Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-11-21
TOOK HIS LIFE
The Late President of the Knlck-
erbocker Trust Company
COMMITTED SUICIDE.

He Was Mixed Up I'm the Late Panic
in New York, and Was Deposed for
Specializing in the Trusts Com.
pany's Observation-Disclosures OF
His Private Fortune and Loss uf
Business Standing Upset His Mind.
Charles Tracy Barney. the deposed
president of the KnickerbocKer Trust
Company, of New York, and until re-
Gently power in the financial world.
shot and killed himself Thursday in
his home. His loans with the bank.
1t is said, are assured, and when he
was forced from its presidency he
was TO all intents apd purposes elm
mated as factor in banking circles
What ill-effects his unexpected
tax ing off might have had on the
financial situation generally had long
since been discounted. IN distress OF
mind over the dissiration of his pri-
vaie fortune and the loss of his high
standing among business associates,
intimate acquaintance ind the mid
den drift that broke his health and
reason.
Much OF his personal wealth might
have been saved. At the ririe that
Barney was dying at his home at
East Thirty-Cighth streer ana Park
avenue. and surgeons pr0l,ed tor u
bullet that misdirected Nv e nerve
less hand had entered the body he
low the heart a handful Of friends at
a downtown Office were concluding
an arrangement by which the loose
ends of the bankers unnS enter
prises were to be gathered mp and
financed by n stock company, which.
if not wholly successful, would at
least have rescued from the wreck
age sufficient to insure tn, promoters Il
future financially. The conference
broke up following the announcement
that Mr.. barney was dead.
Mr. Barney, who was IN his fifty
seventh year, shot himscif while
alone in his chamber at the rear Of
the second floor of his home The
bullet entered below ths- heart and
lodged under the left shoulder blade.
He died about . o'clock that after
noon after suffering intenseiy. The
death was reported to the coroner .
little past three o'clock. Fvom the
confusing stories due to the excite
ment of the hour II was determined
that Mr.. Barney deliberately shot
himself while alone and soon after
rising.
Ae. h. hill a a,Nt. Ia hNAN y, a
fell unconscious upon the bed. The
report of the revolver startled the
family Mrs. Susan Abbott Meade, O
guest, was the first tu reach til"
chamber and she summoned the ply
sicians. Dr.. Dixon resp )nded. and
also called two other physicians Mr.
Barney was revived, an to Or. Dix
on, for twenty years tn, family ply
siclan, said
Doctor, this is an accident.
In reporting this to the coroner.
DR.. Dixon added. with this | coin
eide"
Ether was administered and Efforts
wee made to remove ths bullet, but
they were not successful During
periods of consciousness the patient
suffered much, but aLc c'irding TO
those who were with him made no
statement other than that quoted by
Or. Dixon.
A desk in the chamber was litte:-
&c with memorandums and piled high
with papers, including letters from
bankers and other financIa. corres1
ondents throughout the country.
But the coroner was unable to find
any communication froT Barney TO
suggest a purpose of self-destruction.
Mr.. Barney was born in Cleveland
Ohio, on January, 27, 1851 He was
the son of a. II. Barney. president OF
the United States Exp es' Company
After graduating from Williams Col
epe, 1870, he marriet Miss LILY
Whitney. sister of VIM c. Whitney.
This Is the first tragic echo from
the late gamblers panic in New Work.
Mr.. Barney played the game of fren-
zied finance, lost and paid the penal
ty. The Knick erbocker Company was
BADLY involved in the late panic, and
President Barney. and all the direc-
tors were removed, ami an investiSa-
ton of the company is now being
made. and some of the big depositers
have given out that all officers OF the
company who have violated the law
will be prosecuted. No doubt this
had something to do with the Presi-
dents suicide IIc had borrowed
money from his own company