William P. Leonard 1874-1915

LEONARD, OCONNELL, HANNIFIN, SCHIELDS, CONNOLLY

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 7/20/2017 at 21:10:22

Cascade Pioneer, April 29, 1915, page 5, column 5

Was Killed By Lightning

William Leonard, of Butler Township, Victim of Deadly Current.

William Leonard, a well-known young farmer of Butler township, Jackson county, was instantly killed Wednesday afternoon by a bolt of lightning while plowing in a field on the old Leonard homestead near St. Patrick's church. Mr. Leonard and his hired man were engaged in plowing. Mr. Leonard was operating a gang-plow with four horses, and the hired man was in another field plowing with a single team. When the storm approached, which consisted of electricity and hail, the hired man went to the house for his coat, and on returning to the field met two of the horses which Mr. Leonard had been driving, running toward the house. He felt that something was wrong and hurried toward the spot where the other team was in the field. He found the horses badly tangled in the harness and one of them down, and in the furrow about twenty feet back of the gang-plow he discovered Mr. Leonard with a ragged wound in the left side of his head and blood and brain were oozing from his ear. He hurried to the house and summoned aid, but it was very apparent that death had been instantaneous.

On account of there being no marks of the lightning's deadly current below the hip it is the theory that the bolt struck the plow upon which Mr. Leonard was seated, concentrated upon a wrench that was in the hip pocket of his trousers, passed around his abdomen, up across his breast, through the throat, around the right side of the bead on line of the hatband, broke through on the left side of the head. That the skull was badly shattered gives evidence that the bolt passed upward from the plow.
The horses were no doubt frightened by the lightning and no longer controlled by the stricken driver, tried to run away, and one of the teams succeeded as shown by the account of the hired man who met them on their way to the house.

It was judged that about twenty minutes or half an hour passed from the time of the severe lightning to the discovery of the body.

The untimely death of Mr. Leonard causes extreme sorrow in the community where he was born and lived all his life, and where he was held in high esteem. His bereaved wife and children and brothers and sisters are called upon to sustain a shocking grief in this sudden removal of the beloved husband and father and brother, and the sympathy of the entire community is with them in their irreparable loss.

William Leonard was a son of the late Squire William Leonard, and was born on the homestead, where he met his death, about 40 years ago. On the death of his father, he succeeded to the farm which he had conducted up to the time of his death.

He was married thirteen years ago to Miss Josephine O'Connell, daughter of Mrs. William O'Connell, whose death occurred in Cascade several weeks ago, who with six small children survive him. He is also survived by the following brothers and sisters: J. J. Leonard of Dubuque; Edward Leonard of Mitchell, S.D.; Mrs. C. Hannifin, of Council Bluffs; Mrs. Catherine Schields of Chicago; and Mrs. Ambrose Connolly of St. Joseph, this county.

Mr. Leonard was one of the most popular young farmers of the neighborhood. A man of fine character and genial disposition, whose death is felt to be a great personal loss to all who knew him.

The funeral will be held at St. Patrick's church Saturday morning.

Compliments of Joseph Cahill