The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-29

New York, Nov. 29-Secret brood ing over the burial of the unknown great war which he emerged one of Americas greatest heroes, was ascr1D- ed today by friends and relatives or Lieut.. Col. Charles Whittlesy as the cause of his taking his life Sunday while on the way to Havana.
 Leaving several letters, presuma- ply explaining his act, the commander of the Lost Battalion" disappeared from the steamship TolOa 24 hours out from New York His intimate friends had no idea he was making an ocean voyage
 Members of his family and close business associates were incredulous at first when a wireless despatch re- ported him missing. But as evidence accumulated, they reluctantly came to the conclusion that the missing man was Colonel Whittlesey. When they began to recall incidents which pieced tigether in the light Of his tragic death, might have been recog- nized as indications that his spirit was shaken by recurrent memories of his brothers in arms who had died before his eyes in France.
 The last blow, they said. more try ing than the rest, was in Washington a fortnight ago when Colonel Whit tlesey look part in the funeral ser vices f& America's unknown soldier. He returned from the capital more depressed than ever- There he had met hundreds of former friends, and had marked anew the gaps in the ranks of the men he loved
 His mind stopped was the eX- plana iion of Robert Forsyth Little, of the law firm of White and Case, with which Colonel Whittlesey had been associated for about a year. Ut had though it was. I don't think there was a man in the cOunT Ty who has had the trying experiences Colonel Whittlesey has had in the past two years.
 ''He was the hero who was always accessible to those who thought he could help them. The disabled, the jobless, the friendiess, the widows of the war-a1l of them-were on his mind constantly For the last two years there has scarcely been an hour when the grief and horror of the was not broughs vfvidly and specifi- caIly before him.
 Colonel WhittIesey had told no one. apparently, thaa he was going to Ha- vane. When he left his office Friday afternoon it was with some cheery remark regarding the Army-Navy football game, which he indicated he intended to see.
 At his boarding house on East filth street. he told friends he was going away ''to be by hfmself-to rest" when he left Saturday morning with a travelling bag He was in the habit of taking week end trips and his go- ing was unmarked by any unusual circumstance.
 COiOnel w n1LIIeSey unCHe, C. w. Whistlesey of New York. agreed with his nephew's legal associates that he had come back from Arlington with i unpleasant memborfes poignantly re- awakened.
 John B. Pryun, Colonel whittIe- {, sey's close friend and former law partner also shared the general view | of the cause Of the tra gedy.
 'tHis experience in the army par ticularly in the Argonne, was a tre- mendous strain" he said. Tt af fected him more than his friends !; knew. His was always a reserved ! nature and kept his feelings to him. self. He did not break down un- der this strain. or anything like that. ! To all appearances he was normal i but on Arnistice Day he went to , Washington and took part in the cere- { monies as one of the medal of honor men. This added to what had gone !, before, was more than he could stand , Outwardly there was no great change in him after he came back but in talking today with those who knew ! him best have come upon little de- : tails which. insignificant in them selves, indicate, when woven together sreat depression of spirit.
 Colonel Whittlesey's name leaped ! into prominence over night through his retort to the German officer who called on him to surrender after he was surrounded in the. Argonne. For four days and nights his con- mand. tlTa First Battalion, 3OSth In : fantry. 7Tth Division. had lain under fire, cut off from aid, without food or fresh water. All but S7 men had been killed or wounded. BIindfolded