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URBIN ANGNEY KILLS HIMSELF Captain of 1908 Football Team at K. U. Jumps to Death from Tower of Fraser Hall HE WAS PROBABLY INSANE No Other Theory Seems to Explain the Deed LEFT AN ENIGMATICAL NOTE Addressed It "Dear Jesus" and Began It in Verse Jumped 85 Feet, Head-Foremost, Crushing Head To A Pulp on the Cement Side-Walk
The motive for his act is not known, but it is supposed that he was insane. He had been doing excellent work in his studies, and he stated to Dr. Naismith about two weeks ago that he was not pressed financially so as to worry him at all. All the word he left, so far as has been discovered, was contained in a note which, so far as tending to throw light upon his motive is concerned, is enigmatical. The note seems to have been begun in a short line verse. It reads: "Dear Jesus: My life is past. My pleasure is gone. No pleasure for me. You can know the reason. I was called for what I owe. If I had only done it sooner. Do not hold me responsible. Good bye. May you all live happy." The note is unsigned. It was left in an upper window of Fraser hall, evidently having been placed there by him when he went up to commit the deed. No one seems to know just what point he jumped from. The only person who saw him fall was Earl Stevenson, a medic student who was going from the Medics building to Fraser hall. He first saw the body in the air. He hurried forward, and Angney's body struck almost at his feet. From the location of the note and the way the body fell, it appears that he went out the sixth story window, by the photographer's office, and jumped from the cornice. He just have run on the cornice as far as he could, for the body struck thirty feet from the building. He fell eighty-five feet. Angney evidently had aimed his body very carefully, and there can be no doubt that he intended to do just what he did. He struck squarely on the top of his head, crushing it to a pulp. Blood and brains were scattered about on the walk over a diameter of ten or a dozen feet. The coroner was at once notified and hurried to the scene, taking charge of the body. It was removed as quickly as possible to Smith's undertaking rooms. No inquest will be held as the mode of death is perfectly evident. Angney was in splendid condition physically, and was well up in his studies, being considered the leader in his class in Spanish. He had lately been depressed mentally, however, and several persons who had been intimately associated with him noted that he appeared melancholy at times. His brother, Haughey Angney, also a student, came down town with Urbin last evening, and together they attended a Nickel show. He noted at the time that Urbin seemed depressed, and when he suggested, after the performance, that they go to another similar show, his brother refused. They went home to 1245 Ohio street, where the family lives, but Urbin, instead of studying his lessons for today, sat moodily and seemed troubled by something. This morning Haughey Angney went to the university, expecting his brother to come there at 8 o'clock to study. Urbin did not keep the appointment, and Haughey afterward went to class. While at class his mind turned to the queer conduct of his brother, and then, for the first time, it flashed across his mind that all was not well with his brother. "Prof. Engel came to the door to call me and tell me of Urbin's act," said the brother today, "and when he opened the door I knew he had come to tell me something was wrong about Urbin." Dr. James Neismith, physical director of the university, was in rather intimate personal touch with Angney. To a World reporter this morning Dr. Neismith said: "Urbin came to me one evening ten days or two weeks ago, very much depressed. We had a long talk about his affairs, and spent the evening together. We talked about what he was going to do for a life-work and about his work next fall as captain of the football team. he became very much interested, and brightened up considerably. When he left me he seemed quite cheerful and happy. "He told me he had been worrying a good deal lately," Dr. Naismith continued, "and I asked him if it was about money matters. He told me no, that he was in easy condition so far as money went, and that it was other, private matters. I did not press him further. He was in good condition physically, and jumped five feet, two inches in the gymnasium only a few days ago." Manager of Athletics W. C. Lansdon said he did not know of Angney ever having been injured on the head in any game of football, or having received a blow in any manner on the head. "He was the most reticent young man about his own personal affairs that I ever knew," said Mr. Lansdon. It was reported that he had been disappointed in a love affair,
but this appears to be untrue. He probably had no real love affair, and letters in his pocket from Miss Edna Anderson
of Frankfort, Kan., indicated that they were warm friends and that, as late as Monday of this week, nothing had
occurred to estrange them. Miss Anderson is now visiting in Kansas City and her last letter invites him to call
and see her there.
Remains of Urbin Angney to Be Buried Here SERVICE AT M. E. CHURCH Little Further Light on Cause of Sudden Insanity But Another Student Had Displaced Him in Favor With the Girl
Dr. M. E. Nethercut, pastor of the church, will conduct the funeral service, and Prof. Boodin of the university will speak, on behalf of the faculty. The Jayhawker quartet will sing, as will also the choir of the church. The pall bearers will be members of the football team. The body will be taken directly from the undertaker's to the church. The members of the senior class will meet at 2 o'clock at the Unitarian church and attend the funeral in a body. There is little development tending to throw light upon any motive, and the insanity theory is still held to. Dr. S. C. Emley expresses the opinion that it was religious paranoia. He bases this belief partially upon the fact that the note was addressed "Dear Jesus." In cases of religious paranoia, says the doctor, the victim is likely to take a sudden and very violent religious notion, although not previously giving more than the usual amount of attention to religious subjects. The young woman whose letters were found in his pockets is Miss Edna Anderson of Frankfort, Kan., and there appears to be rather more to the affair between them than was at first made public. Miss Anderson had gone with Angney some, and had also gone with another K. U. student named Banks, a Phi Gam fraternity man. It seems that, some time ago, Banks rather "did Angney's time" with Miss Anderson, and Angney confided to one or two of his intimate friends on the team that he felt pretty badly cut up about her desertion of him. Yesterday, so a fraternity brother of Banks asserted afterwards, Banks rushed to a telephone as quickly as he heard of Angney's death, called up Miss Anderson in Kansas City, and told her to "say nothing to the newspapers." This fraternity brother was afterwards tripped into boasting that the newspapers wouldn't find out anything about it, because Banks had hushed up the girl. Then he told why and how. At the same time, it appears that Miss Anderson is not guilty of anything particularly to be condemned in connection with her acquaintance with Angney. It appears simply to be a case of preferring another suitor to him, and of him brooding over the feet unduly. Probably other matters unbalanced his mind, and this affair was simply "the straw that broke the camel's back" with him---if it had even that much direct connection with his sudden insanity and his rash deed. Asked as to the report that he waited table at his mother's boarding house and might have had his pride hurt in some manner, Miss Anderson said that she did not believe that he waited table, and said she had understood his mother was matron at some of the fraternity houses, instead of running a boarding club. Miss Anderson is pretty, blonde, modest and well poised. Her manner would seem to convey that she never felt any close interest in Angney's affairs, was genuinely surprised and grieved to learn the details of a tragedy quite foreign to herself. She is boarding at 3106 Park avenue. MISS ANDERSON'S STORY Kansas City, Jan. 10---"I heard from Lawrence over the telephone yesterday that it was financial troubles," said Miss Anderson, in discussing the probable cause of Urbin Angney's suicide. It was on the back of a note from her that Angney scribbled a few incoherent sentences just before he leaped to death. The note was a simple acknowledgment of a little gift he had sent the girl at Christmas time. She was emphatic in her statement that there was no love affair between them. Miss Anderson, whose home is at Frankfort, Kan., returned a week ago from spending the holidays there, to resume her piano study in Kansas City. Her acquaintance with Angney, she said, dated from last summer when he played third base for the Frankfort baseball team. Since then she has seen him only twice, once when she went to Lawrence to see a football game and again as she passed through Lawrence en route for home. He had written her, she said, that he would be in Kansas City last week, and she heard later that he was here, but she did not see him, having answered him that she would be busy when he came. "He was a very sober sort of person," she said, "and
if he had in mind to do such a thing, would not be likely to let anyone know." Service for Urbin Angney Largely Attended SENIOR CLASS WENT IN BODY Pall Bearers Were Six of Dead Boy's Team-Mates Dr. Nethercut and Prof. Boodin Spoke Briefly, the Latter Representing the Faculty
The pall-bearers, chosen from his team-mates, were Capt. Carl Rouse, Will Caldwell, Howard Reed, Geo. Crowell, Jesse White and John Carlson. The other members of the team were also present at the service, and his class, the seniors, attended in a body.. The altar rail was banked high and deep with elaborate floral offerings. Among those who sent such tributes were the seniors and the football team. As the funeral party entered the church, the Methodist funeral service was read. The university quartet then sang, after which there was scripture reading and prayer. A hymn followed, and there was another prayer and another hymn. Dr. M. E. Nethercut, pastor of the church, then spoke. He cited the verse of scripture containing the utterance of David, "There is but a step between me and death," and he talked only briefly. He was followed by Prof. Boodin, who also spoke but briefly. He represented the faculty. After a closing hymn the body was taken to Oak Hill cemetery for burial. ATHLETIC BOARD RESOLUTIONS The Athletic board of the University of Kansas is called upon to mourn the untimely taking away of one of the best-loved members, who by his fine skill and athletic ability had brought distinction to the university and who by his unswerving devotion to his studies and his consistent demeanor as a gentleman and won the esteem and the regard of all who were privileged to call themselves his friends. Urbin Angney was and will long be remembered in the university as the ideal of the true gentleman in athletics. A mysterious decree of Providence has deprived us of a friend. He exemplified by his life the traits of a true gentleman, a faithful student, and a tireless worker for the university of which he was a conspicuous and honored member. He was simple and unassuming in his demeanor, and in the midst of his great triumphs he retained his fine sense of modesty. In no sense of the word was he self-seeking, and the honors that came to him were unsought. His life showed a consistent adherence to his studies and his sincere devotion to athletic sports. His memory will be treasured by all who knew him. To the bereaved father and mother, and to the surviving brothers, the athletic board extends sincerest condolences and heart-felt sympathy. It is ordered that these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the Athletic Board, and that a copy of them be sent to the family, to the university paper and to the press of the city. (Signed) J. W. GREEN,
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