Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-09-05
DEATH OF MIR. ]. w. CLEMENS.

DEATH Ot MIX. j. w. CLEMENO.
There never occurred an event in any
community which fell with such start
ling surprise as the suicide of the sub
ject of this notice.
It had been remarked that for several
days he was acting queerly and alb
stractedly, but none ANTICIPATED such a
tragedy. Last Tuesday he was partic-
ularly gloomy and respondent. Many
attributed it to a malarial condition,
with which he was troubled and sought
to cheer it up. Everything he did dur
ing that day it can now be seen, point
ed towards his untimely taking off"
He arranged his affairs, left instruc-
tons as 10 his business, and prepared
with the greatest method and patience
for the approaching end. z
There were only two persons in the
Office at the time-Mr. Clemens and his
deputy, Mr. Jos. l.. Slack. About four
o'clock in the evening he wrote on the
typewriter, with the greatest care. the
letter to his brother in YaZoo City,
Miss, and enclosed it in an envelope,
directed TO MS kinsman, w. II. E-ryey,
ESD of this parish. 1t was abb 4:30
when he had completed his letter and
with it rose and advanced to the tall
desk in the centre of the office. At this
time the deputy was seated at a table
writing in one of the large record books.
Clemens spoke to him, inquiring if Mr.
Harvey had left town. Being answer
ed in the affirmative, and while the dep
uty's face was averted he drew a So
calibre Colt from his pocket, and evil
IDENTIFY resting his right arm upon the
desk, while standing against it, sent
the ball crashing from the right side
entirely through his chest passing di-
rectly through his heart. He fell with
the pistol in his hand, and In less than
a minute was pulseless. The coroner
arrived and gave a certificate of suicide.
which was amply sustained by the sur
roundings and the letter he last wrote.
Mr. Sherrard Clemens, brother OF the
deceased, reached here Thursday, and
the body was that evening inferred in
the Tallulah cemetery. followed TO its
last resting place by his many friends.
Mr.. Clemens was not exceeding 80
years of age. He was a gentleman Of
indomitable energy, and by assidious
application had mastered stenography
and was par excellence one of the most
accomplished court officers in the State,
thoroughly posted in every detail of his
office, and keeping his records and pa
pers in the best clerical and methodic
style.
Mr.. Clemens was the son Of the late
Hon. Sherrard Clemens, an attorney Of
considerable ability, and who at the
time of his marriage was a member of
Congress from Wheeling district in
Virginia-nOw West Virginia. The
Hon. Sherrard Clemens was married in
1859 to Mrs Bette DawsOn-GrOves, the
daughter of the late Henry Dawson and
a niece of the late F. Marion Dawson
Mrs. Clemens survives her son, now
living in Yazoo City, Miss.
Mr.. Clemens was an applicant for re-
election to the Office of clerk, which he
filled so creditably, and to which. no
doubt, he would have been reelected.
The excitement of politics, his over
worked and malarial condition preyed
so upon his mind as to bring about this
suicide mania, which developed into a
disease. Peace to his ashes.-Tallulah,
Oa) Journal.