The Washington herald., 1912-08-07
SON Of SUICIDE
ALSO ENDS HIS LIFE
Girl Finds Brothers Body Dangling
from Moose in Rope Tied
to Banister.
DESPONDENT OVER FAILURE
TO HELP AID MOTHER
Winfield W. Hopkins, Twenty-one
Years Old, Driven to Deed by
His Poor Health.

Frightened by a strange premonition
Of evil and trembling with a nervous
dread. Edith Hopkins sixteen years old,
stenographer for a big furniture house,
returned to her home. 15l7 Gales Street
Northeast, yesterday afternoon. and peer
ing through a rear window, discovered
the lifeless and partially disrobed body
of her brother, Winfield W. Hopkins,
twenty-one years old, dangling from a
hangman's moose in a thick hemp rope
tied TO a stairway banister level with
the second floor.
Uttering hysterical screams that alarm
ed the neighborhood. the girl grew vio-
lently Ill and then tainted. falling in
the arms of her mother, Mrs. Ida Hop
kins. who also had looked through the
window and witnessed the spectacle that
told her the boy Just turned man had
come to the same death Of his father
suicide. Mother and daughter both were
in need Of assistance when neighbors ran
into the little rear yard.
Henry NJ. Miller. of 1515 Gales Street.
one of the first to appear. broke open
rear window and climbed into the
house, discovering that death had come
to young Hopkins several hours before.
The police were notified and a hurry
call was sent to Casualty Hospital. When
a physician arrived the rope had been
cut and the body placed upon the floor
After a brief examination the physician
announced life had been extinct at
least three hours. II resulted, he said,
from strangulation.
Suffered Poor Health.
When the father OF Winfield Hopkins
committed suicide several years ago by
shooting himself, the burden OF the sup
port of the family fell upon the youth,
but he grew Ill shortly after gaining a
situation and had since suffered from
poor health.
His sister Edith procured a situation,
but her salary was not enough to sup
port herself. mother. and brother. and
on Monday last Mrs. Hopkins procured
a situation. Winfield Hopkins had
worked at various vocations at different
times, and about a year ago had been
appointed clerk for a firm in the Bond
Building.
He was forced to resign in January last
and had not been able to work since.
Neighbors who knew the young man well
say that he was undoubtedly deranged
because Of worry over his inability to
contribute to the support OF the family.
His one thought was for his mother" T"
said friend of Hopkins last night, "and
when he realized that he was only a
IL u losc
Winfield Hopkins. lying on a couch in
the dining-room. kissed his mother and
sister good-by yesterday morning when
they left fr work. They noticed he
was pale and nervous, but he seemed
to be cheerful and said he would not
be lonesome during the day. The stair
way to the second floor is in the dining
room. A continuation of the stairway
banster forms a railing for a hall on
the second floor.
Tied Rope to Railing.
To this railing Hopkins tied a rope
and in the other end he made a moose.
He placed the moose about his neck,
standing on a chair. and then kicked the
chair from beneath him. Although his
body dangled SO close to the stairway
banister that he could have reached out
and saved himself Hopkins hung until
killed himself shortly after his mother
and sister left the house.
Edith Hopkins left the office where she
was employed about o'clock in the aft-
ernoon. Il had a dreadful premonition
on the car coming home" she said. II
knew something was wrong at home, and
grew horribly nervous and frightened.
Then when L got home and found all the
doors and windows locked I was SO
frightened that I sat down on the front
porch and waited for mother"
When Mrs. Hopkins arrived she ac-
companied her daughter to the rear yard.
where they looked through a window into
the dining-room, where the son and
brother had committed suicide. Winfield
Hopkins left no word of farewell. Rela-
tives declared last night that they had
no doubt his illness and worry had re-
suited in temporary insanity. No ar
rangements have been made for the I'm,
neral. A certificate of death by suicide