FIRED A BULLET
INTO HIS BRAIN.
CHARLES H. LITTLE, LIVE STOCK
BROKER, HIS OWN SLAYER.
HIS WIFE FINDS HIM DYING.
DEED COMMITTED WHILE STAND-
ING BEFORE A MIRROR.
Worry Over Business Affairs Caused
by Inactivity of Trade During
the High Water Is Given
as the Cause.
Awakened by a pistol shot at 6 o'clock yesterday morning, Mrs. Charlotte Little rushed into the adjoining room of her home in Bristol, a suburb of Kansas City, where she found her husband, Charles H. Little, lying on the floor unconscious with a bullet wound in the right temple. Mrs. Little ran next door to the residence of Dr. C. W. Martin who hurried to the ho use. After a hasty examination Dr. Martin summoned Dr. P. M. Agee of Independence, and the two physicians remained with the wounded man until he breathed his last, three hours later. From the position of the body on the floor Mr. Little had evidently stood in front of the bureau mirror and directed the aim of the weapon. A thorough search of the room revealed no note or message that he might have left explaining why he shot himself.
His wife and friends said yesterday that the dead man had never mentioned committing suicide and they could not give any reason for his doing so. Mr. Little's home life was pleasant and there was no family reasons which would cause him to want to take his life.
Mr. Little was 34 years old and was born at Des Moines, Ia., He came to Kansas City, Kas., when a small boy and was reared in that city. For a number of years he held a responsible position in the executive department of the Armour Packing Company at the local plant, resigning his position there to become associated with the E. S. Nixon Live Stock Commission Company at the stock yards. About two months ago he quit the employ of the Nixon company to engage in business for himself as a speculator at the yards. He had been fairly successful as a speculator, but was caught with a good sized bunch of cattle on his hands when the present high water destroyed the market and stopped trading at the yards. He took these cattle to his home near Bristol and placed them in a pasture which he had leased.
He was of a very nervous temperament, and ever since business at the yards was suspended he worried. His friends at the yards state that he was almost a physical wreck when he let the employ of the Nixon firm, and, instead of taking a vacation for the purpose of recuperation, he plunged into hard work again.
Mr. Little was a thirty-second degree Mason and past master of Wyandotte lodge No. 3, A. F. and A. M. He was also a member of the Shrine lodge at Leavenworth, a charter member of Wyandotte lodge No. 440, B. P. O. E., and belonged to Granite camp, Modern Woodmen of America. Besides his wife and child he is survived by his mother, one brother and two sisters. The body will be taken to the home of his sister, Mrs. Walter Ladd, 654 Washington avenue, Kansas City, Kas., today. The funeral will be held from there tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
