White male, 50 years old at the time of his death by suicide on December 10, 1906. According to his death record, the place of death was 117 E. Intendencia Street in Pensacola, Florida, and he was buried by F.R. Pou in the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery. There is no information about his birthplace, his parents, or his occupation, and there is no physician listed on the death record.
(1906 is one of the years for which there are no Escambia County death certificates on file with the State of Florida; the record is part of a ledger book of Pensacola City Death Records. )
The Pensacola Journal reported on Clark’s death on Tuesday, 11 December 1906. The information given in that article is more thorough than that on the death record: “A stranger supposed to be James Clark, of St. Louis, Mo., was found dead in bed yesterday morning a the boarding house of Mrs. Wandell, No. 105 [not 117] East Intendencia street. Death was due to swallowing a large quantity of carbolic acid and whiskey with evidently suicidal intent… The man came to Pensacola Saturday afternoon, or at least he went to the boarding house then, and secured a room up stairs. He stated that he had come from St. Louis and intended going to work for Frank Daniels, building a trestle across one of the bayous west of the city. He did not appear down-hearted or morose during the time he remained in the boarding house… Sunday night he retired early, but before retiring requested Mrs. Wandell to wake him early Monday morning as he wished to take the first car going out and reach his work.” The landlady sent a boy up as requested, who found the body. Coroner Nicholson conducted an inquest and found no note. While the death was determined to have been quite painful, another boarder in the same room did not wake up during the night. “Letters found among the effects of the deceased show that he was a bridge builder by trade and that during the past year he had visited several cities in Texas, Chalmette, La., Hot Springs and other places. … He was a man about 50 years old age, clean shaven and weighing about 175 pounds. The deceased had no money on his person or among his effects with the exception of a ten-cent piece.”
Unfortunately, there are quite a few men by the name of James Clark with a strong connection to St. Louis or Missouri who were born about the right time to be this man. I have been unable to identify any of them as a bridge builder, though several were called “laborers” in the census. Without further details regarding his birth or other family members, positively identifying him will be difficult.
SOURCES:
Death Record of James Clark. Pensacola births and deaths, 1891-1910, Escambia County (Florida) Health Department. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973.
“Stranger Took Carbolic Acid,” The Pensacola Journal [Pensacola, FL] 11 DEC 1906, p. 3.