Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-29
CHRIS WAGNER'S SUICIDE.
First He Takes Poison and Then Uses a
Pistol.
No Cause Known for the Commission OF
the Act-Grief of His Wife
and Children.

Christian Wagner. a middle-aeed grocer
who had his establishment at 112s 7th
street, committed suicide in a sensational
manner this morning. 1t took two at
tempts to complete the deed, but by
O'CLOCK. an hour or more after his first ef-
Tort, he was dead. and his wife and child
rem were overcome with their grief
wagner was q Gerpan by birth, but
had made his home in this city for a
good while past He had succeeded In
building up good business, and was look
ed upon by the neighbors as a prosperous
and well-to-do man. whose troubles. IL he
had any, We're not Of a serious nature Just
why he took his own life. then, Is largely
a matter Of conjecture His family rels
tions seemed to be Of the pleasantest. For
the past day or two, however he seemed to
be worrying a good deal over the condition
or his business and the troubles that might
come from the prevailing hard times. He
left no letters behind him. nor any expla-
nation which would throw light upon the
reasons for his act.
His Two Attempts at Self Destruction.
This morning, at an early hour, proba-
bly, about o'clock. Mr. Wagner went up
into the hay loft over the stable that stands
in the rear Of the building. The house Is a
fairly commodious one. and the upper
floors. as well. as the rooms back Of the
store. are used as a home by the Wagner
tween and o'clock this morning. and be-
coming rather alarmed over the failure of
her husband to return. she sent down to
who have an undertaking establishment a
few doors below, and as'red that one OF
them come up and help h,
Mr.. Joseph A. Geier responded at once.
and on being told that Wagner had gone
sD fauna ID Ss WssDer M lying on the floor and evi:
seemed to be almost in dying condition
then. but he was able to hold up box to
Geier. and pointing to 1t stated that he had
taken dose Of Rough on Rats; He beg
ged Geier not to bother about him, but to
leave him alone, as he wished to die, and
thought that he would. Geier ran down the
stairs to inform the family and to obtain
aid in bringing the dying man into the
house and to summon physicians: He was
gone but very few minutes, and when he
came back with two neighbors. George
that during those few minutes the man in
his desperation had drawn q pistol and
fired bullet into his left temple. Even
O. clock, and 1t was not until 7:45 that death
came to his relief.
The pistol was a small 22-caiiber revolver
the the trigger ~ was % pulled. Coroner ore M woo woodward St
was summoned as soon as death came. He
viewed the body, and after hearing the
a certificate Of death by suicide and decided
that there was no necessity for holding an
inquest
A Sad Scene.
The scene in the little back room behind
the store was an intensely sad one. for
when Mrs. Wagner came to realize what
had happened she gave way completely to
her grief. The body lay stretched out on q
sofa, covered up with a sheet The face
was peaceful and showed no signs Of the
agony Of such death. One would have
said that he could not have been more than
thirty-ctght or forty years Of age, though
the certificate of death gave his ..xe :,
nifty and few months. Occasionally the
widow drew back the sheet to gaze upon
the cold face Then her grief would be-
come almost uncomfortable.
"Oh. Chris. Chris why did you do itr You
were such good man. You loved me 40
and, oh. I loved you. too. You were such
a good husband. Oh. why did you do this? ?''
Mrs. Wagner's mother and sister came in
a few moments after. and then the harrow
ing scene was repeated. The dead man left
four children. three girls and a boy. the
Oldest OF them fourteen years Of age. He
was a member of the Butchers Association
and Of the Arion Singing Society.