The St. Louis Republic., 1903-11-19
TELLS OF ROBBERY
IN LETTER TO WIFE
Police Puzzled Regarding Cause
of the Death of Edgar
Laurenccllc.

Sitting in front of Nssk uii which lay
| a revolver the body Of Edgar Laurcncclle
| was found in his office, room No. 6n1
| chemical building. yesterday morning at
clock with a bullet wound in the left
breast. The Coroner will hold an inquest
today to decide whether ii is II case of
accident or suicide.
In letter 10 his wife. Mrs Marie
Iaurcnccllc. Boston. Mass, which was
written. 1t is believed. only short time
before his death. Laurencelie told of hav-
iiS been robbed of his money by two ne
gtocs on Sixteenth street near Olive street
one night last week. The letter follows:
My Dear Marie I.ouise-I received your pic
tGte last Friday. You are looking well. 1 am
~, ~ ling e 50 We'll There was little occur,
You about
One One night last week was coming down
ims;, ,,sre AMI after passing the corner OF Six
soine business matters. some one N called me
INTO a large doorway and put a revolver to
s wss iG 80 Ren s IN as rs me hSs old up ,s my hands
l,T Ters RE-. in ,,a, trance One negro held the gun
eTc Of sVeryns IN .FSnsh y s escee
ny my W., watch and chain. The watch was pulled
& Ih % f nd, da rsnoI; get it, 10 so 1s n
reason is that am indebted 10 Mr.. Felix here
"st 3S some & extent, tent & and thought it best to keep
:. 1t would not have done any good to report
to ali earth m sha, WI While ,i in this f city shall
less f rTesred ia ,e for S:ef si day or or Eds mE un or
whatever VI may call it. This is my second
.,S,n sSpg11en,s nsx herS @ ard | don't know whats
iooilns for trouble. hut I'll meet it when it
ccn,es
Things are improving a little. with me in
my oey nv an9 as VII run rana all right shortly as
self and our dear little girl Alice, and keep
her steady at sch"ol as YOU know her future
depends on her education. Your devoted ED.
The police know of no such robbery and
they regard the case as mysterious
i-aurencelle had been in ST. Louis only
three weeks. He rented office room with
Attorney Hamilton H. Dalton, who occu-
was agent for the Unity Manufacturing
Company. No. 80 Dearborn street. Chicago
Another letter found on his desk was
Unity Manufacturing Company. The po-
lice opened it and found that it pertained
oniy TO business matters. One sentence
which read: You will hear from me be-
10 believe that Laurencelle had no intention
Of committing suicide when he wrote the
letter.
The police have notified Laurencelle's
wife of his death and will dispose of his |
body as She requests.
Mrs: Annie Brandon, janitress in the |
chemical building. found Laurencelles |
when. she entered the room yesterday |
morning to clean the office. At first she |
believed that he was sleeping, but closer |
examination developed that he was dead. |
The woman ran screaming from the office |
and several men hurried to the office. A |
policeman was summoned and he tele- |
phoned for dead wagon.
Only 81 cents was found in Laurencelle's |
pockets when his clothing was searched at |
the morgue. The police found powder |
marks on his clothing and breast near the |
bullet wound. showing that the bullet had |
been fired at close range, which adds to
the theory of suicide
The police have not ascertained where
Laurencelle lived III St Louis.