KELLER

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 08:44:10 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, September 13, 1923
Page 5

Body Of Artist Found –
Suicide

The month old mystery of the disappearance of Walter Keller, the artist who was missed from his home in Larkspur, was solved last Saturday by the finding of his body 200 feet from the home of S. H. Mann, and within a short distance of Keller’s little cottage in Larkspur.

Near the body was a note, signed by the dead man, and reading:
“Declaration – I killed myself because I am losing all my vitality and see too great difficulty to regain it again.”

Close by also was a badly stained bread knife, with which it is believed Keller but his throat. Hanging on a shrub was a small mirror, indicative of the deliberation of the man in preparation for his suicide.

When the body was found Marshal F. J. Hurst called Corner J. Ray Keaton and stated that in his opinion there was “something queer” about its appearance. District Attorney Greer and Sheriff Keating accompanied Coroner Keaton to the scene and made the investigation which disclosed the cause of death. The remains will be shipped to the young man’s parents, wealthy residents of Santa Isabel, Guatemala, by the F. E. Sawyer Company, following the inquest. Keller was 26 years of age.