Harry Clay Eyer
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, March 4, 1936Born: c. 1871
Died: March 3, 1936
Married: no
Harry C. Eyer cured at 89 Park Avenue from 1921 until near his death by suicide in 1936. He was a founder of the village of East Rochester and the former president of the First National Bank of that village. Earlier in his life he was a big game hunter.
He is said to have arranged his suicide to publicize the TB sanatoria of Saranac Lake.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, March 4, 1936
Shotgun Suicide of East Rochester Banker Staged to Stress Saranac Lake Camp Cure
Careful Plans Made On His Death by Elderly Victim
Harry Clay Eyer, who deliberately dramatized his death to publicize Saranac Lake, will be buried tomorrow near East Rochester where he rose to prominence and affluence years ago.
When a single gunshot broke the early morning quiet on the fifth floor of a downtown hotel yester day, it meant that the 72 year-old financier, naturalist and big game hunter had realized his obsession of two years to die by his own hand in order to turn the eyes of the world toward the health building institutions of the Northern Adirondacks.
He had planned his death meticulously.
Before he turned the muzzle of a shotgun to his chest and pulled the trigger, he had put his papers in perfect order in the hotel room. His body was found on the bathroom floor, beneath it a folded bathrobe, under his head a folded towel, even his clothing was folded across the bed, carefully, obviously to afford investigators and his attorney the least possible trouble.
Left Orders in Notes
To that attorney, Earl P. Case, he had directed one note, detailing steps to be taken after his death; to the coroner, Dr. David H. Atwater, who issued a certificate of suicide while temporarily insane. He left another asking the medico-legal county official to "dispose of the gun" to the family of his late friend Burton J. Fryatt, East Rochester, a third note.
Even the maid was not forgotten. He left her a note pinned to a $10 bill, asking her to "clean up" the room.
At his written request, the funeral will be held Thursday (March 5, 1936) from the Fryatt home, 901 Main Street East, Rochester. He asked that flowers be omitted. Burial, also by his request, will be in Oakwood Cemetery Penfield.
Mr. Eyer had flown from Miami to New York on Saturday, and apparently had taken a late train from New York on Monday night which arrived in Rochester about 6 o'clock yesterday morning.
He registered at the hotel by his first and middle names, "Harry Clay." In the note he left his Attorney Case, he said he did so to prevent his friends from disturbing him.
Telephoned Lawyer
Promptly on his arrival, he telephoned Mr. Case to come to his room immediately. The attorney hurried, but Eyer was dead when he arrived. The single-shot sawed-off shotgun was tied to the door knob so that the philanthropist could turn it on himself and reach the trigger.
Prominent in the room were stacks of articles to be used as testimonials, according to his directions, to the benefits of Saranac Lake institutions.
His instructions were that the articles and copies of his picture be sent to 60 newspapers upon his death.
The detailed instructions to the attorney included Mr. Eyers will.
Born and reared in Cocoa, Fla.. Mr. Eyer engaged in citrus fruit growing and water front real estate developments.
While young, in 1907, he came to East Rochester where he lived until 1916. He established and became president of the First National Bank of East Rochester, constructed the Eyer Block, the Rialto Theater, and generally was associated with the late Miss Kate Gleason, Rochester's famous woman engineer and manufacturer, in the industrial development of that community.
When the United States entered the World War, Mr. Eyer, wishing to participate but being more than 50 years old, obtained the influence of Senator Warren G. Harding and went across. There he was incapacitated, and, returning, spent several years at Saranac Lake.
There he was cured of tuberculosis, and the cure bred the affection for the place which was to direct his later life and finally his death.
Adventure in startling quantities went with him on his trips. He spent years exploring and hunting big game in the upper branches of the Amazon in South America, and in India and Africa.
He collected large venomous snakes in the East Indies, and hunted in Africa, once killing an elephant which had just killed his gun bearer's father.
In later years most of his time was spent in founding institutions and creating benefactions for children, especially those afflicted with tuberculosis.
He never married. He is survived by a sister, Kate Eyer, and a half sister, Olive Holmes, both of Cocoa, Fla.
Message Eyer Prepared for Press
While facing the crisis of my life, I desire to say something calculated to help and cheer others who may be in a somewhat similar position to that I occupied thirteen years ago.
During the World War I was anxious to go over-seas, and was finally given an opportunity of serving in France. I underwent an examination by a good doctor, and was passed. I probably deceived this man somewhat by stating that I felt fit and ready for service. This physician did not have the trained ear of the expert. An expert would have known at once that I had tuberculosis.
I went to France, and have received credit that I do not deserve. It was my associates who rendered the real service. I was sick, I had tuberculosis and did not know it. I was also suffering from this other trouble which is now giving the doctors serious concern.
After my return to the United States examinations and X-rays made by a prominent Rochester doctor revealed active tuberculosis in both lungs. Later I was advised to go to Saranac Lake, which I did. I weighed 125 pounds. Within a year and a half I weighed 175 pounds, and my physician informed me I could live anywhere I saw fit, as my tuberculosis was completely arrested. I have visited many places where tuberculosis is treated, including most of the important cures throughout the United States and Switzerland, and I now regard Saranac Lake as the greatest cure of all; not wholly because of the marvelous new methods now in use there, but the climatic advantages are doubtless very helpful and important.
It is not strange that thousands of people flock to this section during both Summer and Winter. Not all are interested in the Summer pastimes or Winter sports: some are sick, many not dangerously ill but they need something they cannot get at home and they find it. One tastes it as one rises from the lower levels.
I have returned to this friendly little city among the mountains many times, and have made it my permanent home. I love the Balsam, Spruce and Pine—the clean air and the agreeable altitude. This is the spot selected by Dr. Trudeau for his battle against tuberculosis.
One will find in Saranac Lake physicians so capable and fine, they will win your confidence at once, physicians who as young graduates of our finest medical colleges, and suffering from tuberculosis, went to Saranac Lake, regained their health, studied under Doctor Trudeau, using the best of his discoveries and methods, adding to this from year to year the result of most scientific research carried on at Trudeau laboratory.
From my own observation while living in Saranac Lake, meeting many new patients, I am convinced that in incipient cases the average doctor is unable to detect the faint rale that tells the story plainly when heard by expert physicians who are listening to hundreds of chests.
I was feeling badly for several years, examined by many doctors— but not one discovered my trouble, until this doctor in Rochester, who cured in Saranac Lake, stethoscoped me and instantly knew my condition. He advised me to go to Saranac Lake. Within a few hours I was on my way, and I have never regretted it; for I spent some of the happiest years of my life in this little town. Remarkable as it may seem, my fight against tuberculosis was won while I was suffering from the chronic aliment that has just brought me to Rochester.
Tireless research by scientific men and skilled surgeons has resulted in lung surgery and other successful methods for the treatment of tuberculous patients— I am of the opinion that two of the greatest lung surgeons in the world practice in Saranac Lake. I could give you many instances of marvelous recoveries.
Picture, if you will, three young men on a hunting trip, calling for physical endurance—one a thoracoplastic case, another a pneumothorax case, the other restored by the phrenic operation—all of them having the time of their lives, with no thought of tuberculosis.
To you who feel tired without any apparent reason, or if you notice a loss in weight, don't be alarmed—take a little trip to Saranac Lake. Consult any one of the recognized doctors; he will discover the slightest trouble in your chest; tuberculosis cannot get by under the perfect tests now used in Saranac Lake. Often there is but little trouble which should be easily arrested saving time, expense and suffering;. This is the work of the expert. This is what you may expect at Saranac Lake.
|
A newspaper matrix left in his hotel room by Harry C. Eyer was used to reprint this message extolling Saranac. Eyer had many matrices of the article made for distribution to newspapers after his death, hoping this would result in their use. |
Comments
