| Show I TRAGIC SHOOTING CASE I Daniel Alexander Killed Himself I Him-self With a Revolver SUPPOSEDLY AN ACCIDENT Went Alone to His Room Saylng He Would Clean the Weapon After Hearing Shot nnd Fall His Family Discovered Him Lying Dead in a Pool of BloodBullet Passed Entirely En-tirely Through the Head Twenty Seven Years a Resident of Utah and Loft a Family Daniel Alexander a wellknown bus1 > mesa man and an oldtime resident oJ the city shot and killed himself at 5 oclock yesterday afternoon with a revolver re-volver The shooting thought to have been entirely the result Can accident ac-cident and although it was at first IDO leved by the authorities that some oC the circumstances pointed to suicides yet an Investigation failed to give color to that theory The shooting occurred at the Alexander home at 233 West First South street The bullet from a 45caliber Colts revolver which the unfortunate man Is supposed to havo boon cleaning at the time plunged through his head entering just above the left eyeball and emerging from tho biclcor the head Death was Instan fancous NO WITNESSES There was no eyewitnesses to the accident Mr Alexander had retlicd to his bedroom on the second floor of his home and had been there about ten minutes wfien the report of a revolver startled the household Mrs Alexander Alexan-der and Harry Symonds who was vls l tlng at the house rushed the room to find the door open exposing horrible hor-rible spectacle Alexander lay motion less on tho floor his head in a pool of blood and his face covered with gore A hurried examination showed that he was dead A messenger was sent to secure a physician and notify tho police po-lice LOOKING DOWN BARREL It was evident that the muzzle of tho revolver had been held at a distance of but a few Inches from his head when the shot was fired From all appearances appear-ances he had been looking dOn the barrel when the hammer fell There was a rusty knife and a w dor paper Oriu table In the room showing that he had intended cleaning the weapon examination of the weapon showed further that It was extremely dirty There was but one cartridge In tho gun and another lay on the floor It Is thought that the victim did not believe be-lieve The revolver to be loaded It la known that her was extremely nearsighted near-sighted Ilndlt was for hat I reason It Is argued that he held the muzzle of the revolver ao close to his eyes while making the fatal examination of Its condition BOUGHT AMMUNITION FRIDAY It was learned lost evening that Mr cartridges for the Alexander bolTght weapon Friday afternoon of the Western Arms and Sporting Goods company ern compa-ny Ho entered that place bearing his In presented It revolver wrapped paper for cartridges to a clerk with a request and explained that he did not know cartridges the caliber He bought enough ridges to fill the six chambers oC the gun FAMILY REUNION Mrs Alexander and the children of the dead man were nearly prostrated r with grief It t was the birthday oC Mrs Alexander and there had been a quiet family icunion during tho afternoon We were having such a pleasant time and Mr Alexander and myself to spend the war c about to leave home evening with friends said the brier I atrlcken wife between outbursts of sobbIng I know it was an accident she continued because ho wpuldn t be so cowardly as to 1 kill himself and then he didnt have any reason In the world for wishing to die PREPARING FOR TRAMPS When he left tho parlor for his room he was in the very best of spirits spir-its I Mrs Alexander further stated and he had not the slightest forewarning fore-warning of tho horrible thing that was to follow He said he was going to dress himself for the evening and Incidentally In-cidentally referred to the fact that he El I I 1 w 411 I t It L1 J 1 1 c I CW Daniel Alexander Intended cleaning the old revolver There had been some tramps hanging about neighborhood for three or four days past and It was for this reason rea-son that he wished clean tho gun up in the event there should be an attempt at-tempt to break Into the house As he stepped out the door he asked me to dress myself for the evening at once as he would be ready to leave the house within a few minutes We heard no sound after that until the awful plgtol shot deafened us and after the shot came a sickening thud on the ilOorb As she reached this point of her story ot the tragedy Mrs Alexander Alex-ander broke down completely and declared de-clared that she would kill herself rather than live after the death of her husband She was taken care of by neighbors who offered words of comfort com-fort and labored to induce her to courageously cour-ageously accept the Inevitable Alter the body had been viewed by Acting Coroner Sommer II was removed re-moved to Eva undertaking parlors It was n decided whether or not an Inquest will be held BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Mr Alexander has been a resident of Utah for tho past twentyseven years coming here from Nevada MoRe Mo-Re resided for a number of years at Ogden where ho held the position of United States Commissioner Upon coming to Salt Lake he conducted a large general store on Main street During the hard times of 1S03 he failed and made an assignment to his soninlaw B Stcinman Jr The creditors cred-itors objected to Stelnman as assIgnee and had a receiver appointed Before the matter was closed up Alexander had lost every dollar ho possessed Including In-cluding a ground lease on the Alexander Alexan-der building on South Main street More recently he has been the manager mana-ger of the Bee Hive shocstore on Main street He was In his 67th year and leaves a wife and seven children to mourn his loss Arrangements fpr the fu nertl1have l not yet been made |
