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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 07/10/2003 5:24:07 AM PDT by Dog Gone
GRAPEVINE, Texas— A member of the Stroh beer family plummeted to his death early Wednesday when a rope of sheets he had fashioned to climb down from a 10th-story hotel balcony failed to hold, police said.
Charles Suddards Stroh, 43, of Addison died about 3:30 a.m. at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office reported.
Police said Stroh had been staying at the Embassy Suites Outdoor World in Grapevine since early July, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition Wednesday. Bill Bretches, general manager for the hotel, declined to comment.
Stroh was a member of the family famous for brewing beer in Michigan, William Penner, a Michigan attorney who handled the victim's affairs, told the newspaper.
Grapevine police responded to a call about an intoxicated guest at the hotel about 1:20 a.m., police reports show.
"He had made repeated telephone calls down to the hotel desk reporting a bank robbery and other nonsensical things," said Grapevine Police Sgt. Bob Murphy. "They kept telling him not to call back."
Police said Stroh was polite and cooperative but drunk, and told officers he believed someone wanted to kill him. After talking to officers, Stroh agreed to stay in his hotel room and not to call the front desk any more, police reports show.
But as officers were leaving the hotel just before 2:30 a.m., they heard something hit the canopy above the entrance, then saw Stroh on the ground with the bedding next to him.
The Stroh Brewery Co. was founded by Bernhard Stroh in 1850 in Detroit, which was home to hundreds of breweries between 1830 and 1990. Stroh's downtown brewery closed in 1985 and the family sold the beer business by 1999.
Would this be a beer chaser?
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Maybe they did.
"And it's me, it's me, wheeeeeeeeee!"
Hoisted (at least for a little while) on his own petard.
If you want on or off this list, please let me know!
Leading contender for 2003 Darwin award of year!
It's no wonder Stroh's couldn't make a go of it making something as simple as beer.
Charles Suddards Stroh. Rest in peace.It appears he had consumed too many Suds last night.
Heir to Stroh's beer founder falls to his death in Grapevine07/10/2003
An heir to the founder of Stroh's beer fell to his death early Wednesday as he tried to climb out of his 10th-floor Grapevine hotel room.
Police said Charles Suddards Stroh, 43, fell after a rope he made out of bed linens slipped from a balcony railing as he tried to lower himself 90 feet to the ground.
Mr. Stroh was taken by helicopter ambulance to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Employees at the Grapevine Embassy Suites hotel called police about 1 a.m. after Mr. Stroh repeatedly called the front desk. Two officers talked with Mr. Stroh for about a half-hour, and he promised to stop his calls and go to bed, officials said.
The officers reported that Mr. Stroh was intoxicated, Grapevine police Sgt. Bob Murphy said.
"Had he been out on the street in that condition, he would have gone to jail," Sgt. Murphy said. "But he was inside of his hotel room."
He said that Mr. Stroh was polite to the officers.
"He thanked the officers for talking to him and asked for their business cards," he said.
As the officers walked out of the hotel, they heard a yell and a thud and found Mr. Stroh outside the hotel.
Sgt. Murphy said police were investigating the case as an accidental death because "there was nothing suicidal" about Mr. Stroh's behavior.
Mr. Stroh did seem "rather paranoid," Sgt. Murphy said. "He felt sure someone was out to kill him.
He knew some information about a bank robbery, but [he said] he couldn't tell officers about it.
Some woman was supposed to be coming by his hotel room, and he didn't want the officers to be there."
The two Grapevine officers contacted police in Addison – where Mr. Stroh had lived in another hotel room – about whether they had come in contact with the man.
Addison authorities said calls involving Mr. Stroh were alcohol-related, Sgt. Murphy said.
Sgt. Murphy said William Penner, a representative of the Stroh family in Detroit, told Grapevine police that Mr. Stroh, who apparently had lived in hotels for the last decade, had had a drinking problem for several years.
Mr. Penner handled all of Mr. Stroh's financial matters, including reserving and paying in advance for his hotel rooms, Sgt. Murphy said.
"He told us over the last 10 years, he's been in and out of rehab ... and he could never seem to get dry and sober," Sgt. Murphy said.
Mr. Penner said Mr. Stroh was not married and had no children. He said he never worked in the family's brewery business, which was founded by Bernard Stroh in 1850 and sold to Pabst in 1999.
Mr. Penner said Charles Stroh moved to Texas at least 10 years ago.
E-mail scrawford@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/071003dnmetstroh.722d5eae.html
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