MENTAL TORTURE
DROVE TO DEATH.
BRIDEGROOM THOMASON MAY
HAVE BEEN A BIGAMIST.
FICTITIOUS MURDER TALES.
TOLD TO HIS WIFE, BUT THEY
ARE DISCREDITED.
Young Man Thought He Was Di-
vorced When He Married Miss
O'Shea -- Thomaon Known
as Joseph Pain.
Did Joseph Thomason, husband of two days, kill himself because his conscience reminded him of boyish indiscretions, or did he take his life for some other reason?
That is the problem confronting friends and acquaintances of the young man since he turned a pistol on himself because he thought himself unworthy to be the life companion of the young woman he had married. On the afternoon before the tragedy the young man told his wife that eight years before, when he was only 14 years old, he had slain another. One of these killings, he said, was justified by the unwritten law. He did not tell the cause for the other.
"I am not worthy of you," he told her.
His words troubled the bride but she did not think he meant them seriously. Only a few minutes later, when she entered the room they occupied, he shot himself. A note, on which only the word "mother" could be distinguished, was left on a table beside the bed on which he died.
A more probably reason for the suicide is advanced by the foreman at the American Sash and Door Company, under whom Thomason worked for the last year. "Thomason told me," said the foreman yesterday, "that he had been married before, when he lived down in Louisiana. He and his wife separated and he thought that she had gotten a divorce. Recently he discovered that no divorce had been granted, and that he was still a married man.But he was already pledged to Miss Pearl Alma O'Shea, now his widow, and he had not the heart to tell her. They went to Leavenworth and were married. The next day Thomason worked, but on the Fourth he had plenty of time to think it over.
"I think it was then that what he had done horrified him. He realized that he was a bigamist and, if discovered, it would be better for him and for his wife that he had never been born. He bought the pistol, told his bride a fictitious story about crimes committed many years ago, and blew out his brains."
At the sash and door factory Thomason went by the name of Joseph Pain. He was a member of the Stair Builders and Cabinet Makers' Union No. 1635, but his widow will receive no benefit because the insurance policy was allowed to lapse. Had he made a payment Friday night she would have received $200. He used the name of Pain on his union card. He made no secret about having two names, saying that Pain was his middle name.
Thomason earned $18 a week. He was in good health and so far as known had no bad habits. His wife was young and pretty. Everything seemed to point to a happy married life for the young couple.
To make the theory that Thomason committed suicide from remorse on account of alleged murders of his boyhood more improbably, his associates say he was not given to brooding. He was cheerful and liked to have a good time in an innocent way. On the night on which he killed himself a crowd had been invited for a merrymaking at the house at 3102 East Twentieth street.
Thomason's parents were notified by telegraph of their son's death. A reply was received yesterday afternoon saying that they would be unable to come to attend the funeral. They live in Hot Springs, Ark. The funeral arrangements have not been made. The body is still at home.
