James Wolfe Clemens, - Submitted for the USGenWeb Archives by Billie Grunden 11/1/06

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James Wolfe Clemens, - Madison Parish, Louisiana 
From Wheeling, WV News Register, September 5, 1895
(Submitter's note: James Wolfe Clemens was a resident of Madison Parish, LA, and was 
currently serving the Parish as Clerk at the time of his death. He had been instrumental in 
fighting through the courts for the return of land inherited by his half sisters, Rachel Lee 
Groves Gilpin and Catherine Groves McDonald. Although successful, the arduous process and 
the fact that he could not receive a decent price for the land when an attempt was made to 
auction the property in Madison Parish in 1893 may have contributed to his depression. He 
is buried in the Silver Cross Cemetery in Tallulah… Billie Grunden)  
  
Death of Mr. J. W. Clemens 
There never occurred an event in any community which fell with such startling surprise as 
the suicide of the subject of this notice.
 
It had been remarked that for several days he was acting queerly and abstractedly, but none 
anticipated such a tragedy. Last Tuesday he was particularly gloomy and despondent. Many 
attributed it to a malarial condition, with which he was troubled and sought to cheer it up. 
Everything he did during that day, it can now be seen, pointed towards his untimely "taking 
off."
He arranged his affairs, left instructions as to his business, and prepared with the greatest 
method and patience for the approaching end.
There were only two persons in the office at the time, Mr. Clemens and his deputy, Mr. Jos. 
Slack. About four o'clock in the evening he wrote on the typewriter, with the greatest care, 
the letter to his brother in Yazoo City, Miss., and enclosed it in an envelope directed to 
his kinsman, W. H. Harvey, Esq. of this parish. It was about 4:30 when he had completed his 
letter and with it rose and advanced to the tall desk in the centre of the office. At this 
time the deputy was seated at a table writing in one of the large record books. Clemens 
spoke to him, inquiring if Mr. Harvey had left town. Being answered in the affirmative, and 
while the deputy's face was averted, he drew a 38 calibre Colt from his pocket, and evidently 
resting his right arm upon the desk, while standing against it, sent the ball crashing from 
the right side entirely through his chest, passing directly through his heart. He fell with 
the pistol in his hand, and in less than a minute was pulseless. The coroner arrived and gave 
a certificate of suicide, which was amply sustained by the surroundings and the letter he 
last wrote.
 
Mr. Sherrard Clemens, brother of the deceased, reached here Thursday, and the body was that 
evening interred in the Tallulah cemetery, followed to his last resting place by his many 
friends.
 
Mr. Clemens was not exceeding 32 years of age. He was a gentleman of indomitable energy, and 
by argidious application had mastered stenography and was par excellence one of the most 
accomplished court officers in the State, thoroughly posted in every detail of his office, 
and keeping his records and papers in the best clerical and methodic style.
 
Mr. Clemens was the son of the late Hon. Sherrard Clemens, an attorney of considerable 
ability, and who at the time of his marriage was a member of Congress from Wheeling district 
in Virginia, now West Virginia. The Hon. Sherrard Clemens was married in 1859 to Mrs. Bette 
Dawson-Groves, the daughter of the late Henry Dawson and a niece of the late F. Marion 
Dawson. Mrs. Clemens survives her son, now living in Yazoo City, Miss.
 
Mr. Clemens was an applicant for re-election to the office of clerk, which he filled so 
creditably, and to which, no doubt, he would have been re-elected. The excitement of 
politics, his over-worked and malarial condition preyed so upon his mind is to bring about 
this suicide mania, which developed into a disease. Peace to his ashes....
 
(Cheryl McCombs, transcriber)