BLED TO DEATH WHILE ALONE.
Tries to Scrawl Note, but Strength
Ebbs Away Too Soon.
An autopsy held yesterday on the body of William O. Thornton, found dead in a pool of blood in a room in the Occidental hotel, 24 East Third street, late Friday night, and who was at first supposed to have been a victim of foul play, showed that death was due to the bursting of an artery in the left leg.
Deputy Coroner Czarlinsky made the investigation, and said that the man had bled to death after the artery, which had been wasted by disease, burst.
How long it required for Thornton to die is not known, but investigation at the rooming house disclosed the fact that the man realized when the artery burst that he was on the precipice of eternity and beyond aid of any kind.
A pencil and a small piece of paper which were found in the room yesterday showed that he had attempted to scrawl a note. Finding his strength was waning too fast with the ebbing of his life blood to accomplish this task, Thornton turned to the squalid cot, for which a few hours before he paid 10 cents for the purpose of sleeping on, and in the grimy darkness of the room he knelt and began to offer a prayer.
The body was found in this kneeling posture. Whether the prayer was completed or whether he died while his mind was trying to form words will never be known.
Thornton has a son living at Greenville, Mo., and a sister at Southwest City, Mo. The son called at the Carroll-Davidson undertaking rooms yesterday and said he would probably take charge of the remains, but has as yet made no definite arrangements for the funeral.
