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Suicide-. (Contiimcil from Page One)’of the older residents here at that time, knew of his past, but it was not generally' discussed and: he : never mentioned it to az^yone. Eventually;'the story was forgotten and when newspapers a few years p.go attempted to locate Jones; to interview 'him . iti connection with- a series of -articlesabout the Rice'.murder, they did not succeed.Jones had not lived in seclusion, but he did not cultivate friends and seldom visited neighbors or relatives. A.nephew Robert Busch of Houston attended to • his few wants .when he was ill, and neighbors saw that lie was not left alone- for. more than short time during his periodic illnesses. -• Jones : was found dead In bed, a bullet wound through his head and a pistol by his side, by Lester Knox, . a neighbor who went to look in on t,he ill, old man.before he went-to work on the graveyard shift ’at Baytown refinery.Jones had fulfilled a vow that he would not live to be 80 years old. His SOth birthday would have been on Feb, 3, 1955. He had told his neighbors many times that he would not become .an invalid and be dependent on others for his care, and his death was not u surprise to most of them, they said.In recent weeks,: he had told them that soon he would end his life. He had been in extremely bad health for the past year, suffering from a combination of kidney and heart, ailments/ He was Lalten to a Baytown hospital Nov. l aftersuffering a severe hemorrhage, and remained there until last week when he reutmed home.He suffered another hemorrhage Tuesday, and in looking back over the day's events, neighbors surmised that he had made careful plans for his death last night. They said he had ffivcn the Knoxes the name and telephone number of his nephew, and told them to notify the nephew if anything happens to inc.When the nephew called at his home Tuesday, he .sent him to the Knox home to request that they “look in on Mr. Jones about 9 p.m.” It was believed that Jones died of the bullet wound about 10 minutes before 9 p.m.Baytown police said Jones aphis second wife, his own murder and litigation over his wife's estate and his will, delayed its opening until 1912. - •Rice, a native of Massachusetts came to Texas in the latc: 1830s, arriving in Houston penniless al-' though he bad formerly owned a store in the New England state.He took e. job as a store clerk and • rose' rapidly until he was a partner in the firm of Rice and Nichols, exporters, importers and wholesale grocers.' At the close of the Civil War, Rice left .Texas a wealthy mam. Thereafter he lived in New York( but his dream was to establish Rice Institute in Texas and give it firm financial foundation.Before his second wife died in f .890, Rice had already set aside -$200:000 for the- institute, but her death delayed its establishment. :;Under the Texas community property law,.Mrs. Rice attempted-to • distribute her balf of . the estate. Rice contested the will on grounds that he and his wife were not residents of Texas and had not been since the Civil War. The case was ready for trial when Rice was murdered.Patrick, a former Texan, was-aNew York attorney associated with a law firm handling Mrs. Rice's will.Ke claimed at Rice’s inquest that he had prepared a new will which revoked plans far the institute and named Patrick residuary legatee of the entire estate.The will was found to be a forgery and Patrick was charged with forgery a month after Rice’s death. The following February he and Jones were charged with murder. )n April the two were indicted. In his court testimony. Jones said he had brought about Rice’s death by undermining his health with medicines, some of which were prescribed by a physician and someby Patrick.He said he met Patrick on the evening of Sept. 23, 1.900, snd they went to Rice's apartment where they found him sleeping, Jones said he placed n cone containing a chlorofornvsonkcd sponge over Rice s face and left it there for 30 minutes.Jones returned to his home fn Pelly and quietly began a new life.' lie liven with his brother,
Newspaper Details
Baytown Sun
Baytown, Texas, US
Wed, Nov 17, 1954
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Greg O.
USA 24 Apr 2019
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