The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-06-26
ENDS MENTAL
TORTURE WITH
POISON, GLASS
Found by Farmer in Demented
State After Wandering
Prairies for Days
TOOK ASSUMED NAM E
New Salem Doctor, Charged
With Second Degree Muir.
der, Closes Case Forever

Fugitive on a charge Of second
degree murder growing out Of an
alleged criminal operation which
caused the death of Mrs. Lawrence
Burley in a Bisr rex hospital June
II, Dr.. Steven Fisher, New Salem
physician, ended his life in . hotel
room at Carson late yesterday.
With q piece of jagged glass he
severed the artery Of his left wrist,
after drinking the cont ants Of .
bottle of !ysol in his medical kit and
swallowing the contents Of second
vial of poison.
He was found dead by attendants
at the hotel who had gone to the
room where Fisher awaite... arrest
on a charge of causing the death of
the school teacher bridI of six
months of q Morton county farmer.
Today the body Of the o2-year-old
physician was prepar, for buri !
and taken to his grief-stricken fam
lily in the litt.s Morton county town
where he had lived as . respected
and trusted family doctor for more
than quar:e- Of . century
The tragedy Of death for . man
they loved silenced the whispering
of gossip and scand:l there as the
thoughts of cid friends turned in
warmest s. .npathy to the members
of his family.
Wandered in Daxe
Fishers apprehension late Satur-
day showed that ever since he dis
appeared from New Salem he had
wandered ABOUT the prairie reaches
Of western Morton .ounty mentally
dazed and distracted, in . mental
crisis that rocked 5 reason and left
him a pitiful mental and physical
wreck suffering from exhaustion,
exposure, hum, n. and lack Of slcc,.
with the gray buttes of the badlands
standing sentinel about him.
Fisher was found when Fred Wag-
ner. q farmer, noticed q small auto
mobile coupe paired near his home.
He investigated NJ found the for
mer New Salem family doctor glib
bcr.ae in the aPory of mental c.
lapse.
Wagner took Fisher to the otel
in Carson, where physician was
called and restoratives were applied
to revive ! m.
Death Plans Deliberate
.cturning reason rallied Fishers
stricken mentality. He made his
plans to end his life with cool de-
liberation and carried ther: cut with
iron nerve.
Conditions under which he was
found indicated that Fisher had wan
dered about upor the prairie ever
since he eft his home after learning
that a charge Of murder hid been
preferred against him.
Fisher was born in Germany May
8, 1876. He came to this country
when he was IL. His paren To-
Gated in st. Paul, where he received
his education and medical training.
His first practice .las at Dickin-
son, N. D., where he lived five years.
He then moved to Milwaukee. where
he practiced several wears before To-
eating in New Salem. He is sur
vived by his widow and IN adopted
son, who lives in st. Paul.
Dispatches from New Salem late
today said that identity of Fisher
was unknown when he was brought
to the hotel in Carson.
w. A. McIlvai.. secured from him
the keys to his car and SEARCHED It
as the physician YVES being sum.
moned to attend him. Search OF
tie car revealed two road maps. sew
eral letters bearing Fishers address.
and q quantity Of supplies.
Fisher told McIlvain when hs was
brought into the hotel that his name
was Sam Brown and that his home
was at Saginaw, Mich. Five bottles
filled with morphine and two empty
bottles were found in his clothing.
DR.. Leavitt, c1lled to attend him,
learned his identity and communi-
Gated at once with Grant county Of
ficials, who in turn communicated
with Morton county officials.
Fishers wife was at his bedside
when he died at .. m. yesterday.