Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-02-14
LANCASTER man
ENDED own LIFE
FRED MITCHELL COMMITTED SUI
eide SATURDAY EVENING AT
HOME OF MRS. ANNA RUPE.
HAD BEEN DESPONDENT
Had Trouble With His Wife and They
Had Separated-Was Brother-n.
Law of William p. Hall, Well
Known Horse Buyer.

Leaving a brief message requesting
the undertaken to notify William P
Hall, the we'll known horse buyer o.
Lancaster, Mo-, Of his death, Fred
Mitchell, aged %, formerly of Ian
caster, committed suicide Saturday
evening about $50 o'clock at the home
of Mrs. Anna Rupe, ITO East Finley
avenue. Mitchell ended his life by
drinking two ounces Of carbolic acid
He lived about twenty minutes after
drinking the poison but was unconsci-
Gus. r@>
Had Been Drinking.
Mitchell had been chopping wood on
the Mowery farm and had come to o.
tumwa on Saturday to visit at
the Rupe home where he had formerly
stayed. He entered his room and
pulling the bottle of carbolic acid from
his trunk he went into the front room
and drank the contents of the bottle.
He fell to the floor unconscious. PeO-
pie in the house picked him up and
carried him to the back door to give
him air, thinking that would revive
him. He passed away in about twenty
minutes. in the backyard of the Rupe
home. The only note found on his
his body. 1t read: Photograph my
friends. ] am a dead man. Hall will
take care of me-"
and Immediately went to the scene Of
the suicide. The body was turned over
to Undertaken Sullivan to prepare 1t
for burial. His brother. DR.. E. L.
Mitchell, Of Lancaster, arrived yester-
day morning and took charge of the
body The remains were taken last
evening over the Wabash to Lancaster
for burial ~
Mitchell and Wife Had Separated.
An inquest was held Sunday morn
ing at the. Sullivan Undertaking |
parlors by Coroner Slaught Mrs. Anna
Rupe, her daughter, Miss Efle Rupe,
r. s. Watkins and DR.. E. j., Car
rothers were the witnesses. Mrs. Rupe
testified that Mitchell had formerly
boarded with them and had come to
the house Saturday. They noticed
that he had been drinking. She told
of his going in the front room, getting
the carbolic out of his trunk and drink
ing it. She stated that Mitchell had
been melancholy Of late. The only
reason she assigned for his suicide
was marital troubles. She stated
and his wife had had trouble
and that they had separated. Mrs.
Mitchell is said to have gone to her
home in Sylvia, Kas. 1t is believed
that the man brooded over this so
much that he became temporarily in
sane and while in that condition ended
his life. That Mitchell had planned to
commit suicide at some time was
brought out by the fact that he had
the carbolic acid in his trunk for sew :
aral months. After hearing all the evil
1ence, the coroner's jury, composed Of
Il. D. collars. R. M. Moon and H. M.
slaught, returned the following ver-
lict: /,
1--WE find that Fred Mitchell came to
lis death about $3.50 p. m. on February {
]. 1911, by taking carbolic acid, adj
by himself with suicidal
ntent"
Was Prominent In Lancaster. T.
Mitchell had resided in Ottumwa for a
lhont year; coming here from Lam 1
'aster. Mo. He comes from a promi-
lent family. He is a brother-in-law t
# William P. Hall, the former Ian
aster circus man, who is we'll known !,
yer southern Iowa and northern Mis- 3
ouri as horse buyer. 1t was his 6
whom he referred to in I,
is farewell letter. T