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BLOWS HIS BRAINS OUT IN CHURCH Banker Wilkins, of Selma, Kills Himself In the Early Morning. BLOOD FLOWS AT THE ALTAR Wife Grows Uneasy and a Search Is Made-Just as He Is Found He Pulls the Trigger. Selma, Ala., December 30.-(Special.)-The Commercial bank, after a career of more than a quarter of a century. assigned today, naming as assignees Lewis Jeffries and E. Gillman, of Selma, and S. Well, of New York. The bank has been hard-pressed for some time, owing to its inability to realize on loans fast enough to meet maturing paper. Its uneasy condition was transmitted to its patrons on Monday. S. Weil, represe ting eight New York banks to which the Commercial is indebted $450,000, reached the city. His arrival prefaced large withdrawals, which on yesterday developed into a run on the bank, and an hour after opening, the officials enforced the one hundred-dollar limit, reducing it later to $50. In the afternoon a meeting of stockholders and directors was held which lasted until long after midnight, when an agreement was reached and a notice was pasted on the closed doors this morning stating that the bank had made an assignnient, but that negotiations were pendIng The to deposits resume. do not exceed $100,000. No statement of assets and liabilities can yet be secured. The capital stock is $300,000. Depositors today signed an agreement to withdraw deposits in three. six and nine months. It is thought that New York banks and stockholders will furnish sufficient funds for reorganization, and that the bank will resume within ten days. He Seeks a Church at Night. Salma, Ala., December 31 -(Special.)George A. Wilkins, vice president of the Commercial bank, which assigned yesterday, shot himself ct St. Paul's church at an early hour this morning. after spending the night in the altar alone. He died shortly after 2 o'clock this afternoon. Last night at 7:30 o'clock Wilkins, H. H. Stewart, Jr., and Fred Peterson were None in the bank, when Wilkins suggested that all go home and get some rest and return to work at 9:30 this morning. He was first to leave, saying that he was going home and to bed. Ho spoke cheerfully as he walked out and closed the door behind him. A short time after leaving the bank Wilkins stepped into E. A. Scott's store, on Broad street. He and Mr. Scott have been intimate friends for years. and they had a long conversation tegether about the bank. Mr. Scott. in order to cheer him up, told him of the pleasant things he had heard said about the bank and the faith and confidence he had heard expressed in the officials. From the first of the conversation until he bid his friend goodnight he seemed more cheerful than he had for three weeks up company his Intention going home and to bed, he left the store about 9 o'clock. What transpired between 9 o'clock and 3:30 this morning no one knows. The eircumstances indicate that something happened between the store and St. Paul's church that turned his thoughts from their hopeful path and that his overtaxed brain became unbalanced. He was for many years a member of St Paul's choir as well as of the vestry of the church, and he earried a key to the door leading to the choir Through this he went into the darkness W thin and there throughout the long hours of the night he remained. His will sharing her husband anxiety, sat up forlorn, walting for his footsteps. At o'clock he had not turned and growing uneasy she awakened her brother-inlaw Julian Park, and requested him to go to the bank and see if Mr. Wilkins was there He found the bank in darkness and filled with fear lest something had happened he hurried to the home of Captain R. M Nelson, president of the bank, thinking perhaps he was there or that Captain Nelson knew his whereabouts. Getting no news from him there he continued the search in company with Police Officer Holt. Knowing his attachment for the church, he went there, but could not get in, all of the doors being locked He left and tried to obtain a key, but failed, and securing a light the two returned to the church, determined to force an entrance. Going to the window back of the organ they succeeded in foreing it open. Mr. Park mounted to the window sill and peering into the darkness called, "George! George!" Answers with Pistol Shot. At the same Instant there was the report of a pistol near the altar, and jumping in Mr. Park, with light in hand, rushed toward it. to find the object of his search lying full length upon the floor inside the chancel railing. A pistol ball wound behind the right ear, and the pistol with which the net was committed still smoking and grasped in hand his firmly No sooner had the pistol fired than the policeman blew his whistle, and a moment later J. H. Lumpkin, who lives across the street from the church, was on the scene. Drs. King, Furniss, Gay and Harper were hastily summoned. The gas was lighted. He was breathing heavily and was unconscious, the brain oozing from the wound. Soon the family who had heard the report of the pistol, for the home is but a block away hastened into the church, and at 4:30 clock, an hour after the shooting. he was removed to his home. By this time hacks had been sent for various friends, and quite a number were on hand. anxious to render any assistance possible. From the first the wound was pronounced fatal. All through the morning the house was thronged with anxious men and ladies. Death came at 2:10 o'clock, the wounded man not having regained consclousness from the time the fatal shot was fired. He spoke no word or left no writing giving the reason for the fatal step, but it is believed that It was the result of the in tense mental strain through which he has passed. Mr. Wilkins was born in Virginia forty years ago, and has been a resident of Selma dne his boyhood. In 1881 he married Miss Emma Me ord this He leaves IL widow and a daughter Carrie, twelve years age. He has been connected with the bank of which he was elected vice president lest year, for fifteen years, and throughout his life has proven true to every trust. Piles and Fistula
