Letter to the Editor
Malone Evening Telegram
August 1993
by Gerald H. Murtagh, father of Carl Murtagh
Shortly after Carl's death July 1993
OCR'd 10/31/93
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Son Gave A Lot Before His Death
To the editor:
During the past week there has been much speculation in the papers
as to why my son Carl Murtagh took his own life.
I have just received a copy of the police report showing that
Carl's blood alcohol count was .38 (at .10 you are DWI and at .40 you
are dead)l; also a urine alcohol count of .426 (at .10 you are DWI).
This count shows that his body was retaining the alcohol instead of
getting rid of it
The police told me that if Carl had fallen asleep, he would have
died of alcoholic poisoning and that the only way he could have
survived was if he had vomited and got rid of some the alcohol that
way. But, even then, he would probably have sustained extensive brain
damage. They wondered how anyone could reach that blood alcohol level
without passing out first.
I would expect that most of your readers have seen several people
drinking in a bar in a friendly, sociable manner. At some point the
alcohol would hit one of them and he would want to fight. This was
Carl's reaction when he drank to excess.
Now for some background on Carl. When he was a young baby, he
could not tolerate milk, so he was fed on soy-bean drink. He had very
sensitive skin which if touched by nylon or rayon would break out
just as if he had contacted a hot iron. This situation gradually
cleared up with medical help as he grew older.
When he started school, his handwriting was not very good. A
primary teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He
told her a doctor. She said, "You've certainly got the handwriting
for it.n One night he stayed up late and very carefully wrote out his
homework. The next day, the teacher asked him who had done it for him
and refused to believe it was his work. From then on Carl didn't
bother much about his handwriting.
Carl was a natural athlete and very much a team player. In Little
League baseball he had a very strong arm and could throw a strike
from center field to home plate. When he was catching and attempting
to throw out someone stealing second base, he threw so hard that
often the second baseman couldn't hold the ball. He didn't go out for
high school baseball because they spent so much time in conditioning.
He preferred to have his time to fish and hike.
In high school he made the varsity basketball team and after
spending more time in basketball than in class and being given little
or no opportunity to play in the games, he had an argument with the
coach and quit the team and started working in a grocery store
part-time. About this time he started drinking. He was big for his
age and had no diffculty buying alcohol even though he was only
16.
When Carl was about 9 years old, I told him that mowing with the
riding lawn mower would help him in learning to drive the car. After
that I couldn't keep him off the lawn mower. He quickly leamed to
drive the tractors and when he was 14, we let him drive the car in
our back meadow. On his 16th birthday he was waiting for the
courthouse to open to get his learner's permit. Then he got into the
car and drove home with me. One week later he had his driver's
license. He was a responsible driver, never a speeder.
When our children were small, I had a good job that paid enough
that my wife was able to stay home with the children until they were
all in school. When she returned to work, she provided them with the
extras: skating, skiing, swimming, music lessons, skidooing, snowing,
non-stop chauffeuring, and unlimited love. As a family we took trips
to the major cities in the area and spent summers at our camp on
Chateaugay Lake. We were a happy loving family and our children all
turned out to be caring productive citizens.
After high school Carl went to Canton ATC. Our incomes were too
high for student aid, and with our oldest also in college, he took
out a student loan. We offered to help pay off his student loan, but
he declined. While totally supporting himself on a salary that was
limited, he succeeded in paying off his loan without help.
While I was stationed in Montreal, I invited him to join us and
get his electrical engineering degree at McGill. He was too proud and
declined. Just this summer he was accepted at a Utica college to
begin work on his bachelor's degree. His employers told me he was the
best electronic technician they had and he had just been promoted to
supervisor at a $15,000 raise in salary. After living in small basic
apartments for years, he was about to start construction on the log
cabin he had always wanted. He had never had it so good in his life
and it is indeed tragic that he couldn't have lived to enjoy his good
fortune.
Considerable good has already come from his death. Our family has
been drawn closer to God and to each other. We have met some
incredibly caring loving people who reached out to us in our sorrow.
Our neighbors and friends have poured out their kindness and
sympathy. Two carloads of his softball team came to the wake and four
of his co-workers came to the funeral. This was an 8-hour drive
round-trip.
Carl was sober most of the time, but when he started drinking, he
just couldn't seem to stop. Over the years alcohol had been creeping
up on Carl and sometimes taking control. Carl was a big strong man,
but alcohol was stronger. It wasn't the gun that killed; it was the
alcohol.
At 17 he was involved in a fight with 2 or 3 opponents and his
nose was broken with a tire iron. I told him he would have to stop
drinking. He couldn't and I was powerless to stop him.
Despite the tragic end, knowing Carl has been a positive
experience. He did a lot in his short life. Our happy memories far
outweigh the sad ones. The world is a better place because he has
lived. We've known so much of happiness. We've had our cup of joy and
memory is one gift of God that death cannot destroy.
Gerald H. Murtagh
Chateaugay
My own memories of Carl
Carl was very athletic. We often went biking together along with
Warren Prue and Curtis Manchester. He could throw rocks and balls
further than anyone else I knew as well as use a sling quite well. He
liked trapping during the winter, loved eating leeks, and could
sharpen a knife far better than I -- so sharp he could shave with it.
He was one of my best friends from 4th grade through 10th grade. We
were both somewhat independent and marched to the beat of our own
drummers.
Carl was very bright. Mrs Murtagh, his mother and the history
teacher at Chateaugay Central, had both of us take Geometry (10th
grade math) and Trigonometry/Pre-Calc (11th grade math) during our
10th grade at Chateaugay Central. Thus we both caught up to the more
advanced students at a larger nearby high school in preparation for
transferring there. We also took the PSAT's one year in advance of
the normal time as practice so that we could do better the second
time. The next year, we transferred together to Franklin Academy, the
public high school in Malone, NY. Franklin Academy had greater
academic opportunities for us than Chateaugay. We actually got the
best of both schools.
It was during these 2 years at Franklin Academy that our lives
headed in somewhat different directions. Carl became less inclined
academically while I excelled. We spent significantly less time
together although we kept up our friendship to a degree.
At a party after our senior graduation dinner, I recall that Carl
got so drunk that Alicia Lamitie hid his keys from him so that he
would not drive his pickup home. He got rather violent at the time,
but luckily did not injure anyone seriously. It was a scary
incident.
If circumstances had worked out differently I believe Carl could
have made it into an Ivy League school. I was somewhat disappointed
and surprised when he went to Canton ATC. After high school we fell
out of touch.
When I learned of his death, I was very sad that such an
intellectually and athletically talented person, as well as a good
friend, could end up in such a situation. Yet the seeds of his demise
were evident during high school 10 years earlier.
Tim Oey, November 2000
Copyright © 2000 Timothy S. Oey.
Permission granted to reprint or excerpt as long as it is attributed
to Timothy S. Oey.
Last updated 2000/11/24