The herald., 1897-08-09
In Despair James Whit
burn Takes His Life
RACKED BY INTENSE PAINS
AND WORRIED OVER A RECENT
BUSINESS TRANSACTION
He Finds Himself Unequal to His
Burdens-The Deceased Was an
Old Resident

Driven TO desperation by the intense
pains in his head. from which he had
been suffering for several NOR this, James
H. Whitburn committed suicide at 610
North Pearl street at noon yesterday
by shooting his brains out. The de-
ceased has been a great sufferer for sew
eral months as a result of sunstroke
with which he was afflicted in Arizona
about a year ago. This, combined with
recent business investments which have
given him great deal of worry, Is sup
posed to have produced the condition of
his mind which eliminated in taking his
own life in order to be free from his trou-
bles
Whitburn chose his former home at
610 North Pearl street as the place for
carrying out his plans. The place was
vacated by himself and wife only two
weeks ago, when they purchased lodg-
ing house on Fifth street west of HaZ-
ards pavilion. The house on Pearl street
was left furnished and closed up, in the
hope that it could either be rented or
sold.
Some chickens were left at the place,
and Whitburn left home yesterday
morning under pretense of going to the
Pearl street house to look after these.
That was the last heard of him until
about o'clock, when Mrs. A. Burrell,
who livesuex door, at GA, came over to
the place to feed the chickens, which she
had been in the abit of doing daily ever
since the Whitburn's moved away. No
At.
ed to look inside to find what it meant.
The screen was found latched, however,
and she was unable to get in.
Mrs Burrell called S. A. Hobill, who
was visiting at her house, to come over
and see what was the matter He forced
the latch and walked into the front
room. Here Whitburn's coat and vest
hung on a chair On looking within a
bedroom just to the left Whitburn's S
body was found lying at full 9Th upon
the floor. A revolver was tightly grasp
ed in his right hand and wound in the
top of the head, from which the brains
were still oozing, showed at glance
what had happened.
From the position in which the body
was found it would seem that Whitburn
had come into the house and after TAX
ing off his coat and vest had sat Gown,
upon the edge of the bed and, holding
the revolver above his head, had sent a
bullet crashing down into his brait1 The
ball had lodged in the heac, as only one
confusion appeared. He had then fallen
| off the bed and sprawled out upon the
| floor. Death must have been instantan-
| eous The weapon used was 3S-caliber
| Smith & WeSson revolver. Only ons
chamber had been emptied and the rest
were loaded.
| The act had probably been committeo
some time between the hours of IL ana
12 a. m, as the immediate neighbors
were at church at that time, and if the
shot had been fired while they were at
home they would have heard it.
At first no papers of any kind to indi-
cate the cause of suicide could be found,
but later a note was discovered in one
of Whitburns pockets, written to his
wife, in which he assigned as the reason
for his act the severe pains from which
he had been suffering. "The agony l
endure is awful and I am resolved to
bear it no longer he wrote. In addition
to this he mentioned in the note his re-
cent transaction in having bought the
lodging house mentioned before which
he said had been a source of great anx-
iety to him.
About a year ago Whitburn, who is
an engineer by trade went to Arizona
with a party of prospectors to purchase
piece of mining property which had
been offered for sale. When they ar
rived there the property had been dis
posed of and the journey proved use
less one. While out on the desert Whit
burn received a sunstroke and on arriv-
ing home was never quite himself
again. He suffered intense agony in his
head a great part of the time. Recently
he purchased the lodging house men
toned, and although his prospects were
bright so far as the success of the in
vestment was concerned, the work was
entirely new to him and did not prove to
his liking.
The deceased was As years of age and
has a wife but no children. He has lived
in Los Angeles for over twelve years,
and owns considerable property here.
He was a member of the First Methodist
church and regular attendant.
The remains were removed to Orr &
Hines undertakins parlors, where an in
quest will be held today.
A DESPONDENT ITALIAN