Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-22
MEL WINES IS
DONE WITH LIFE
BRILLIANT ATTORNEY KILLED
HIMSELF WITH MORPHINE
LAST NIGHT.
RESULT OF MISTAKE OR
TEMPORARY INSANITY.
A Woman Who Was Present Can Tell
the Truth-Parents Summoned
to Death Bed.

best known figures in the courts of Sill
yer Bow county, has passed over to the
Land of the Leal. Last night about Z
o'clock, in a room in the Silver block on
East Park, near Wyoming. he swallowed
a dose of morphine sufficient to kill six
men, and he never regained conscious
ness. He passed into eternal sleep some
time after midnight, in the presence Of
his heart-broken father, mother and sis
ter.
Whether death through his own hand
was premeditated; whether it was the
result OF temporary alteration of mind
caused by exces sive drink during the
past two weeks, or whether he made a
mistake in the morphine dose, hoping to
OBTAIN relief from the nervousness Great
ed by alcoholic stimulants, will never be
known except it is told by a woman who
was present in the room when he took
the poison, and perhaps she is unable to
disclose the motive.
The news that Mel Wine committed
suicide was known On the streets as ear
ly as 10 o'clock. An Inter Mountain re-
porter went to the place and found a
curious throng outside the door leading
to the furnished rooms up stairs in the
Silver block. He entered and found an
ether crowd in the landlady's office, all
anxious to know the chance of life of
the misguided attorney. Hope and fear
were visible on every countenance.
The landfady, a Mrs. Adams, in re-
sponse to inquiries, said that Wines came
to her Office about Z o'clock and asked for
a room for a little while to receive com
pany. She had no room vacant and told
him so, much surprised that he should
ask for a room only for a short period.
Wines then obtained permission to re-
main in the office or parlor while he
awaited the return of a message. He
wrote a note and summoning a messen-
ger boy, handed it to the lad and then
seated himself in a chair, hat in hand.
The note was evidently directed to a
young woman named Viola, whom he hao
known for years, an inmate of May Ma
loy's house on Mercury street.
Mrs. Adams thinks that Wines was un-
der the influence of morphine while he
talked to her. He appeared anxious to
be unobserved while he remained in the
parlor. and when passed to and
fro, Wines pulled his hat over his face.
COMMUNICATING his condition. the land
lady showed him a room belonging to a
lodger who did not usually seeek repose
until midnight. In the meantime, the
woman called in response to the message
and was directed to the room. Mrs.
Adams never saw the woman, before. She
was Viola.
In a short time the woman made her
temperance before the landlady, and in
1IluSl1 Nolo IN NAANS A"SN
taken a dose of poison, and besought Mrs,
Adams to summon help immediately In
the confusion incident to the discovery
and sending for physicians, Viola d1sap-
peared. 1t was afterwards learned that
she sought another room in the house
and remained there in silent grief until
early this morning.
Drs. NOrcrOss, CoWperthwaite and
Leavitt appeared on the scene In a short
time, and did everything possible to re-
f- - l:-. $1,000 I,,k - M N-a ~
the meantime friends of the young at
torney apprised his parents of the trag-
edy, and together with his sister these
three remained tearfully beside their I'M
fortunate son and brother until the end.
The body was removed to Sherman's
undertaking rooms, and Coroner Julien
will hold an inquest tonight. In death,
Melville Wines looks as if he had passed
into a dreamless slumber, and the end
came without physical pain.
Melville Wines stood high among the
members of the bar in Silver Bow coun-
ty, and his services were in demand
throughout the state, notably in GRIM
inal cases. Last fall he took the most ac-
tive part in clearing a fellow indicted for
murder in Livingston. Everybody re-
members the skill he displayed in tying
up the prosecution in the Creech MUIR
der case and how he succeeded in clear
ing Marshall.
Lawyers about town speak highly of
his qualifications as a criminal lawyer,
and say he was even above the average
in civil practice. Although not what
might be called a profound student, his
alertness in taking advantage of every
Vulnerable point of his antagonist was
marvellous. AS a cross questioner he
was exasperating at times and often
made the witness say something he did
not wish to say in a fit of resentment.
All the same, lawyers say that Mel
Wines could get everything out of a wit
ness hat he wanted.
In 1892 he was elected count attorney
and again in 1894 he succeeded himself
IN that position. Those We're the days
when Mel Wines was a hard worker. He
was q terror to criminals, and as a
county prosecutor his record was emf
nently successful.
Mel Wines was associated with his
father in the law business, under the firm
name of Wines & Wines. The sympathy
of the bar. and indeed of the whole COM
munlty, goes out to the distressed par
ents of the unfortunate but brilliant
young man.