The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-12-17
A VERY CHASTITY FIND.

Yesterday morning ut few minutes
before o'clock the body of ]. W. Bar
ker was found lying in the cottonseed
house in the John Goferth cotton yards
with the throat cut from ear to ear.
Attention was attracted to the spot by
hearing some groans, and those in the
yard who heard the noise FASTENED to
the assistance of the wounded man. He
was taken out to the city hospital under
the instruction Of City Physician Graves,
who was quickly called to the scene. He
lived for several hours after arriving
there, dying about II o'clock yesterday
morning. 1t is not known exactly what
caused him to cut his throat, nor is it
known for certainty that he did the
deed himself. ..41}N, .at .s.tl
Investigation into the matter yesterday
by the police developed that the young
man is named j. W. Barker, and he is
from Pilot Knob, being the. son-in-law Of
Mrs. Bob Penn of that place. He came
to town on Saturday with his wagon and
team and bale of cotton. AS the bale
of cotton could not be found yesterday
it is presumed that he sold it Saturday.
Saturday afternoon he went to Mr.. Henry
Mum and sold him his team of horses for
poO, anu DlEut ut [WtuI Uuth
there and tried to sell him the wagon for
So. He appeared to be under the in
fiuence of liquor at the time of this sec
ond transaction. The next heard of him
Saturday night was when he went to the
wagon yard and asked for permission to
go to sleep in the loft of the stable. He
was told that it was against the rule as
they were afraid of people sleeping up
there for fear that they might drop a
match and fire the stable, NJ He then asked
if he could sleep in one of the stalls
One of the yard men told him he could
sleep in the cOttOnseed house il he wanted
too, and he replied that he certainly
would and he accordingly crawled and
from him until he was found yesterday
morning with his throat cut from ear to
ear. He was, as above stated, taken out
to the city hospital and died there yes
terday morning about III o'clock. His re-
mains were then taken to the undertake
ing establishment of Weed e. Rosengren
where they will be held awaiting orders
from the family. A messenger was sent
out to the family Mt once and the body
will be taken out there for burial. The
wife, the mother and the brother-in-law
arrived in the city last night and idneti-
fed the body. 9h 1p 1iaJufj sdi iD
When found he was not dead, and Of
fcer Kennerly asked him if he did the
deed himself, he shook his head, he ask
ed him if anybody else did it, he again
shook his head. He was in n very dazed
condition at all times, Notwithstanding
the fact that he lived several hours after
being found and had bed profusely from
his wound so as to wet the cottonseed
with blood all around. Out at the hos
pital it was discovered that he had also
taken some morphine in a large quantity,
alone the knife. wound which ran from
ear to ear. While the general superstition
is. that It is a case of suicide, the matter
will be placed in the hands Of the grand
jury this morning for, action. The knife
was found in the cottOnseed last after
noon and was covered with blood. 1t was
pocket knife. There was no money
found on his person. .Egtai coils