The record-union., 1896-11-30
Hoped Hs Would Regard the Matter
as Trifing.
e. l. Bryan Took an Ounce of Lauda-
mum i'm Chicago Hotel and Wrote
Out His Symptoms While Dying,
for the Benefit of Medical Science
The Letter of a Hopeless, Reck-
less Man Who Felt He Had Moth
Ing to Live For.


old committed suicide at the Kimball
House, 262 Clark street, last night by
taking laudanum. He described the
effects of the drug in writing un1A MS
hand could no longer hold the pen.
The body was not found until la'9
this afternoon, death having resulteu
some time previously. In his eHorts
to destroy every clew which might leau
to his identification he forgot two aru-
cles which indicate that he was from
the East. A small mirror found In the
hand of the deceased man bears 'he
stamp of a firm in Rochester, n. u
and the memorandum book in Whlcn
he describes the manner OF his death
contains the trade mark of A. w. NC
Cleary & Co., 443 Wood street, Pitts
burg, Pa.
The police believe that he has lived
In one OF the other of these two cltles
and that the existence of the two artl-
cles will eventually lead to his ldenu-
fication. The trade marks on MS
clothing even to his hat and Shoes
were effaced. He engaged a room at
the hotel last evening and registered as
F. L. Bryan, although the ponce are
of the opinion that this is not his name.
When found the body was lying dag
onally across the bed and the menh-
orandum book and pencil were near,
having evidently fallen from his hano.
Before taking the drug he wrote let
ter to the hotel proprietor and anotner
to the press, in which he gave no cause
for his act other than that his life had
terminated in failure. In both of these
letters he had made morose remarks.
He continued his description of the eff
fects Of the drug until his strength had
failed him and some Of the last of it
could not be deciphered.
AS much of it as could be made out
is as follows: ITO NJ. D.: Drank one
ounce of laudanum. After five MIN
utes feel little or no pain. Heart actlon
now pronounced. A slight pain In
stomach. (Note-My stomach Is very
weak. having suffered for years from
acute dyspepsia)
Ten minutes-Condition about the
same Pulse rapid and pains in wrlsts
and slight pain in region of heart
Hand trembles. A feeling of dullness
with more pain in all parts OF the
body. (Note-Will keep up this de-
scription of effects as long as possible.
Hope it will be of use to medical sci
ence) Eyes show change. feeling
of drowsiness coming on A sort OF
feeling of intoxication, accompanied by
slight fever.
Twenty minutes-Pain increasing. A
slight perspiration started. Am getting
sleepy Have a sort of numb feelns
and no pain
The last few sentences We're scarcely
legible, so unsteady had the writer
hand become, and although he attempt
ed to write a few more lines it could
not be made out.
The clothing of the dead man is of
good material and the police think that
he may be we'll connected. No money
was found. He was about 80 years of
age. five feet nine inches tall. and
weighed about 100 pounds. He was
smooth shayen and had brown hair and
blue eyes.
The words of the final bulletin became
larger as .he end of the bulletin was
ueared. They were scrawled so as to
be almost beyond decipherins, and their
completion was evidently the final effort
of the suicide. The other statements
which were in the memorandum were
undoubtedly written before the drug
had been taken, as they were in a clear,
bold hand.
The letter to the hotel proprietor
u.
Dear Sir: l am awfully sorry to cause
you this annoyance. You will get some
undesirable advertising out of it, and
upon the whole it won't pay you. Still
such things must occur somewhere. In
all sincerity / hope that you won't think
would have harmed your house for any
motive except accident. Regretting the
trouble / cause you, and trusting that
~ tr:H
I am, sir, with great regret.
"E. l.. BRYAN.
mo relation to w. j.
The man started to write a second
letter in the notebook, but, changing
his mind after starting 1t, scratched it
out with his lead pencil and recon-
menced on a hotel letterhead. The let
ter is as follows:
ITO any old authority, newspaper
Coroner. etc: This is just a case of
.shuffiing out this mortal COLL or at
tempting to do so, for one can never be
sure that the most carefully laid plans
will be successful: and this. like almost
every act of my life, is careless and
bungling so far.
"Who am /? My name is on the reg
lister down stairs. / have no friends.
am glad of that, for there would be no
mourners. Byron said his one regret
was that he left nothing that caused a
fear. My case is the same, but / don't
regret IT at all. People die sometimes
and others are glad. Well, 1 am glad
that in my case nobody will be made
either happy or unhappy.
DO with me? oh, most anything,
Inst don't bother to look for friends
You could not find any with a search
warrant or microscope. OF course the
reason I have no friends is because
am bad. Well, maybe SO, maybe not
The world is a big place. Students OF
right and wrong are different. Circum-
stances often compel action without
consulting diseases. / have known both
success and failure: tasted lifes sweet
and bitterest potions and drained them
10 the dregs The cup of life at the
threshold of existence. hopelessly han
dicapped by bad health, by injustice and
by disappointment, / give up the strug-
gle. 1 die because cannot live. Please
leave me alone just as / am.
II have drank one ounce of laudanum
I presume this will be enough"