NICHOLS, John 1907-1942

NICHOLS, DONALDSON, TEISINGER, AVERY, SANDERSON

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 3/30/2015 at 23:58:52

[Waterloo Daily Courier, Friday, November 27, 1942, Waterloo, Iowa]

MAN SPURNED BY TAVERN PIANIST TAKES OWN LIFE

Drinks Poison While She Sits Near; Dies 20 Minutes Later in Hospital

His attentions spurned by an attractive tavern pianist, John Nichols, 35, of 725 Sycamore street, drank from a bottle of poison while sitting in a booth at the Ace Tavern, 112 West Fifth Street, at 6:10 p.m. Thursday and died 20 minutes later at Presbyterian Hospital, where he was rushed by ambulance.

Nichols, who had a wife, Goldie, a mental patient for several years at the Black Hawk County Home, had known Mrs. Helen Brooks, 615 West Eighth Street, the pianist at the Ace, for only about three weeks, Mrs. Brooks said.

Coroner Sidney D. Smith ruled the Thanksgiving night death a suicide by poisoning and said no inquest would be held.

Relatives and acquaintances said he had often threatened to commit suicide in recent weeks. Mrs. Brooks said he had come into the tavern, where she was sitting in a booth with friends, had shown her the bottle and had gone to another booth, where he drank the poison.

Mrs. Brooks, who said she was "terribly sorry," declared she had no idea of the man's intent. "He had taken me home only a couple of times, but was always watching me and following me," she explained. "He wanted me to marry him, but I refused, because I did not care for him."

Nichols, who had been employed at the Cohn Bros, junk yard, 911 Commercial Street, had been rejected by selective service because of a bad heart, relatives said.

He was born March 26, 1907, at Decorah, Ia., the son of Henry E. and Ella Donaldson Nichols, and came to Waterloo 25 years ago. He married Goldie Teisinger in Waterloo in 1927.

Survivors, besides the widow, are his mother, now Mrs. Floyd Avery, 725½ Sycamore Street; his father, 127 West Eighth Street; a brother, Edward Nichols, 725½ Sycamore Street; two sisters, Martha Nichols, Woodward, Ia., and Mrs. Dorothy Sanderson, 725½ Sycamore Street; a stepsister, Miss Pearl Avery, also at home; and a grandmother, Mrs. Abigail Donaldson, 1521 Black Hawk Street.

One brother and one sister preceded him in death.

The body was taken to Kearns Garden Chapel.

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[Waterloo Daily Courier, Sunday, November 29, 1942, Waterloo, Iowa]

Funeral services for John Nichols, 35, of 725½ Sycamore Street, who took his life with poison Thursday, will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Kearns Garden chapel by Dr. R. T. Ketcham, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church.

Burial will be in Hillcrest Cemetery. Casket bearers will be Maney Mapes, Joseph Ryan, Dick Guernsey, Clark Smith, Max Downs and John Downs.

Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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