BROADBENT, Henry 1867-1943

BROADBENT, ROBINSON, WOORE, YOUNG

Posted By: Joe Conroy (email)
Date: 3/24/2011 at 15:57:13

Waterloo Daily Courier
Waterloo, Iowa
20 Sep 1943
Page 3

Man Found Dead In Closet With Shot Thru Head

Henry Broadbent Death Is Listed as Suicide; Had Been in Ill Health.

Coroner Sidney D. Smith Monday listed as suicide the death of Henry Broadbent, 75, retired carpenter, who was found with a bullet wound in the head at 9:10 a.m. Sunday in a closet in the home of his daughter, Mrs. H. E. Robinson, 307 East Tenth street.

His .32-40 rifle was on the floor beside him. He had been despondent for some time because of ill health.

Mrs. Robinson had heard no shot. The door to the closet, off the kitchen, was closed only by a curtain; but clothing hanging in the closet is believed to have muffled the noise.

Seen at 6 A. M.

His daughter had spoken to him as he lay in bed in a downstairs room at 6 a.m. She had then gone upstairs. She found the body when she went to the closet to deposit some laundry.

Her husband was away on a hunting trip.

Blood was still spurting from the wound when Broadbent's daughter found him. She called the Kearns ambulance. The man was dead when the ambulance arrived.

Henry Broadbent was born on a farm in Bennington township, Black Hawk county, Iowa, on Oct. 31, 1867, the son of Benjamin and Eliza Jane Broadbent.

On Sept. 5, 1895, he married Mrs. Cora Mae Woore on a farm in Mt. Vernon township.

Retired Year Ago.

They came to Waterloo 40 years ago and he had followed the carpenter's trade until he retired about a year ago.

A year ago he became ill with hardening of the arteries and complications and moved to the home of his son-in-law and daughter. Prior to that he had lived at 132 Elmwood avenue.

Surviving are the daughter in Waterloo and two grandchildren, Joyce Young, Washington, D. C., and Richard Young, of the submarine division of the navy.

The body was taken to Kearns Garden chapel, where funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday by Rev. Gilbert S. Cox, pastor of the First Methodist church. Burial will be at Dunkerton, Ia.