John S. Trowbridge 1853-1900

TROWBRIDGE

Posted By: Joe Conroy (email)
Date: 7/26/2010 at 19:32:36

Carroll Sentinel
Carroll, Iowa
6 Aug 1900
Page 3

Committed Suicide.

John S. Trowbridge Kills Himself in a Fit of Temporary Insanity.

The National house in this city was the scene of a terrible tragedy yesterday, in which John S. Trowbridge, brother of our county treasurer, placed a bullet in his brain, resulting in his instant death. The body was discovered about 9:30 last night and a coroner's jury was summoned, which broughy out the following facts:

One witness said that he roomed across the hall and that after he heard of finding the body he remembered hearing something like a pistol shot about 11 o'clock Sunday morning, but paid no further attention to it. This is the only evidence introduced to show at what time the shot was fired. Joe Hutter, the proprietor of the hotel, testified that he called Mr. Trowbridge for breakfast in the morning, but he did not come down. Shortly afterward he and his wife went to Willey and did not return until the evening. During the day the girls tried to get into the room to do the chamber work, but the door was locked. In the evening Mr. Hutter wanted to put someone in the room for the night and went up about 9 o'clock to arrange for this. he could not open the door and climbed up to look through the transom. Seeing a body lying partly on the floor and against the bed he went at once for the sheriff, thinking something was wrong. Sheriff Nestle, Marshal Chambers and Nightmarshal Schmich returned with him to the house and the sheriff climbed through the transom. Unlocking the door the others entered and found the unfortunate man had long before breathed his last. A 32-calibre revolver was on the floor, partly under him, and the bullet that ended his existence had entered the right temple, passed through his head and was lodged just under the skin on the opposite side. Death must have been almost instantaneous. The coroner was summoned and about 10:30 last night summoned a jury, consisting of I. N. Griffith, Philip Zerwas and John Chambers. After hearing the evidence they found that "The deceased came to his death from a revolver shot fired by his own hand."

The deceased was forty-seven years of age, had been married twenty-one years, and leaves a wife and five small children to mourn his dreadful act. The children are all boys, the oldest being about twenty years of age and the youngest eight. For a long time the family have known that he was subject to temporary fits of abstraction, and it was doubtless while thus suffering that he killed himself. Only last week his brother consulted with physicians and the insane commission as to the advisability of placing him in an asylum. His wife, however, dreaded this alternative, so nothing was done. A short time ago he took a pony which Will had given to one of the boys and rode away, being gone five days. He returned without the pony and said he had given it to some children and had sold the saddle. His brother Will has looked after him and his family for twenty years. Three years ago Will had them come out to Calhoun county to a farm he then owned. After he sold that they moved to his farm northeast of town. The bereaved wife is a noble, hardworking woman, and the boys are all bright and capable. They have the sympathy of all in their terrible misfortune.