The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-11-16
A NEGRO SUICIDES
Weary of Life Ben HyIer
browns Himself.
HIS MIND UNBALANCED
CRAZED BY SUFFERING AND
BUSINESS TROUBLES.
HAS BEEN A HUCkSTER THIRTY YEARS
He Was an 0ld-Time Negro, and Everybody
Liked Him--Has Kept Stall in the
Market House Ever Since it
Was Built.

FNAAS Va iilC hOIu out Dy the
struggle for existence, Benjamin Hyler,
worthy colored man and well-known
huckster here, yesterday sought and
found rest in death.
For days the Grim Featured One had
been walking by the old mans side and
telling him of a dim shady pool beneath
whose CLASSY surface he might find the
rest the world denied. Once or twice he
had started to follow the Reaper there,
but friendly hands and loving voices
had drawn him back to take up again
his struggle with n cold, merciless world.
ben GyIer was known to every mar
ket-goer in the city. lie has been keep
Ing huckster stall here ever since
the market house was built twenty-seven
years ago, ana before that time he was
mt the old market. The old negro was
perfect Chesterfield in his manners
and everybody liked him. But today
his little stall is closed. 1t was not open
yesterday, either.
He got up about 4:30, the usual hour
for him to go to the market, and left
home. Later his wife and children
arose and busted themselves preparing
the morning meal. In the meantime a
colored man named Gatt:s, who is hir-
ed as a drayman by Hyler, had been
waiting at the market for two hours,
but his employer failing to come, he
went to his house on East Martin street.
to see if he were sick.
1t was then discovered that Hyler did
not go out by the front door, as was
his custom, for neither the front door
nor the front gate were unlocked
Neither did he take mis- market apron.
and on table was his money. These
things, coupled with the fact that the
man had recently been acting strangely,
made his wife and daughters fear that
something nad happened. They at once
went TO the market to make inquiries
and summon friends to aid them in the
search.
Thomas Donaldson, a colored butcher
who had noticed Hylers abstraction of
mind and worry over business for the
past several months, at once suspected
that he had gone out toward the rock
quarry; so he took his delivery wagon
and went there to search for him. He
did not have long to search.
There by the side of a deep clear
pool at the bottom of the quarry was
Hyler's cane. On top of it and tied to
it by a string, was his straw hat-eyi-
QGLttS tNAl tAGAG Us 0l StSAll " iGAA AAOW
he ended his life and where his body
would be found.
Donaldson returned to the city, sum-
moned Ed. Price, Abraham Young and
Booker Harden to help him. They went
back to recover the body from its wa
terry grave. 1t did not take long to find
it. The pool is a small one, about 100x
so feet, and ten feet deep, and the
graphing irons soon caught in the
clothing and brought the missing man
to the surface. He was Immediately put
into a wagon and carried to his home.
Several hundred curious people col
ected around the quarry while these
men were taking out the body; and all
day long there was a stream of curious
people going to his house to see the
| dead man.
From Hylers family and his friends
at the market it was learned that he
has been acting queerly for some time,
and more than once it has been suspect
ed that his mind was affected. There
seems to have been two causes for this:
One was that for a long while he has
had an eating, cancerous sore upon his
| left foot. This worried him much, MAX
in him respondent and irritable. Added
to this was the fact that his business
was not profitable as it once was,
and he often complained that he was
losing money every day and didn't know
what he should do; that he feared he
would not be able soon to support his
family. This seemed to weigh greatly
on his mind especially last week, and
he was much more despondent than
usual, though his lame foot showed
signs of healing up. He often COM
planned of a dull pain at the base of his
! brain, and once he declared to a friend
/ that he wished he were dead.
I Sunday night, however, Hyler seem
| ed in better spirits than for some time
and went to church with his family, a
thing he had not done in months.
That the suicide was probably pre-
meditated is evidenced by the fact that
he went out to the rock quarry pool
Sunday before last, and sat there by
himself a long time. Again Wednesday
night, about o'clock, he left home and
started in that direction, saying he felt
bad and wanted to take a walk.
AS it was his invariable rule never TO
leave home after dark his wife suspect-
ed he was not right, followed him and
brought him back.
The next day he went and paid his
taxes. While on his way to the court
house he asked his son-in-law if he had
heard any one talking about him. He
stopped in front of the court house and
sent his little boy in to pay his taxes.
Hyler was 64 years old, and has ten !