The New Hampshire Gazette

SUICIDE! On Saturday the 19th inst. was found, in Tunbridge, the body of Pierce Philips, who, it is supposed, put a period to his life, by hanging himself, when he was found, he was almost entirely covered with snow, and frozen very hard. From these circumstances, together with his having been missing since the Tuesday preceding, it is probable that he perpetrated the deed on that day, and consequently must have lain in that situation four days. He had taken all his clothes off except his trowsers which hung about his heels. He committed the act, by means of his handkerchief and garters, which were tied together—the former fastened to a small tree which had previously been bent over by the snow, the latter about his neck. The tree was bent so near the ground, that a man could not stand erect under it, and a large log lay so near that he is supposed to have sat upon it while expiring; the garter was broken, and he lay partly on the ground, while one hand near his breast and the other extended upwards. A short time before, he attempted suicide, by freezing himself. He had been in Tunbridge but two or three weeks, and said he came from Freetown, in Massachusetts.—It was with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to eat any kind of food; and alleged as reason, that he ought not to eat any thing, and that he was not fit to live. He gave the following pitiful account of himself which, if true, is doubtless the cause of his shocking end. His neighbor and he were engaged in a law-suit, in which the neighbor was likely to be beat. To prevent this, he obliged his son to swear falsely in the action, and consequently obtained his cause. But, struck with a sense of this vile transaction, he went to the neighbor and settled with him to his satisfaction. Shortly afterwards, his son died! It is said, that Philips talked rationally on the subject, but looked and acted like a man who had given himself up to despair, in consequence of the enormity of his crime. He was between 40 and 50 years of age.
Randolph Paper, Jan 27.