DENEUI, John 1902-1922

DENEUI

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 2/1/2015 at 14:02:36

John DeNeui Killed By Accident Last Saturday

A Shotgun Was Accidentally Discharged And He Was Shot Thru The Heart

Community Mourns His Death

Accident Happened When Gun Fell From Mower Near His Home North of Wellsburg

One of the saddest accidents that has happened in this county for a long time was the accidental death of John deNeui, a young man of 20 years, who was killed from the discharge of a shotgun last Saturday afternoon near his home, one and a half miles northwest of Wellsburg.

The particulars as we learn them are that John was mowing weeds along the highway and was carrying a shotgun to shoot chicken-hawks, etc. He had stopped the team and gotten off his seat on the mower to remove a clog of the sickle-bar, and as he was in the act of remounting his seat the gun was accidentally dropped from the seat where it was carried and fell in such a manner as to be discharged, the entire load striking the young man just above the heart, killing him instantly.

The accident happened about 2:45 Saturday afternoon. There were no eye-witnesses to what happened, but a party working in a field nearby heard the report of the gun and noticing that John was not on the mower, made an investigation and found the young man lying near the mower, dead.

The sad and untimely death of this splendid young man has cast sorrow over the entire community where he was widely known.

Born on the farm near Wellsburg, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John deNeui, highly respected residents of Shiloh township. There are left to mourn his death besides his parents, two older and one younger brother, and two sisters, the eldest, Miss Flora, being a nurse at the Deaconess hospital in Marshalltown.

John was a splendid young man, ambitious and of clean habits and excellent character. He was an active worker in the young people's society of the English Reformed church of Wellsburg, a student of the Wellsburg high school and a member of the Wellsburg band, playing the trombone in the band.

Funeral services were held from the English Reformed church in Wellsburg Tuesday afternoon and were largely attended by sympathizing neighbors and friends of the family.

--The Grundy Republican (Grundy Center, Iowa), 21 September 1922, pg 1