The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-29
FRANTIC With PAIN
RELIEF IN DEATH WAS SOUGHT By
FRED POLAND.
While Relatives Were Not watching
He Fired N Bullet Into His
own Head.
HIS SUFFERING WAS GREAT
UNABLE TO LONGER ENDURE 1T, HE
TRIED TO END HIS LIFE.
The Injured Man Was Taken tn the
City Hospital and May Not
Recover.

Crazed with pain from abscess In his
head, Fred Poland. liveryman in Mount
Jackson. shot himself in the head yesterday
afternoon at his home, No. 3l17 jackson
street His injury is considered serious and
it is thought he will die. Poland's rash act
was one about which he had given thought.
He had been i'll for a week and in the pres
ence of his wife and relatives often threat
ened to take his life. They kept a sharp
watch over him, thinking that he really in
tended TO kill himself. He eluded Them
however. yesterday afternoon at 2:SO
o'clock. concealed himself in a woodshed
and fired a bullet into his head at the base
of the brain. The report of the pistol
aroused Poland's relatives, who knew at
once that the man had carried out his idea
of self-destruction. Adam Ault and James
Bailey ran TO the. shed and found Poland
lying in a pool of blood which was flowing
from the wound at the back of the head
near the right ear. The city ambulance
was summoned and Poland was hurriedly
taken to the City Hospital. An examina-
ton was made and it was found that the
bullet had not peutrated the brain.
Poland had been confined to his bed at
home since Monday suffering from severe
ailment, which at times had caused him TO
lose consciousness. At times he would rave
like a mailman. and it required the efforts
Of several relatives to keep him in bed.
After he made the threat that he would
kill himself his brother, Claude Poland, and
several others kept close watch on him.
POLANDS OPPORTUNITY.
Poland's wife came into town yesterday
afternoon. leaving Poland in the care of
her sister and his brother. Polands sister
in-law, Alice Brock, is an invalid, and was
sitting in rolling chair at the head of his
bed when he turned to his brother and
asked the latter to go to a saloon near by
and get some port wine. The brother re-
monstranted with Fred Poland for asking
for wine saying that il would do him no
good. The sick man was insistent and
Claude Poland went out of the house
Claude, surmising that his brothers re-
quest was merely a ruse, went across the
street to his sister, Mrs. Vanderman, and
told her to go and keep a watch on the sick
man during his absence. Mrs. Vanderman
who had also been appraised of Poland's in
tention. had just started across the street
when she heard the report of pistol She
ran into the house and found Clara Brock
sitting in her chair hysterical from fright
The report Of the pistol drew the attention
of the neighbors who found Poland.
Clara Brock, when she had recovered heI
compOsure. said that Poland left the house
Immediately after his brother bad gone fol
the wine. She said he jumped from his bed
grabbed revolver and said he intended tC
kill himself at once She could not move
and the words of the man so terrified hel
that she was unable to make an outcry. She
said he had hardly passed through the
kitchen door when she heard the pisto
shot. Poland was carried into the house
and several physicians were summoned HI
was in precarious condition and was sem
TO the hospital
Poland is twenty-eight years old and mar
ried. He is proprietor of a livery stable al
No. 1927 West Washington street, just west
of the Insane Hospital. He has no chill
dren.