Did London commit suicide?

Several books and encyclopedia state that he did. This claim was made by London's good friend George Sterling, and was published by Irving Stone in Sailor on Horseback in 1938. Consequently, the point was made in so many later books and reference articles that it was accepted as true. In later years, scholars debated the point, and a pharmacologist, Alfred Shivers, wrote an essay disputing Stone's evidence. Most agree that he was mortally ill around the time of his death. Whether he may have taken a dose of morphine or not, and whether he accidentally overdosed, is still under discussion.