The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-06

New York, November 1.-Charles F.
Jones, secretary and valet to the late
Millionaire William Marsh Rice, made
a desperate effort, early this morning,
to commit suicide in his cell in the
omb He hacked the right side of
his throat with a small pen knife,
making a deep wound and slightly
opening the jugular.
He was discovered by one of the
keepers about 4 o'clock. He had been
bleeding then for half an hour or
more and was extremely weak. He
would have died had he gone fifteen
minutes longer without medical care.
AS it was, the ambulance surgeon
had to administer stimulants repeated
ly before he dared to put the nan in
the ambulance for removal to the hos
pital.
At the hospital Jones was placed in
the prison ward and a policeman and
two keepers were assigned to guard
him. Along towards s o'clock he had
regained his strength somewhat, but
nobody was allowed to see him.
Assistant District Attorney Osborne
this afternoon gave out the facts con-
corning an interview had with Jones in
which the valet made a confession.
Tuesday afternoon said Mr.. Os-
borne, Il received a message that
Charles F. Jones, in the city prison,
desired to see me. L went to see Jones
and he was brought down to the war
den'S office and / asked him if he want
ed to see me. He said he did. 1 told
him that the law did not require him
to make a statement and explained
that anything he might state, might
be used against him and that 1 was
not his lawyer. / told him that he had
a awyer and that he had better con-
suit with him if he thought necessary
He said lie voluntarily desired to make
a statement.
L thereupon sent for Captain Nc
CIusky, James Byrne, of Hornblower,
Byrne, Miller n Potter. and Mr.. Mil
Ter, of the same firm and in their pres
ence, Charles F. Jones made his state
ment to me.
Without going into full detail, he
stated, in substance, that Weth-
erbee testified was true. He said that
for some days prior to Rice'S death
Patrick had given Mr.. Rice tablets of
a grayish color; that Mr.. Rice took
these tablets from Patrick and that
Patrick told him to take them, as he
had taken some himself; that about this
time Patrick and Rice had become in
mate; that Mr.. Rice on Saturday sent
Jones to Patrick's house to demand
certain papers from Patrick, that he,
Patrick, had in his possession. on
tinuing Jones said:
This was about the 18th of Septem-
Der, 1900, Mr.. Rice had been bothered
with constipation. When Mr.. Patrick
brought him some tablets, Patrick had
said he had taken some himself. Two
days after this Mrs. Van AlSteyne ad-
Vised him to eat mana Mr.. Rice
said the clOgged his StOmach
and l told the doctor. The doctor said
tina Rice, having diarrhoea, he would
pull through. The tablets were taken
every night until Friday before Mr..
Rice died. He may have taken more,
if he did 1 did not know of it. The last
time / saw him take them was We'd
nesday or Thursday before his death.
Friday night Rice fretted, worried and
grieved about his business in general,
speaking of the Galveston flood and
other things.
He was afraid that Patrick had got
him into some clutch by which he would
lose the most of his property. He wor-
ried and cried like a woman in hyS-
terics until 2 o'clock that morning and
then fell off into a sleep until z O'Clock.
He slept very little that night and
he sent me to Patrick's house Saturday
morning and told me if / did not return
with the papers he would report him
to the authorities. Patrick was agitat-
: ed and said: L want to know Rice's
condition and that steps he will take,
and / want you to telephone me, and II
Rice takes any steps to notify the au-
thorities, 1 want to know If you will be
sure and telephone me-
Il told him that 1 would. When 1
went back Rice was sleeping. When
1 left Patrick's house I went for the
doctor and when / returned Rice was
asleep, and nothing more was said
about the papers until Sunday morn
ing. His mind was wandering Sun
day morning after he woke up, and he
talked incoherently. About IL or II
o'clock he had improved and he asked
about the papers. He asked me why
1 did not get them. 1 told him that
Patrick had promised to call, but a
not done so. He told me to go and see
him again and tell him that he a
given him the last warning. He told
me to tell it to him in the presence OF
some person. I went to see Patrick
and he said the papers were In his OF
flee and that he would get them n
bring them to me. This was about l
or 2 o'clock. He did not do so, and 1
went to his house about 8 o'clock. He
said he would bring the papers. L told
him to bring everything he had in and
he wanted to know why Rice wanted
the papers. He finally did go to the
house. Rice said he was very nervous
and told him please go away Pat
rick said: I lave some smelling salts
to quiet your nerves. Patrick asked
for a towel and sponge. and I got them
for him. He said that I must leave the
room. 1 left and heard Patrick say he
would remain with Rice. I heard
Rice laughing a few minutes later and
saw Rice lying OF his back with the
towel over his head in a cone shape
and Patrick holding 1t in his right
hand. Patrick did not see me n
Rice did not see me. AS soon as I
saw the condition of things, 1 laid
down and went to sleep.
"When Patrick entered the room ne
showed Rice a package. He showed
him something in a bottle which looked
Ik salt, which he diluted In water
and gave to Rice, telling him it would
strengthen him very much. L VIII NOT
said Rice I tasted it and it tasted
acid or metallic k I would not take