NEWSPAPER & ARCHIVE
Des Moines - FRANK MERRIAM, aged 25, and E. R. CAMPBELL, aged 22, were asphyxiated by illuminating gas in their room at 1435 West Locust Street. The double tragedy, from all appearances, was accidental. The gas jet, which worked very loosely, had been left partly open, apparently in the act of turning it off carelessly.
The room occupied by CAMPBELL and MERRIAM was fifteen by twelve feet in dimensions. It was a front room with windows on two sides, but all the windows were closed. The young men were discovered dead in bed at 8 o'clock a.m. by the landlady, Mrs. C. Reynolds, who immediately notified the police. The door of the room had been left unlocked but was tightly closed. The odor of gas was not noticed in the house until morning.
The young men had roomed together for only a month. CAMPBELL came from Paton, Iowa, a year ago and was employed with the Carr-Adams Company. MERRIAM is the son of G. D. Merriam of Shannon City, Iowa. He was employed here with the Brown-Herley Hardware Company. Both were bookkeepers and neither had the handling of any money for the firm.
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