Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1913 — A FORMER PASTOR COMMITS SUICIDE [ARTICLE]

A FORMER PASTOR COMMITS SUICIDE

Rev* Will H. Flagg, Who Was M. P. Pastor Here, Drank Poison and Death Resulted. Rev. Will H. Flagg, formerly pastor of the M 7 P. church in Rensselaer, and a man with many eccentricities, drank an ounce of laudanum last Wednesday night and death resulted Friday afternoon. He was pastor of the M. P. church at Middlefork, Jefferson county. Despondency was the cause of his act. H<? did not fully regain consciousness after he took the poison. He is survived by an aged mother and five children. Rev. Flagg left a note in which he asked that Rev. Picketts, of Shelbyville, officiate at his funeral, and this request was followed. Many Rensselaer people will remember Rev. Flagg, who was a man of considerable ability, but who seemed unable to bring his ability to account. He gave up the ministry for some time while here and engaged in the real estate business. He advertised extensively and brought a number of prospective buyers here but could not close up with them and finally became so bad off financially that he was scarcely able to procure enough to eat. When he arranged to remove from here he disposed of some of his household effects to make payments on his debts and gave notes for the balances, which he was never able to settle. A public subscription was taken up to pay the railroad fare of himself and family to the southern part of the state. He entered the ministry again after leaving Rensselaer some six years ago.