A.W. WALDO

WALDO, NASH

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 2/5/2002 at 17:25:04

Decatur County Journal
October 22, l9l4

A.W. WALDO, about 80 years of age, an inmate
of the County Home
southeast of Leon, shot himself Monday
afternoon shortly before 4
o'clock. He was dead when found, death
having resulted instantly.

MR. WALDO had been in poor health for years
and of late his suffering
had been great. This is given in a note left
by him as the cause of his
self destruction. Superintendent E.L. Shira
was at work on some curbing
in front of the building and workmen were
also busy finishing up the new
addition that is being constructed when the
shot was fired. The shot
was not noticed by them owing to the noise
being made about the new
portion of the home. J.W. Sell, of Leon, who
was working on the new
building said later, he had heard a report
that was without doubt the
shot fired by MR. WALDO, but he did not think
of it being anything of
that nature at that time owing to the
frequent crash of building
materials about the structure. The body of
MR. WALDO was discovered by
GEORGE NASH, another inmate, who hurried to
Mr. Shira stating that he
believed MR. WALDO was dead. Mr. Shira ran
to the room occupied by MR.
WALDO and found him lying on the bed. He
rolled him over and as he did
so the revolver dropped from the dead man's
hand and he discovered a
bullet hole just over the right ear. Mr.
Shira summoned Dr. H.R.
Layton, of Leon, the County Coroner, who made
an investigation, and
decided that an inquest was not necessary.

Mr. Shira was not aware that a fire arm of
any kind was in the
possession of any of the inmates so he
started an immediate
investigation and found that GEORGE NASH, a
year or so before, had a
revolver in his possession, unknown to the
superintendent and that he
had traded it to MR. WALDO for a watch. MR.
WALDO had immediately
placed the weapon in his trunk where it had
since remained. On the
afternoon of the suicide, MR. NASH said that
he had helped MR. WALDO
enter his room and had then gone away. A
short time later he had gone
to the room and found MR. WALDO lying dead.
The dead man had written a
note stating that his suffering was greater
than he could bear. The
note read as follows:

To Whom It May Concern:

I do this deed to get rid of my great
suffering. It is too much for me
to bear. For the past six months I have been
growing worse.
God will not hold me guilty. A.W. WALDO.

Relatives in Des Moines were notified of the
death by Mr. Shira, but
they stated that they were not able to take
charge of the funeral. Rev.
C.W. Reeder, of Leon, was notified and he
took the matter up with the
members of the Baptist Church, of which
organization MR. WALDO was a
member, and enough money was furnished to pay
the expense of burial in
the Leon Cemetery. The remains were
accordingly placed in the Leon
Cemetery by the side of his wife. The
funeral services being conducted
by Rev. C.W. Reeder.

MR. WALDO had become an inmate of the county
home about eight years ago
following the death of his wife and had since
remained there.
MR. and MRS. WALDO resided for some time in
the small house that stood
just a short distance east of the ice house
at the Caster Lake.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
*For Lynnea (Bullock) Dickinson
February 2, 2002