Newton-Bartow County GaArchives Obituaries.....Bates, Col. Augustus (Gus) January 23, 1891
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Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 July 17, 2006, 9:40 am

Georgia Enterprise, January 22, 1891 & January 29, 1891
Georgia Enterprise, January 22, 1891
     Col. AUGUSTUS BATES, of Cartersville, son of Mrs. H. J. BATES, of 
Covington, while examining a pistol the other night, it fired and sent a bullet 
into his head. It is said he cannot possible recover.

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Georgia Enterprise, January 29, 1891
THE ACCIDENTAL KILLING OF COL. GUS BATES
Attempted Suicide of His Son, Dr. HORACE BATES, Particulars of the Unfortunate 
Affair.
     On Saturday night, Jan. 17, Col. AUGUSTUS BATES, of near Cartersville, 
Ga., a retired lawyer and wealthy man, accidentally shot himself in the head 
while examining a pistol. He lived until Friday last, 23rd, when he died. His 
remains were brought to Covington and laid to rest Sunday in the family section 
in the new cemetery. Rev. R. W. Bigham conducted the services at the grave. 
After the death of Col. BATES, his only child, Doctor HORACE BATES, shot 
himself in the body, with a pistol, and his recovery is said to be exceedingly 
doubtful.
     Speaking of this sad affair the Atlanta Journal tells us that Col. GUS 
BATES lived about seven miles from Cartersville, with his wife and son, Dr. 
HORACE BATES .
     Colonel BATES was shot in the head on Saturday and the only witness to the 
shooting was his son, who said his father was reloading a pistol and was 
looking down the barrel as he snapped it thinking it was not loaded. The son 
said he begged his father to stop snapping his pistol, as it might be loaded, 
but he persisted, and suddenly the weapon was discharged and the ball buried 
itself in his forehead.
     Vague suspicions were in the air among certain people, who thought that 
perhaps the pistol was not fired by Colonel BATES.
     Those suspicions seemed to prey on the mind of his son, Doctor HORACE 
BATES, a very sensitive young man, and he seemed all broken up when the 
Cartersville Courant stated that when Col. BATES heard that it had been 
published that he shot himself he rose up and exclaimed, “It’s a lie.”
     Friday morning, after the death of his father, Dr. BATES went out and 
arranged a pistol so that its muzzle pointed to his heart and to the trigger he 
tied a string. He pulled the string and the pistol ball was buried in his body, 
but it missed his heart, and at last accounts he was in an exceedingly critical 
condition.
     Colonel BATES was a retired lawyer, who lived on his farm near 
Cartersville. To those who knew him well it was not surprising to hear that he 
had accidentally shot himself, for he was always a very eccentric man, and was 
very careless with weapons.
     He invariably carried two pistols and a bowie knife on his person when he 
went about as he feared some one would attack him.
     He owned a large number of cattle and hogs and at all times of the night 
he would get out of bed and go prowling around the premises to see if any 
thieves were about.
     It was very natural for his friends to believe that the shooting was 
accidental, and it was very natural in view of the surrounding circumstances to 
hear that his son had suicided.
     He was always a home man, although very sensitive, and when his father’s 
death occurred and he heard the suspicious whispers his grief at the first and 
his humiliations at the second so preyed upon his mind that he determined to 
end it all in death.
     Colonel BATES was a very high tempered man and so was his son, which 
caused many to give credence to the other theory.



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