Witcher plot

Below is the transcription of an article found in the May 14, 1902, edition of the Keowee Courier newspaper, reporting the death of Mr. W. T. Witcher on the night of May 8 at a hotel in Greenwood, South Carolina.


SUICIDE AT GREENWOOD ---

Greenwood, May 9.

W. T. Witcher, a travelling man, committed suicide here in the Oregon Hotel last night, about half past 9 o'clock. It was one of the most deliberate acts of its kind on record. He came in from Donald's on the night passenger train, went to the hotel and asked for a room apart from anyone else, stating to Mr. Wilson, the night clerk, that he was sick. He was assigned to room No. 45, on the west side of the hotel. Not long after he had entered the room, a pistol shot was heard. A number of people were in the hotel lobby and on the verandas, but no one heeded the shot, supposing that it was in the rear of the hotel. The occupant of the room underneath heard something fall overhead and called for some one. In about three or four minutes there was a second shot and again a heavy thud. Charles McLendon, a travelling man, and Frank R. Logan, of Greenwood, who were in the hotel together, were the first to reach the room. Finding the door locked and the room in darkness, they climbed up to the transom, struck a match and saw what had been done. Witcher was lying prone on the floor, in front of the hearth, blood flowing from his head. The door was forced open and it was found that he had shot himself twice. The first bullet striking him back of the right ear had glanced around the base of the skull, making a flesh wound. The shock, however, had knocked him down. He got up, made his way to the washstand, put some poison in a glass and drank it. The prints of his bloody fingers were clearly shown on the wall where he supported himself while standing there and also on the glass where he grasped it. The tablets, too, were not entirely dissolved, and were still in the bottom of the glass. He then fired the second and last shot, the bullet entering just in front of the right temple.
The clothing in which he wished to be buried was found lying on the bed. He has prepared clean linen, and had even put his cuff links into clean cuffs.

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This article can be found online at:
Library of Congress - Chronicling America: Keowee Courier. (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, May 14, 1902, Image 2 -- Image provided by University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC --
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026912/1902-05-14/ed-1/seq-2/