Washoe County NV Archives Obituaries.....Gutke, Sylvenus A. February 26 1924
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Kathleen Grace kgrace@vbe.com June 1, 2004, 9:31 am

Reno Evening Gazette
Pharmacist Ends Life with Poison

    The body of Sylvenus A. Gutke, a pharmacist, was found this morning in the 

furnace room in the basement of a Virginia street drug store where he was 

employed.  Gutke, who was about thirty years old, had swallowed a poison.  His 

hand still clutched the glass from which he drained the fatal potion and in a 

a mixing glass near by was sufficient to have kileld [sic] several others.

    Gutke leaves a wife and three small children, the youngest of whom is an 

infant in arms, at their home at the corner of Fifth and Nevada streets.  His 

untimely end was a distinct shock not only to his family but to his employers 

and friends who spoke in the highest terms of his character.

    Although documents found in his possession indicated that he may have 

worried over his financial affairs, he did not betray the slightest suspicion 

of despondency, according to his employers and he was apparently in good 

spirits when last seen by them early last evening.

  It was the custom of Gutke to open the store in the mornings.  When his 

employer arrived at the usual hour this morning, the door to the establishment 

was unlocked, but he noticed Gutke's bicycle standing by the curb and he 

believed the young man had gone out on an errand.  A few minutes later he went 

down in the basement to stir up the fire and found Gutke's body reclining over 

a box.  The police and coroner were immediately notified.

   Gutke came to Reno about two years ago after selling his interest in a drug 

store in Shelley, Idaho, where his parents and other intimate relatives are 

said to survive him.  A brother, according to acquaintances here, is a 

missionary in the Mormon Church.

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