Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-10
LIFE ONLY A DREAM
Albert Chittenden, Suicide,
Leaves a Weird Note.
FADED ROSE AT BREAST
He Was Talented Artist and Very
Sensitive.
HIS OWN PAINTINGS ABOUT HIM
Hopes, He Wrote, to Awaken to Some
thing Better Than He Found
here,


painfully sensitive to his deformity. but tai
ented and ambitious. found life nightmare
and ended it. He was Albert Chittenden. an
artist. His body was found yesterday in
his apartments, at 10 West Goth street.
Life Is a rarebit dream Ha, ha. such
funny dream. But enough, enough. I am
ready to awake to something less ridicu-
lous."
This valedictory, scribbled in pencil on a
slip of paper and pinned to the wall, was
the bitter advertisement to the world Ct the
conviction which prompted the deed.
Carefully planned two years ago and de-
veloped to its minutest detail, Chittenden
ordered his own death in the way he had
chosen. Every chance of outside Interior
ence had been eliminated.
But Chittenden plainly left the story Of
his heartache on the walls of his rooms:
they were covered with pictures and
sketches. all of beautiful women. Most of
these were his own handiwork; some were
simply rough, unfinished sketches He had
INDUCED his love of the beautiful to seek
an artificial interest in life.
Tried to Live in Literature.
The shelves were loaded with hundreds
Of books, a wonderful library of literature,
philosophy and science. He had tried to
live apart from the world with his books.
Letters told of speculation in stocks,
speculations that had failed. He had tried
to win power and happiness in wealth.
A faded, long stemmed rose, preserved
for years, was pinned over his heart where
he had placed it before he lay down to
die. 1t represented what was lost out Of
the deformed mans life. 1t seemed to
speak of love and companionship: but 1t
spoke of years ago. Chtttenden had avoided
women in the latter years of his life. HIS
sensitiyeness over his deformity had ap-
parently been of steady growth.
Chittenden had not been seen since 4don-
day. His bell was unanswered and there
were no signs of life about the apartment
Yesterday the janttor detected the odor OF
gas In the hall. traced it to Chittenden's
apartments. and then sent for the agent of
the building.
The door was broken In. eThe front room
was sitting with the odor Of gas. Every
crevice In the room had been carefully
packed with cotton and sealed with tape
Lay Wrapped in Blanket.
The gas was strongest near the bath
room, and when the door was opened, the
body of Chittenden was found lying on
mattress on the floor wrapped in blanket
like an Egyptian mummy. He had at
tached a continuance to the cock Of the gas
let by which he could turn 1t on from
where he lay. A rubber tube ending in
cone led to his face, and the cone was tied
so that 1t could not slip out of place.
Within reach lay a fully loaded revolver.
Aside from the message pinned on the
wall there was a remarkabl letter OF
twelve closely written pages addressed to
Charles E. Knoblauch, stock broker at
so Broadway, in which the writer said he
was hurrying to death at the hour he mad
appointed for himself to die.
The letter said, in part:
Hated to Be "Disagreeable."
81 wish you knew what a terribly in
tensely painful thing it is. and always has
been, for me to do say the least thing
which might be disagreeable to some one
else. 1t is this very quality which is largely
responsible for the condition in which
find myself at present. When 1 say painful
1 mean literally what I say. l mean an
awful physical strain on the nerves which
those with whom l have had to do can
only family comprehend, if at all.
'Six months ago you made me, when L
first told you how l was situated finan-
cially an offer. a very kind one, through
convention. which l appreciate, taking into
consideration your standpoint.
81 must hurry. l can't talk. This has
all been planned, to the smallest detail,
for two years.
81 was merely trying to get some of the
cash back to, metaphorically speaking, melt
the gold and pour it down her throat
Whose throat? Ha! ha! My sisters. l
the last straw. when she got you out OF
the sick bed at the hospital to have you
try and convince me that because my father
had spent so much the place L should
give her $4,000 to help keep it up l
suppose If he had spent twice as much
| should have given her $4,000.
Time presses and l must hurry
Friend of Dead Man Silent.
Letters which seem to have come to
Chittenden from Mr.. Knoblauch speak Of
stock transactions. One of them states:
II didn't pledge myself to jeopardize my
self for you anybody else" 1t con-
cludes: II don't care whether you write or
not
Mr.. knoblauch called at the police sta
ton and was allowed to read the letter
after he had gone to Coroner Hamburger
and obtained an order At the station
house and at his home at the Wyoming,
55th street and 18th avenue, Mr.. Knob
LAUGH refused to discuss the suicide of
Chittenden. He declared that the man was
no relation of his. He said the sister re-
ferred to is married, but declined to give
her name and also refused to state whether
Chittenden had dealt in stocks with him.
D711THTn mn nhE1n I'm