Show LIVED LONG ENOUGH A X t S S Wlitf Joseph Bagley S Thought Yesterday Morning i S 1 WHEN HE HANGED HIMSELF The Inquiry Into thS Suicide of an Old Man in tho Eleventh HWnrd f I The day after Christmas tne community com-munity in the neighborhood of Tenth East and Third South streets was thrown into a feverish excitement early in the morning by a rumor to the effect that an aged resident of that vicinity had committed suicide by hanging himself As the report was immediately confirmed con-firmed the necessary steps toward finding find-ing the cause for the rash act were taken and Coroner Taylor was notified who summoned a jury and appointed 4 oclock in the afternoon as the time for holding therinquiry S In the meantine Sexton Taylor went down had the body properly cared for and laid dufc and when a reporter of THE HERALD arrived at the house the corpse was laid on a lounge covered iced and otherwifceprepare4 for dressing I and burial tAt S t-At the time set the Coroner the jury anda number of neighbors assembled in theiront room of the deceaseds residence resi-dence when the examination of witnesses wit-nesses was begun MRS MARIA SHAW housekeeper for the dead old man was first examined She recognized the body as that of Joseph Bagley did not know his exact age but supposed was about 70 he was originally from Nottinghamshire England had no family here except a brother and grandchildren who were In the country deceased had been sick for about four weeks and she thought his ailment affected his mind Witness testified tes-tified that at 700 a m on Friday she went to the oormd knocked but could gain no admittance whereupon she f summoned some of the neighbors who when they came took out a pane of glass by which means she opened a window and climbed in and unlocked the door Mrs Henderson a neighbo went into a rear room saw the body hanging when Mr Braby was summoned sum-moned The deceaseds wife died about eight months ago he left no persona effects of value the only dollar he had before he committed the rash act he gave to witness S EDWARD BRADY testified that Mrs r Henderson went to him before 8 oclock yesterday morning telling him there was something wrong about the place he went up and in the back room saw tliedeceased hanging there asked why he was hanging took knife and cut the rope lowered Jiimgtmtlyj his feet wexe nearly touching the floor the body was fuite warm after cutting him down he left him his face appeared natural he hung with his face to northwest a common slipknot in a small rope formed the noose his neck did not appear ap-pear to be broken made no effort to bring him to but put his face down to see if there were any signs of life I could discover none he had been told by Mrs Shaw that deceased had of late been unwell and conducted himself I strangely during the last few days had heard of no troable with any one only heard there had been some little trouble about property possession but knew nothing definitely understood it belonged be-longed to his dead wife this was only hearsay however Fear us Lester Les-ter was his stepson j didnt think the body had been hanging very long as it was quite warm saw no marks of violence on the body the only mark was that made by the rope on lila neck j the beds in the house were undisturbed hisj hat was on a table nobody remained in the house with deceased that night his housekeeper Mrs Shaw having left him about 950 oclock Christmas night to stay with a neighbor as she did not like to stop with deceased on account of his recent strange conduct Witness had pot seen deceased for about three weeks before he saw him a corpse MRS MARY ANN HENDERSON said the evidence submitted was substantially correct and that she had nothing further to offer only that she called into in-to see Mr Bagley on Christmas day and found him low spirited and conducting con-ducting himself in a way which convinced con-vinced her thab lIe was demented As she was about to leaye he asked her Mrs Henderson do you think Im ever going to get better She told him she thought he would and tried to cheer him up It was her opinion that he suicided but could not explain why she entertained this opinion She said the keys of the locked doors were all on the inside and the windows all fastened She had heard deceaseds wifes brother speak of the ownership ofthe lot on which deceased lived but nothing further several months ago had never heard deceased speak of it deceased was about 5 feet 9inches in height and of light complexion com-plexion The old man had a species of St Vitus dance on Christmas day when witness saw him and tried to cheer him his actions led her to believe his mind was affected JABEZ DANGERFIELD said he had known deceased about eighteen years he lived on the north side of the same block about that length of time He knew of nothing particularly that woula lead to suicide deceaseds mind appeared ap-peared to be somewhat affected but no farther than had been stated in evidence evi-dence knew nothing definite about the property question thought the property proper-ty belonged to deceaseds stepson Fear gus Lester Witness never thoroughly understood the status of the property matter never heard Bagley say that he owned it Had heard that his wife before be-fore her death willed the prop rty to a daughter In England The old man had remarked to him once that his life was full of trouble Mr Dangerfield had heard the deceaseds mind was troubled of late that he like all who are demented was constantly in fear of something Advised deceased to consult con-sult a physician MR BRABY thought it was impossible for anyone to get in the house and out again and leave all as found by the neighbors FEARGUS LESTER had heard nothing from deceased whom he called father that indicated that he would suicide he knew he was sick and had repeatedly invited in-vited him to his place on Cottonwood to live deceased had a brother near Union Fort and some grandchildren Witness had heard the old man speak Qt the will which was being probated Witness was the original owner of the property and deeded it to his mother withthe intention that at her de th she should deed it back to him Deceased had visited him in June in a disturbed frame of mind and told him his mother had willed the property to her daughter in England Witness supplied deceased with 1 < Cans of subsistence and thought the old man never wanted for any thing j they were always on good terms His father had often complained to him of havingchills and fever f After hearing the foregoing testimony the jurors Hyrum J smith George fipeirs and George H Pope consulted for aifew minutes when they returned following verdict h That deceased came to his death from strangulation caused by his own hands while temporarily insane in the northeast room of house numbered 971 Third SOuth street between the hours of lOp m of December 25th and 7 a m of December 26th 1884 |