"He was discovered by a servant and medical aid was summoned, but he died two hours later." (Image by Edouard Manet.)

Marriage doesn’t agree with everyone. Such was the case with plutocrat Nicholas C. Creede who preferred a massive dose of morphine to matrimony, as evidenced by an article from the August 17, 1897 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

“Los Angeles, Cal.–Nicholas C. Creede, millionaire mine owner, after which the town of Creede, Col., is named, committed suicide with morphine last evening at his home in this city, because his wife, from whom he had separated, insisted upon renewing their married relations.

On January 4 last, Creede and his wife separated and agreed to dissolve at once, so far as possible without legal process, their marital bonds. Mrs. Creede accepted $20,000 cash and surrendered all further claims upon her husband, at the time voluntarily withdrawing from his premises. It was understood, after the necessary time had elapsed, that Creede would institute legal proceedings and begin suit for absolute divorce. At that time it appeared that both husband and wife were well satisfied, and while Mrs. Creede considered that the amount of cash settled upon her was insignificant as compared with her husband’s wealth, she left him and took up her home in Alabama.

About three weeks ago Mrs. Creede returned to Los Angeles and proposed to her husband a reconciliation. This was much to Creede’s distaste and he endeavored to avoid his wife, but being unsuccessful, he determined to end his life. Last evening he took a large dose of morphine and went into the garden to die. He was discovered by a servant and medical aid was summoned, but he died two hours later. Mrs. Creede was notified of her husband’s death, but declined to discuss the tragedy. The 2-year-old child of Edith Walters Walker, the actress, adopted by Creede over a years ago, is in the care of his friends at Escondido.”