The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-12
SUICIDE $500 SHORT
JOHN NJ. ALLEN OF COLUMBUS LEFT
SENSATIONAL LETTERS.
WAS A FAILURE IN LIFE.
WOULD NOT ASK KINsMEN TO HELP
HIM OUT.

for Atlanta Trading Stamp Com
pany-In n Letter 10 His Wife He
Admitted Shortage of About 800
in ConectIOns-Disappe From
His Home Tuesday Night-Left
widow and Two Children in CO.
Iumbus-He Denounced Liquor, to
which He Ascribed Most of His
Troubles.
Goaded to desperation by a shortage
of about 500 in his accounts, and with
only II cents in his clothing, John M.
Allen, Columbus, manager for the At
lanta Trading Stamp Company, COM
mitted suicide by taking carbolic acid
in a room on the second floor of the
Central Hotel, on West Broad street
during Thursday night. His body was
found at o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Before taking the poison Allen wrote
two letters to his wife, at No. 1000,
Seventeenth street, Columbus. and left
a note on the bureau in his room, say
ing that he was a complete failure In
life; that he had no money to pay his
funeral expenses, and that he had a
two sisters.
In the letter to his wife the dead
man mentioned the fact that he was
short in the collections he had made
for his company, and that he had been
drinking heavily. In the room where
he killed himself the bottle which had
contained the poison was found. Only
a few drops of the acid remained in
the bottle, and it was evident that
Allen meant to take enough to make
his death a certainty. In one of che
letters ne wrote a denunciation of
liquor.
Left Letters for His Wife.
The two letters to the dead mans
wife had apparently been written
when he was under a great mental
strain, as they are disjointed and al
most incoherent in several places.
Standing beside the carbolc acid
vial was a flask of whiskey. from
which several drinks had been taken.
A small grip, containing several TIM
types, a revolver of small calibre and
some letters, was also in the room.
Allen had probably been drinking
heavily for several days. 1t was evil
dent from the contents of the letters
that earlier in the evening he had gone
to the Pulaski House where he had
written to his wife. He went to the
Central Hotel at about IL o'clock and
registered as r. c. James. Tennessee.
He paid for his nights lodging and was
assigned to room 10, on the second
floor.
Discovery OF the Suicide.
The man made no noise in his room
ard the suicide was not discovered
until about ? O'Clock yesterday when
an employe of the house in passing the
door of room 16 detected a peculiar
odor, and looking over the transom,
discovered the body. undressed, lying
upon the bed. Policeman Reisen was
called in and he broke open the door
of the room. 1t was quite evident that
Allen had killed himself and the coro-
Eer was notified. 1t is thought that
Allen drank the acid shortly after go
ing into the room.
From the condition of the body it is
believed that Allen was in state of
stupefaction from drink when he took
the acid. as his features showed no
signs of pain, although the mouth and
throat We're terrible burned.
Advices from Columbus last night
state that Allen disappeared from that
city on Tuesday night. He left no
the news of his death last night was
the first heard from him since his dis
appearance.
The authorities notified Aliens wife
of his death, and the body will prob
ably be sent to Columbus for burial.
Up to late hour Mrs. Allen had not
sent any word to Savannah.
Goodbye to the Family.
The letter which Allen left for his
wife, contained several photographs of
himself. 1t. was sealed in a plain en-
velope, on which had been affixed two
cent stamps. The letter which will
be forwarded to Mrs. Allen is as fol-
lows:
July TO- 1902. To My Dear Wife;
The time has now come when | shall
have to depart this life May some
thing turn up that you can raise Harry
and my little Mamie HELEN. May God
help them to have better luck. | send
each of them a picture, and you 1
send two.
Il am short in my collections about
$50, and | would hate to ask a single
kinsman of mine to give me a penny
Il am putting my trust in the Lord
Notwithstanding my misfortunes and
sins. l came off for purpose of sui
eide. If the stamp company makes
the shortage over $11O (you have this
"A M
Green Trading S. Co.. Columbus, Ga
l have been drinking and also disap-
pointed, and see that I am not charged
with shortage of over $500.
when this was neared up, as soon
as the Hillsman's got to raising so
much sand l went right to drinking. 1
had been quit for over one month and
this revived it,
The letter was written on stationery
obtained at the Pulaski House and at
the top OF the letter, written across
the printing on the letter head were
the words Kiss the babies for me.
This come on sooner"
This letter was enclosed in a Pulaski
House envelope and was then enclosed
in plain envelope.
Left Pictures of himself
A letter evidently written later was
also in the envelope, written on plain
paper. The other lettersis as follows.
"Sav. Ga. T-10 1902.-Enclosed find
poctures of myself. AS l have al
ready decided long time since, l was
going suicide, this must be the time
as / always thought that on the 13tn
day of mo- or any other 10 was I'M
lucky-So it has been for me- Bless
all the world and have mercy on me-"
A line drawn across the page fol-
lows and then following:
Notice.
Everything that can possibly be
done against liquor is best for the
country & humanity. Blot it out of
existence if you can"
Another line follows, and under it is
written:
BLESS the future for my boy Harry