| Sources |
- [OAKLAND TRIBUNE NEWSPA] 3 (Reliability: 3), 13 Jan 1935.
GEORGE CANNING TAKES A
DOSE OF POISON.
Leaves Number of Messages Scoring
His Family - He Was Believed
to Be Insane
George Canning, a stationary engineer,
well known in Oakland, swallowed
carbolic acid, at the entrance to
Blair's Park yesterday, morning and
his body now lies on a slab at the
Morgue. He left several notes accusing
his family of being responsible for
his desperate act, but it is believed
that a diseased mind was the real
cause of the tragedy.
Canning was found by William Olney,
a son of Warren Olney of 481
Prospect street, at the entrance of the
park. He was still alive and Olney
telephoned to the Fabiola Hospital,
where the resident physician, Dr. Jane
Orr, advised the use of antidotes,
which she named.
Olney secured the antidotes in the
neighborhood, but they were ineffective
and Canning died soon afterward.
Then Olney notified the Coroner and
the remains were removed to the Morgue.
The messages of abuse written by
the suicide were in a pocket blank
book. On one page was written the
following:
"My home formerly, but not any
more, was 569 Fifth street.
"GEORG:B CANNING."
"My wife and son, Walter, are the
cause of this. The others are all right.
Good-bye."
On another leaf the suicide had inscribed
the following:
"Miss A. Higgins of Alameda: Do
not have anything more to do with
Walter. He is a dangerous animal; no
humanity about him. He has pulled
a gun on me more than once. What
would he do with you? Remember
this, dear friend, my last dying wish.
"G. CANNING."
There was still another note, as follows:
"All my tools and fishing tackle goes
to Fred and Wallace. The keys in my
pocket belong to the tool chest, and I
want E.T. Joost to keep these until
Fred comes home. This is the only
friend and relative I have. Good-bye,
Teddy, and may the Lord bless you."
On a card of the Crellin Hotel he
had written the following:
"God bless Wallace and Fred, the
poor innocent boy condemned and committed
by a swarm of vagabonds."
Mrs. Canning and her family live at
the address the suicide gave and which
he repudiated as his home. The family
consists of the widow, four sons and a
daughter. The eldest is a young man
of 25 years and the youngest is about
12. They are broken hearted over the
suicide of the husband and father and
say he was suffering from a disordered
mind. The family seems to dwell in
perfect harmony, and the conditions at
the house do not justify the vindictive
notes left by the suicide.
Walter Canning, the eldest son, at
whom the father leveled his most bitter
attack, was at one time a deputy
Game Warden of Alameda. Those who
know him say that he is hard working
and that he has done much for his
father in the last few years. Young
Canning said today.
"We do not know what to make of
our father's action. He has had no
trouble at home and we supposed that
everything was happy. I had no quar-
rel with him, and I do not know why
he tried to blacken my character in
these last written words. I have been
keeping company with Miss Higgins,
and he seems to have made one last effort
to injure me even in that direction.
I believe that my father was out
of his mind when he did this. He was
injured at the boiler explosion at the
California Door Factory at West Oakland
some years ago, and a form of:
blood poisoning seems to have set in. I
believe that he was not in his right
mind."
Miss Higgins, to whom one of these
notes was addressed, takes the part of
the son, saying:
"These charges against Walter Canning
are unfounded. As a matter of
fact he has taken good care of his father,
who has been suffering from blood
poisoning. I know that Walter sent his
father away for treatment and paid all
of the expenses. The story about the
gun arose from the fact that Mr. Canning
once got possession of pistol and
Walter disarmed him before any harm
was done."
The family has taken possesion of'
the body.
The Fred Canning referred to in the
messages was about two years ago
when he was but 12 years of arrested
on a charge of assault, it being
charged that he assaulted Maggie Ewing
a resident of Alameda, and 6 years
of age. He was held to answer for
trial before the Superior Court and was
convicted by a jury. Attorney Aldrich
representing the boy, succeeded in getting
his client sent to a reform school,
instead of a prison, and. then set about
trying to get a new trial, which was
finally granted, but as the boy in the
meantime wag learning a useful trade
and was not dissatisfied with the
school, his father consented to allow
him to remain there rather than go
through another trial.
The notoriety of the trial and the
fact that the lad was convicted wor-
ried the father greatlv and his family
say he brooded over his troubles to the
extent that his mind became unbalanced.
Oakland Tribune, 1/26/1903, page 3
- [S-64429076157] Free BMD England & Wales, FreeBMD, (Free BMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001. Original data: Microfilm and microfiche of the England and Wales, Civil Registration Indexes created by the General Register Office, in London), Barrow F Sep 1877 Vol 8E Pg 1070 (Reliability: 2).
Barrow F Sep 1877 Vol 8E Pg 1070 Marriages Fanny Theresa Orton George Canning
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1890 - 1935 (45 years)
