The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-21
MINER TAKES
HIS OWN LIFE
William McAndreWs Drinks
Poison While Friend Goes
to Get Fruit for Him.
STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES
SUICIDE TALKS ABOUT BEING
ACCUSED OF A CRIME.
STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES

Wlildm McAEdTeWS, miner aged 10
years, and of late employed at Granite
Mountain. Utah. committed suicide yes
terday afternoon by gulping down an ex-
cessive quantity of a potion prescribed and
secured for the purpose of bringing him
out of a protracted spree.
The motive of suicide is so far a com
pick problem, the solution left to be
found in any one or all of three supDo-
sitions-the haunting TemoTse of a COM
mitted or accused crime, the taunts of
two men, or the Authorizations of drink
eraZed mind number of strangely
wOrded and rambinEly-written postal
cards left by the' self-destroyeT. in their
incohereHce betray either d guilty consci-
ence OF maudlin thought. while the mans
life and deba uchery for the past ten days
substantiates the theory that he took his
own life in fear of the phantoms of his
unbalanced mind
The suicide in all its features was re-
moved from the ordinary. Comparatively
little is known of AicAndreWr and the
principal clue to his past consists o. two
addresses left on his strange postal cards.
ore giving the address Of his wife and
the second of a brother-in-iaw. the lat
ter supposed to be in Granite, Mont
McAndreNs first appeared in the vi
cinity of Salt Laks&n June of last year.
and, representing timself to be a miner.
was engaged by James Moffat TO work
at Granite Mountain for the Desert Noun
tain. Mining & Development company He
worked two months. then laid off one
month. and IVES re-employed, his work
and ability since then carrying him into
the position of foreman of the mine.
Had Been Drinking Heavily.
\ week ago last Monday McAndrews
came to Salt Lake and since then un-
I'll the time of his death. had been drink
inS heavily. In the last few days Mr.
Moffat endeavored to get McAndrews
Strengthened up" and ON Friday night
took him to his home
The details Of the suicide were fully
told to a Herald reporter last night by
Mir. Moffat in the following story:
Il really can't say what caused Mean
crews, or. as he was better known. Billy
Blue to commit suicide. unless it was too
much drink CT brOOdng over something
That had been said to him last Wedncs-
day night by TWO men.
BILLY came to town about ten DAYS
ago, and since then had been drinking
pretty hard. 1 tried TO get him straight
ened oEt, but there seemed to be some
thlng on MS mind, and day two ago
he began talking at out something two
men had said to him last "Wednesday
night / don't know who they We're and
I'll L could get from his talk was that they
had lnsulted him. He seemed to brood
over 1t and drank heavier. Yesterday he
came to me and told me They are after
me- l took him out to Sugar House and |
got some medicine for him. He wanted |
TO know il | had enough guns to pro-
tect him and, of course, I said Sure |
I got him some medicine but ne never /
slept all night, and talked of commit /
ting suicide frequently. He wrote the /
postal cards there, but ! didn't paw mucn
attention, because 1 was watching him l
all the time and knew he couldn't do /
anything. He spoke two or three times
of his wife and said that he had a boy
and girl and said that he would leave /
their address
This morning he was in pretty bad
shape, and 1 thought I had better see
a DOCTOR ant e, H.
Beer and he gave me a prescription and
SAID that the best thing to do was to
take Mr. Andrews to the quietest room I /
could find and let him have a good rest
got room No. o at % East first South
street, and gave Billy his first dose of
medicine about noon. He slept fine for |
ABOUT halt an hour and then woke up
ana talked TO me for a few minutes
Another Story of the Apple.
Then he played 'possum on me. and
the way ne worked it took me clear off
by base. While we were talking he all
of a sudden said
Sc Jimmie, I'd like an apple VIII you
go downstairs and get me one?
thought that was pretty good sign
and said Sure
There is a grocery store just down.
stairs, and I went down and got half
dozen apples When / came back the
room door was locked and 1 knocked on
II and SAID:
Billy, open the door,
Billy called out: Is that YOU Jim
mieg and when / said Yes he opened
the door and said:
- It's all off. Jimmie I took all the
medicine. | wish you success and sue |
cess to ali the boys.
He grabbed me by the hand. but fl /
was done to try to keep me from going
away, but / broke loose and ran 10 the
drug store where we had got the medi-
cine. / asked there if that medicine would
Kill man if il was all taken at once
and they told me there was enough Doi-
son to kill two or three men unless il
was taken by the directions. We got DR..
Benedict, but it was too late, and Billy
died in less than an hour
NO, / couldn't tell why Billy would
Y ant TO commit suicide ] don't know
very much about him. but he seemed to
be brooding the last two or three DAYS.
He told me that last "Wednesday night !
p couple of men had insulted him and
accused him of som refining. and ne seemed
to take it to heart. After Wednesday night
he wasn't the same man that he had BEEN
before
McAndrews' death draught was taken !
about 1878 and he was dead within AN
hour The medicine which became the
means of suicide was F compound con-
.