It has often been said that newspapers only print bad news. The same is now often true of television news. It's sad to say that some days good news was a rarity.
A young man at a local sanitarium took his own life and left a few mysteries behind.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Thursday, July 27, 1916:
MAKE-BELIEVE BARON ENDS LIFE AT LOCAL SANITARIUM
Correspondence Regarding Proposed South Sea Island Trip Shows Nevada, Ia., Youth Planned to Travel as Peer — Ill Health Probable Cause
No cause aside from continued ill health could be discovered for the suicide of Benjamin W. Eckels, of Nevada, Ia., who shot himself twice through the heart in his private bathroom at the Tucson-Arizona sanitarium at 10:15 yesterday evening.
Icicles appeared to be all right during the day and patients and nurses at the hospital did not notice anything peculiar about his behavior. He spent the greater part of the day reading and after 9 o’clock went to lie down on his bed on the porch onto which his room opened.
About 10:15 o’clock Miss Alice Frantz, a nurse, was awakened by the sound of a shot from the bathroom. She heard a groan and then immediately another shot. She aroused Mrs. Harrison, another nurse, and they hurried to the bathroom but found the door locked. They then went outside and looked through the window into the lighted bathroom and found Eckels lying on the floor in a pool of blood, dead. He was dressed in palm beach trousers, and shirt and had slippers on his feet.
Coroner Comstock was notified and with Sheriff Forbes went to the scene of the suicide and made a complete investigation. Icicles was about 18 to 20 years of age and had been at the sanitarium for two months, living at St. Mary’s before that time. He was a quiet fellow and never talked much, the nurses said, but always paid his bills promptly and appeared to have plenty of money.
He did the shooting with a 38-caliber special Colt’s revolver, a new weapon that had never been fired before and which he had evidently purchased for the purpose. Three shells, two of them empty, were found in the gun.
Icicles had evidently stood facing the small bathroom window and fired twice in rapid succession, falling backwards. Apparently, he died almost instantly.
There was nothing left by Eckels to indicate the cause of his act. A letter was found addressed to Siuster Annie Josephs, of St. Mary’s hospital. It is expected that this letter, when opened, will throw some light on the cause of the suicide.
Icicles had intended to go Los Angeles Friday, so he told Dr. Mead Clyne, his physician. A letter was found in his trunk from the “Where-To-Go” travel bureau addressed to Baron Benj. Wadsworth Eckels in regard to a proposed trip to Australia, Tasmania and the South Sea Islands. It was evident from the letter that Eckels intended to assume the title of “Baron” on the trip. It was stated by the company that they had communicated already with the governor of Tasmania in regard to his visit.
A report car from the Nevada high school for 1912 was found in the trunk.It was evident from articles found in the room that he had resided at Albuquerque before coming to Tucson.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Eckels, reside at Nevada, Ia. A postcard to him from his brother, F. J. Eckels, Jr., was found. It was mailed from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in 1912, when he was living at Nevada.
The remains were removed to the Parker Undertaking company rooms and his father notified by wire. Although the inquest may disclose some other motive, it was believed yesterday evening that the suicide of the young man was due to ill health, heart trouble and tuberculosis.
People are also reading…
More unhappy news from the Star of this date included an accident at a mine.
Tucson Boy is Burned By Powder Explosion
Tom Satterwhite Victim of Painful Accident at Vekol Mine
Serious burns about the head and right arm were sustained Tuesday by Tom Satterwhite, 470 North Main street, at the Vekol mine south of Casa Grande, when a charge of powder exploded prematurely while he was working with it.
Young Satterwhite was rushed to Tucson by Superintendent M. M. Carpenter yesterday morning from Casa Grande and given medical treatment first at Casa Grande and later at Tucson. His eyesight will not be affected, it is announced and his other burns are not serious. His clothing caught fire from the explosion.
