Hans Thomsen

THOMSEN

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 4/7/2016 at 09:46:59

26 June 1924 - The Tipton Advertiser

Farmer Suicides By Strychnine Poisoning

Continued ill health coupled with business worries are thought to have been responsible for the suicide last Friday of Hans Thomsen, a farmer living between Bennett and New Liberty. Coroner McCormick was called to the home and made an official investigation but the facts in the case were all so evident that a formal inquest was not held.

Friday morning Mr. Thomsen made an effort to locate poison which had been kept in the house to kill squirrels but his wife had hidden it and he failed to find it; later he went to a closet and secured a gun but Mrs. Thomsen took it away from him, and he then apparently abandoned his intention to end his life and went to the field.

After dinner he took the car and drove to Bennett where he purchased half an ounce of strychnine. It is supposed he swallowed the poison on the way home, taking nearly half of the contents of the bottle. Arriving at the house he called to his wife to help him from the car. A doctor was called at once but it was too late and he died in a few minutes after reaching the house.

Mr. Thomsen is survived by his wife and four children. He bought the farm on which he lived two years ago, coming there from the neighborhood of Dixon where he lived previously.