Olson, Leonard Emil (1885-1927)

OLSON, HOGAN, PARMELY, NEESE, ANDERSON, FARR, HANSON

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 12/12/2020 at 10:52:02

Daily Freeman Journal
Webster City, Iowa
June 23, 1927

STANHOPE MAN TAKES LIFE

Leonard Olson, of Stanhope, Commits Suicide in Boone — Financial Worries.

STANHOPE, Iowa, June 23. (Special) — The body of the late Leonard Olson, who committed suicide Saturday by taking carbolic acid in his room in a Boone hotel (Adix Hotel) was brought here Sunday to the home of his sister, Mrs. Roy Hogan. His wife and three children have been staying here for the past week.

Financial troubles are believed to have been mainly the cause of the suicide. Mr. Olson came down from Minnesota last spring and has been running a hatchery in Boone, which he recently sold at a considerable loss. He left a note asking his wife "not to marry again" and to "keep the children," also stating that he was tired of living.

Leonard Emil Olson was a son of Mr. and Mrs. John [Betty Hanson] Olson of Blue Earth, Minn., and was born in Hamilton county, Iowa, Feb. 13, 1885. He was married to Miss Geanette [Jeanette] Parmely Aug. 17, 1913. The wife and three children, Ralph, Glenn and Dorothy, survive him, also his father and mother, one brother, Floyd of Blue Earth, Minn. also four sisters, Esther Neese and Florence Hogan, of Stanhope; Anna Anderson, of Omaha, and Mable Farr, of Madison, Wis.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock at the M.E. church with the Rev. G.H. Dick officiating and burial made in the Olson cemetery southwest of Stanhope.

Stratford Courier
June 23, 1927

FORMER STRATFORD RESIDENT COMMITS SUICIDE IN A BOONE HOSTELRY

Leonard Olson Drinks Carbolic Acid - Financial Troubles Given as the Reason

Leonard Olson, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Olson, of Blue Earth, Minn., and former residents of this section, committed suicide in a hotel in Boone Saturday by swallowing a large quantity of carbolic acid. Financial worries were given as the cause of his act as he had recently sold a hatchery in Boone which had lost him considerable money. The leaves a wife and three children to mourn his passing and they were visiting at Stanhope at the time of his death.