Show SUICIDE a > A Man FoiM Wit a Bulletin Fo1d Head i About 330 oclock on Wednesday morning a man was found in a dying condition against the north Bide of I the Tithing weigh scales The Tith ing Office nightwatchmen Messrs Fryer and Jensen discovered him lying partly in the water ditch and partly on the curbstones and lifted him out when it was ascertained that his head was bady bruised above the right ear while his face was also cut At first it wa thought that be was drunk and bad fallen and bruised himself but his heavy breathing indicated in-dicated that his injuries were of a eerious character and all effort to arouse him proved fruitless He was lifted inside the scalehouse and the police and Dr Richards called He was then carried into the Tithing Office and the doctor examined the wound above the ear probed it and stated that the man could not live long He was then carried to the City Hall and shortly after 8 oclock died never having hav-ing regained consciousness and never uttering I word Coroner Taylor I summoned a jury and the examination examin-ation commenced Dr J M Benedict Bene-dict with Dra Thomson and F D Benedict probed the wound extracting ex-tracting a ball and following J bole into the brain about ibreo inches and stated tbat death was caused by hemorrhage of the brain The skull was broken at the point where the ball had entered about an inch and a half above the right ear The jury not being satisfied the skull was cut open and the course of the ball traced through te brain pieces of the skull bone were also found in the brain while congealed blood was discovered inside the lining of the brain proving that death bad resulted from the cause elated Besides this there were the other cuts on the face heretofore mentioned An examination showed that just inside the Eagle Gate blood had been dropped and it was plain that the man shot himself there He could be traced from that spot to the picket fence around the shade trees west of the Eagle gate where blood wfii discovered on a stone and from there in a zig zag route to the place where he was found by the night watchmen the course being indicated by the drops of blood Mr Clem Horaley who was going home from the Theatre about 2 oclock testified that he saw two men near the Eagle Gate and that upon reaching that point he saw one walking walk-ing along the road leading up City Creek Cafion About hal an hour later Mr Harry Horaley aIm going borne from the Theatre stated to the jury that he saw a man reel out of the Eagle Gate around by the abide tees and fall down but thinking him drunk passed on without paying any fuither attention to him Further testimony evidenced the fact that he had arrived here on Saturday night and registered i at the Overland House as G Drake Topeka K that he was a quiet man paid for everything drank but little so far as known had a buckskin purse about six or seven inches Log which contained about two inches of coin as near as could be guessed by those that saw i He had no money on his person when found there were some eighty cartridges car-tridges in his pocket which proved to be of the same calibre decided by weight as the one taken from his brain His satchel was opened which contained nothing but a shirt or two and some sock A new diary was found on him with the words George Wilson Drake Beattie Marshall Mar-shall County Kansas with the words Overland House written on the fret leaf A money order receipting re-ceipting for money received from the above named person and eent to Margaret Mar-garet Drake of the above address was also found and a telegram was sent to that lady regarding the affair When last seen so as to be identified he was in a saloon in company with two men Many thought it a clear case of murder but it seems unreasonable to make such a supposition It is true that his face was not powder burned I in the least but it was claimed by gunsmiths that powder from a pistol 1 carrying a ball of the calibre of that taken from the mans head would not bur at six inches A pistol however i how-ever carrying the same sized ball was held about six inches from a newspaper newspa-per and fired oS by Coroner Taylor and the powder burned through three bIde I was again fired at a feather at the same distance and the feather was burned by the powder It therefore appearing that the muzzle of the pistol could not have been more than six or eight inches away from the mans head bad he been attempt log suicide his lace would necessarily have been powderburned Another reason that led to the belief of a murder mur-der wai that no pistol was found anywhere any-where near the place as would in all probability have been the case had it been a case of suicide I was also alleged that everything tended to establish the opinion that the man was murdered for bis money and the only reason he was not killed outright was because the cartridge carried only three grains of powder A pie tol WAS picked up on the street early yesterday raorningnear the residence of the late William Clayton which carried the same sized ball but it was shown clearly that it belonged to a young man named Beattie and Ian had been dropped by a friend to whom it was loaned so i cannot figure in this matter The myetery is that no shot was herd by any one Last evening however some new facts were developed in the case which leave but little doubt about ita being a suicide Vigorous search had oeen made for the pietol with which the shooting was done and as it was not found and for the reasons given above the natural conclusion was that it could not have been a suicide or the pistol would have been found Last evening Mr John Wardrobe came up from West Jordan and delivered de-livered to the police a pistol which he picked up at the Eagle Gate Wednesday Wednes-day morning near the place where the blood was Accompanied by his brother Abraham they were coming through the gate between 6 and 7 oclock when John saw the handle ota ot-a pistol the barrel covered by dust Turning to his brother and seeing the blood no sam J guess some uue bloa has been shooting dogs and lost his pistol Ill just put it in my pocket and thus went to the train The the pistol is a mere try and carried i same sized ball as the one 5 nt taken I out of Drigga neau wmcn uu ifio as buck shot while only one chamber is empty There were no struggle but a few hand signs of a which the nfiks could be seen m culd Mes ° rs Wardrobe m their casual and passing glance thought t be dog tracks The story about the money is not at all positive and if what was seen in the purse was all he had it might have been silver and soon The fact that tho name was spent written in so clear a band in the diary wuh the full address and the hotel at would which he had been stopping indicate that the auicide was pre meditatjd and that be wished it known when his body was found who he was boy Everything Roes to prove a premeditated pre-meditated sqioWP and there i Ie no doubt but it was encbj the man having for causes unknown become tired of life and wandered off to this retired spot to relieve himself of its cares Had it been a murder the chances are that the aeaasaians would have taken him farther up theca the-ca on and not chosen this place on a clear moonlight night and at a time when there was so much going on the Maioaio ball at the Theatre bavin just closed The body w st ken to the sextons office and last evening Mr Taylor received 1 telegram from Margaret Drake telling him to bend he body to Beattie Kansas His hair was slightly sprinkled with gray his upper lip was badly swollen and in his mouth was a set of false teeth with some of the front onea missing The coroners jury which adjourned i ad-journed yeateiday afternoon until 4 oclock today in the hope that further light might be thrown on the affair will doubtless bi able to return a verdict now |