must have
f0lt his disgrace keenly.
He lived in Berkeley. his wife has been
an invalid for come time, and it is feared
that the news Of her husbands death Will
have serious effect upon her, as she is
thoroughly Frustrated by the shock Much
sympathy is felt for her
Two of Amsden's intimate friends called
at the Morgue yesterday afternoon and
spoke feelingly OF his death. One of them
said: He was a man of good family, and
from his youth never knew what it was to
want money. He anu ] were boys together.
lie has been trying to live up to his extrav-
agRnt habits on meager salary, and having
got himself into difficulties put an end TO
himself, and that is all there Is about 1t.
He was good fellow In every sense of
the word, his only fault, perhaps. being that
he was too sensitive and hghstrung."
Amsden was an intimate friend of Walter
Mcdowell who defaulted last May with
some money belonging to the Canton Fire
Insurance Company of this city.
An autopsy will be held, followed by an
inquest.