Lloyd Edward Elkin 1870-1933

ELKIN, OPELT, ROETMAN

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 9/29/2010 at 20:46:06

L. E. Elkin Killed by “Unloaded” Gun
Was Repairing Sight of Rifle in Work Shop
Son, Howard, 19, Was Holding Gun While Father Filed Sight

Lloyd E. Elkin, 62, was accidentally shot and killed yesterday afternoon [March 29, 1933] at their farm home six miles southwest of Estherville. Mr. Elkin and his son Howard, 19, were repairing the sight on a .22 Savage rifle. Both had tried out the gun before starting work by pointing it out the door of the work shop and snapping the trigger. It was known to have been empty Sunday night and neither of them broke the gun to look for a bullet.

After filing the sight, Mr. Elkin looked across it, handed it to Howard, who in turn looked through the sight and declared it better.

“Hold it up for me, Howard,” Mr. Elkin asked, “And I’ll try to fix it a little better.” Howard set the butt of the rifle on the end of the work bench and his father leaning over it pressed down on the sight with his file. It was a gun in which the hammer pulled straight back and the push was strong enough to discharge a bullet that really was there.

Mr. Elkin lived but a short time after the bullet entered his brain, just back of the left ear.

The tragedy occurred at three-thirty and he passed away at four forty-five. Mr. Elkin’s only words after the bullet struck him were, “Oh, I’m all right. Don’t worry about me,” which he repeated several times. He first fell forward on his face, then slipped backward and leaned up against an anvil in the shop. Howard and the other sons and wife whom Howard called carried Mr. Elkin into the house. Fred Sternberg, county coroner, was called and brought the wounded man in his ambulance to the Coleman hospital. He passed away just as they arrived at the hospital.

The Elkin family have resided in this community for 8 years, farming part of the time and recently living in Estherville. On March 1 of last years they moved to their present home. Three of the boys, Harry, Roland and Howard were working on the farm with their father. The oldest boy Marshall C. Elkin lives at Dolliver, one daughter Mrs. Emily Roetman at Lake Park, and another, Mrs. Eva Opelt near Estherville. A son, Clifford, died in 1900.

Members of the Elkin family have been very close and devoted to each other and the household is broken and grief-stricken by the tragedy. The discharge of the gun was declared entirely accidental by Coroner Fred Sternberg, but the youth who was the unwitting partner in the tragedy is crushed in his sorrow.

Funeral services for Mr. Elkin will be held Saturday afternoon at two-thirty from the Christian church. Rev. A. L. Ragsdale of Eldora, former pastor of the church, will be here and will have charge of the services.

Mr. Elkin was born Oct. 7, 1870 at Homer, Ill. (Vindicator and Republican, Estherville, IA, March 30, 1933)

L. E. Elkin Local Farmer Accidently Shot Repairing Gun

L. E. Elkin, a farmer residing south of Superior and about six miles south west of this city, was accidently shot last Wednesday evening when a 22-guage rifle was accidently discharged and the bullet lodged in the base of Mr. Elkin’s brain.

It seems they had used the rifle and found the sites needed adjustment. They snapped the hammer down on the gun two or three times and concluded it was not loaded. Mr. Elkin fixed the sights and looked them over. The son also examined them. As one son was putting the rifle down the hammer hit the edge of the bench and the shell explode, the ball taking effect behind the left ear.

Coroner Sternborg was summoned along with medical aid. Mr. Elkin was rushed to the Coleman hospital and died about an hour later on the X-Ray table.

The accident was a terrible one and under the conditions the family were greatly grieved. No inquest was held as there was no doubt of it being an accident and an exceedingly sad one for the family. Mr. Elkin has resided here for the past seven years and has a host of friends in this neighborhood.

The deceased leaves a wife and three sons at home. Marshall, another son, resides near Dolliver and two daughters, Mrs. Eva Opelt of this city and Mrs. Roetman of Lake Park to mourn his untimely death.

The funeral services were held from the Christian Church Saturday afternoon, the Rev. Ragsdale officiating. The remains were laid to rest in Oak Hill cemetery. (Estherville Enterprise, Estherville, IA, April 5, 1933)