The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-16
JAMES sHAuoHNEssY.
Body of the Man Found in Patch's Pond
Identified by His Friends.

loehIIleu by Fis FHehoSa
Suicide No. 1 was identified about !
o'clock last night as James Shaugh-
messy, who boarded previous to his dis
appearance with Patrick McGrath, Z
Burt street.
Mr.. and Mrs. McGrath, John OBrien
and Charles Reardon, the two latter
| boarderS at the McGrath house. called
| at Athys undertaking rooms and iden-
titled the body positively as that of the
missing boarder.
In addition to Identifying the person,
| Mrs McGrath was positive that the
| contents of the dinner pail found FRI
| day was the same food she put up for
Shaughnessy the last time she saw him
| alive.
| Shaughnessy has worked four years
off and on for C. w. Clahin & Co, coal
! dealers. Last Monday he was dis
| charged for some reason, and after
loafing for two days, secured work from
Horace Pike. Tuesday night he told
Mrs. McGrath that he had secured
work; the job, he said, was somewhere
on Austin street He suggested that she
put sufficient food in his pail to last him
| for breakfast and dinner.
| He arose early Wednesday morning,
| took his dinner-pail and left the house
about O'clock. Since that time nothing
has been seen or heard of him. The
McGraths thought the job was prob
ably too far from their house and that
he had secured another boarding place
so as to be near his work.
When Saturday night came, however
and the man did not put in appearance,
they began to get worried, and the
| idea flashed through their minds that
| the description of the suicide printed in
yesterday mornings Spy fitted Shaugh-
| messy.
They started for Atly's rooms and
| identified the man at the first glance.
His friends say that he was a steady,
Woodworking man, and they cannot
| understand what could have prompted
the deed. With the exception of Mrs.
McGrath. no one of those at the house
could recall that they had ever seen
him when he acted gloomy or despond-
ent.
Mrs. McGrath, however, says the man
worried over the loss of work. and she
thinks that may have had something
to do with his death. Last Monday,
when he lost his place at Clahin's, he
came home, and after telling her the
circumstances attending his discharge,
which were to the effect that tbs super
intendent had accused him of drunken
ness and neglecting his work, re-
marked that he would rather die of
hunger than go home to his fathers
house
He also spoke Of having trouble with
his father when he left home recently,
and while he was sure of a home if he
chose to go back he would die first
rather than do so.
ShaughnesSy is about 35 years of age,
single and at one time Travelled with
Barnum's circus for a number of years.
He has father, brother and two sisters
who live on a farm on the Grafton
road, this side of the railroad crossing
near Bonny Brook farm
From this it would appear that the
suicide took place Wednesday, None
Of the food in the pail had been
touched. From what has been learned
thus far, Mrs. McGraths impression
that he worried over losing his place
is strong support to the theory OF
suicide. This worriment was probably
deeper than his associates imagined,
and prsyed on his mind to such an ex-
tent as TO prompt his rash act.
Charles Reardon, who roomed vita
Shaughnessy, is Of the opinion that
suicide No. 9 whose body reposes he
side all that Is mortal of Shaughnes-
sy, had something to do VITA his death.
and then shot himself through re-
morse.
Reardon thinks the man who sbos
himself. is one of Shaug hnessy's OLD
associates, who knew him during his
career as circus man, and who had
some grucge against him. A compar-
ison Of the physique of the two men,
however, hardly admits of a theory OF
this sort. Shaughnessy was too pow-
erful man to allow Of another man
of the others size to overpower him
and tie a stone about his neck without
there being some sign Of Injury to one
or both men,