Harold JOHNSON

JOHNSON, GALBRAITH, GREIN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/27/2011 at 13:56:38

Kossuth County Advance
Algona, Kossuth County, Iowa
November 14, 1929, p. 1

HAROLD JOHNSON IS VICTIM OF GUN AT MASON CITY

Harold JOHNSON, 30, former Algona and Bancroft resident, died Saturday night [November 12, 1929] at Mason City when the charge from a .410 shotgun struck him under the right ear. It is not known whether he committed suicide, but his relatives believe the discharge was an accident.

The body was brought to Algona, Tuesday, and funeral services were held at the Laird & Reimer chapel, the Rev. C. E. OLSSON in charge, after which burial was made in Riverview Cemetery.

Following the shot, which was heard by Mrs. JOHNSON in another part of the house, an ambulance was called. JOHNSON died on the way to the hospital. His skull was fractured and the shot scattered through the brain. Death should have been instantaneous, but he lived for a few minutes.

JOHNSON had been talking with his wife shortly before the shot was heard, and she says he was in his customary good spirits, and that if he killed himself it must have been in a fit of temporary insanity which came on suddenly.

JOHNSON is a son of Mrs. C. O. JOHNSON, who cared for Mr. and Mrs. John GALBRAITH before their deaths. His father was killed in 1927 when a hayrack tipped over. Two brothers, Chester and Ernest, survive. He was married to Edna GREIN in 1919, and they made their home at Bancroft till two months ago, when they went to Mason City, where Harold had been working for the American Beet Sugar Co. Besides his wife, seven small children survive.

JOHNSON has been in trouble with the law on liquor charges several times in this county, but little had been heard of him in recent months, and it was believed he had settled down.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2011