Wheeling Register

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.
A YOUNG OHIO MAN SHOOTS HIMSELF THROUGH THE ARM

At the St. James Hotel Yesterday Afternoon—The Wound Not at all Serious— The Cause.

About twenty minutes to four o'clock yesterday afternoon the loungers in the office of the St. James Hotel, on Water street, were startled by the sharp crack of a small revolver, coming from the apartment used as a writing room, and a second later there was the sound of some one falling to the floor. Those within hearing rushed into the room, where, about the center of the floor, a young man was found lying, while a nickel-plated revolver lay upon the carpet not far off. The police were at once telephoned for while the prostrate man, who seemed to be badly wounded, was lifted upon a sofa near by, and his clothing removed from the upper portion of his body. It was then found that the bullet had missed the body entirely, but had passed through the left arm, quite close to the shoulder, the result being a wound quite painful for the time-being, but not at all dangerous.

Chief of Police Smith and Officer Ben Dunlap arrived at the hotel a few minutes after the shooting, and took charge of the case, pending the arrival of a physician, who had been promptly sent for by Mr. Norton. A REGISTER reporter spoke to the wounded man as he lay upon the sofa, surrounded by a crowd which nearly filled the apartment, and learned from him that his name was Edward W. Beall, of Ashtabula, O., and that he had shot himself with the intention of committing suicide. He said:

"I intended this to be a go, but somehow it didn't work. I was a little shaky, and the gun didn't hold right. I tried to do it last night, at the Henrietta House, in Moundsville, but my handkerchief saved me. Family trouble was the cause. I've had a good deal of trouble."

Beall, at this point, gave up his pistol, a small .22 calibre, seven shot revolver, to Captain Smith, who put it in his pocket. In a short time Dr. Dickey arrived, and Beall was removed to his room, where his wound was dressed, and last night he was resting very quietly, having eaten a hearty supper.

There was no one in the writing room at the time Beall made the attempt upon his life, but several people were just outside the door, in the office. Mr. Hiram Aldridge, who had just left the room when the shot was fired, said to a REGISTER reporter:

"I was in the writing room, lying upon a sofa, when the young man first came in. He sat down at a writing desk, next to the Water street window, and I paid no especial attention to him, being in a sort of a doze. After a time I got up and walked to the window, behind Beall, and stood looking out at the moving ice in the river. Beall got up and went out into the office, coming back with several sheets of paper. As he sat down to the desk again, I caught a glimpse of his face, and I remember thinking he must be suffering pain, as his face was drawn and distorted. I then crossed the room and walked out into the office, and when I had about reached the front of the clerk's desk I heard the shot. I at first thought some of the boys at the news counter had fired a fire-cracker, but when I heard the fall I ran into the writing room, and found Beall lying on the floor near the stove. He had evidently got up from his chair and followed me across the room as far as the stove, when he fired the shot."

Mr. Hiram Beall, the father of the wounded man was in Moundsville yesterday afternoon, but was at once notified, and came up to this city last evening. He said to a REGISTER reporter:

"My boy had no 'family trouble' of any sort. He has been drinking for some time, and I ascribe the shooting to that fact, and to the further cause that he has been subject to fits of despondency for some time back, resulting from laughing gas given him some time ago to allay the pain of a surgical operation. He has been with me in Moundsville for two weeks past, and I have been watching him as closely as I could. He is the agent for a patent lamp, and has been doing well, but always seemed to be dissatisfied and discouraged. Yesterday he got away from me and came up to Bellaire, but I found him and took him back to Moundsville last evening, when he endeavored to shoot himself. This morning I sent him out to make a collection, when he strayed off and came up here to Wheeling. The boy is all right when he is sober, but he has given me a good deal of trouble."

The wounded man is about 22 years of age and is unmarried. He is about 5 feet 10 inches in height, of slender frame, and looks as if he were not in the best of health. The family is known to a number of people here in Wheeling.