Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-12
GAINS COURAGE;
ENDS HIS LIFE
CHARLES w. SMITH COMMITS
SUICIDE
Son Of Wealthy Parents, Despondent
over vi Health, Deliberately Plans
Death-Discussed Subject
with Friends

After locking the door. sealing the
cracks and making every other prep
aration for suicide, Charles w. Smith
Jr. turned on the gas in a room in the
Highland Park lodging house yester-
day morning and his lfeless body was
found several hours later.
/ Smith, who was "a years of age, is
the son of Charles w. Smith, presi-
| dent of the California Grape Juice COM
pany, and lived with his parents at 5917
Monte Vista street.
Early Sunday morning he knocked on
the door of the proprietor's room at
the Pasadena avenue lodging house and
asked Tor the key to the room of E.
CroWshaW, who is foreman of a large
ranch at Rochester owned by Mr..
Smith Sr He announced that the room
had been placed at his disposal and
retlred to 1t. About IL o'clock Smith
called the proprietor and asked that
a friend who would call be sent to his
room. When the young man came
1ew minutes later he did as he was told
ana nothing more was heard from him
again until 6 o'clock, when another
friend called and brought him the
of him alive.
Made Death Certain
Yesterday morning Crowshaw re
turned to his room and found his pass
key would not open the door. He called
the proprietor and he tried the door.
but announced that it was locked on
the inside. 1t was noticed that towels
were stuffed around the transom and
the men became alarmed. When they
broke the door in they found the body
stretched on bed under the gas let
The bed had been moved from it's ac-
customed place against the wall to a
place directly under the gas jet, and
that the fumes might better do their
deadly work Smith had placed an in
verted bottle over the gas jet so the gas
was forced down upon the pillow of the
bed.
With indulgent parents who were
anxious to crafty his every want,
youth, and many friends, it would seem
/ that young Smith had everything to
make life worth living. but for several
years he has been suffering from heart
trouble and at times was very morose.
Talked of Suicide
Smith gave no intimation of his in
tended action and his death came as
a great shock to his parents. He has
been reckless of his life of late and it
was thought by many that he courted
death. While experimenting the i'm
provement of a large tract owned by
his father the young man had occasion
to do some blasting and the workmen
We're in constant fear that he would be
killed by his reckless use of the dyna-
mite.
Friends say that Smith often talked
of suicide in an abstract way and de-
clared that it took more courage for a
man to take his own life than to live
on in i'll health.
Until a few months ago the young
man was one of the assistant engineers
on the Panama canal construction work
and returned from the canal zone in
poor health.
The body was removed to his home
at the request of his mother and owing
to the fact that no possible doubt as to
the case being one of suicide was enter
| tanned by the parents, the coroner
agreed to waive the right to an inves-
tigatiOn.
The funeral services will be held to-
morrow afternoon at Pierce Brothers
undertaking parlors and the interment
will be at Evergreen cemetery.