Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-27
DID BOWEL
SUICIDE ?
He Was Heart Broken Over His
Brothers Death.
ILL AND WITHOUT MONEY
And Too Proud to Accept the Charity
of Friendsr--Many Think He
Killed Himself,
ILL AND WITHOUT MONEY

George HidWell. the last ana "loest oi
the notorious brothers. whose robbery OF
the Bank of England OF 100000 aston
ished the world a quarter OF a centuf!
ago, and the story of whose checkered
career reads like a romance. was found
lead in his room in the Butte Sunday
morning. and on account az the mental
condition Of the man since the death OF
his brother. George Bidwell. which oc-
CURED q few weeks ago the acute neAah-
choly from which he has been suffering
for a few days, and the peculiar appear
ance of the body, many who have inter-
ested themselves in the matter are IN
clined to believe that the man. heart
broken over the death Of his brother and
the financial troubles of his old age,
FASTENED death by taking poison with
suicidal intent,
Of the two men, Austin, the younger
was the strongest intellectually. and the
elder man. whose health had been broken
by the 20 years of rigorous prison lie.
depended upon him. And when he died
the elder lost not only a man to whom
he was bound by the ties of relationship,
but also one to whom he looked for guild
ance in the battles of life. And since the
death of Austin the brother who died
j Sunday has been suffering from an at
tack of melancholia of a most severe
nature.
pared the body for erlbalming, is firmly
convinced that Bidwell dice from poison
ing. Having served Silver Bow county
as coroner, having had years of expert
cnce in the business of undertaking, Mr..
Richards is qualified to express an opln-
ion in such matters and that opinion IS
g ,-o;oht V'ba ctpD1arh of the dead man
is considerably swollen and the veins OF
the body are black with clotted blood
MI. Richards called in Drs. Greg ana
McGarvin this morning and at his re-
quest the physicians made a superI!cial
examination of the remains. They were
Of the opinion that a post-mortem eN-
animation would be necessary to deter
mine definitely whether or not death was
the result of poisoning.
The two famous brothers, George ana
Austin Bidwell, came to Butte ABOUT TWO
months ago. Long interviews with them
were published in a number of the Butte
nawsnapers. In these interviews the
brothers sought to give their exploit
wide publicity for the purpose of adVer-
Using their book ITO NeWgate, VIA the
Primrose Way which subsequently
they attempted to sell by popular sub
scription, although at the time they
ra ther gave out the impression that
they proposed 20 locate here and engage
in mining. They had in their possession
letters of Introduction from al number OF
the most prominent men in the United
States most of which were written in
terms erlogistic of their reformat ton.
Among these were letters from Robert q.
Ingersoll. Julien Chambers of the New
York Journal; Lyman p. Gage, Chauncey
Depew and many others of equal promi-
nence.
The story of their amous exploit,
which is known at the ends of the earth,
the address Of the two men and the let
tiers of introduction they bore, made them
many acquaintance in Butte Wlthln a
few days after their arrival. and after
they had been in town a short time they
announced that they would sell a limited
number of copies of their book. They
We're making a canvass OF the city when
Austin BidWell the younger of the two
brothers, became i'll with the grippe,
which in the course of a week developed
into a serious attack of pneumonia, and
from which. or the 9TH instant, he died.
. The two brothers, whose checkerel
career had been one, were very much at
tached to each other. and the death OF
Austin was a severe blow to George Bid
II well. 1t seemed to affect his mind. anG
g he said some very bitter things abou,
Butte. and seemed to hold the people OF
the city, in a way, responsible for tbs
death of his brother. kilograms came
from numerous friends and acquaint'
Y ances of the dead men, protfering tinan'
D cial assistance, but George Bidwell de
e clined the aid he sorely needed, and sait
It he would not leave the city until by hi!
e own efforts he had raised sufficient funds
to defray the expenses attendant upor
@ the sickness and death of his brother
The management of the Grand opera
house rendered him the use of the theatel
for the purpose of giving a lecture tt
raise the necessary money. The lecture
n was announced the Sunday evening fol
lowing the death of George, and proved
a fiat failure, only a few attending. Bid.
4 well persisted, however, in refusing t.
accept the assistance of eastern friends
and caused the body of his brother to b.
embalmed and Theoretically sealed t.
await developments.
10 Saturday two ladies, Miss Sylvia NJ
10 Bidwell and Mrs. D.. r. Howe, who rep
resented themselves as nieces of the two
10 men, arrived from the east for the pur
no pose, they said. of having the remain:
of Austin taken to Chicago for cremation
but George Bidwell would not permi
them to do so. He claimed that the wo
men, while his nieces, represented a Chi
cagO medical college. and were here t.
secure the remains for scientific purposes
The ladies were compelled to return tt
Chicago without accomplishing any
thing.
Until about a week ago Bidwell occu
pied a room in the Mantle block. Fl,
quarreled with the landlord and left thu
place at a late hour one night, and tn
next night, being without means, applied
to Mr., Wilson of the Butte hotel for shell
! ter. Out Of charity, Mr.. Wilson took hin
in and assigned him to No. 122. The mex
day he was taken i'll with pneumonia
c.. w. VIM, a friend of the sick man