New-York tribune., 1908-01-02
PREFERS DEATH TO 1908
SUICIDE rs CHIMES RING.
Il. p Mitchell, Prominently Con-
nected, 4sphyriated in apartment.

Archibald Paul Mitchell. whose sister. Mrs.
Lucie Mitchell Lawson is the daughter law
of Thomas w. Lawson. of Boston. and whose
stepfather is Thomas A. Mcintyre, we'll known
broker Of this city. committed suicide yester-
day at his home, No. $50 West list street He
turned four gas jets and lay down on his
bed fully dressed TO inhale the fumes, being
alone in the apartment at the time Business
reverses and a quarrel with his wife were the
reasons ascribed for his act.
The Vernon the apartment house in which
Mitchell committed suicide. overlooks the North
River. Mr.. and Mrs Mitchell dined together
in their apartment, which is the ground
floor. Tuesday evening, after which Mrs
Mitchell accompanied by her maid. Martha
Johnson to the Colonial Theatre. She
and her husband had quarrelled. ii is under
stood. the manner in which she should
spend New Years Eve. and Mrs. Mitchell.
West Nirginian had her way. After the thea
tire she went to the home of Miss Dorothy Rus
sell. daughter of Lillian Russell, where she re-
manned until her maid told her over, the tele-
phone yesterday of her husbands death.
Stories differ as o how Mitchell passed the
evening. Some say that he went out and re-
turned at 100 O'Clock in the morning. and
others that he remained at home. He did not
leave scrap of paper to explain his suicide,
and Just when he turned on the gas is not
known. 1t is considered probable however.
from the dead mans detected frame of mind,
that he decided to take his life while the craft
in the river directly below his home were toot-
ing the old year and merrily welcoming the
new.
Martha johnson, the maid, did not discover
her employers body until noon yesterday, when
she took his coffee to his room. She had gone
to her own home after leaving her mistress at
the home of Miss Russell, and did not return
to the Mitchell apartment until yesterday.
on receiving no answer to her knocking she
opened the door, and then for the first time
detected the odOr of gas. She called John
Foehrenbach. the janitOr. VINO telephoned for
DR.. Cochran, of No. 80 West list street. On his
arrival the physician summoned an ambulance
from Roosevelt Hospital, but Dr. Swan, who
came with it, said that Mitchell was dead
Mitchell was twenty-seven years old, the son
OF the late Archibald Mitchell. owner of trade
paper devoted to the hardware interests. He in
herited money. which he lost Mrs. Mitch
ell, who before marriage was Miss Augusta
Herne, had an annual income until about year
ago of 10000. Mitchell, it is said, lost much
of this. too in his enterprises Because of this
luckIess speculation Mrs. Mitchells father cut
down her allowance about a year ago to $1,000
or $1,000
NIitchelIs last business venture was the manu-
facture of cigarettes in partnership with Will
lam Camp, in West 44th street. Mitchell in
vested about S5,aO0 and when this also proved
a failure it seemed the last straw. He began
to suffer from melancholia, which the quarrel
with his wife intensified.
Some family disagreement Of longer standing
also became evident yesterday at the Mitchell
apartment when Mrs. Mitchell ordered out some
of her husbands relatives. Miss Russell, who
returned to the house with Mrs Mitchell from
her own home, explained this incident by say
ing that Mrs. Mitchell was nearly Frustrated
by her husbands and preferred not to have
many persons about her.
After the death OF Mitchells father his mother
was married to Thomas A Mcintyre, who had
been divorced Mrs. Mcintyre is dead. Mrs
Lucie Mitchell Lawson. sister of the dead man.
was formerly the wife of Herbert Barnum
Seeley. grandson Of P. T. Barnum and of "Seeley
Dinner" fame from whom she obtained div
orce. on July IS. 1906. Mrs. Seeley, who had as
sumed the name of Mrs. Mitchell married
to Arnold Lawson, eldest son of Thomas w.
Lawson at St Thomas's Church