The Atlanta Constitution, 20th September 1881
FOSTERS MISFORTUNE.
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The Particulars of the Calhoun Suicide
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The Reception of the news in Atlanta -- The Surprise Caused by it -- The Origin of the Trouble -- How the Deed was Accomplished -- A visit to the Scene of the Suicide.
The brief announcement of the tragic end made to life by Judge Thomas A Foster, of Calhoun, in Sunday’s Constitution, created no little stir in Atlanta’s commercial circles, where he was well known, highly respected and greatly esteemed for his many good qualities as a gentleman, and his sterling worth as a business man.
The account was brief, but this fact was due to an inability to reach our correspondent at Calhoun, who was absent from town when instructions for particulars were wired to him, but yesterday one of the local reporters was sent to Calhoun to gather the particulars of the death which has cast a gloom not only over the county of Gordon, but over the entire northern portion of the state, for no man was more widely known in the counties adjacent to Gordon than Judge Foster.
Soon after the reporters arrival he met Mr. Harlan, Judge Foster’s partner. “Yes.” said Mr. Harlan, after the reporter had made his mission known, “Judge Foster is dead; and what worse, died by his own hand. He was one of the noblest men that ever breathed - kind, benevolent and generous, he never lost an opportunity to do some one a kind act. He was a pure, noble Christian, surrounded by a bright, intelligent, and devoted family, and why should have hurled himself before the bar of God without one word of warning to those who loved and adored him is the greatest mystery of my life.”
As generally known, the firm of Harlan and Foster controlled the leading mercantile business in Gordon County. Their house was located near the courthouse, and about fifty yards in the rear was Judge Foster’s residence, where he had lived happily with his wife and children for years. The store is a large one, with counters and shelving on either side and a counting room in the rear.
Since his association with Mr. Harlan began Judge Foster had almost exclusive control over the business, Mr. Harlan devoting himself to his farm.
On Saturday morning last Judge Foster got up about half past six o’clock and went to the store where he found Mr. B M Harlan, a son of his partner, who was clerking in the store. After passing the usual good morning he passed into the counting room, where he remained a few minutes and then coming out went to the depot where he gave some orders concerning the shipping of some cotton. He then returned to the store and after conversing with Mr. M S Robertson, his book-keeper stepped up to the desk and wrote, as it was afterwards, ascertained, two letters, which he placed in envelopes, sealed up, directed and put into his inside coat pocket. He then came back into the storeroom and asked Mr. Harlan where the pistol was, and when told, picked it up and putting it into his pocket left the store by passing through the counting room and out the back door. From the store the Judge went directly to his residence, which he entered. Soon after going into the house he went to the room of his oldest son, who is an invalid and handing him his pocketbook passed on. In another part of the house he met his wife whom he kissed and then went out the back door towards the stable where he met his little daughter who was getting some corn for the chickens. When he came up to her she was reaching for the corn and he said, “Wait, daughter, let me get the corn for you.” which he did. He then walked back toward the house with his daughter, and when about half way stopped, kissed her and said: “You are the smartest child in the world,” and turned towards the stable, which he soon entered. The stable is only about twenty-five yards from the house, and an ordinary voice is perfectly intelligible at that distance.
After the daughter, whose name is Flora, reached the door she began feeding the chickens. Her mother was standing on the porch and the two were engaged in pleasant and happy conversation when the report of a pistol was heard in the direction of the stable. The sound rang clear and startled the mother and daughter, and before they could recover the second report came clearer and louder. With an evil foreboding her heart strings almost snapped by the great fear that almost overpowered her. Mrs. Foster called to her husband but received no reply. While the mother was calling, the daughter, moved by the devotion the love of her father had taught, was speeding towards the barn which she entered in a second after the second shot was fired, and from which she came in less time crying “mamma, come here; papa is dead!” Nerved by the terrible news Mrs. Foster was soon bending over the body of her husband whose last kiss was yet moist upon her lips, calling him to speak, but her pleading was in vain, for death had already set its seal upon the man who so ruthlessly robbed his home of its head.
In a second almost the news had reached the store, and in as short as time, Mr. B M Harlan and Dr. Reeves were beside the corpse, around which the weeping, heart broken family had gathered.
The Judge was lying flat on his back with his head to the south. Beside him lay a large six-shooter forty-two-calibre pistol, from the barrels of which the smoke was yet curling, and beside the pistol was an empty laudanum vial. His eyes were half open and his mouth set firm. His left hand lay across his breast, while his right was extended toward the ugly weapon which had taken his life and robbed the world of a noble man.
As soon as possible the family was removed to the house, and the doctor made an examination of the body. Two reports had been heard, two barrels of the pistol were empty, and two ghastly wounds were found in his body, either one if which was sufficient, in the opinion of the physician, to have produced death. One ball had entered at the pit of the stomach, passed nearly through while the other passed just below the heart and lodged near the backbone.
The vial found beside him was empty, and a further search disclosed a second vial of the same size, from which a like quantity of laudanum had been taken. On a peg in the wall of the barn the dead mans coat was found, and beside this lay a cigar, which he had put in his mouth when he left the store. In the pocket of his coat were found two letters, one addressed to his wife and the other to his partner. They were both short and proved to be letters he had written that morning in the store. The letter to his wife read:
CALHOUN, Sept 17, 1881 - Dear wife: Oh, how bad I do feel to think of what is before you. I have made a mistake and sold too much on time. My life is insured in Knights of Honor and Etna insurance company. Kiss the children for me. May God help you all, and I do hope He will take care of you. If you can, get George to take Ossee.
Yours affectionately, T A FOSTER.
The letter to his partner was also short and was as follows:
CALHOUN, Sept 17, 1881 - Mr. J M Harlan, Dear Friend: I find that I have been badly mistaken in our business. I think that is plenty to pay F & H’s debts. May God bless you and my family. Oh, my God, what a thought to leave you. I “no” you will be surprised but not more so than I was, for I have worked hard to make you money. God Bless You, ever true friend. T A FOSTER
This letter was written on a note-head belonging to the firm, and the above just filled page. After signing his name, he turned and wrote along the margin: “Please do what you can for my poor wife, for she will be in an awful condition.”
In a short while a jury of inquest was impanelled and a legal investigation begun. Mr. Robertson, the bookkeeper, Mr. Harlan, Jr. and the wife and daughter were the witnesses, but beyond what has been told heretofore in this article nothing could be ascertained and the following verdict was rendered:
We, the jury chosen and sworn to hold an inquest upon the body of T A Foster, deceased, find upon examination of testimony that deceased came to his death from the effects of two pistol shot wounds, one in the stomach and one in the left breast, and that said wounds were inflicted by deceased’s own hands. J B JOHNSON, FOREMAN
It is thought that when Judge Foster reached the stable, after telling his daughter good-bye, he pulled off his coat, hung it on the peg, laid the cigar by it, drank the two vials of laudanum and then sat down and shot himself, but of course this is conjecture, although there are many indications that it is correct.
The idea is prevalent in Gordon County that the deed was committed under a mental derangement. For some time past the judge has been failing in health and within the last six weeks has lost forty pounds. He was worth $40,000 and the entire indebtedness of the firm of Harlan & Foster will not exceed $5,000. He has no debts of his own, and the idea that the want of money could have caused the deed, if the judge had been in his right mind, is absurd.
For weeks past the subject has been preying on his mind and although he had evidently determined long since to suicide, no one suspected it. That he had so decided his actions show conclusively. One Friday he took $900 from the store and paid a note held against him by Mrs. Garlington, his mother-in-law. She at first declined to take the money, but he insisted. On Friday evening he made a deed conveying to his wife and children the house and lot in town, and sixty-five acres of land near town. In the deed he said it was in consideration of the money he had received from his wife’s estate.
Judge Foster was widely known in Georgia. He was born in Gwinnett County, Georgia, November 1st, 1834 and begun his career as a merchant in Rome in ‘47. In 1865 he and Mr. Harlan went into business in Calhoun, and since then they have been very intimate. Before the war he was Judge of the inferior court, and discharged his duties, with fidelity and ability. He was a consistent member of the church and a zealous Sunday School worker, and was looked upon as an upright, honest man.
His funeral ? in the Methodist church in
