Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-23
CONFESSED B1GAMIST
SHOT AND KILLED HIMSELF IN
VIRGINIA CITY.
Erratic Musings of Dead Man Reveal
ed Strange Life-Not Known
in the District.
Special pisnatch to The Star.


NORFOLK Va. December 23-It devel-
oped today that B. ]. Gibbons, the confessed
bigamist. who while having wife and
family here. married Miss Emma Holcon1b
in Valdosta. Ga, December IA, and who,
b upon returning to his Norfolk home COM
mitted suicide there yesterday. was form
erly Methodist preacher in Washington,
D. C. Gibbons upon giving up his ministry
in Washington, in which city he lived with
Wife No. 1, went TO Asheville, N. c., and
upon leaving that place he went to Ports
mouth, Va, where he said he had once
owned property in Washington valued at
$4,000. but all of which he had to spend in
hospital and doctor bills when the health
of himself and wife both failed.
In Portsmouth he was for some time an
object of charity, and was aided by South
ern Methodists of that city and members
of the Junior Women's Christian Temper
ance Union. After finding work as a travel
ing salesman for a Norfolk drug company
he came here to live, but his health again
failed and he had to ask aid. 1t was then
that Capt. John L. Roper, the wealthy Nor
folk man who is now aiding the Norfolk
widow, first heard OF Gibbons. and. finding
him deserving, gave him help and lifted
him to a position where he appeared to be
getting ahead again. Gibbons suffered from
railroad injuries said to nave been received
in Washington. and had strange malady
which affected him in the winter, and from
which he could get relief only by taking
morphine.
The Norfolk widow is ctill being kept in
ignorance of Gibbons dull life 1t has not
yet been determined whether the suicide
viii be buried here sent to his original
nome in Princess Ann, Md. for interment.
Glad He is Dead.
A special to the Public Ledger, from At
lanta, Ga. today quotes wife No. as de-
claring that she is glad that he Is dead,
and she wants to hear nothing more about
him. The woman who before her marriage
was Miss Emma Halcomb of GreenvilIe
s. c.. says she was married to Gibbons in
Valdosta Ga, at the home of her uncle
Nelson Holcomb. She says she met
Gibbons in Atlanta one year ago. He told
her he a widower, with one child and
insisted upon an immediate marriage She
declined. When they were married ten
days ago, Gibbons tol6i her he had a Nor
folk home to which he would bring her
He left her in Atlanta Saturday night
saying he had to go to Rome, Ga, on
business and would return Tuesday to
start for Norfolk. She heard nothing
more from him. Mrs. Gibbons No. is
now with friends at 19l WhiteaN street,
Atlanta, Ga.
Yet loving my family tried to obviate
the present existing conditions, but her
beauty culture and refinement was irreStf-
BILE to me and We were married" Gibbons
wrote before committing suicide in his Nor
folk home. Il have nothing left for which
to live" he declared L his wife and chill
dren. =
Shot Himself While in Bed.
While the wife went to prepare his break
fast the children remained to comfort their
father. Telling the little ones that he had
aha tt,n fa%l fol- 70
down stairs. They did so. Immediately
Gibbons reached for a pistol and, lying on
his bed. put bullet through his brain.
The shock knocked ls body ON the floor
and he was lying un conscious in a pool of
blood when The wifi, and children found
him.
For this consummation of events / am
10 be pitied rather than censured, as the
frailty of human nature is here exposed"
wrote the suicide in the note found after
after his death. .'The lady who became
my wife IN Georgia. wrote Gibbons. is
deserving the best the world could give
because of her angelic nature, sweetness of
character and innocence personified. Some
one will kindly impart this news to her
gently and request her to shed no tears of
sorrow, but look in eternal hope for a
brighter future and remember l love her
still. I'm indebted % the earth for rest
ing place. and pray Gods blessing upoa
my soul and my dear mother and the dear
little woman in Atlanta.
My family has been my idols. always
striving to comfort them. and l have al
ways been enraptured of an ardent love,
but conditions inexplicable prove the folly
of struggling longer. l trust God may in
spire some one TO care for the needs or
my little family, for dear, brave little
woman is left with grave responsibility,
involved in rearing the little ones. For
nf ra Il Unit
and amid their unbounded grief may some
one administer, enabling them to realize
the efficacy of philanthropic love; and their
tears they fall, may they be crystalized
and worn as gems upon their BOSOM"
The Norfolk wife today buried Gibbons
body and the police informed the Atlanta
wife of what hao happened.
1t was stated today positively that there
has never been a Methodist minister In
Washington whose name was B. j. Gibbons
and that no person answering the descrip-
ton of the dead man had been connected
with the church here.