>At first, Price acted normally, setting up his equipment and preparing his chemicals, but at one point without a word he stepped off to the side, produced a flask, and drank from it. He was dead shortly after, the liquid in the flask proving to be prussic acid that he had made himself and stashed in his coat. It was later found that he had recently written his last will and testament and wrapped up his affairs before this fateful demonstration, showing that he had been planning this suicide for some time. >This death leaves a lot of questions with unclear answers. Did he kill himself because he knew he would fail? If so, why go through all of the effort to set up the demonstration first and then do it? Why not just do it at home and avoid further humiliation? Did he perhaps really believe that he could do it, only to realize at the last moment that he was wrong and doomed to fail? The reason Price killed himelf in this manner is quite simple, when you think about it. He delayed his death to the last possible minute in the hope that something -- anything -- would occur that would allow him to avoid having to admit that he could not make gold.