Maverick Journalist Takes His Own Life
By ROBERT WELLER, AP
ASPEN, Colo. (Feb. 21) - While Hunter S. Thompson's suicide shocked many in his out-of-the-way neighborhood, one of his closest friends said Monday the writer had been in a lot of pain after a broken leg and hip surgery.
''I wasn't surprised,'' said George Stranahan, a former owner of the Woody Creek Tavern, one of Thompson's favorite hangouts. ''I never expected Hunter to die in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him.''
Thompson was found dead in his home Sunday night from a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted, said Joe DiSalvo, a spokesman for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities refused to say whether a note was found, but a family statement said Thompson had taken his own life. His adult son, Juan, found his body Sunday evening.
Investigators recovered the weapon, a .45-caliber handgun. An autopsy was planned. DiSalvo said the investigation was continuing but declined to elaborate.
Neighbors in Thompson's Woody Creek neighborhood said a broken leg had kept him from getting out as often as in the past, including to the tavern.
But Shep Harris, who now owns the tavern, said Thompson would sometimes slip in for a drink and a smoke if no one else was there.
Patrons normally are not allowed to light up because the tavern does not have a separate smoking area, but if Thompson were the only customer, he got a waiver.
''We called it the Hunter Rule,'' Harris said.
A "Gonzo" Life
''Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist.''
-- Hunter Thompson
His Books
· 'Hell's Angels'
· 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'
· 'Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72'
· 'The Great Shark Hunt'
See List | Read Reviews
Sources: AP, eonline.com, New York Times, Washington Post
Mike Cleverly, a neighbor and longtime friend, spent Friday night watching a basketball game on TV with Thompson. He said Thompson was clearly hobbled by the broken leg. ''Medically speaking, he's had a rotten year,'' he said.
But he added that ''he's the last person in the world I would have expected to kill himself. I would have been less surprised if he had shot me.''
Thompson was legendary for his love of firearms.
''He had a thing about guns,'' said Mary Eshbaugh Hayes, an acquaintance and a former editor of the Aspen Times. ''I was always very worried he was going to shoot someone.''
He did, at least once. In 2000, he accidentally slightly wounded his assistant trying to chase a bear off his property.
In His Words
Thompson, 1981 | AP
"I'd blown my mind, couldn't work. So finally I just started jerking pages out of my notebook and numbering them and sending them to the printer." -- About an article he wrote for Scanlan's magazine
"You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it.''
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- A slogan of Thompson's
"There is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for a while.'' -- In a writing about the former vice president
Sources: The New York Times, AP, Reuters
Hayes said she was present when a drunken Thompson fired three shots into a copy of one of his books and gave it to a friend, saying, ''This is your autographed copy.''
Despite the gunfire and the wild, drug-addled image he projected in his writing, Thompson was on good terms with the sheriff's department and was friends with Sheriff Bob Braudis and with DiSalvo, the sheriff's director of investigations.
''I would definitely call him a friend,'' DiSalvo said. ''This was not the way I expected Hunter to die.''
By ROBERT WELLER, AP
ASPEN, Colo. (Feb. 21) - While Hunter S. Thompson's suicide shocked many in his out-of-the-way neighborhood, one of his closest friends said Monday the writer had been in a lot of pain after a broken leg and hip surgery.
''I wasn't surprised,'' said George Stranahan, a former owner of the Woody Creek Tavern, one of Thompson's favorite hangouts. ''I never expected Hunter to die in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him.''
Thompson was found dead in his home Sunday night from a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted, said Joe DiSalvo, a spokesman for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities refused to say whether a note was found, but a family statement said Thompson had taken his own life. His adult son, Juan, found his body Sunday evening.
Investigators recovered the weapon, a .45-caliber handgun. An autopsy was planned. DiSalvo said the investigation was continuing but declined to elaborate.
Neighbors in Thompson's Woody Creek neighborhood said a broken leg had kept him from getting out as often as in the past, including to the tavern.
But Shep Harris, who now owns the tavern, said Thompson would sometimes slip in for a drink and a smoke if no one else was there.
Patrons normally are not allowed to light up because the tavern does not have a separate smoking area, but if Thompson were the only customer, he got a waiver.
''We called it the Hunter Rule,'' Harris said.
A "Gonzo" Life
''Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist.''
-- Hunter Thompson
His Books
· 'Hell's Angels'
· 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'
· 'Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72'
· 'The Great Shark Hunt'
See List | Read Reviews
Sources: AP, eonline.com, New York Times, Washington Post
Mike Cleverly, a neighbor and longtime friend, spent Friday night watching a basketball game on TV with Thompson. He said Thompson was clearly hobbled by the broken leg. ''Medically speaking, he's had a rotten year,'' he said.
But he added that ''he's the last person in the world I would have expected to kill himself. I would have been less surprised if he had shot me.''
Thompson was legendary for his love of firearms.
''He had a thing about guns,'' said Mary Eshbaugh Hayes, an acquaintance and a former editor of the Aspen Times. ''I was always very worried he was going to shoot someone.''
He did, at least once. In 2000, he accidentally slightly wounded his assistant trying to chase a bear off his property.
In His Words
Thompson, 1981 | AP
"I'd blown my mind, couldn't work. So finally I just started jerking pages out of my notebook and numbering them and sending them to the printer." -- About an article he wrote for Scanlan's magazine
"You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it.''
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- A slogan of Thompson's
"There is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for a while.'' -- In a writing about the former vice president
Sources: The New York Times, AP, Reuters
Hayes said she was present when a drunken Thompson fired three shots into a copy of one of his books and gave it to a friend, saying, ''This is your autographed copy.''
Despite the gunfire and the wild, drug-addled image he projected in his writing, Thompson was on good terms with the sheriff's department and was friends with Sheriff Bob Braudis and with DiSalvo, the sheriff's director of investigations.
''I would definitely call him a friend,'' DiSalvo said. ''This was not the way I expected Hunter to die.''
