Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-10
|NBEARAbLE PAIN
.DR|vES De CANT
To SUICIDE
| oninent Atlanta Insurance
MAN Is Found in Lakewood
Park Lake by Boys.

,I,..+erv surrounding the death of
i ,.,a l.. DeGant. prominent Atlanta
.-.,ca man. whose body was found
I Tar-awood park lake, is not cleared
I. ~ to7av's developments except by
!,.ra+lon of the theory that he ended
o.r life because he was haunted
4 .,, ,ain of an incurable disease.
I ,,,esre,, for long time from kidney
i 49,. i'm = violent form, DeGant is
I'D to have been the subject of an
4 .,4on which drove him Saturday
4 .r,owood park and to his death.
Traynham, assistant general
~, # the Home Friendly society,
1 -, f,5,v that DeGant's affairs were
,erfect and prosperous condltloh'
I ,nat the probably self-inllicted
\ Il, ,orl1 not have been due to trou-
in that quarter.
n,caots BODY was found Sunday
] ornfns by two boys, as 1t foated III
1 .,,+ If water at Lakewood park,
~ the shore. He had been miss
a. since early Saturday morning ana
.,,tfves had been put on the search
eo,rge L. DeGant was about 90
we old and had been in Atlanta
sesrIv % years. He was well known IN
,.;nass in Atlanta, and founded the
',,a Friendly Insurance Company.
,riands declare that DeGant had sew
IT, Zines before the fatal day threat
he'd his life when spells of morbid
III, seized him, but that each time he
1 .arerad his balance and his cheer
rnass as his i'll health passed
Night of Agony.
,s,.,,. o night of sleeplessness anC
~. D,Gant arose early Saturday
' ,r,,t,,, If his home, 25S CORTLAND
rraat where he lived with Policeman
= Nlen. In this he broke the Or
,,. routine of his life, and was at
office in the Austell building two
.,rs before his custom, before the.
sany elevator boy had become accus-
Iomed to his morning surroundings.
rbo.o who entered the Office later IN
\ o 5sy found letters and papers neatly
,.sroed and ordered for the day
.or, DeCant placed the keys OF the
DHqe I'm the vault of the safe, label
|, o each. and placing apart from the
.fics keys his own personal keys. Hlht
/ prem, alton of the suicide is found
.r~,.I,- r,-aY ma ra tiOnS
The elevator boy in the AustelI
hiding remembered yesterday that
beGant had descended from the office
bid him coed bye, and had gone out on
he street. A man answering De-
gapts description caught Lakewood
lar at about $50 o'clock, and rode to
he end of the line. This fact was
,scertaincd by detectives, who were on
h. iob If finding DeGant after he had
TaHed to show up at his CORTLAND
rr.et home or at his office late in the
l3y
The TWO boys who found the body,
A6o and Louis Billet, are the sons OF
.e manager Of Lakewood park. Ihey
bought the floating object was log,
nd decided to wade out to investigate.
they found the dead mans body, puff
ID and discolored and evidently having
yean in the water for many hours. De-
imts soft hat was pulled down tight
u on his forehead, his nose glasses
we're placed naturally before his eyes,
Ind his heavy overcoat was buttoned
lightly
Body Floating in Water.
The body was floating in two feet
4 water. Nowhere in that part of the
AXE where the body was found is the
,ater Of sufficient depth to prove dan
erous to an able bodied man.
Coroner Donehoo was notified, ana
he body was removed to the establish
lont Of Greenberg & Bond, where an
inquest was held at o'clock Sunday
fcrnoon, resulting in a verdict OF
cath by drowning. 4 number of wit
csscs testified. among them Y. T. Al
,n. with whom DeGant lived, and who
ave as his opinion the statement that
leGant ended his own life because o.
be illness which has beset him fol
many months.
DeGants closest relative is Mrs.
iyrtle PRODIGY, of Washington, his
aughtcr who has been notified of his
eatb. and who probably will reach