November 19, 1908
HANGS HIMSELF
BY HAIR RIBBON
GORDON KYLE MEETS DEATH
IN FANTASTIC GARB.
DRESSED IN
WIFE'S CLOTHES.
HIS GIBBET THE FOOT OF AN
IRON BED.
Young Man Had Brooded Over His
Inability to Buy Diamonds
for His Wife -- She
Finds Him Dead.
GORDON KYLE.
Dressed completely in his young wife's party clothes, Gordon Kyle, 24 years of age, hanged himself in his home, at 1706 Belleview avenue, yesterday afternoon. The noose was made from two of his wife's hair ribbons and a strap from her suit case. This he tied to the foot of an iron bed and deliberately sat until he was strangled. About two hours later he was found dead by his wife, Maude Cox Kyle.
The only reason given for the act was that he loved his wife so dearly that he could not endure the thought of her being forced to live in comparative poverty. They had been married but two months, during which time the young husband lamented the fact that his wife could not have diamonds and jewels and clothes and such as some women wear. He frequently spoke of it to his wife and condemned himself bitterly.
The suicide had ransacked his wife's trunk in search of her garments. That part of her wardrobe which he did not use was strewn about the floor carelessly. His own clothes were placed by the side of the bed. Kyle had chosen a flimsy black gown in which to die, and underneath it he wore his wife's skirts, hosiery and underwear. The only part of feminine attire which he did not use were the hat and shoes.
SHE BEHELD HIM, DEAD.
The scene which met the young wife's eyes when she opened the door of the room was gruesome. First of all she saw her husband of two months lying by the foot of the bed, his body fearfully contorted, clad in feminine apparel. About him lay clothes of every description and on the pillow of the bed rested a loaded revolver.
"Gordon, Gordon," screamed the frantic wife so terrifically that those on the street heard her and ran to see what might be the matter. "Gordon, speak to me, speak to me."
When aid arrived the horrified woman was pinching her dead husband, unwilling to believe him dead. She pinched his legs, his hands, his face, but the flesh was cold and his face was fast coloring darkly. Realizing at last the awful tragedy, she moaned again and again:
"Oh, Gordon, why did you do it; why did you do it? Oh those clothes, those clothes!"
In trying to account for her husband's peculiar suicide, Mrs. Kyle said that very often he had seemed disconsolate and sad; that he had been brooding over their financial condition and his inability to give her the best and much of everything she wanted. Once he had spoken of suicide, saying that he should not stand in her way and hold her down to such poverty.
OFFERED TO GO TO WORK.
"In order to show him that I loved him and wanted to sh are his lot with him, I offered to go to work to help defray the household expenses. I would have done anything for him, but he did not want me to work. He wanted me to live like a rich lady. Anyhow I got a position at Morton's two weeks ago and then I thought as soon as we had laid by some money he would be his old cheery self again. He went without his meals during the day that he might save money for me, and he grew ill. Try as I might, I could not get him to eat regularly. How he hated to think of me working and I did not know it until today. He must have thought that I was sorry I married him. But he was wrong, wrong, wrong."
Then the little widow could speak no more. She bowed her head and her whole frame shook from sobbing. The fact that her husband had worn her clothes to face death affected her strangely. Sometimes she looked upon it as a token of his great love for her, and at other times she believed it to be a rebuke.
WAS INJURED RECENTLY.
"Maude and Gordon were so happy together," said Joe Cox, her father. "There was never a cross word, and he seemed to want to grant her every wish. About a month ago he was hurt in an accident at the stock yards, where he had been employed. Because of his injuries he was unable to attend to work and he feared for his wife's existence. The injuries were about his legs and head, and I think that he was not quite right mentally today."
His wife told of his peculiar actions yesterday morning when he told her goodbye. She said that he was unusually affectionate, going out after having kissed her goodby and later returning to caress her again.
The body was taken to Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms after the suicide had been reported to the police and coroner. Kyle had recently taken out a life insurance policy for $1,500.
Labels: Belleview avenue, clothing, marriage, Suicide, undertakers
