Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-24
HE KILLED HIMSELF.
w. ). CHICHESTER, FORMERLY OF
RICHMOND, SUICIDES IN ST. LOUIS.
No Reason Assigned for His Decd
Letters Received Here Rccentiy-'A
Brother from birmingham Goes to
Identify the Body.

Mr.. w. J. Chichester. formerly or inns
city, and brother of Mr. James I. en-
chester. one of the statesmen at the Broad
street house OF the T.. Il. Taylor Company
committed suicide in st. Louis. NO. ny
taking laudanum. The young man "as
about IS years OF age. and Is supposed u
have been IN St. Louis two or three weeks
At the time OF his death he was travel
ling salesman Of the crockery ana glass
ware firm OF Torsch &c Co., Baltimore
though he appears TO have been en-
deavoring to secure a position with H.
Westermann 6, Co, queensware importers
of ST. Louis.
WROTE TO MR.. PARRISH
A few days ago Mr.. a. J. Parrish Oh
the T.. b. Taylor Company. received let
ter from Mr. Chichester, who was then IN
st. Louis, stating that he had applied 10
Messrs. Westermann * Co. for place.
and referred them TO him as TO ms cna-
racter and ability. The two Messrs' ohl,
chester referred 10 came here seVeIdi
years ago from Greensboro. y. C., where
they had conducted crockery ana glass;
ware store. They secured places with the
Il. b. Taylor Company. and shortly az
forwards Mr.. w. j. Chichester went with
the Richmond China Company, when con-
Germ he remained with until II lalleu
last year. lie was then employed by
Messrs. Telephone. Thomas & Co., Balti-
more, and the first OF this year went upon
the road for Torsch & Co.. OF the same
city.
No cause IS assigned here for Mr.. chi
chester's taking his own life. His brother
1, he I'D
yesterday he knew of no reason why the
young man should have resortad to such
an extreme. Another brother, residing IN
Birmingham, has gone to ST. Louis 10
identify the remains and to have them
properly buried.
DIDN'T WANT TO BE KNOWN.
Evidently Mr.. Chichester Of the suicide
really was him. and of this there seems 10
be no doubt did not want 1t TO be known
where he was; nor did he wish his body
TO be identified. He took every precau-
ton TO destroy everything about his per-
son that would disclose his real name.
and upon one Of his cuffs was found
the word Mark" Yesterday Mr. Parrish
received "A letter from Westermann q
Co., enclosing a clipping from one of the
ST. Louis papers about the suicide and
asking If the Richmonder knew sucn a
man.
This is what the clipped article said:
More dead than alive an unknown
queensware drummer was discovered In
his room al 1902 Olive street by George
that place. about o'clock yesterday af-
ternoon. Dir. Morris. OF Nineteenth and
Carr streets. was called in, but could q"
nothing for the unconscious man. Two
empty bottles on the washstand told that
the unknown had attempted TO end his
life with laudanum. one was bounce
bottle, the other holding half an ounce.
At the City Hospital the stomach-pump
was applied and artificial respiration re-
sorted to- The man was as good as dead,
however and while the physicians work.
ed they knew there was no hope.
LAUDANUM FROM RICHMOND.
From papers and notebooks In his pos
session Il was evident that the man had
been a queensware salesman. Most or
the names appearing on them had been
carefully erased. A few were distinguish
able, however, with the ara OF masnl-
G.. appeared on the fiy-leaf OF one OF the
books. This is probably the suicide 5
name. or the name Of friend, for the
halter in Asheville, y. G. Sull. he was
travelling about continually, and Ashev g
may not have been his home. The other
names in the books that were distinguish
Mamie Trimmer. Spailsburg, ILL.,; Wilbur
Stoneware Company Milwaukee, WIS;
Lalance & Grojean Manufacturing Com
pany, 10 Cliff street, n. Y The labels
upon the bottles were carefully erased
bnt the name OF the druggist appeared n
raised letters on the glass The laudanum
was purchasedi from Briggs Brothers,
Richmond. Va. and a box OF pills in his
new and handsomely QUILTED valise bore
the name Of G. W. Ward, druggist, Green
boro, y. G.
HIS WRITTEN STATEMENT.
1.-THE unknown was well dressed, about ;
feet ! inches In height. somewhat bald.
auburn hair, sandy mustache. fair com
plexion. little black mark near right tenn
pie: and. altogether, he presented a
pleasing appearance. He came 10 board
at 1902 Olive street a week ago yesterday.
His board was paid in advance. and the
second weeks fee was due Monday but
he did not offer to pay II. and the land
lady did not ask him for II. He retired at
s o'clock Monday evening. Yesterday