Evening star., 1926-11-20
VETERAN PLUNGES
9D4FEET TO DEATH
FROM MONUMENT
Soldiers Home Inmate, H. C.
Anderson, as, Drops Off
Washington Shaft.
CLIMBS OUT WINDOW
UNSEEN BY GUARDS
Nine Others at Top Unaware Of
Jump-Noise Like Pistol Shot
Attracts Watchman.

Leaping through an unguardcd
window at the summit Of the Wash
ington Monument early today. Henry
C. Anderson, 46 years old. a resident
Of the United States Soldiers Home.
plunged to his death on the concrete
pavement 504 feet below. 1t was the
second time that a man. suffering
from Ill health. had sought death in
the dizzy drop from the top Of the
the top of the Monument, and the
third suicide Of the kind there, a
woman. in i'll health. ending her life
by the plunge.
No one saw the man pull himself
over the ledge Of the window and
drop into eternity. No one at the
Monument saw his body hurting to
the concrete far below. The first
intimation any one had of the
tragedy was when a guard. standing
by the door Of the Monument below.
heard what he thought was a pistol
shot around on the north side. Run
ming to the spot, he found the bat
tered form of a man lying before
him.
Guards noticed nothing unusual
about the actions of Anderson when
he entered the monument this morn
ing. He was the first to arrive and
waited in the warm lobby until the
first elevator would start for the OBJ
servation room above. August CroS-
SAINT. a guard. said he recalled that
the man seemed rather pale. but
passed that incident after watching
his actions for a minute and finding
nothing to arouse suspicious.
Nine Others at Top.
The first elevator contained 10 pas
sengers and the first on board was
Anderson. Mr.. and Mrs. William B.
Glidden. tourists from California. said
most of the passengers were making
pleasant remarks to one another dur
ing the brief journey to the observa-
ton room and that no one seemed
to notice anything unusual about An
derson.
Reaching the top. the guard watch
ed his charges for a minute to make
sure none was nervous and then start
ed toward the bottom for another load.
There he learned that Anderson had
preceded him by at least a minute.
The guards and the sightseers who
we're on the scene agreed that Ander-
son must have reached the top and
hurried Immediately to the north win
dow. The tourists began wandering
around almost Immediately and none
of them saw Anderson go near the
window. The guards, too, said he
must have determined before the ele,
vator reached the top that he would
make his death leap from the north
window. where he would not be seen
by the tourists, who would crowd al
most Immediately to the window in
front Of the elevator entrance.
Tourists Kept In Top.
The minute the tragedy was dis
covered all guards centered their at.
tention on getting help as quickly as
possible, with the result that the
tourists in the Monument were vir-
tually kept prisoners for more than
half an hour in their lofty perch, won
dering what had happened to delay
the elevator so long. Some ventured
to walk down and learned OF the sui
eide early; those who waited for the
elevator knew nothing of it until they
reached the ground.
Anderson struck the pavement al
most head first. Apparently the wind
caught his body and carried 1t away
from the sloping side Of the shaft,
since there were no marks to indicate
that he had struck any point ON his
tragic plunge.
The mans hat was blown fully IS
feet from the spot where his body
landed. A small gold wrist watch was
torn from his arm by the impact and
hurled across the wide roadway that
surrounds the Monument to the grass.
His clothing was cut and ripped to
ribbons, as though rent by a large
knife.
Guard Gives Description.
Crossant. the guard. gave the most
thorough description of the suicide.
II was standing In the doorway. at
tending to some casual morning du
ties" he said, when I heard a loud
report on the north side Of the Monu
ment. I thought it was a large-caliber
pistol, and Immediately wondered II
some one had been shot. I ran around
the corner. thoroughly excited, the re-
port was so loud" 1t was then that
he found the body Of the dead man.
Police are somewhat mystified over
the speed with which Anderson work
ed to raise himself to the fatal win
dow, despite a crippled leg and in
jured back. Some years ago he SUI.
fered an injury to his spine which
caused one leg to become shorter than
the other, and he wore special shoe.
The windows are about chest high to
a. norrnal.sized man, and 1t would have
required some display of strength for
Anderson to pull himself UP 50 quickly
that none Of the nine persons in the
small chamber saw him.
Believed to Leave Widow.
The first intimation Of Anderson's
identity was obtained from his hat. 1t
was purchased from a store In South
east Washington and bore the name,
neatly written in ink along the leath.
err band: II. c. Anderson" Police
declined to permit a search Of the
mans clothes until the coroner ar
rived. When morgue officials arrived
to remove the body, however. they
found a number Of papers in his
pocket. which seemed to confirm the
identity, which later was definitely es.
tablished by an official from Soldiers
Home.
one was a letter addressed to
Henry l.. Anderson. Ward C. Sol.
diers' Home Hospital. Washington"
1t was mailed from st. Paul, Va, on
November Is. and apparently was
from the mans wife, although VIII.
liam Shoenberger, the morgue master,
said he could not permit the missive
to be read until the coroner had first
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