The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-27
SUICIDE MAY BE
MEDICINE MAN"
FRIEND THINKS IT LIKELY.
MAN AT THUNDERBOLT MAY HAVE
BEEN CDR" NELSON.

( Was at the Casino Tuesday Evening
! and Talked with f. NJ. Reese
with whom He Was on Very
| Friendly Terms-Was Not Happy
Then and Got DoIIar-WOre Hair
/ Very Long for Business Reasons.
Dead Mans Hair Unusually Long.
Chinese Laundry Ticket Found.
A medicine man" known as DIR.
| Nelson" or "Lightfoot," may have
been the suicide at Thunderbolt, whose
body was found Saturday morning.
Speculation as to the identity of the
man was rife yesterday. But at al
most every turn the investigators were
baffied by some knotty problem. Only
one clue was struck which threw
CLEAN of light on who the man was,
and that will be fully investigated.
The laundry package. for which there
was a check in the dead mans pocket
dated June 20, was found in a Chinese
shop in the western part of the city.
Inside the package was one colored
negligee shirt, with the mark III. H."
in red ink, two collars, turn down,
marked III. H." in black ink, and
suit Of plain underwear. unmarked.
One noticeable feature of the mans
apparel was a rubber collar, such as
is often used to provide clean neck
wear easily and economically. A copy
of last weeks programme at the Ca
sino was also found in his pocket.
II May BE CDR" Nelson
From facts brought to light yester-
day there appears to be good reason
for thinking that the dead man may
have been Doctor" Nelson or Light
foot" a patent medicine vendor well
known in Savannah.
Nelson was seen on Tuesday at the
Casino bar by Mr.. Frank M. Reese, the
bartender. who knew him well. Mr..
Reese was clerk at the Planters Hotel
for some time and met Nelson often, in
fact, sharing his room with him on
more than one occasion.
While in the bar of the Casino Nell
son secured a dollar from Reese and
spoke of going on a long journey. from
which he would probably not return.
He said the money would carry him at
least two hundred miles, though if he
were to pay railroad fare the coin
would not in fact have carried him but
a fraction of this distance. He seemed
respondent at the time, according to
Reese.
While the men were talking the music
struck up in the Casino and Nelson re-
marked that he thought the music was
good and he would hear it from the
outside. That was the last seen of him
by the bartender.
ResembIed Medicine Vendor.
After viewing the body Mr.. Reese
stated that it looked like that of Nell
son, though on account of decomposi-
ton he did not make a close examina-
ton.
One most striking resemblance be-
twene the dead man and Nelson was
the long hair, which fell over the
shoulders. When not selling medicine
from a stand, Nelson wore his hair
coiled up under his hat and many of
his acquaintance did not know that
his hair was of unusual length on top.
Nelson had a room at No. $50 Bryan
street west. Two weeks ago he left,
saying that he was going to Florida.
Nothing further has been heard from
him and the family expressed the
opinion last night that he had been
out of the city for that time, as he
was always there when in Savannah.
Several persons were found VINO re-
membered having seen Nelson within
the last week. One man saw him Mon
day, and to him Nelson stated he did
not have long to live here anyhow. He
also stated he was going to the park,
but without saying which one.
Wore Rubber Collar.
One move that Nelson had in mind
was to go to Panama to sell a prepa-
ration which he claimed would drive
away all fevers. He thought that he
could make a fortune out of the mix
ture there.
Another circumstance is that Nelson
wore a rubber collar often, and also
had his laundry done at a Chinese
shop. The initials III. H." have not
been satisfactorily explained, if the
dead man was really Nelson.
Owing to the state of the body it is
regarded as quite likely that some of
those who saw it may have been mis-
taken i'm saying that the hair was
gray, whfeR~ it really was another color.
The bloat due to the death also eX-
plains any apparent difference in size,
between the body and a man of small
IN,