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Show SUiCfOE THEORY 1 MIHOVICED 1 Young Scinsoth, Telephone Mes- . sengcr Boy, Bought Car- JS nolic Acid. MYSTIFYING THINGS CONNECTED WITH CASE I j Lad Was In Poor Health and o f j ij I tNcrvous Temperament; Sad " w. ! . Christmas 'Day. i New elements have come to light In y the case of Charles " Selnsoth, , the 16- ; year-old" me'sscngcr boy of tho . Rocky j h Mountain' Bell Telephone- company, who j Hi disappeared Wednesday afternoon and j wn3 found dead Thursday morning, Indi- j y eating the possibility that 'death was self- 5 Inflicted, as It has been learned that wj the' boy purchased, an ounce of carbolic 1 V, acid on Wednesday evening between 6$0 j. and 7 o'clock. si j. On the poison register of tho Leaver ; Drug company, at .176-273 West Soiith j';' Temple street, appears the name of f v Charles Solnsoth, and tho book shows that a purchase of an ounce of carbolic sly' acid was made, to be used for "antlsep- f Iji! tic purposes." The police have a copy ifL of - the signature and will take It to- tho f J.-!', telephone company offices Monday and ; ,- compare It with the known signature of f-( the dead boy, when he signed slips for ; f ! his pay. ; ,Y Regardless of tho fact-that the lad pur- f 1 chased, the carbolic acid, there are many ', problems yet to bo solved. i Tn tho autopsy over the body Thursday . 'J evening In the O'Dohnell undertaking I parlors the doctors found no Indication . that tho lad took carbolic acid or any other polrion which would cause death. V Dr. Cald'erwood. under whose direction the autopsy, was. performed, ctated Frl- j Wi day evening to a Tribune roporter that )",! there was not tho least Indication in tha f Internal organs that carbolic acid had been taken. Dr. Calderwood did eay. 5 !,t however, that It might be possible for ,. r1-;, carbolic acid to be diluted so that It would not bum the mouth or throat when 1 ' . taken, or causa any change In the ap- j, pearance of the Internal organs, but af- t'-f feet the heart and cause death. nijl Was In Poor Health. H Charles SolnFOth was known to. be. 01 IT a very nervous temperament,- was in poor heal tli, and possibly, had a weak - heart If this1 fact Is truo. it is possl- -fH- ble that the boy, after purchasing tho ; i acid, diluted It tn such an extent that it did not burn his mouth or affect the p. Internal .organs, yet was strong enough " to affect his heart action. j ) ; There Is another matter which also will 1 - . prove a puzzler. The parents state that ' i tha boy had-but 10 cents when-he"'Ieft j , homo Wednesday morning-, Five cents 1. :. - of that amount ho paid for his carfare I j. to the city In the morning. Where did " he got the mqney tp pay for the carbolic j','. acid. If he had but 10 cents when ho left home? ' '1 M. S. Leaver, manager of the Leaver J.' Drug company, In talking about the af- ' . 5 fair Friday evening, said: "My brother. ! ' Eurl Leaver, sold tho boy who -signed t j; hla name Charles Selnsoth the carbolic v I acid. My brother says the lad was about f 16 .years old and tallies well with' the ; '' description of the dead lad. The young- -.' stcr came to tho store' and said he wanted 'j; ; to buy some carbolic acid. My brother : asked htm what ho wanted It for. Th J" answer was that his father had told him to get It Tho boy was told that ha , " could not have It unless he told for' what purpose It was wanted. The answer was , ,; that his father wqnted It to uso as a wash. Tho boy wa3 given tho carbolic . acid nnd started to leave tho storo. My .', brother called him back and told. him h !' - would have to sign a book for It. Tha ' ! : Ind did not hesitate In doing so. From f fa all appearances, the boy was not ner- , r?" vous, and acted calmly. The salo was mndo between C:30 and 7 o'clock Wodnes- fr dny evening. Wo thought nothing moro ' about tho matter until we read in tha papers about Charles Selnsoth being; . j found dead Thursday morning. ki "We then wont lo tho poison- reglstei" ' ' and saw the name there. - We called in 1 1 a dotectlvo and he took a copy of tho IP signature, and Is to have It compared t' with signatures of the boy at tho tele- fh' phone office, whero he worked." : . So3king a Motive. -'J. What would cause the boy to commit Hi sulcldo Is still another question that -la jF..' mystifying. Officials of the telephona fht company agree with the following theory: ;!; The lad, who was very conscientious, after aft-er losing trade of the colored man. with M,' whom he wont to -tho Pullman car offlci glfc , to get the price of the telephone call, felt ilfv ashamed to return to his employers and JV. ! report that he did not get the pay. Being i , a lad of nervous temperament It worked ' on his feelings until ho concluded tc end ' .' It all by taking poison. , l, , Although the parents still deny that tho lad was subject to eplleptlc fits. It haa , been stated' to tho police that ha did I have one while working at tho Keith- 1 .. O'Brien store. Tho boy. although bright. ,i' had some affliction which affocted his ut powor of speech, and this caused him to iv, bo very nervous ut times. The organs of the boy's body, which aro t bo sent to the state chemist for exam- IS" . Ination. will reveal whether or not carbolic. : acid was taken, and the truo facts will ; Uj not be known until this examination Li 1,; made. , , '. j Although the boy. when he purchased . the carbolic acid, said It was for his fath- er, he no doubt misled the druggist Hin father.' William Selnsothi came from Lynn k n Junction, where ho was working, on Tues- . ; ; day, and did not see the boy but a littlu j', while before going to bed on Tuesday - night On Wednesday morning the lad ; ,1. loft for hla work before his father was ur-. and they had no talk about getting any J!- carbolic acid. I'll . On Wednesday morning Charlie dressed ru, and ato his breakfast and told his mothop a. ' : he would get some coal for hor. bhe said there was no need of his doing so, as lc JJ eT was not r.tormlng and she could get 1 1 ' herself. Nevertheless the boy did brlnp f In soruo coal for his mother, who In thn 1 ; meantime had gone upstairp. The boy I said goodbye to his sister. Mrs. Maloyioi u ChristmOH with the family, and took hla l( watch and ton cents, which had boon left j. . on the kitchen table for him, and went t to work. l!" M Kept Watch on Him. . j , The night before the boy had given hla mother a fifty-cent piece. Although it la not known that tho boy ever threatened ff ... 1 to commit suicide, It Is known that when I he did not arrive home on time, which he ; most always did, his parents worried ; about him. and also that when in IiIb nervous spells, which are accounted for u 1 bv his poor health and affliction of speech,. , : his family watched him prottly closely. . t.vji When the news of the boy s disappear- ; nnco first becamo known It was roported. that some ono had tclpnoned tho family. - , saving that, the boy had been found In i' Og'den with a colored man and would re- ; turn homo soon. j, ' , The facts of this report aro that Mrs. Selnsoth, after hearing of the disappear- j ,v ance of her boy, went lo tho home of -a j ' J 1 ll-TWJKT." ' ' I-SMI i neighbor, Mrs. H. O. Bourne, llvln? at 312 Concord street, and passed the. night thoro waiting for reports of tho search. TIr -husband and William Solnaoth. brother of tho dead boy, woro dut nil : nlfrht looking for tho missing lad. About r:30 o'clock Thursday morning they oamo home, and In order to qulol Mrs. Selnsoth, Seln-soth, told her that tho boy had beeu found. This quieted tho woman, and sho went homo fully cxpoctlngr that In, a fow minutes Charlie would be back homo, Tt was but a few hours later when airs. Botirno received a telephone message from Undertaker O'Donncll asking her to go to tho Selnsoth homo, which Is at ;ll Concord street, and tell them that the i boy had been found dead and hla body was In tho O'Dotmell morgue. ( , Although It was a dleagrecablo task to I perform, Mrs. Bourno wont directly to A rho Selnsoth home and told tho mother a the terrible news. Tt wan not until lato I Thursday nlght'thal tho mother was abln I to shed "tears ovor tho sad nffalr, simply I wringing her hands and ucroamlng as I though crazed. Neighbors fay If sho had I not shed tears sho would havo lost her I mind entirely, and as It Is now sho la not I ablo to lalk connectedly. A Vicious Attack. A, morning paper made a vicious attack on the- police for not putting forth mora nfforts to find .tho missing lad, alleging that tho disappearance was kept a aecrat and hardly an attempt modo to learn tho missing bo-'s whereabouts. This Is abso-I abso-I 'utelv untrue. Lieutenant Richard Shan- ion iiad detectives, four In number, working work-ing on tho case and tracing tip tho- colored, col-ored, man. who was with the -boy on the dav of his disappearance. Although not all" tho officers know about the boy's disappearance, dis-appearance, every effort regarding tho clrcurnstances of tho case was made to locate young Selnsoth- The pollco havo I numerous reports about missing boyp. and almost Invariably they appear Urn next "morning. Thre was nothing very ruspicious over the disappearance ot 'oung Selnsoth, but notwlthstsanding this tact tho pollco did make an effort to locate lo-cate him, and officials of the telephone ompany arfi loud In their praise of the I manner In which tho pollco took up the ase. Tho paper , that published the "roast" on tho police had no grounds for doing so. Sad Indeed was the homo of tho Seln-KOths Seln-KOths Christmas day. Plans had been mado for a family gathering, which hac not been had for a number of years. Mrs. Maloy and William Selnsoth. Jr., son and daughter, had come from Mllford to pass a few days with their paronts, and Albert, who lived at homo with Charilo and Mrs. Maurice Scarlet, who also lives In tills city, were all looking forward to a good time Christmas "day. |