The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-02-02
TWO PRISONERS
TRIED SUICIDE
One Chittenden County Inmate Cut His
Throat and Another Hanged Himself
Yesterday, Neither Succeeded.

Burlington, Feb. 1.-Two persons il
Chittenden county Jail attempted to com
init suicide over Sunday and in both in
stances they were nearly successful. Al
odd part of it was that neither one knew
the other and the attempts at self de-
struction took place only short time
after they were placed in confinement
One man cut his throat and the Other
tried hanging.
The first would be suicide was William
Andrews of st. Paul street. Only last
week his wife obtained a divorce from
him, which fact has no doubt preyed on
his mind and he took to drinking. A
complaint to the police office Saturday
night was to the effect that he was
making a disturbance. An officer went
down and took Andrews to jail, lodging
him there by virtue of mittimus which
called for sentence of some time in
an old intoxication case. About ll:30
o'clock, Just after the lights were out,
a strange sound was heard coming from
the cell where Andrews was confined,
and an investigation was made. Deputy
Sheriff Todd asked Andrews what the
matter was, and the man replied that he
was suffering from hemorrhage and
that he had often had them. A little
later, however, he said he had cut his
throat. DIR Flanders was called and at
tended him. 1t was found that Andrews
had slashed his throat with pocket
knife, making several gashes but none
of which was serious. He was taken to
the Mary Fletcher hospital, where he
was resting comfortably at last reports.
The only serious part of the affair is
that the knife blade penetrated the
windpipe, which may induce pneumonia.
When Andrews was taken to the Jail
the usual search was made ard the va
rious articles in his pocket were taken
from him. The officer making the search
found, in addition, bottle of split"
concealed in the leg of his trousers. 1t
is supposed that he smuggled the knife
into his cell in the same manner. After
he cut his throat he threw the knife into
the corridor, where it was found later.
The next man to try the suicide route
was John Francis. He was arrested in
the afternoon yesterday while riding
about the city in a livery sleigh with his
wife and young boy. Husband and wife
had been drinking freely and were final
ly Overcome by too frequent potations,
both of them losing their upright posi-
tion in the sleigh and sinking into slum-
Der in the bottom of the rig. They were
in this condition when the police finally
located them after several complaints
came in about them. The pair were
locked up and seemed to sober off
towards night. Francis ate his supper
and then retired to his cell. In a very
short time he was discovered hanging
from the upper bunk in the cell to which
he had attached short piece of blanket
torn from his bed. The end knotted
around his neck was strong and the man
was rapidly choking to death when dis
covered. He was black in the face and
DR. Flanders was again
called and after working over the man
for time brought Francis back to his
The coincidence of two attempted
suicides within "a hours at the jail was
certainly an odd one. 1t couldn't have
been the jail fare they were tired of,
because they had hardly opportunity to
test it.