OBIT: Louis WIRTZ, 1900, Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, PA

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Freight Engineer Commits Suicide.

Special to the Tribune.
  HUNTINGDON, Pa., January 5. - Louis Wirtz, a freight engineer in the 
employ of the Huntingdon and Broad Top railroad, committed suicide last 
night in an open field not far from his home in South Huntingdon.  The 
man's peculiar actions of the past made the family somewhat 
apprehensive, and an effort was made to keep a watch on him after he 
left home at 6 o'clock last evening.  Four or five times in years past 
he attempted suicide, on each occasion selecting the grave of his 
daughter to end his misery.  He was the victim of periodic despondency, 
and the desire to end his life seemed especially to seize him after 
indulgence in liquor.
  Before daybreak this morning Jacob Miller, a young resident of West 
Huntingdon, was on his way to his post of duty in South Huntingdon, 
when he came across the lifeless body of Wirtz lying in the snow.  At 
the dead man's feet lay a big revolver, and an ugly bullet hole in the 
forehead told the tale.  Coroner Schum and a jury held an inquest and 
decided that Wirtz died by his own hands.  He was a man aged between 45 
and 50 years and had lived in this neighborhood the greater part of his 
life.  He is survived by a wife and eight children.

Morning Tribune, Saturday, January 6, 1900