Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-14
FOUND DEAD IN SHOP
Gale Sherman Gives Up Fight
Against Failure.
LAST EFFORT FRUITLESS
Disheartened by Lack of Success in
Business.
WORN OUT AND DISCOURAGED
Lays His Head on Gas Stove and
Succumbs to Vapor Escaping
From the Open Tubes.
LAST EFFORT FRUITLESS
OUT AND DISCOURAGED

Wearied by marital troubles and dis
heartened by the failure of several bust
ness enterprises. Gale Sherman. fifty-six
years old, committed suicide last night at
his small confectionery shop at 725 18th
street northwest, by laying his head on
gas cooking range and turning the gas
on full. He leaves a wife, Helen Sher-
man, from whom he had been separated,
his friends say. for several months.
The immediate cause of Sherman's sui
eide was his failure to find an opening
for moving picture enterprise he had
planned and the pressure of several small
bills, including. by curious coincidence,
one from the gas company.
Last Effort Fails.
Sherman went out to Rockville yester-
day to arrange for the first exhibition of
his moving pictures, but came back dis
appointed at not being able to get suit
able hall In which to give his show. He
arrived at his place of business at about
8 O'Clock last night. Miss Janette De Witt.
who has charge Of the living rooms in
the house whose ground floor is occupied
by the shop Sherman kept, and who has
been helping him about his work. was
waiting to give him his supper. Sherman
told her that he was tired and discour-
aged and that he had been disappointed
by his trip TO Rockville. He was not hun
cry, he declared.
Miss De Witt urged him to drink some
tea. and also made him a glass of lemon
gas stove in the back of the shop. He
told Miss De Witt to turn out all the
lights but one, that he would warm him
self by the stove and then so to bed. He
expressed desire for bromo seltzer, and
Miss De Witt went across the street and
got 1t for him. Then she left him, went
upstairs and started a fire in his room and
went to her own room.
Found Dead by the Stove.
Early this morning she came down
stairs and entered the shop. The smell OF
toward the stove, she saw Sherman sit
ting in a chair with his head resting on
the stove. He had changed his clothes
and was dressed in his best suit That
suicide was intended was shown by the
fact that he had so arranged his overcoat
that the escaping gas from the tubes
would reach his face with full strength.
When she found that Sherman was dead
Miss De Witt called a man passing by and
asked him to go for physician and to
notify the police. Policeman Connors
came from the first precinct. He notified
the coroner's Office, and Coroner hewitt.
after viewing the remains, ordered them
removed to the morgue.
Sherman was from Lima, Ohio, but had
lived in Washington q number of years.
His friends say he was deserted by his
first wife, from whom he afterward OBJ
tanned a divorce. About seven years ago
he married again. He had not lived with
his second wife for some months prior
to his death.
Although entirely without money at the
time of his death, Sherman had been well
off. At one time he was mayor Of
Colonial Beach. where he owned a large
cottage. Friends say that he was expect
ing a considerable sum of money from
the estate of his father, which is in liti-
cation.
Frequently Talked Of Suicide.
Sherman frequently talked of killing
himself, Miss De Witt declared this morn
ing, and her statement was corroborated
by other friends Of the deceased. Upon
one occasion he told Miss De Witt that if
she ever came in and discovered the gas
turned on she must not turn it off, as he
found life unbearable at times and had
come to the conclusion that he had bet
ter end 1t. Miss De Witt and other
friends talked him out of that fit of de-
spondency.
The burial will be at Glenwood ceme-
tary. Sherman had a daughter buried
there and often expressed the desire to be
buried by her side.