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Show : TOOK BIS LIFE Ij TO HIM SHAME ' Mystery of Long's l-M Death Solved. ! 'Lost His Employer's Monty $ Gambling, and Could Not I ! Face Disgrace. ; i: , ; thtiwled Into Bushes to Jie, Where I . I V He Hoped His Body Would I Never Bo Found. I i ' 1 il i VICTIM of the gpiun cloth" 'i 1 A "would seem to he a fitting I' j ' '; epitaph for O. J. Long, the 1 ' J , - telegraph lineman whose dead ' body was found in the. chaparral heslde i i the Jordan river Tuesday morning. 5 I Evidence gathered by the different . inombcrs of Sheriff Einory"w force I ' proves conclusively that Long took his i own life and leaves little doubt that he I was driven to the deed by tho losa of i I company money In gambling1. j Learning that there was some tuspl- I clon of murder, the Sheriff snt Deputy '' 'Axel Steele to Murray yesterday to , learn and report the facts. Mr. Steele l ' returned last night and declared the ' . ' -x:asc to be one of suicide. 1 '! Deputy Steele's Story, i j , ' j "Frank Reading and a little boy j t named Rrown -were hunting mushrooms ' 1 i i on the hank of the Jordan about 11 I , ' , o'clock Tuesday morning," said Mr. i' ,i j " Steele. "They saw the body of tile man 1 i in the underbrush and Immediately re- ' ported the fact to Deputy Sheriff Ira i Beckstead at Bingham Junction. Beck- stead sent his brother David after the ' Coroner, J. J. Williams, and, accom- ih v panieti oy wmjiuui xiiuuiu, m-ui '- ; derson, Reuben Peterson, William Bird, 'I Gomer Brown and the two boys, went ;' to the scene of the tragedy. Hjt, "No one was allowed to approach the HT j body until the surrounding ground hod LWt ljcen carefully examined. It was found that Long must have wriggled In through the brush like a reptile, for branches of the- trees were not broken Hl ' or disturbed, as they must have- been l ! had anyone dragged the body In, or even crawled In. It was exactly such , ' a place as a man would choose if he Hj l wanted to die and decay undiscovered. "The body lay on the right side, the Hj i bullet hole was in the left side of the head, the left arm was raised and the muzzle of the revolver had been thrust down into the ground In front of the lace. The man's hat had slipped off I and lay under his head in such a way Hfjf I t that It had caught about a quart of . Y ; , Iblood. The body way still warm when H I V'L ' found, nnd the watch In Long's pocket was running. It registered 12:45 when 1 examined. One dollar and twenty cents ,1 , in money, a gold watch and chain, and j , J "a. ring, with a blue set were the effects tWt ' , found with the coi-pse. 1 1 "In view of tlies? facts the coroner's 1 1 jury, consisting of William Hlbord, v 1 Xenl Anderson and William Alelt. Hr. 1 ; , which held an Inquest on the spot, 1 ". KJ,. reached a verdict of death by suicide." j Light on Long's Habits. LL j Mr. Steele- found" a Western Union Hi lineman at Murray, named W. B. i j Evans, who had known Long for two 1 or three years. As soon as he heard the Hl' , : name Evans described Long, his Hj i Jewelry and clothing in such a way that H' there could be no doubt as to his Hm , identity. The lineman said that Long Hr 1 'n j -was deeply In debt and vevy much ad- Vvj dieted to gambling. i The Investigation carried on In town K' I i by Deputies Cownn and Smith tended H' i 1 10 confirm Evan.s's statement. They found that Long had been in the Grcen- I light gambling-house on Commercial ; street at a late hour Monday nlghL He Hj '', , , then went to the saloon below and took 1 , ' i : a cue in a game of billiards with a fcl- i 1 low lineman. After the game he went with his friend to the Albany hotel. H' I There he told the clerk that be would not go to bed, as he expected to go to , Ogden at 3 o'clock in the morning, i , ' I James Hegney remembered, after the finding of the body, a significant con- i 1 1 . versation which he held with Long two , i ' -weeks ago. Mr. Hegney asked Long concerning a lineman whom they had j 1 both known years before. Long replied: Hl i "Oh, he embezzled some money from H,j i the company and then went down to B ' ' ' Texas and drowned himself in a river. HH :' Tliat Is just what I would do if I were 1 i i In his place." 'if Lopg received about $400 from the B.i I company Monday morning to pay off H,; i the men in his charge. None of the H' ! nien Avere paid off and Long is known j1 ' to have visited several gambling houses H - during the afternoon and evening, ! I therefore the Inference is plain. Before I ' i leaving the city Monday night he pur- H, '( chased a flask of whisky. This was j I found partially emptied beside his body. Hj How He Ended His Life. t There Is little doubt that, when he left the hotel, Long walked south on j I the Rio Grando Western track until he 1 , i j reached the place where he was after- Hh . ' ' -ward found. On the way he destroyed , ' every scrap of paper by which his Hjii I ' ' Identity might be discovered and he evl- Hj ' 1 . dently sought a spot to die where his H)j j l ' body might lie concealed until recognl- ' ; tlon would be Imponslble. , ! ' The genera foreman of construction P i l In charge of this division, of the West- H' . ; ' ru Union -will leave Omaha today for H ) !. , this city In order to Investigate Long's I i I accounts and business affairs. Hj r , Long'u friends say that he was a Hl M ' single man, hut has a widowed mother H, vil! I who now lives in Pueblo, Colo. No dls- litfin'' position 'will be made of the remains un- l J fltj I til she can be consulted. Long was a H1 ' ' I nicmbcr of the Linemen's union, but H. ' if 'as not in good standing. His de- Hj , . llnqucncy is given as further evidence- H! f insolvency, due to his hopeless pas- Hi I I slon for games of chance. |
