Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-10-17
Suicide of Richard B. Guard.

Richard ,. Guard, who has been in jail in
Charlottesville since the 18th of April, when
he shot Miss Laura E. Martin in the eye on
the train at the Union depot in Charlottes-
vile, committed suicide by hanging on last
Thursday night. When persons have a
suicidal propensity, they are almost sure to
succeed in the end however great the care of
friends to prevent them. Though insane,
they are very ingenious and adopt devices not
thought of by others. When Guard shot Miss
Martin he attempted to shoot himself in the
head, and the ball passed through his hat
In Jail at one time he attempted to open a
vein in his arm with piece of broken glass,
and at another with a pocket knife. The
fourth attempt at suicide was successful when
on last Thursday night he hanged himself
The manner in which he succeeded is thus
given by the Charlottesville Progress =
Between the cell in which Guard was con-
fined and the adjoining one is a perpendicula lar
slot or aperture in the thick wall, probably
five inches wide by two feet long and about
five feet from the floor. Into this rude venti-
lator was thrust the back of strong, new
splint bottomed chair To the hind leg of the
chair thus firmly anchored the prisoner had
hanged himself.
Ali the details of the desperate act had been
well arranged. He had placed under the one
fastened in the wall another chair and on this
he had crouched in such an attitude that his
legs were bent under him. With his trunk
strap he had bound his legs in this bent
position and fastened his right arm to them.
He had previously Topped a part of strong
cretonne clothes-bag about his neck and this
moose he had fastened over the chair-leg. He
thus slid from the chair, and the horrible
If w 81 pa M on
The only evidence or a struggle was that the
strap about his legs had loosened."
When man commits crime it is a diff
cult matter to convince many persons that he
was insane, and any manifestation of in
sanity after the crime is believed to be
feigned. The truth is that there are many i'll
sane persons who are not in insane asylums.
His trial had been postponed because Miss
Martin had not sufficiently recovered to APP
pear on the witness stand. The Charlottes-
vile Progress says -
Naturally this last act of Guards has
started anew discussions about his sanity or
insanity. The jailer and those of his friends
and relatives who have had opportunities of
observing him for considerable periods, firmly
believe that the mans reason was dethroned.
The city physician and the Commonwealth S
attorney on the other hand are as firmly con-
WINGED of his sanity. Those who believe that
his mind was diseased point to the fact of his
persistent efforts at self-murder, the fourth OF
which was successful. =
His counsel are strongly of the opinion
| that had the case come to trial they would
have had little trouble in convincing jury OF
his insanity. But recently they had dis
covered that two of his blood relatives haG
| been inmates of a lunatic asylum, and there
were witnesses in Kentucky, where Guarc
lived for number of years, who were ready
to swear that they believed him to be insane