Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-05-21
he TOOK STRyCHN|NE.
Because His Wife Left Him, Husband
Sought Death,
;, :PtRRY DUDLEY STEVENS DEAD. i

III ItSO NEWS. may A's
Yesterday afternoon Dudley Stevens,
a miner from Jarilla, N. NJ, was found
dying in a room at the Silver City
lodging house and soon expired.
S%trychnine and laudanum had been
used from bottles found in the room.
Letters lying upon a bureau told the
cause of the mans self destruction.
One was addressed to the chief of
police of Ell Paso, one to Stevens wife
at Organ, N. NJ, m to A. b. Cowan
and one to the Evening News.
Justice Of the Peace Spencer was
called and TOOL possession of the sui
cide's effects. The letter to Chief of
Police Wooten stated:
This no mystery. 1t is a plain
case of suicide. My wife's address is
Organ, N. NJ.
PERRY DUDLEY STEVENS"
On the back of a piece of paper
was written. 81 have shaved myself
and guess that ! look well enough for
burial"
The letter addressed to the Even
ing News told the whole story from
Stevens point of view, expressed love
for his hoy and his wife, formerly
Miss Lillian Cowan, of Las Cruces, and
blamed certain relatives of his wife
for his domestic unhappiness in the
past eight months.
Excluding the narrative of family
troubles. the letter was as follows:
ITO The Evening News-What a
man will do when he loves a woman
| better than he does his own life.
| will first explain what has happen
ed. l have taken laudunum and
strychnine. which | bought to kill my
self with. | have taken this plan sc
when | am dead there will be nothing
to do but to place me in the earth and
cover me and I take my own life be-
| cause | love my dear wife and baby
better than | do my own life. My
baby is the world to me and my pray
and protect him. My wife before |
married her was Miss Lillian Cowan
of Organ, N. M. | have tried to make
my wife happy and have done every
thing in my power to make things
pleasant for her, and when / would
talk to her and tell her, she would
tell me | was jealous, when | did not
have anything to be Jealous of.
4 hope my wife will now be happy
and the one who has ruined M will go
to h. Goodbye to my friends and
to my darling baby boy and may God
bless and love him when ] am dead
and gone, and his pathway may be
| strewn with all the beauties of ma
ture.
Now, friends, one and all. do not
claim that | am insane, for l am not,
THU is all there is to it. | never can
by a happy man and be parted from
those whom | love and I am not
afraid to die, and the reason | take
this way to kill myself is that will
be clean when I am dead. | could
blow my brains out in less time. but
look what a shape | would be in. I
will not mention my own people, for
| don't want them to known where |
have gone to.
PERRY DUDLEY STEVENS"
"Of Organ and Jarilla, New Mexico"
In Stevens room was found a let
ter from his wife, written from Organ,
declaring that as they were unhappy
together they should live apart and
he should seeh esther wife. The
letter was friendly in tone, though de-
claring agreement between them i'm
possible. The wife asked to have
furniture and provisions of their home
sent to her as she had the are of
their boy. She declared her inability
to provide for him and said she would
keep house for her father.
Stevens was a well dressed man,
about 35 years of age. He was known
to many people here and is a relative
of William Skidmore, a Western
Union telegraph operator. He is also
a brother in law of Billy Hayden, a
Las Cruces mining Stevens
came to FL Paso a few days ago to
look for Hayden. Deceased came from
Iowa to New Mexico.
The body is at Nagley & Corr's es-
adjustment and will probably be ship
ped to Las Cruces.
See those fine mantel clocks for only
| a. nE N. -. a~l. xas1I Ia,4 s.,l