The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-01-07
GEO. burst HANGED HIMSELF
HE WAS FOUND SWINGING IN
HIS SHOP YESTERDAY
MORNING.
He COMMITTED The DEED 1t MIGHT
Swung Himself Up to an Ordinary Coat
Rack and Choked Slowly to Death
No Cause Known for the
Rash Deed.

Yesterday morning when Austinites
began to come down town from their
homes to business they were greeted with
the news of another suicide in the CAPITAL
city. This time it was hanging. but
it was q suicide, nevertheless, and they
looked one to the other in an asking
manner, wondering whether the new year
was to be like the old
The news that another suicide was at
hand spread rapidly and soon a crowd
was gathered around the tailoring shop
of George burst, just above Journeay's
photograph gallery, awaiting the arrival
of Justice Matt Johnson, who had been
hastily summoned He was soon on the
grounds and entering the tailoring shop
the crowd saw the inanimate form of
burst hanging from a coat rack in the
rear of his shop by means of a rope that
was swung around under his jaw and
running up behind his ears. He was
stone dead and stiff, showing that lie had
been dead some four or five hours at
least. The rack that he hung himself
from was nothing but an ordinary rack
used to hang coats on and was not high
enough from the floor for him to clear
it with his feet, so that it was very evil
dent that he had to draw his feet IN
CLING to death, for he did die by strangu-
lation. The rope he used was an ordi-
nary quarter-inch one and was swung
around under his chin in single loop.
He had carefully arranged the rope, but
owing to the fact that he had no Oppor-
tunity to clear the floor when he attempt
ed to swing off into another world he had
to simply draw his feet up under him
and hang there by sheer force of will
power until he strangled to death. He
was black in the face when cut down and
the lines of his face showed the agony
he suffered while he was trying to die.
When, he was taken down and laid on the
floor his body was as stiff as stone.
As to what caused the rash deed there
seems to be no clue. The deceased left
no note to tell why he should have done
the deed. He slept in the shop and some
time during the night he arose from his
couch and quietly proceeded to hang him
self. 1t was premeditated and he had
evidently planned it deliberately for he
had to make an extra effort to get his
feet off the floor. The little shop is a
stuffy one and while he had always been
sleeping there he did not open up any
part of it for the purpose of ventilation,
so that while he might have made con-
siderable noise in his death struggles it
did not penetrate to the outside.
An investigation of his trunk and other
personal effects developed nothing that
would help solve the mystery of why he
killed himself. In looking into his trunk
it was ascertained that he had some let
ters there from a sister living in San An
tonic whose husband is a saddler, and
Justice johnson accordingly wired her,
asking what disposition to make of the
remains.
While examining the trunk, $50 in cash
was found by Justice johnson, which
shows that poverty was not necessarily
the cause of the rash deed, thus again
shrouding the deed in deeper mystery.
The cobbler who worked in the same
shop with burst says that he left there
about 7:30 Thursday night and that
burst seemed to be all right then, but
that for some time past he has noticed
that he was out of his head. For sew
eral weeks past he has been talking
strangely about somebody wanting to hang
him and every day or so he would say
that the night before somebody had tried
10 DTc;ik llllO tuc anu
That they had beat at the front door and
tried to smash it in and that he had been
nearly frightened to death. He was con-
tinually harping on this kind of story
and never seemed to tire of telling about
the men who were trying to come and
hang him.
He was not an overly communicative
man and, therefore, little is known of his
past, where he came from. other than
that his name is burst and he has a sis
ter in San Antonio. He had been here
for several years in the merchant tailor
ing business on a small scale, doing more
cleaning and repairing than anything
else. It was minated yesterday morn
ing that he had been cheated out of some
of his money by certain individuals in
the city, but nothing could be learned
about the matter that will justify posi-
tive statements.
burst is a man about Al years of age
and has no family nor any living rrela-
tives. so far as known, save his sister
in San Antonio. Yesterday morning III
looking over the effects of the dead man