The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-12-03
COMMITTED SUICIDE
on MAIN STREET.
An Unknown Man Sent a Bullet
Through His Brain.
HIS IDENTITY HAS NOT
YET BEEN PROVED.
II Is Said He Claimed to be from Lock
Haven-Body has been Embalmcd.
Hundreds View the Corpse.

shooting himself in the head. we were
sitting in THE STAR Office talking TO
Louis o. Mellinger when the awful deed
was done and were startled by the loud
report of a pistol shot, and remarked
~ Mr.. Mellinger that some one was
shooting, and got up and looked out the
window, but did not see anybody
around and sat down again and talked
to Mr.. Mellinger 10 or 20 minutes and
then he left the office, but was only
gone couple Of minutes when he ran
back and said u man had shot himself.
About the time M. Mellinger left THE
STAR office Daniel Matthias was going
home on opposite side Of street and
found the man lying near sidewalk and
thought he was drunk. He shook the
man, but he showed no signs Of life and
Matthias called Mellinger across the
street, and the two men rolled the man
over and saw the revolver which the
man had been lying on. Mellinger ran
to The STAR office and then for a doc
tor. We ran across the street and light
ed a match to get good look at man and
saw that he mad shot himself In the
head, as near the center OF head as 1t
was possible to get it. The man was
dead and probably had died instantly
when bullet entered his brain. He did
not select lonely spot to commit sui
eide, but did the act within fifty feet OF
an arc light. He must have been stand
ing near edge of sidewalk, with back to
Main street, when he placed the revol-
yer to his head and pulled the trigger,
as he fell face first on the little embank-
ment on uppor side of sidewalk. He
used q new revolver, 32-calibre, five
shooter. Only one chamber OF the re-
volver was empty when found.
The body was taken to the undertake
ing rooms Of j. III. Hughes and large
number Of people looked at the dead
man, but no one claimed to recognize
him until Saturday noon when James
McFadden, of West Reynoldsville, said
that the mans name was Motter and
that he came from the neighborhood OF
Heathville, but inquiry was made by
telephone and no one there knew the
man. There were no papers in the
mans pockets to give any clue regard
ing his name or residence, but the laun-
dry mark on his shirt was l. o. Motter.
Coroner DR.. e. V. Kyle, of Richards
vile, was notified OF the mans death
and he came to Reynoldsville Saturday
noon and held an inquest. The jury
empanelled was, Perry B. Love, fore
man, Samuel Il. Reynolds, Ninian Coop
er, g. A. Stephenson, l.. f. Hetrick and
Jacob Deible. Four witnesses, Louis
Mellinger, l.. j. McEntire, II. e. Evans
and Mr.. Smith, appeared before the
jury, but from the evidence submitted
| there was only one verdict to render,
| and that was, Suicide, death from his
own hands"
An effort has been made to find where
| the man came from but the effort has
proven fruitless so far. He came from
| direction OF Brookville Friday. Got his
dinner at Hattens store in Emerick-
| vile Friday. Got Philadelphia In
| g,,iler at Hotel Imperial Friday even
| ing and set in the hotel Office reading
about an hour, from 100 to 500, and
then left the hotel and stopped at M
| Plyler's meat shop and asked If there
was policeman or some other officer
around. Said he was hungry, had no
money and no place to sleep. Mr.. Ply
Ter gave him l5 cents to get lunch. A
light snow fell Friday evening and Sat-
urday morning it was discovered by
tracks, which were measured by Squire
e. Netf, and were found to be the tracks
OF the suicide, that he had walked up
almost to the Sunday school room door
of Baptist church, then turned around
and walked back to front Of church and
then walked across corner OF lawn and
up to place where he killed himself. 1t
is probable that the man had walked be-
side the church to kill himself and then
decided to seek another place to do the
shooting.
The man was comfortably dressed.
His body was clean, had ON new and
clean underwear, good shoes and wore
good hat Had on pair Of brown
overalls. There was an ugly scar on
right side of neck which was not al
together healed, which led q number Of
people to think that it was the mark of
an unsuccessful attempt to commit sui
eide once before. When the overalls
were removed it was discovered that
his pants were covered with old dried
blood, no doubt blood from wound in
neck. 1t is possible that the man had
gotten out of hospital or jail only a
few days before he committed suicide.
Sunday the body was placed on a
chair in sitting posture, with hat on
his head and picture was taken of him.
The man looked as If he had fallen
asleep sitting in the chair.
Mr.. Hughes embalmed the body and
will try to keep it until next week In
hopes that he will be able to find the
mans relatives, If he had any. The
body is in good condition this morning
The man told Mr., Hatten at limerick.
vile Friday that he came from Centre
county, and he told Philip Guthrie al
this place Friday evening that his home
was at Lock Haven.
Yesterday forenoon Mr.. and Mrs
Linderman, of Rathmel went to see
the dead man and said his name was
Joseph Bailey, and to make the iden.
tity positive that Bailey had scar on
right foot. The mans shoe was re-
moved and there was a scar ON the foot
as described. A telephone message was
sent to Shawmut, where Mr.. Bailey
, lives, and Bailey's son talked to Mr.
Hughes and said his father was a
home, but added that his father could
be identified by scar on his right
knee and right foot. The body was ex
amined again and there was a scar or