Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
The Madison Enterprise was sad to report in December of 1902 that Robert H. Bass, a photographer in our community, had taken his life with a morphine overdose. He was lodging with a Mrs. Wilson, when he handed her a package before taking a seat in the parlor. He gave her these instructions: “Take this now but don't open it until 9 o'clock tonight. If I am dead at that hour, open the envelope, but if I am not dead, then wait until I am before you open it. I have taken enough morphine to kill three men.”
Wilson rushed to the telephone and summoned medical help from Doctors Ruter and Blalock, who thought they had stabilized the young man. However, a few hours later, Bass took a sudden turn for the worse. Both doctors worked on the unfortunate soul for nine hours before he passed away.
Bass was 27 years old and had lived most of his life in Madison. Of late, he had spoken often of suicide, and he was drinking heavily in the days before his death. No one knew the cause of his despair or what concern was preying upon his mind. His body was shipped by train to Blakely, Ga., where nearby relatives took care of funeral arrangements.
Information for this article was taken from Elizabeth Evans Kilbourne's book, “Madison County, Florida Newspaper Clippings, 1901-1903.”