From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/4/1920, p. 1, c. 2

J. T. ANDERSON MEETS DEATH AT OWN HANDS
Prominent Business and Club Man Fires Contents of Shotgun Into Brain.
DESPONDENT OVER HEALTH
Was General Sales Agent for Tredegar Iron Works, Director of State Fair Association and Horseman of Note.

John T. Anderson, one of the best-known business and club men of Richmond, killed himself instantly yesterday morning in his town residence, 903 West Franklin Street. The death wound was inflicted with a shotgun, the muzzle of which he had placed to his mouth and pressed the trigger with a walking cane.

Contents of two notes left, one to his wife and the other to his brother, Archer Anderson, Jr., are unknown, but it is the theory of his friends and relatives that he became despondent over ill health. He suffered a stroke of paralysis about one year ago.

Mrs. Anderson was at their country home, “Tivoli,” in Orange Couty, at the time, but hurried to the city late last night by automobile. Her son, James Allison, was eating breakfast at the town house at 9 o’clock yesterday morning when he heard the gunshot in his stepfather’s room, and hurried to find Mr. Anderson dead sitting on the edge of the bed. A maid already had reached his side from a room near-by.

Wife Apprised of Tragedy.

Mr. Allison hurried to “Tivoli” in an automobile for his mother. She did not hear of her husband’s death until the arrival of her son.

Mr. Anderson was general sales agent for the Tredegar Iron Works of which his brother, Archer Anderson, Jr., is president. He had just returned from a Western trip in the interest of his company and appeared to be in the best of spirits Thursday afternoon and night. He called at the office of the Virginia Fair Association, of which he was a director, and appeared enthusiastic over plans and prospects for the fall event.

Mr. Anderson was 61 years of age. He remained a bachelor up to thirteen years ago, when he married Mrs. James Allison, who, before her first marriage, was Miss Minnie Jones. Besides his widow, he is survived by his mother, Mrs. Susan Crenshaw, widow of Dr. O. A. Crenshaw, and two sisters, Mrs. Richard Ely, of Madison, Wis., and Mrs. Arther Brown, of Evanston, Ill.

Was Horseman of Note.

Mr. Anderson was one of the directors of the State Fair Association since its organization, and was one of the most active in its support. He was a horseman of note, prominent in Richmond club life, being an active member of the Westmoreland, the Commonwealth, the Country Club of Virginia and the German Club. He spent a large part of his time at “Tivoli,” where Mrs. Anderson was spending the summer at the time of the tragedy.

During the war Mr. Anderson gave valuable service to the Federal government, serving as a dollar-a-year man in departmental advisory work at Washington.

Funeral arrangements will be announced today. Mrs. Anderson arrived at home last night at 9 o’clock.

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