The daily sentinel., 1913-01-21
JUMPED IN RIVER" LAST ITEM IN
DIARY OF DESPONDENT SUICIDE
Out Of Work, Man Leaps Into
Icy Waters Near Main St.
Bridge This Morning.
BROWNS BEFORE HELP ARRIVES

Desperate and Respondent, penni-
less, friendless, unable To find work
and worrying over his boy, who was
evidently in terrible trouble some
where. John Murphy OF Siiverton,
known in many western slope towns
as "Spnd" Murphy, put an end 10 his
life by plmging into the icy waters
of the Grand river near the Main
street bridge at | / O'Clock this morn
ing. His body was dragged from the
water by l.. #. Feeney and Il. C.
Brown, steel workers on the bridge
with n couple of other bridge men,
who had seen the desperate act and
ran at top speed to the rescue Muir
ply jumped off the ice $50 yards
below the bridge. and his body was
recovered nI5 yards further down
The stream,
AS dramatic end to his life. Muir
ply wrote, Jumped in the river"
In little memorandum book and
stuck II upright in the snow before
he made the leap. He also wrote
in the book Spud' Murphy, Silver
ton, Colo, Montrose, Durango. Ou-
ray, Salida."
Murphy was seen around the
!. bridge all morning, but talked with
\ no one, save that he mentioned to
He also went to the bridge yesterday
and while passing by house near
the edge of the river, a lady living
there heard him saying aloud to him
self, My God, My God, My boy, my
boy, repeating it over and over.
This morning he climbed down the
ladder from the bridge to the ice and
sauntered along the edge of the riv-
er. attracting no particular atten-
tiOn.
He went to the spot from which
he jumDed and stood there meditat-
ingly for fully an hour, and several
of the steel workers kept their eyes
on him in curiosity. Finally he went
to the very edge of the ice and, look
ing up towards the sky, jumped with
a powerful spring far out into the
water. The current runs between
two walls of ice for several hundred
yards, and is very swift and rough.
a lc did hot appear to stT ageie. Many
bridge. workers saw him jump, and
Brown, Feeney and several other
men dropped from the steel work
and soon had the mans form out on
the ice
The man seemed to show some
signs of life, but they soon ceased. DR..
'1umb. city physician. was called and
sible. He ordered the body turned
n tear to Coroner r. A. Yunker. which
Had No Money.
A-z I'D man was about > feet .
inct III. weighing about 145
pouf He was smooth shaven, had
rather Irish features, sandy red hair.
slightly gray around the back of his
head He was poorly but not rag
gedly dressed. wearing heavy over
shoes, overalls, blue shirt with sum
mer underwear. He wore black
coat. His pockets contained nothing
bf value. save shaving requisites and
fse carried a cheap razor hanging
around his neck on black cord, lock-
ct fashion. No letters or other
means of Identification were on his
person. His right and left forearms
are tattooed He was well built
man and appeared to be between 40
and SO years of age.
An Ingersol lwatch he carried was
still running when his body was
recovered.
Exanination of his body at the
morgue showed two cuts on his head
that were probably inflicted by COM
ing in contact with the ice. as the
body was Just about to disappear un-
der the ridge of ice when the two
men pulled it out, and blood was
trickling from the mans temple from
a small wound at that time.
Nothing is known here about the
man, save the Information in the
book he left on the ice. There are
two names in the book-Gordon Nor
rison and Harry Anderson-the lat
ter with the address Salida, Colo, af-
ter it. The booklet also stated that
he had worked for five months in
the Hotel Mentone at Ridgway, and
another reference to work in Duran
60 was too blurred to read.
As 1t is an indisputable case of de-
liberate suicide, Coroner Yunker says
that an inquest will be unnecessary.
One of the workmen on the bridge
states that he saw Murphy start to-