Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-11-22

ted suicide-exerted every effort t
keep the matter secret.
Questioned Frequently.
Questions relative to Mr.. Tracy!
disappearance from the TRANSCRIPT
Office had evoked only the informa
ton was given there that he wa!
dead. In fact, several of his asso
ciates told of having seen him recent
ly. Even last night there were some
who declared Mr.. Tracy still was alive
ard that the story Of his jumping from
the New York boat was nothing more
or less than a hoax.
This was Indignantly denied by Mrs
Tracy last night, and to s%ubstantiate
her assertion that her husband is dead
and that he killed himself she showed
the letters and messages which had
been indicted by him aboard the Ten,
neSSee. --a VA
The most conclusive passage in any
read:
81 left the Butler hospital at 4:30
this afternoon and took tht PrOvi-
dence boat to New York. | expect to
drown myself on the way over"
Death Premeditated.
An appendix to the letter in which
this statement aDpear1! declared chat
it might be used to prove mis- death.
The other letters told the same
story Of premeditated elf-destruction.
Each was the anne pitiful evidence
Of a disordered brain. Each was the
product of a man whose mind was
hCpelessly unstrung. The most pathe-
tic told of a fear that his wife, too,
vas going insane, and decided that it
would be best to kill her and then take
his own life.
And sitting last night in a little
apartment in n of the city's sub
urbs, where her slender means COM
PEELED her to 60, Mrs. Tracy told OF
this most awful course of her hus-
bands arrangement. A comely wom-
an of middle age, Mrs. Tracy was
scarcely able to hold her tears as she
spoke.
"Mr. Tracy feared for me-" she
said. las he became worse, more OBJ
sessed with the idea that he was 60
ing to become hopelessly insane, the
more he believed that l, too. was los
ing my mind.
intended To Kill Wife.
Il have no doubt but what he in
tended to kill me. He had not turned
against me. He loved me then, even
as he had loved me all his life, and 1t
still was love-though love marred by
the Authorizations of his overworked
and fatigued brain-that actuated his
desire to kill me. He wanted to save
me from the fate he felt was in store
for himself-an insane asylum for life.
And he dreaded that more than death.
"Mr. Tracy's breakdown was
brought on by overwork. He had Civ
en- the very best of his life to the
Transcript. 1t was that which caused
his condition-that and the suicide of
his greatest and dearest friend, Kel-
logg Durland. Durland's tragic end
was the last straw. My husband
might have withstood his owa tcou.
bles, but the suicide of Durland crush
ed him enrtielN
Durland's Tragic End.
For weeks before Durland killed
himself, he had kept calling my hus-
band over the long distance telephone
from New York. He had kept telling
him that he intended to end his life
had said he was approaching nearer
and nearer the day of his death. And
all my husbands %pleadings with him
were as naught. Durland would lis
ten, then reiterate his threats of self
destruction. All during that time Mr..
Tracy's condition became more and
more alarming.
Then on the evening Of Nov. IS,
1911, Durland did kill himself. From
thaa day Mr.. Tracy grew steadily
worse"
Mr.. Tracy collapsed the morning
following Durland's death and was OBJ
Hged to leave his editorial duties on
the Transcript. He sought relief in
a trip to Florida and later was able
to resume his work. Then came an
other collapse and this time his friends
persuaded him 20 go to a sanitarium.
He was taken to the Butler Sanitar-
ium in Providence.
Desire To Kidd His Wife.
1t was after he had been at the in
stitution several weeks that he wrote
the letter in which ne spoke of the
desire to kill his wife. 1t was written
to a friend of Mrs. Tracy's and read:
Dear Mrs. -:
i have written Mrs. Tracy many
letters containing the story Of my
life here, but ] dare not send them.