The Anaconda standard., 1897-12-30
TROUBLES ARE OVER
Unable to Find Work, Walters
Decided to Seek Death.
A BULLET SETTLED 1T ALL
He Was an Active Member of the Clerks
Assembly and Is Said to Have
Been Blacklisted by the
Butte Merchants.

Crazed with repeated dsappointments /
in his efforts to find some sort of en-
ployment, Gideon Bennett Walters, one /
of the best known members of the |
Clerks Assembly of Butte, committed /
suicide yesterday morning, in his rooms I
at 500 West Galena street, by shooting /
himself through the head. He was un-
conscious when his wife reached his |
side after hearing the shot, and died |
in within a few minutes from the time /
the fatal shot was fired.
Walters was a clerk by occupation |
before coming to Butte to live some /
three years ago. He Joined the clerks
assembly, becoming one of the active
members. He was what the outside
world would call a labor agitator, and
what member of labor union would
style a fearless representative of or
ganized labor, and his death by his own
hand is directly traceable to that fact,
for it led to his being blacklisted, so 1t
is claimed, which prevented him from
securing employment and encouraged a
natural inclination toward dependency
which eliminated after repeated re-
Bluffs in self-murder.
Walters when he came to Butte
three years ago the middle of last Octo-
ber, secured employment as q clerk
with Courtney Case & Gravelle now
Case, Gravelle & Erwin Co. He Joined
the Clerks assembly, and being Of an
aggressive disposition. stood up for the
rights of the clerks as he read the letter
of tho rules of his union. If the store
was supposed to close at o'clock ne
insisted that it close at that time, and
was equally as strict in insisting that
| every other rule of the union be lived
up to. II there We're any violations or
/ anything that looked like violation of
union rule. he was not slow to call
| attention to it, and insisted on repara-
/ ton and adherence to the letter of the
rule with utter fearlessness. This led
/ to his being looked on as an agitator
| and led to the loss of one position after
another. He went to Sablotzskys and
finally to the Boston store but his pecu-
| larities led apparently to his being
| considered by employers generally as
undesirable He lost his last position
| the first of last August, and II is
claimed that at that time Walters
| name went on the blacklist: at all
| events he has not been able to secure
position with any store in the city since
that time. although he has walked the
streets daily since that time seeking
employment.
When it became apparent that it was
futile for the man claimed to be black
listed, to look for employment as
clerk, and it came time to elect
walking delegate for the Clerks assem-
bly,, Walters became a candidate and 1t
being generally understood that he had
become blacklisted, he and his friends
felt the office was due him. He had not
been a candidate long. however, before
there was another man in the field, and
Walters began to see there W1s not
only Il possi5:.its but ii liYelv probahll-
ity that he would b. defeated The
fits of dependency which had been
growing on him since the beginning Of
his troubles were rendered more fierce
~ than ever and a few days prior to
the election he Is reported to have said
to friend that he could not stand it
any longer If he was defeated this time,
and would kill himself.
The election to fill the office of dele
gate was held night before last, and the
unfortunate man was defeated lie
went home that night in 4 frichtldll5
Respondent mood His lost hope was
gone and starvation, it seemed to him,
in the dsordered condition If his
brain, stared himself and bis Wife in
the face He reached home about II
o'clock and informed Mrs. Walters of
his defeat.
1T was evident he felt SO bad she
said yesterday in describing the cir
cumstanees to coroner.s jury, that
l dared not ask him any questions or
offer him any consolation, knowing It
would only make him feel worse.
Walters went to bed, but did not
sleep, the hereaved wife went on To re-
late, as she knew from the restless
manner in which he tossed about, and
from his low mutterings she knew he
was in a terrible frame of mind.
The husband being out of employ
ment the couple usually slept late, and
ii was not until 1890 o'clock that Mrs.
Walters arose yesterday morning. She
left her husband, as she supposed,
asleep. She went to the kitchen to
prepare her breakfast, intending to let
him sleep as long as he pleased. and
get his morning meal when he got
ready for it. She had occasion to use
a can of baking powder. which she
found difficulty in opening. and went
to her husband to have him remove
the cover. He did SO, and remarked
] that she need not get him any break
fast He looked worried but the re-
mark did not arouse her suspicious, for
she had never dreamed of her husband
doing anything rash.
Mrs. Walters returned to the kitchen,
/ and few minutes later heard a sound
! like that of a pop-gun. as she described
it, II did not sound like a revolver. As
| the noise came from the bedroom OF
1 her husband she went to see what 1t
was. She was Mortified at what she
saw when she opened the door Her
husband lay on the bed, his life-biood
1 flowing in streams from two holes IN
his head. one in the right temple at the
I point of ingress and another III the
left side Just above the ear. marking
4 the point of egress. In his right hand
i he gripped convulsively 44-caliber re-
volver, with which the dead was done
The man was unconscious when his
wife reached him and never replied &c
/ her appeals for him to speak to her
When Mrs. Walters first realized the
4 truth she screamed to Mrs. Sophia f1l-
man. the woman who owns the house
! and lives in adjoining rooms TO those
! | occupied by the Walters. Mrs. Filmar
/ ran to the Wells hospital. which i
Z next door. for DR.. Wells, but Walters
/ was beyond assistance when Or
I Wells arrived.
! Mrs. Filman and other friends tool
q charge of the distracted wife and Cor
! oner TrembiaS being notified. the bods
was removed 10 Richards undertak
: ing rooms, where an inquest was heif
4 during the afternoon. The jury was
4 called and sworn at 3 o'clock, and pro
8 eeeaed to the scene of the suicide Il
4 take the testimony Of Mrs. Walter!