The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-11-30
Takes an Ounce of Laudanum
and Then Writes About
Its Effects.
First Destroys All Marks on His
Clothing That Might Lead to
Identification.

-
old committed suicide at the Kimball
Hotel, 262 Clark street, last night. by TAX
ing poison. He described the effects of
the drug in writing until his hand could
no longer hold the pencil. The body was
not found until late this afternoon, death
having resulted some time previously. In
his efforts to destroy any clew which
might lead to his Identification he forgot
two articles which indicate that he was
from the East A small mirror found in
the hand of the dead man bears the stamp
of firm in Rochester. n. Y, and the
memorandum book in which he described
the manner of his death contains the
trademark of A. w. McCloy & Co., 443
Wood street, Pittsburg, Pa.
The police believe that he has lived in
one or the other of these two cities and
that the existence of the two articles will
eventually lead to his Identification. The
trademarks on his clothing, even to his
hat and Shoes were effaced.. He engaged
q room at the hotel last evening and regis
tered as E. L. Bryan, although the po-
lice are of the opinion that this is not his
name. When found the body was lying
diagonally across the bed and the men,
oranduIn-. book and pencil were near by,
having evidently fallen from his hand.
Q Before taking the drug he wrote let
ter 10 the hotei proprietor and another 10
the press, in which he gave no cause for
his act other than that his life had ter
minated in failure. In both these letters
he had some humorous 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 laud-
anum. After five minutes feel little or
no pain. Heart action now pronounced.
A slight pain in stomach.
"(Note)-My stomach is very week. hav-
ing suffered for years from. actue dyspep-
STA.
''Ten minutes-Condition about the
same. Pulse rapid and pains in wrists
and slight pain in region of heart. Hand
trembl es. a feeling of dizziness with more
pain in all parts of the body.
! ."(Note) -Will keep up this description
OF effects as long as possible. Hope it will
be of use to medical science. Eyes show
change. A feeling of 6rowsiness coming
on. A sort of a feeling OF intoxication &C
cOmpanled py SllSnt lever.
40 min. Pain increasing. A slight
perspiration started. Am getting sleepy.
Have a sort of numb feeling and no pain"
The last few sentences were scarcely
legible, so unsteady had the writer's hand
become, and although he attempted to
write few more lines it could not be made
out.
The clothing of the dead man was of
good material and the police think that
he may be well connected. No money
was found. He was about so years of age,
feet inches tall and weighed about $50
pounds. He was smooth shayen and had
brown hair aud blue eyes.
The words of the final bulletin became
larger as the end of the bulletin was
neared. They were scrawled so as to be
almost beyond declphering, and their
completion was evidently the final effort
of the suicide. The other statements
which we've in the memorandum were I'M
.doubtedly written before the drug had
been taken, as they were in clear, bold
hand. The letter to the hotel proprietor
reads:
ITO the Man that keeps the hotel-DEAR
SIR: 1 am awful sorry to cause you this
annoyance. You will get some undesira-
bic advertising out of it, and upon the
whole it won pay you. Still such things
must occur sometimes. mall sincerity |
hope you won't think l would have
harmed your house for any motive except
accident. Regretting the trouble cause
you and trusting that you will regard the
incident as trifling, l am, sir, with deep
regrets, no more. 4. l.. BRYAN.
mo relation of w. j."
The man started 10 write second letter
in the notebook, but changed his mind
after starting it, scratched it out with his
lead pencil and recommended on a hotel
let.er-head. The letter is as follows:
"To any Old authority, Newspaper, Coro-
ner. ETC.: THIS is just case Of shutting off
this mortal COLL or attempting to do so,
for one can never be sures 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 regis.
ter downstairs. | have no friends. am
glad of that, for there will be no mourners.
Byron said his one regret was that he left
nothing that caused tear. NY case ia
the same, bur l don't regret it at all.
People die sometimes and others are glad.
Well, am glad that in my case nobody
will be made either happy or unhappy
do with mech, most anything. Just
don't bother to look for friends. You
could not find any with searchlipht or
microscope. Of course the reason / haven't
any friends is because I've been bad.
Well, maybe so, maybe not. The world is
big place. Students Of right and wrong
are different. Circumstances often COM
pei action without consulting diseases. I
have known both success and failure,
tasted life's sweetest ana bitterest portions
and drained them to the dregs
1.-THE cup of life at the threshold OF ex.
istence, hopelessly handicapped by bad
health, by injustice and by disappoint-
ment, give up the struggle. die be-
cause cannot live. Please leave me al one
just as | am. l have drunk one ounce of
laudanum. l presume this will be
enough"
On the cover OF the memorandum book
was found the name of the firm of A. w.
~ ~