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Show HLLIIHIE CEREAL KIIG tljlfSElP C. W. Post, the Battle Creek Health Food Manufacturer, Commits Suicide at Santa Barbara. DEED IS ASCRIBED TO TEMPORARY INSANITY Possessor of Vast Wealth and the Implacable Foe of Union Labor Organizations. Or-ganizations. By International News Service. SANTA BARBARA, May 9. C. W. Post, multimillionaire cereal king of Battle C reek, Mich., today committed I suicide in a bedroom at his residence here today by shooting himself through the head with a rifle. Post was 60 years old. His wealth was estimated at over $100,000,000. For many years Post iiad suffered from neurasthenia, but only yesterday he was pronounced by his doctors to be in good condition. It is thought he was temporarily deranged when he-fired he-fired the fatal shot. All his life he has denounced suicides as "cowards." , Mrs. Poet left him for a while early ! today to go down town and conclude j some important real estate deals. During her absence Post called for1 his latest suit of clothes from the tailor, j dressed in a dow(n-to-the-minute style i with many fancy touches to his cos-' ,tume and asked his nurse to leave him j alone for a while, as he wished to sleep. The nurse drew down the blinds of his bedroom windows and withdrew. ' Post then went to a closet where he i had a 40-72 rifle. ! Lying on his bed, Post placed the rifle directly over his right eye. It is, thought he pulled the trigger with his ; thumb. The bullet tore off tho top j of his head, plunged straight through the bed and sped through the wall of the adjoining room. Wins Race With Death. Post had returned to Santa Barbara three weeks ago today from a race with death which he had made to Rochester, Minn. There he had undergone a critical intestinal operation opera-tion by the famous Mayo brothers. He had rushed there in a special train accompanied ac-companied by a staff of physicians. The illness from which Mr. Post suffered suf-fered was first manifested last December. De-cember. At first it was considered a recurrence of a stomach trouble from which ho formerly suffered. The trip from Santa Barbara, the winter home of Mr. Post, to the hospital hos-pital at Rochester, Minn., was made with all the speed possible. As an extra precaution against delay, the special train which carried the invalid was followed over the different roads by an extra eugine prepared to take1 up the trip should accident interfere with the train. The arrival at Rochester, March 6,1 was three and a half hours ahead of: time. A crowd at the station hampered the removal of the patient to the hospital hos-pital and he was examined by specialists special-ists in the car before being taken to the hospital where the operation was performed four days later. The run of the special from Los Angeles to Rochester whs accomplished in sixty -one hours and five jninutes, fully seven hours faster than the average schedule and making a record as the fastest run over the lines which carried the special. On his-return three weeks ago he was pronounced decidedly better.. Efforts are being made to secure a special train to take the body back to Battle Creek. Owned Valuable Property. Post and his wife had purchased one of the most palatial residences in anta Barbara, where they bad intended to pass the remainder of their lives. They had also just concluded a purchase pur-chase of tn'o city blocks here. It is said that Post owned hundreds of thou- i (Continued on Pago Three.) 1 aiLLIOil CEREAL KING KILLS SELF (Continued from Page One.) sands of acreago iu the surrounding country. Post hocanie interested in tho manufacture manu-facture of cereals as a result of his ill health iu 1SS4, when he wufferrd a serious se-rious nervous breakdown. Ke hepan to study medicine, then took up hygiene and dietetics and soon bean thn "manufacture "manu-facture of cereals whieh enabled him to amass an enormous fortune. Several yearn agu he divorced hi first wife, later inarrviuj;'- the present Mrs. Post, who was then his ntenogra-phnr. ntenogra-phnr. The two had no children. Post had been oue of the most foremost fore-most opponents of union labor in America Amer-ica for many years. Ke was known for his vast wealth from one coast to another, having held land and immense in t ere? 1 3 in. nearl v every slate in the Union. A coroner's jury whieh investigated the suicide, returned a noncommittal verdict, simply finding that he died from the effects of a. g-irnshot. wound. Dr. J. ('. Bainbridge, his physician, testified tes-tified that Post unquestionably was suffering suf-fering from temporary insanitv when he shot liimself. Tb testimony" of Miss Ella Benson, the nurse, showed that Post, had been fighting suicidal inclinations inclina-tions for sevej-a.1 weeks past. She said he had a honor of a gun of anv kind, and that at his request the firearms fire-arms were removed from the house. Had Planned His Death. Both Mrs. Post and the nurse said they did not know how Mr. Post had procured the rifle. Tts presence in the room was taken by them to indicate that he had planned his death some time iu advance. Mr. Post discussed his private financial finan-cial affairs with his wife today and at his request Mrs. Post went down town to transact some business far him. Tt was while she was away that he shot himself. Miss Benson, the nurse, had been with Mr. Post since the time of his operation opera-tion at Rochester. She says he was always al-ways rational except for occasional periods pe-riods of extreme nervousness and then he appeared only to lose control of his nerves. "My mind is perfectly clear, but T can 't control my nerves, ' ' he complained com-plained to the nurses and friends here. n the last few weeks Mr. Post has been buying real estate, adjoining his home here and laying plans to build a new residence. Coroner A. M. Ruiz carefully looked through Mr. Post 's effects, but could find nothing bearing on his intention to take his life. Mr. Post had chartered a private car to take him and his wife and their servants back to Battle Creek for the summer next Saturday. |