C. V. Eskridge died at 5:20 a.m. Sunday at his home in Emporia, Kan. He was 69 years of age and was well known by a large number of people of this county, a number of years ago having lived in Lewistown. At the time of his death he was editor of the Emporia Daily Republican and was founder of that paper. At one time he was lieutenant governor of the state of Kansas.
A dispatch to the Chicago Record Monday says:—“C. V. Eskridge killed himself this morning by shooting himself twice in the region of the heart. For several months he had been a sufferer from a malady which promised to result in his death.
“At an early hour this morning, while his son, Edward, was watching by his father’s bedside, there was a pistol report, and the bedchamber was filled with smoke. The son, thinking the shot had been fired through the window, sprang through the window, carrying the screen with him, in pursuit of the supposed assassin. Passing around the house without seeing anyone, he returned and found that his father was shot in the left breast.
“The son left the home to telephone for surgeons and on returning heard another shot as he neared the Eskridge residence.
“So soon as the son had left in search of aid the father had requested of his wife and daughters that the lights be taken out of the room and the people keep quiet. Thinking that he feared another shot from the window, the light was removed, and all except the wounded man’s sister-in-law left the room. There was another shot, and when the family rushed to the room they found that under the bedclothes still grasped in the right hand of the former lieutenant governor, was a revolver, two chambers of which were empty.
“The dying man admitted that the wounds were caused by his own hand, and stated as a reason that it was impossible for him to longer stand the constant pain of his illness.”
The deceased was a brother to Mrs. Eugene Groat of this city, and James Eskridge of Galesburg and a half-brother to Richard Eskridge and Mrs. Theodore Martin of this city. The funeral will be held Tuesday. Mrs. Eugene Groat went Sunday afternoon to Emporia to attend the funeral.