Sad Suicide Of A Student

SAD SUICIDE OF A STUDENT

HE SHOT HIMSELF IN THE TEMPLE

Left a Letter Saying He Was Insane- No Cause Known for the Rash Act

At one o'clock Wednesday afternoon Orlando G. Pepper, a first year student in the dental department, shot and killed himself. The young man, who was 21 years of age, lived with his widowed mother at 636 S. Thayer street.

Before the suicide occurred the young man had been chatting with his mother. He seemed perfectly rational. Shortly after he had left the room a pistol shot was heard from the upper portion of the house, and rushing to the attic the student roomers found the dead body with a bullet hole in the right temple. 

The suicide left the following note:

"Goodbye, dear mother and friends. I am going to kill myself because I am insane."

Although Pepper had been attending classes regularly and received all his credits for the work of the past semester, still despondency over his studies is considered to be the cause of the deed. He was a hard working student, but found the work difficult and progressed slowly. 

Dr. Robert B. Howell, demonstrator of dental mechanism, who was one of the young man's instructors during the past semester, said when informed of the suicide:

"Mr. Pepper was a good student. If you should tell me that one of the members of my class had committed suicide, he is the last one I would have thought of. Now that the act has been done and I can look back over it I can see, perhaps, why it might have occurred. Pepper was a peculiar fellow. He was so quiet that his peculiarity was not noticeable. It showed itself in a gloomy, morose manner. Pepper was a hard working student, very conscientious, yet he never seemed to get ahead very well. He is not the kind of student whom I should think would have found his theoretical work easy. He certainly had to study very hard to get his practical laboratory work for me."

The family of the deceased moved to Ann Arbor some time ago from Pontiac in order to educate the children. The eldest daughter, Miss Olive Pepper, graduated from the University last year, and at present holds a position of instructor in the University of Illinois.

The suicide of Mr. Pepper at this time recalls vividly the sad death of Miss Agnes Inglis and that of Albert Klein, which occurred just a year ago. 

The funeral will be held at 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and will be private. The body will be taken to Dansburg Saturday afternoon, where services will be held. 

The sister of the unfortunate lad arrived today.