San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-06-29
MURDER AND SUICIDE.
HERMANN Steers KILLS HIS
WIFE, WHO RETURNS
HOME TO DIE
WITH HIM,
Then Shoots Himself, Dies, and
Leaves Behind Him Some
Remarkable and Ell
oquent Explana-
tory Letters.

A most remarkable tragedy is reported
from England, the details Of which are as
follows:
Mr.. Gavazzi w. King, manager of the
Leeds Daily Express, some time ago made
the acquaintance of man named Her
man Steers. He was an Englishman, of
German descent, very cranky, but man
of great mental power and scholastic at
tainments. Steers had written several
works of great ability, mainly poems and
tragedies, unsuitable for newspaper,
for which he could find no publisher. and
he was in too Strengthened financial cir
cumstances 10 incur the responsibility of
personal publication. This evidently
pREYED UPoN HIS MIND,
But it was thought that the consequent
depression would pass off. He was, how
ever, naturally shy, modest and reserved,
and therefore his melancholia was not so
apparent, as to predict the tragedy that
ended mis- life.
On Friday, June 9th, Mr.. King was sur
prisef to receive tue following letter from
Steers, who was then rusticaticg in
Canterbury: :.
am dead. Ishot myself on the 9th of
June here near Canterbury in wood on
| the west side of the town. | had been
| four weeks in this place with my wife,
who came on purpose from Germany DC
die with me. leave proofs enough be-
| hiud me to testify that am no murderer
letters in German, " hich will 0e found
or my body, and her family WIKI also be
obliged to acknowledge that truth. We
lived under the
SHADOW OF DEATH
ra.l, -
the day before my birthday, until the9
of June, the day, after her birthday, the
time that fate allowed. We lived Joy
fully and peacefully. for we dwelt in the
same bosom of nature, a&d separated
from the stupidity, cuptdity, and
madness of mankind. Our pleasures were
woods, birds, fields and wild flowers.
The hawthorn Blossom and the blueoetls
were with us at first, then honeysuckle
and the wild rose. Music aad song were
our occuDation, with merry and earnest
conversations our little lodging. we
] were a harmony together a tender and
sublime accord. AS the mountain stream
meets his sisterin the valley, we united
and flowed toward the same Sea-the sea
OF freedom, truth, justice, that are
name and a nothing on earth. Never
was there a woman so n0Gle as ny wife.
Never has her sex known character so
high a0d so purely human. Never was
sweetness so softly mated with greatest
strength We are not
nEADJoF BODILY LUST,
or despair, but of fate and corTictlon.
We never des paired and we died calmly.
The reason for the act will be found In
my words and her letters. she under
stood me and lived in and through me.
The oDly papers | have destroyed were
plans foS poems and plays, &c. leave
yhnt IF ma N hAnIS.
sidering you as the best and httest person
for the trust, remembering your friend
ship for myself, and some admiration for
certain of the said works. Above all
write as an honest man TO an honest man.
Yours was iE friendship.
From death to life, from star to-star,
NV earth were here, my Spiritifar.
Suspecting the worst Mr.. King imme-I
diatelv wired to the Canterbury police
and search was made. After considerable
dificulty Mr., Steers and his wife were
found dead in Cockertng Wood, near the
city. Their bodies lay side by SIDE and In
the mans haRd was revolver. 1te had
apparently shot his wife in the left side
OF the head and then sent abulletthEough
the right side of his brain.
ON BOTH BODIES
were wild flowers adorned with crepe.
On Steers body being eEamlnst. the
following extraordinary letter was found:
To the Public, from Hermann Stoer-
So. at the end of the nineteenth century,
dies i'm England an English poet and
genius! Here lie, killed by this social
ed practical generation, TO whom gSld Is
more than honor and money more Shan
mind, that studies the body and neglectS
the soul, that alone distinguishes the
man from the brute, that alone Should
occupy all his care for its cultivation, and
that alone should be his pride and de-
light. Let me inform we, Oh, my country
men-I publish 1t to the world-that
genius, without means or infiuemia al
friends, without worldly goods, or selfish |
folsy interested in promoting its welfare, |
perishes like flower by the wayside, !
seen by few, observed by none, and COW
ere6 by the dust of9asslng
IGNORANCE AND PERvERsEoS.
By my side rests the sole being of any
kind who knew my genius and loved II,
and who, without it, saw earth a desert
and life continual hunger ana thirst.
She rs a stranger from foreign land, my
countrymen. She came on the fields OF our
birthplace to die there. She came in
the spring to die In the spring In our
fruitful fields and owery flwoods. She
came and saw with Joy, yet died content
ed. She died like bride that leaves her
home and friends for and with her hus-
band, and We have compelled me to take
this life that was loved by all who watch
ed the blossom of a tender and noble ma
ture that hated hypocrisy and meanness::
So long as breathed like my fellows
was denied a hearing. Perhaps your
curiosity may be awakened by my death,
and, as it is the duty Of genius to tell its
mission to the world, although 1t is
spat on, stoned, and crucified, L ,
leave my labours behind me in the hands
Of an honest man. Mr.. G. W. King, mana
ger of the Leeds Express, who is some-
what acquainted with me and some OF {
hem and who will give them Quito you If :
sHALLowNEss AND STUPIDITY