The daily sentinel., 1908-11-17
WIRES UNDERTAKEN
TO LET VETERANS
BURY HIM
Coroner Day May Yet Hold an In
quest Over the Body of
George Linton.
DID THE MAN KILL HIMSELF

No funds. Have the old soldiers
bury father" Such was the wording
of message received this morning
by Undertaken Bannister from Will
lam IL. Linton, engaged in the auto
mobile business in Cleveland, Ohio.
in reply to the message sent him
Sunday night by the undertaken con-
cerning the mysterious death of his
aged father, George A. Linton, who
was found dead in corral back of
st. Marys hospital in this city on
Sunday morning, as detailed yester-
day.
Chief of Police O'Neil also received
a mes sage from this son and this
message instructed him to take
charge of the effects of the deceased
and hold them subject to the order of
the son. Chief of Police O'Neil
states that he has no authority in the
case as the matter is entirely in the
hands of the coroner.
The action of the son who from
what can be learned from the num-
erous letters from the son found
among the effects of the aged man is
fairly well to do, is most surprising
and if the son is able to provide for
the burial of his father who died in
far away state and who had a
struggle that proved in vain against
the hardships and trials of life of
poverty, he deserves the most sting
ing censure. \ man that will desert
his aged and impoverished father in
life is bad enough but u man that
will decline TO provide for the burial
of that father is still worse. Such
unnaturalness is hard to comprehend.
However. there may be eXtenuating
circumstances and the son may not
be able to provide for The burial but
there is certainly good reason to
doubt this.
1t is known that for days before
his mysterious death the old man
would find his way daily to the eX-
press office and inquire If a package
had come for him. He stated to a
number of people that he was ex-
pecting IA package from his son and
he was always bitterly disappointed
Some of the letters the old man had
received from his son indicate that
he had written to his son, told him
OF his impoverished condition, and of
his great need fer funds with which
TO supply himself with the necessities
of life. evidently he had asked the
son for assistance and to all appear
ances had been turned down coldly
ana allowed to get along the best he
could, a stranger in strange land.
Extended Investigations fail to show
that the old man had received
pennys assistance from the son, sup
posed to be well TO do.
There are some circumstances that
indicate that the aged man may have
killed himself. If he did end his
own life he did so by taking some
poison, yet there was no empty vial
or box near the body and no outward
sign of the taking of a poisonous
substance. One theory is that the
old man may have taken poison short
ly after he left his boarding house
and then wandered toward the hos
pital and in some way got INTO tne
corral.
Alone, without funds, living almost
on the point of starvation because of
a lack of the means TO provide the
necessities of life, old and infirm,
with his son refusing to assist him
and with the future looking black,
the old veteran might have easily
found a cause for ending his lonely
life.
Coroner II. S. Day is making fur
ther Investigations today. He has
about decided to hold an inquest over
the body and to examine the contents
of the stomach of the deceased.
The statement that the old man
was trying TO exc out an existence on
twenty or twenty-five cents a day is
borne out by many pathetic circum-
stances that have come to light.
Some weeks ago the old man pur-
chased a. meal ticket from local
restaurant but only used it for one
or two meals finding that he could
not pay for the ticket did not present
il again.
Veterans of the local G. A. r. post
have Interested themselves in the
case but while there is no question
hut what the old man was a veteran
still it cannot be ascertained that he
was Il member of the G. A. r. or
ganiZation.
The report that the deceased was
a member of the knights of Pythias
is evidently untrue.
The remains have been prepared
for burial.
It is indeed sad case. II is to be
hoped that the old man who fought
in the army of his country. will not
be permitted to fill pauper's grave
even though the son may be willing
for him TO have such a burial
Or. S. P. Green, James b. Hunter
and several other well known lower