The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-06-03
.DESPONDENT MAN
TAKES lAUDANUM
Frank Raymond Dies In tho
Bender Hotel.
DRINKS AN OUNCE OF POISON
Financial Worries Said to be
the Cause.
Wife and Seven Children are Left
to Mourn the Loss Of q Loving
Husband and Father.

siding on Ham avenue, COinlnltte
suicide late Wednesday afternoon b
drinking the contents OF an ounc
bottle of laudanum while locked in
room at the Bender hotel. The vic
tim supposedly drank the poiso
shortly after 2 o'clock and died a
11:2O o'clock Wednesday evening.
Raymond appeared at the hotel
about / o'clock Wednesday after
noon. He told the clerk that he wa
lost and wanted them to put hin
to bed. He acted very strangely ant
seemed i'll. The hotel employees
placed him in a room on the secon'
story and received his instructions
to have the porter call him at eigh
o'clock.
Shortly after 2 o'clock the victim
got out of bed and hurried dowr
stairs where he tried to relieve his
stomach. He seemed unable to dc
so and went back to his room. II
| is evident that he had taken the poi
SON and its first effects was to make
him sick. After he returned to his
room he became quiet and the hotel
employees believed that he had only
suffered a temporary attack of i'll
ness.
When the porter attempted to
awake Raymond at s o'clock, he re-
ceived no response to his calls. Later
the employees became alarmed and
the door was broken in. The victim
was lying on the bed, in an uncon-
scious state. An ounce phial which
had contained the poison, lay on the
floor by the bed. The men quickly
realized what had happened and Drs.
+. B. Sawyer, e. c. Smith and L. NJ.
Baldwin were summoned. The ply
sicians conducted a hasty examina-
Yon and found that the victim was
in an almost hopeless condition.
Every possible means was used to
counteract the poison but the organs
of the victim had absorbed 1t. Only
after laboring three hours did the
physicians give up hope.
The family of the victim, consist
ing of widow and seven children,
was called shortly before death oc-
CURED. The death scene was one
that can never be forgotten by those
who witnessed II The large family
was circled around the bed, the child
rem begging between sobs for theit
father to speak to them. The victim
never regained consciousness and the
demise was peaceful and quiet.
The remains were removed to the
private morgue Of Howard and COM
pany, where they were prepared for
burial. They were transferred to the
home on Hahn Avenue Thursday at
ternoon.
A demented condition, brought on
by worry over financial matters, is
thought to have resulted in the vic
Tins rash act. Early in the spring
he had been suffering from nervous
trouble and at that time the family
physician feared that he might do
himself bodily harm. Within the
last few days he had seemed ex-
ceptionally we'll and was apparently
in the best humor.
Mr.. Raymond left home about $3.50
o'clock Wednesday morning. In
stead OF going to work at the HUI
Der shop, where he was regularly en-
ployed, he took stroll down street
Mrs. Raymond had planned to go to
fpu IN viz ha,.
she requested her husband to order
a livery rig which he did. Mrs. Ray
mond then bid him good bye and
drove to the home of her mother,
Mrs. Rebecca High, near Waldo. She
returned home at $3.50 o'clock We'd
nesday evening and was somewhat
surprised to learn that her husband
had not returned.
An assistant foreman from the
Huber shop visited the home about
10 o'clock Wednesday morning and
wanted to know why Mr.. Raymond
was not at work. The children
told him that they did not know.
II was shortly after noon Wedhes-
day when Mr.. Raymond yisited the
Gem pharmacy or west Center street
and called for an ounce OF laudanum
Mr.. Clifford Lower, chief clerk of the
store, waited upon him. Lower In
structed him that he was stranger
and that before he could purchase
the poison, he would have to regis
ter. Raymond was not enthusiastic
about registering but finally wrote
his name In the druggists book and
received the poison. He was later
seen wandering up and down Center
street and was apparently in a very
nervous condition.
In an interview with a Mirror re-
porter Thursday, Mrs. Raymond stat
ed ihat she could give no other rea-
son other than illness as the cause
OF her husbands act. She declared
that 50 far as she knew he was not
hard pressed for money and seemed