The
Collinsville Times
Friday, August 7, 1914
pg. 1
NEGRO KILLS HIMSELF IN GRAYSON COUNTY JAIL
John
Perry, an aged Negro who was brought over
from Denison a few days ago
and placed in the county jail on a charge of
lunacy and that night
attempted suicide by cutting his throat from
one ear to the other and
also making 13 other stabs on his body,
cutting his wrists, ankles, and
arms, succeeded in killing himself just
afternoon today.
He had been
taken to the hospital ward of the jail after
his wounds had been
dressed by City Physician J.A. Swafford and
Dr. Andrew Swafford and
while left momentarily alone about 12:20
this afternoon, jumped from
the second floor of the building to the
concrete floor of the jail.
He made the plunge head foremost and
literally cracked his skull,
across the forehead, in two. Death was
instantaneous.
Perry
was brought to Sherman from Denison and
placed in jial on a charge of
lunacy. He was place in one of the
cells with 3 other Negroes,
and that night locked to himself as
were the others. The
next morning when Jailer Dickey went to look
after these men he found
Perry with his throat cut from one ear to
the other and he was cut
and gashed all over the body. His
wounds looked to be fatal, but
he improved under treatment and was gaining
strength daily. He
gave as his reason for wanting to die that
Denison people were coming
over to burn him. He was reassured that no
one wanted to harm him, and
then expressed a desired to get well.
He
was removed to the second floor of the jail
where a pleasant breeze
could strike him and a Negro was put in
charge to nurse him. He
was doing nicely and this afternoon the
Negro nurse had to step down in
the basement for a moment and Perry was in
the best of spirits,
seemingly, and said he would not move until
he returned. Jailer
Dickey was standing on the lower floor of
the jail when the body shot
by him like a bullet and fell almost at his
feet. He rushed to the
prostrate form and turned Perry over, but he
only gave a gasp or 2 and
was dead.
The body was
turned over to Dan Childs, the colored
undertaker, and will be ehld pending word
from relatives.
Perry
was a powerful man physically, and since he
had attempted to kill
himself by cutting his throat, he had seemed
to be rational and the
second attempt came as a great surprise.
