Cincinnati (OH) Daily Gazette, March 25, 1879, p. 1.
CORYDON, INDIANA
A Leap into a Flooded River Rather than Sign the Pledge-What Whisky Will Do
[Special Dispatch to the Cincinnati Gazette]
Corydon, Indiana, March 24-The suicide of Mr. Leonard Keller, a prominent
merchant of this town, on Saturday is the sensation of the season. Mr.
Keller had been indulging to excess in drink for a long time while all his
family were ardent temperance workers. They were deeply concerned for him
and importuned him to sign the pledge. This he positively declined to do
and frequently was in a bad humor and disagreeable in his domestic
relations. He left home several months ago to never return, as he said, but
did return in a few days. Since then he has drank hard. Saturday, while
somewhat under the influence of liquor, he went to the bridge over Indian
Creek west of town and, taking off his hat and coat, leaped into the surging
flood, the stream being out of its banks from the late rains, and was
drowned. He left a letter directing the payment of a few debts and ordering
the education of his children. He was 55 years old and quite wealthy. So
much for whisky.