William B. Frankenberry

FRANKENBERRY

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 5/18/2016 at 19:02:07

27 November 1924 - The Tipton Advertiser

Driven to Suicide By Intense Pain

William B. Frankenberry of Stanwood Ends Life by Drowning Last Sunday Morning

Suffering intensely from burns received in an accidental explosion a few days previous Wm. Frankberry of Stanwood ended his life by drowning at an early hour last Sunday morning. His wife heard him stirring about the house about three o'clock that morning. She awoke a few hours later to find him missing and a short search resulted in finding his dead body in an open well on the premises. He had tied a rope around his body, and lowered himself into the well where he was drowned.

Coroner McCormick was summoned and after an investigation of the facts in the case decided that a formal inquest was not necessary. The deceased left a note which told plainly of his intent to kill himself. It read as follows: "Well, I don't think I can stand to suffer another week like I have and I don't think I ever will be well so I might as well be done with it. It is pretty hard to get burned this way when you need all your strength and I don't deserve this kind of punishment. I know the way I feel that I won't pull through, so why suffer a week or so longer and then die anyway. The pain I am suffering right now is so severe I can't describe it. I don't do this because I want to, but I just can't stand it any longer and no doctor can do anything for me. Hold the services in joy. W. H. F."

The deceased is survived by his wife and a son and daughter. The family came to Stanwood recently from Hope, Ill. and Mr. Frankenberry and his son opened a machine shop. The body was taken to the former home for burial.

The accident in which he was burned was told in last week's Herald as follows:

Early Monday morning, Wm. Frankenberry was badly burned while lighting the fire in the kitchen stove at the residence on the south side. As was his usual custom, he poured kerosene in the stove to start the fire. It is supposed there were live coals still left from the day before. In an instant, the kerosene exploded, the burning fluid covering his face and chest. He was very severely burned about the chest and neck, and suffered some burns on his face. A physician was promptly summoned and the burns given medical attention. At last reports Mr. Frankenberry was resting well, but will be incapacitated for a long time to come.