Cherokee County GaArchives News.....Attempted Suicide of Rev. John R. Speck August 21, 1885 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meredith Clapper http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002801 September 6, 2018, 11:25 pm The Cherokee Advance 21 Aug 1885 P 3 August 21, 1885 Last Thursday morning, August 14th, Rev. Jno. R. Speck, pastor in charge of the Methodist churches at Shiloh and Hickory Flat, in this county, attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a pocket knife and then jumping into Little River near his home at Trickum in this county. Fortunately he did not cut very deep, and the river is not very deep where he jumped in nor very swift, and he was rescued before he had succeeded in ending his life. He was insane at the time. By some it is claimed that the unsettled condition of his mind is due to the fact that he has studied very hard this year in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and that he acted quite imprudently in working a small piece of ground during the hottest part of the day which caused brain fever, and at times made him delirious and wild. Others say that he worried himself over the question of "Holiness or Sanctification" until his mind became impaired, and he knew not what he was doing. A short while before he attempted suicide he told some one that he "tried to do right and to live right but if he could not be as holy as others, then his life was a failure." At different times he had expressed himself opposed to "holiness" and urged the ministers not to preach it, yet he appeared much troubled over it and talked about it a great deal, and it is the general opinion of those about Woodstock, with whom we talked, that he was trying to be holy or sanctified. The cause of his insanity may have been something other than the above reasons. He is a recent graduate of Emory College, and while there, it is said, was a room mate and quite an intimate friend of Rev. M. D. Turner, who, it will be remembered, committed suicide at Laurenceville (sic) a few weeks since on account of the "holiness" question. It is thought by many that this was a source of great grief and trouble to him and caused him to study more about the question than he otherwise would have done. As stated, he is a graduate of Emory College, a young man of about 33 years of age, of promising future, and brilliant career as a man and preacher. He was married in May, 1884, to Miss Carrie, daughter of Mr. Phillip J. Evans, and has one child. We sympathize with him, his family and friends, and rejoice that he was not seriously nor fatally cut, and that he is improving so fast. We trust that he may soon recover. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/cherokee/newspapers/attempte3324nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 3.1 Kb