The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-26
Young Man Sends
Bullet Into His
Temple.
DEFIES EVERYBODY FOR HOURS.
Frank J. Swift in the Hos4
pital with a Terrible
Wound in His Head,

Frank ]. Swift, rs years Of age Of .
Normal street, member Of Ridgsly
Lodge of Odd Fellows. and a time
keeper employed nights in the spring
department OF the Quinsigamond mills
of the American Steel and Wire Com
pany, attempted suicide yesterday by
shooting himself in the temple with q
S2-calibre revolver.
He made the attempt at the foot Of
the trestls work OF the Grafton street
car line, in the Bonnybrooc farm
owned by John N. Akarman
He shot himself about IL o'clock in
the forenoon and laid in the sun on the
side of the slope until o'clock, threat
ening the lives Of those who ventured
to go to his succor. He brandished the
revolver, which he held tightly in his
hands, wildly, and had the whole coun-
try side in a ferment Of excitement,
No attempt was made to get at him
until the afternoon, when Philip
Powers, motorman of a Grafton-bound
car, discovered him laying by the side
of the trestle, commonly known as the
"chutes." with the revolver in his
clinched hand He did not stop his
car, but continued along until he ar
ElNeu d. the hlpDy mousse, IN OTraLIon
Centre, and there notified the people at
the hotel of the mans predicament
The hotel people telephoned to the car
barn Of the Consolidated in this city,
and Albert J. Knox, in charge. notified
the police.
The ambulance with officers Oliver
Blake and John Dunn, Immediately
went to the scene. They arrived at the
BOnnybrook farm at o'clock, and
| fDlIOd that the had hpar1 die
turbed since the time he shot himself,
| at IL o'clock The farm hands and the
neighbors were afraid to go near the
desperate man, for fear that he might
make good his threat and blow their
brains out. They advised the officers
| to act cautiously.
| The officers advanced quietly. Officer
Blake being protected with the hair
! cushion taken from the seat of the
ambulance. Swift was totally unaware
! of their presence until they bounced
upon him from behind. When he saw
that he was caught, he offered no re-
sistance, and was in fact hardly able
to, had he wished. His eyes were near
| ly closed and blOodshot and the blood
was slowly oozing from the gaping
wound at his temple He was hardly
able to speak, and the officers put him
on the cushion and made him as COM
Portable as possible. He was carried to
the ambulance, which had been left at
the roadside of the Bonnybrook farm
Swift was very thirsty. and kept
| calling for water, but the officers dared
only to administer it in small quanti-
ties. He was then conveyed slowly to
the city.
The police inquired Of Swift his rea-
son for attempting to kill himself, and
he said he had been drinking for some
time past, and thought he must have
been out of his mind for the time be-
ing.
At the hospital he was found to be
in fair condition. He did not lose con-
seriousness all through the day from the
time he fired the shot. The doctors
said that they would not be surprised
| if he recovered.
Swift was single man and lived with
his aunt, Mrs. Martha H. Morse.
He formerly worked at the Green
dale shops of the Morgan Spring Com
pany, and was in their employ until
last fall, when he resigned to accept
the position as timekeeper at the Quin-
sigamond mills.