In reply to the inquiry of one of your correspondents, referred to
me, as to whether there is “any truth in the statement made in a book
published by some returned English tourists, to the effect that an
itinerant lecturer advertised to give an entertainment at Capron,
Ill., and at the close of the lecture shoot himself dead; that the
home was crowded at $1 a head; and that, true to the programme,
at the conclusion of his speech, this peripatetic orator actually
committed suicide,” I would say that there was such a story written
by a barber here, which was published in the county paper. It was
false. The lecture never was given; at least the funeral never came
off.
-- Alexander Vance, P. M.,
Capron, Ill.
Source:
The Inter Ocean Curiosity Shop for the year 1883
edited by William P. Jones, A. M.
Seventh Edition
The Inter Ocean Publishing Company,
Madison and Dearborn Streets
Chicago
1891