The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-11-19
c. I. BARNEY DEAD
BY HIS own HAND
Deposed President of Knicker-
booker Trust a Suicide.
EXPIRES UNDER AN OPERATION
Shoots Himself in His New York
Home-Wife Heard the Report,
and Found Him, Wounded, in
His Room.

New York City,--Charles T. Bar
ney, who was deposed from tAe presi-
dency of the Knickerbocker Trust
Company twelve hours before it
closed it's doors, shot himself in a
bedroom of his Park avenue mansion
He died four hours later of the wound
at $50 in the afternoon.
The fatal bullet entered his alb
domen, passed through his intestines
and left lung, and lodged in his shoul-
der. He was found by his wife and
woman guest who came into the
room as he was sinking to the floor
half dazed from shock and twitching
with pain. They gave him aid while
his son telephoned for surgical as
sistance.
The two surgeons who responded,
Drs. Blake and Dixon, fought hard to
performed an abdominal operation,
but the banker could not rally.
Conflicting statements reached the
| Coroner as to the motive behind Mr.
Barneys self-inf1icted wound The
/
ney told them, before the operation,
that the shooting was an accident.
Another statement was that he said:
II did it because could not stand
the pressure" Coroner Hamburger
finally pronounced it case of sui
eide.
From Mr.. Barney's associates in
the Knickerbocker Trust Company
the reporter learned of probable
causes of his suicide, as follows:
He was in utter despair, fearing
financial ruin, fall from the high
social position he had attained ana
the loss of his friends.
He shuddered over the persistency
of rumor that warrant was about
to be issued for his arrest for criminal
banking methods, although no Grim
inal prosecution is under considera-
ton.
A grave domestic trouble was
added to his financial difficulties. His
wife was contemplating divorce,
and the beautiful woman to whom
he was said to have shown marked
attention had deserted him in his ex-
tremity.
! He recently drew will disposing
of fortune of 100000, only to
see his fortune slip through his
fingers until there was scarcely a mil
lion left
His confidential real estate agent,
]. r. Hay, had left his post for rea-
sons yet unexplained, leaving the es-
tate of Mr.. Barney's father and many
of the bankers personal matters in a
tangle.
The estrangement between Mr.. and
Mrs. Barney has existed for a long
time, and after the marriage of their
youngest daughter they separated.
The bankers attentions to beauti-
full New York woman is said to have
been the cause of the trouble. Mrs.
Barney is declared to have contem-
plated divorce.
When financial troubles came upon
the banker the woman on whom he
had showered many rich presents
would have no more of him AS the
clouds thickened about him and his
despair increased, Mrs. Barney was
moved to pity. A few days ago she
returned to him with the offer, it is
said, of every penny of her personal
fortune, If it would serve to tide him
over. His friends declare that after
this unexpected generosity his despair
became tinged with remorse. At any
rate, it was Mrs. Barney who soothed
his last hours, holding his head in
her lap, until the surgeons came and
administered a merciful anasthetic
The news of Mr.. Barney's death
spread quickly through the financial
district, where former fellow direct
fors were perfecting plan by which
the suspended Knickerbocker Trust
Company could resume business. His
friends and associates declared that
Mr. Barney's mind had unquestion-
ably been unbalanced by his many
troubles, real or imaginary.
When the life of Barney was ebb-
ing away in the hours that he lived
after he had shot himself his lawyers,
they admitted, dragged him through
the ordeal of making deathbed will,
while the physicians stood by and de-
ferred for three hours the performing
Of the operation of laparotomy. The
death of Barney, 1t develops, was one
of intense dramatic interest.
Whatever there may have been of
differences between Charles r. Bar
ney and his wife, because of his open
ly displayed preference for another
woman, somewhat prominent in So
ciety, was forgotten within a half
hour after the tragedy. Surrounded
by members of the family, his head
pillowed on her lap, before the law
yers or the surgeons had arrived, he
effected complete reconciliation
with his wife.
Suffering intense agony as he was,
his strength ebbing fast, the man who
had suddenly found himself bankrupt
in huSiness and in his domestic af-
fairs, pleaded for forgiveness and re-
ceived it unqualifiedly. With this
came the sudden summons for the
lawyers and the dramatic drawing of
/ new will, wherein practically all
was left to the wife, with whom the
man dying had not been on speaking