MOURNER BREAKS NECK.
Robert W. Smyth Meets Death While
Returning From Wake.
Robert W. Smyth of 208 South Fourteenth street, Kansas City, Kas., brother of City License Inspector J. E. Smyth fell and broke his neck last night shortly before 10 o'clock while walking along South Eighteenth street. He had attended the wake of a friend in that neighborhood, and was on his way home when he met death.
The place where Mr. Smyth fell and received fatal injuries was within about twenty feet of where Isaac Malott, the Grandview grocer, was murdered by robbers about five months ago. He had been drinking, according to the statements of several persons who had been with him just a short time before he left for home. Dr. John A. Mitchell, who lives at 1803 Central avenue, only a short distance form where the accident occurred, was one of the first person s to reach the body. When he arrived Smyth was dying. Dr. Mitchell stated last night that there was no doubt that the man's neck was broken in the fall. Coroner Davis will hold a n autopsy this morning at Butler's undertaking rooms, where the body was removed.
Friends of Smyth believe that he was assaulted by highwaymen. There is a great gash on the dead man's forehead, and those who examined the ground where the body was found declare there are evidences of a struggle.
