George O Underwood
Kentucky Post, Friday, 10 May 1912, page 5
NEWPORT COURT-George Underwood was given a suspended fine of $11 and costs on a drunkenness charge.
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Kentucky Post, Wednesday, 5 June 1912, page 2
EXPRESSMAN-I am going on a long, long journey, and I may never get back" These were the last words of George Underwood, 52, Newport expressman, yesterday afternoon. A second later there was a flash, a shot was heard and Underwood lay dying at the feet of his terror stricken wife. Despondency is given as the cause of the mans suicide, but back of it all is the old story of the lane that does not turn.
Underwood three months ago was the owner of several horses and vehicles and was engaged in the express business in Newport. He and his wife lived in their cozy little home at 429 West Tenth av. Newport. Then came the craze for drinking and Underwood started out over three months ago to satisfy the craving for the "thing that makes men forget." Money was spent freely during those months by the man. One of his horses was sold, then a buggy, then two wagons. All were merged into the cup which he believed forever drowned men's cares.
One horse remained, the faithful friend of the drinking man, the horse which in his sober hours Underwood loved and petted and cared for. A few days ago, it too was sold and when he realized how fare he had gone he plunged recklessly into the last stretch of the course. Yesterday afternoon he came home in a taxicab. He had 55 cents in his pocket, his watch was gone. He walked into the kitchen where his wife was sewing. A sister-in-law, Mrs. Bartley of Harriman, Tenn. was standing in the yard near the kitchen door.
Underwood carried the passport in his pocket, a cheap 32-caliber revolver he had just bought in Cincinnati. The bullet pierced the right temple. The shot and the screams of the terrified wife brought neighbors quickly to the scene. Underwood was dead. Coroner Digby at one investigated. "Suicide" was his terse verdict. The body is at the home on Chestnut av. No arrangements have been made for the funeral.