Franklin Walter OLIN
Death

Alton Evening Telegraph, February 5, 1921

Son of President of Western Cartridge Company Killed in Leap From 3rd Story Hospital Window

Franklin W. Olin Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Olin of 1228 State street, was instantly killed when he leaped from the third story window of a hospital in New York, where he had been taking treatment. He had undergone some surgical operations since being taken to New York, a month ago. He had been in a bad state of health for several years and the past year had been taking treatment in a sanitarium.

He returned home about the time of the Christmas holidays, and instead of returning to the sanitarium, he went East with his mother and brother, where he began taking treatment there. He has been mentally depressed, and owing to his condition, induced by worry over his physical health, he was being attended by three nurses. During the temporary absence of one of the nurses in charge last night, Franklin Olin leaped from the window and was found lifeless in the courtyard below.

The tragic end of Franklin Olin Jr. is distressing to a very large number of friends who knew him and admired him intensely. His was a career that promised achievements, as he had a mind of a very high order, and had received great advantage in education. He was sympathetic with his fellow creatures. One of the ideas that he had for solving the never ending strife between capital and labor was that every man should be paid according to the nervous and physical energy he expends in doing his work, in theory that today is being advanced by students of sociology.

Friends of the young man are recalling how he offered his services to his country during the war. He had been drafted by the local exemption board and like many other he had been granted an industrial exemption because of his employment at the Western Cartridge Co. plant. This did not suit him. He knew that he had a physical defect that would impair his chances of being accepted in the military service, so he resigned his job, went to New York, had an operation performed on his ears, then he was ready to be assigned to any contingent ready to be sent to training camp. However, he fell down on a subsequent examination by the doctors and could not be sent.

Following that, he took a position as an instructor in chemistry in the University of Illinois. He was known as an intensely human man, interested in the welfare of his fellow creatures, and he was sincerely respected and loved by a very large number of people who knew him well. He was an expert golf player and also an expert at tennis, he having held the local championship at tennis. Franklin Olin's chief interest was in the study of chemistry. He was a graduate of Cornell University, where he prepared himself by the study of chemistry to be of service in the plant of the Western Cartridge Co. He served both the Western and the Equitable Powder Company.

Franklin Olin, until his breakdown, had an active part in the supervision of construction work in the plants and he had much to do with the additions that were made to the plant at East Alton and with work on the new plant at Springfield and Peoria.

A New York dispatch to the Globe Democrat said the following: "New York, Feb. 4 - Franklin W. Olin, Jr., of 1128 State Street, Alton, a son of the president of the Western Cartridge Company, committed suicide tonight by jumping from the 3rd floor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in East Forty-Second street. Olin, upon whom an abdominal operation had been performed six days ago, was killed instantly.

He was 30 years old and an architectural engineer. Accompanied by his father and mother, who stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria to await his expected recovery, Olin came to New York and went in to the hospital two weeks ago. The operation was performed by Dr. John Draper, and Dr. F. H. Cotton, specialists in gastro-internal diseases, and was considered so successful that both surgeons left today to keep a professional engagement in Savannah, Ga. Olin, whose family is wealthy, had a private room in the hospital and was attended by three men nurses, one of whom was constantly in attendance.

The nurse on duty tonight left the room momentarily, on a necessary task, and returned in time to see his patient climbing over the windowsill. The nurse jumped forward, but was too late to check Olin's fall to the hospital courtyard. J. W. Flake, superintendent of the hospital, and members of the staff found Olin apparently lifeless when they reached him. Unsuccessful efforts were made to resuscitate him. Olin Sr. said tonight that his son was depressed because of the operation. He added that all information would have to come from the hospital authorities."



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