The Ouachita Telegraph - S. W. Saunders Shoots Himself

Date: Aug 2001
Submitted by: Lora Peppers <lpeppers@ouachita.lib.la.us>



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The Ouachita Telegraph
Saturday, February 2, 1889
Page 3, Column 2

S.W. Saunders Shoots Himself.

            Mr. S. W. Saunders, a prominent merchant of this place and one of the wealthiest men 
in this parish, shot himself with suicidal intent early yesterday morning.  The screams of his 
wife attracted several neighbors to his house, and he was found lying upon the floor with an 
ugly wound, inflicted with a pistol, in the back of his head.  He was immediately placed in bed 
and several physicians summoned to his assistance, but they could do nothing, and his wound was 
pronounced fatal.  It will be remembered that Mr. Saunders was charge with having set fire to 
his building at Five Points on the 10th of last August, which resulted in a disastrous 
conflagration, and he was to have been tried at the present term of court, a continuance having 
been granted at the last criminal term of court at the instance of his attorneys, back by 
certificates of a medial commission appointed by the court on the ground that he was unable, 
mentally and physically, to stand his trial at that time.  It is stated that he had been very 
much dejected and unsettled in his mind for the past few days, and that on the night previous 
to his shooting himself he did not sleep at all, but was constantly referring to his trouble, 
saying that he preferred death to the disgrace.  He seems also to have feared lynching, 
notwithstanding he had no cause for apprehension on that score, which leads to the belief that 
he had entirely lost his mind.

NOTE:  This is Sidney Saunders, whose famous monument is in the Old City Cemetery.

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