The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-19
OWED OFF HEAD FIRST
But the Water Was Too Shallow
for Him to Drown.
HIS SCALP BADLY CUT
William Briggs, Aged 45 Said He Was
Due to Die Last Night-He Tried
to Carry Out the Pro-
gramme, but Failed.

Quite a number of people witnessed
an attempt of a crazy man to kill him
self last evening at o'clock The
scene was South Montana street where
the wagon bridge spans Silver Bow
creek, just north of the General Electric
company's power plant. The man de-
liberately jumped into the creek, but
owing partly to the shallowness of the
water and more to the prompt arrival
of assistance his life was preserved
Several men who were sitting on the
platform in front of Alex Gilberts sa-
loon 100 yards or so north of the bridge
saw man come walking rapidly down
Montana street. He was gesticulating
wildly and appeared to be highly eX-
cited The mans actions were such as
to attract the attention of the loungers
in front of the saloon sufficiently to
cause them ito comment among them
selves upon his peculiar behavior, but
it did not occur to any of them that he
was bent on anything desperate. Still.
they watched him as he Went on to-
ward the creek. AS he reached the
bridge they were astonished at seeing
him cast his hat aside and without any
hesitation plunge head first over the
side of the bridge into the water.
The crowd of men in front of the
saloon made a rush for the creek At
the same time the Boulevard car filled
with passengers was approaching the
bridge from the south and all on board
witnessed the deed. The car was quick
ly stopped and the men joined in going
to the assistance of the man in the
water. He was dragged out and car
ried to the boiler room of the power
plant, where it was seen he had suf-
fered a bad laceratiOn Of the scalp,
probably caused by striking a sharp
rock, and the effect of the cold water
soon produced a severe chill. In what
followed, the great need of an emer-
gency hospital and ambulance was
again demonstrated, as it has been so
frequently of late The man was
friendless, had no money and was clear
ly demented 1 was unquestionably
no case to be saddled on to one of the
private hospitals. The only thing to
be done was to try and procure assist
ance from some of the county authori-
ties, and the telephone wires were kept
hot for more than an hour in an effort
to notify the sheriff's office or the coun-
ty physician, but it was useless. Meth
er office could be raised. and the I'M
fortunate was compelled to lie and suf-
fer. Some whisky was procured and
poured down him, but his condition
continued to grow critical till at last it
became necessary to summon the am
bulance from the Sisters hospital and
send him there. DR.. McNevin dressed
the Injury to the head and he was
cared for during the night.
The man gave his name as William
Briggs and said that he was a machin-
list from Penn Yam. n. Y. but his mind
was in such a chaotic condition that it
is uncertain whether or not he was Civ
ing the correct information, though his
clothes We're grease-stained like those
of machinist. He is a man about Is
years of age
The statements of the man to those
about him while at the power plant
proved conclusively that his mind was
unbalanced When asked why he had
attempted to kill himself, he said: Il
was slated to be killed tonight and [
tried to get some one to shoot me and
make good clean job of it. but could
not. so | did this, as I knew l would be
killed anyway"
Asked who it was who was going to
kill him, he said, Those fellows" He
also seemed greatly concerned lest he
be taken for one of the Union Pacific
robbers and stated several times he
was not one of them.