The Sun. — 1865-12-06 (London, England)

PRESTON KING.—The many friends and acquaintances of the Hon. Preston King, Collector of Customs in New York City, and lately United States Senator from the State of New York, were on the 14th astonished and saddened by the news of his death, statements from different parties placing it beyond a doubt that Mr. King, while labouring under temporary mental aberration, had committed suicide by jumping into the' North River from the deck of the Hoboken ferry-boat Paterson. In 1836 Mr. King was confined for a year in an asylum for the insane, and it is supposed that too close attention to his multifarious duties had resulted in a return of the disease. Mr. King had been ailing for some time past, and recently it was observed that his conduct was so peculiar that his friends deemed it advisable to select ono of their number to keep him company. On Sunday night, therefore, the deceased and a relative retired to the collector's sleeping apartment in the Astor House. At 3 o'clock on Monday morning, while his room-mate was still slumbering, Mr. King rose, dressed himself and left the house, subsequently returning. At about half-past 7 o'clock Mr. King again quitted the hotel. According to the statement of the ferry-master at the Christopher-street ferry, a man, whose description seemed that of the collector, was seen to alight from a car and go on board the ferryboat Paterson, which left the pier a few minutes later. When the vessel had reached the middle of the stream the unknown individual placed his hat on the deck and jumped overboard. The alarm was at once given and the engine reversed, but all search for the remains of the deceased proved unavailing. The hat remaining on deck was identified by friends and relatives as having belonged to the Collector, and the statement of two children, who had seen the man jump into the water, and that of a deck hand, which corroborated the statement of the ferry master, established the sad •truth that the unfortunate man who committed suicide was no other than Mr. King. The deceased was sixty years of age. The intelligence of his death occasioned much regret in official circles at Washington. Since the above was written further interesting particulars of Mr. King's death have come to light. It seems that he purchased 25 pounds of shot and attached it to his person, showing his fixed determination to destroy himself. The little girls who saw: the Collector leap into the river have become known and describe him exactly. At the time of his death he was upwards of sixty years of age, having been born in Ogdensburg, New ,York, Oct. 14, 1806. Ho graduated at Union Coliege, and was admitted to the bar. He entered public life in 1834 as a member of the Assembly, and became the friend of Silas Wright, being next to him, the most popular and powerful man in the St. Lawrence District. In 1842 he went to Congress. When the Democratic party divided in 1848, he became a Burnburner, going to Utica and finally to Buffalo. He• followed the logical consequences of this action and became a Republican—fighting the Nebraska measure - accepting the Republican nomination for Secretary of State in 1855, supporting Fremont in 1856, and being elected to the Senate in 1857. He served a full term, and remained in private life until the accession of Mr. Johnson to the Presidency, when he was made Collector of the Port, which office he held at the time of his death.