Lund, Spencer (1879-1908)

LUND

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 10/26/2016 at 11:00:36

Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa, Friday, September 18, 1908

SPENCER LUND OF STRATFORD SUICIDES!

Dead Body of Youngest Brother of County Clerk Lund is Found in Empty House Near Stratford.

NO CAUSE KNOWN FOR ACT

Left a Note Saying "I Have Committed Suicide" - Coroner Will Investigate

(From Wednesday's Daily).
The citizens of Stratford and vicinity were greatly shocked this morning to find the dead body of Spencer Lund, a young man about thirty years old, lying in an old deserted house on the farm where he lived with his brother, two and a half miles east of Stratford. The young man committed the awful deed by taking a dose of strychnine.

The dead man had left a note at the house saying, "I have committed suicide." The note was found by his brother this morning, who immediately began searching for the body, which he later found in the old abandoned house. The note contained nothing but the mere statement above and gave no cause for the rash act.

Deceased is the youngest brother of County Clerk F.J. Lund of this city, who, upon receiving word of his brother's suicide this morning at about 9:30 o'clock, started for Stratford in company with Dr. W. W. Wyatt, county coroner.

The house in which the body of the young man was found is an old structure and had been abandoned - the family residing upon the place living in another house some distance from the old one. So far as we are able to learn, Mr. Lund had no troubles, material or mental, which would lead him to take his own life, and unless the coroner's investigation brings something to light this afternoon, the cause for the terrible deed will probably remain a mystery.

(From Thursday's Daily).
Coroner Wyatt held an inquest over the remains of the late Spencer Lund at Stratford yesterday and found that the deceased had ended his own life by taking strychnine. The rash act was committed on account of failing health. This is the only possible reason he could have had and the evidence brought out at the inquest all went to prove this theory. A note found by the body of the dead man, in his own handwriting, stated that he had taken his life by his own act on account of failing health. He had been troubled for several years with stomach trouble and suffered much pain which at times seemed almost beyond human endurance. It seemed impossible to get relief from the terrible pains which came to him every summer and rather than suffer longer, he took his own life to escape from them.

He was a young man twenty-eight years of age [born in Hamilton County, Iowa December 5, 1879] and a prosperous farmer, owning eighty acres of fine land just east of Stratford. He was a young man of unquestioned integrity and upright character. He possessed a most pleasant and amiable disposition and had a host of warm friends who will mourn his sad and tragic end. The family have the heartfelt sympathy of all who know them.

The funeral services will be held at the house [unreadable] miles east of Stratford, tomorrow afternoon, at 1 o'clock and the remains will be buried in the Oleson cemetery south of Stratford. [South Marion Cemetery]