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THOMAS K. LADGHLINTOOK HIS OWN LIFESuicide of Mrs. Taft’s Brother-in-Law Kept Secret forThirty Hours.CONCEALED BY PHYSICIANSPittsburg Steel Mar Had Been in PoorHealth—Left an Estate ofNearly 120,000,00aSpecial I# T~ke New Yori Times.F1TT8BURG, March 12.—Thomas K. Laughlin, Director In the Jones Laugh-lin Steel Company, and husband of the slater of President Taft’s wife, committed suicide, according to a statement of the Coroner of Allegheny County, made public this afternoon, thirty hours after the body was found In the Laughlin mansion, In Woodlawn Road, East End.Mr. Laughlin, whose fortune was estimated at nearly J20.000.000. died under mysterious circumstances. He arrived home from Europe last Sunday. It issaid he had been in poor health for a number of years, and had sought relief in travel. Some time Thursday night he fired a shot from a revolver into his brain. His body was discovered yesterday morning about 8 o’clock.According to authoritative Information the body was found by servants, with a gaping wound in the side of the head, in the basement of his home.Mr. Laughlin was assistant treasurer of the Jones Laughlin Company and was a first cousin of B. F. Jones, Jr., President of the company. No word of his death was sent to the office of Jones A Laughlin until 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. No public announcement of his death was made until several hours later.After the body was discovered some one in the household called In Drs. T. M. T. Me Ken nan and W. H. Ingram. They signed a death certificate to the effect that Mr. Laughlin had died of cerebral hemorrhage, and saying they arrived too late to do anything, as ** death had been instantaneous.”Suspicions were felt that Mr. Laughlin had not died natural death, and Coroner Jamison was called on to make an Investigation. He detailed Deputy Coroner Richard Carney to Investigate the death. Carney later said that he had to discover for himself that Mr. laughlin had shot himself. W^er. he railed on theattendlng physicians Tor a statement as to why they had signed a certificate to the effect that Mr. Laughlin had died of cerebral hemorrhages, they said that ** technically that was correct.Various rumors are current as to the cause of tne suicide, but the one commonly assigned is to the effect that Itresulted from 111 health.-It was said that Mr. I-aughlln had been acting somewhat queerly ever since the death of his father, the late Major George M. LaughllnA Major Laughlin, for ln-stance, was a great admirer of flowers, and he had erected on his property a conservatory which cost about *160,000. At that time It was probably the finest private conservatory in the United States. The Major took great pride In his flowers and collected many rare bulbs and specimens. After Major Laughlln’s death, so the gossips have It, Mrs. Thomas K. Laughlin Insisted on selling all the fine and rare plants. It Is said that she caused florists to purchase the bulbs although this was greatly against the wishes of her husband.Mr. Laughlin was one of Pittsburg’s best known men. He was a member of all the more prominent clubs of the city and a Director In several banking Institutions. He was 54 years old.Mrs. Laugfclin was Miss Lucy Hayes Herron of Cincinnati. She la the daughter of John W. Herron of Cincinnati Before her marriage to Laughlin she was prominent In Cincinnati society and was an ax-pert golf player.‘ ‘ it TiPresident Taft will attend the funeral. The services will be held at the Laughlinresidence at 8 P. M. to-morrow.In the early Spring of 1007 Thomas O’Connor Jonea another of the Junior members of the firm of Jones Laughlin, was found dead In his rooms at the Hotel Schenely In this city, having blown out hts brains with a bullet.
Newspaper Details
New York Times
New York, New York, US
Sun, Mar 13, 1910
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 13 Jul 2019
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