Arnold, Rachel - d. 1887

ARNOLD, BOARTS, HAYES

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:37

Mrs. Arnold
Another suicide--People in the village and neighbor of Mingo, in the Northwest of this county, were yesterday horrified by the announcement that Mrs. Arnold, wife of David Arnold, a farmer living a mile and half Northwest of Mingo, had committed suicide by hanging herself by a rope attached to a rafter in the attic at her home. The eager crowd of sympathetic and curious neighbors were soon repaired to the scene found the news too true, at were regaled with the following particulars:
Mrs. Arnold has acted so queerly for some time passed as to excite remark by all who knew her, but nobody thought her mania serious, or that it would assume a suicidal form. On the morning in question Mr. Arnold announced, at the breakfast table, his intention to go over and see a neighbor, Uncle Jimmy Morehead, on business. After finishing his chores he returned to the house and sat down for a minute. His wife sat by her work stand knitting, and, directly he sat down, she reminded him of his errand and advised him to hurry up or Uncle Jimmy might be gone away. He did as he was bid, attended to his business with Morehead and returned home, arriving at 11 a.m., and going immediately into the sitting-room. His wife was not there, but her knitting lay up on the stand, as if she had layed aside to go outside for a moment. He called to her, but recieved no reply. Then he looked hastily through the house, the grounds and the out buildings without success, but upon again returning to the house and observing the passage to the attic open, he climbed thither, and found the dead body of his wife hanging by a rope around her neck, dangling from a rafter above a chair over turned on floor. Mr. Arnold at once cut the rope and then called neighbors to his assistance. The remains were rigid and cold, showing that the deed had been comitted as soon as her husband left the house. The body was at once prepared for the interment which will take place to-day.
Mrs. Arnold was well known to the people in this part of Jasper County as "Ma'm Boarts," her first husband being Henry Boarts, and about two years after her first husbands death, some 12 years ago, she married David Arnold, who survives her. Of the fruits of her first marriage a daughter, Mrs. Conrad Hayes, and four sons, Eli, John, William and Ham Boarts reside in the Mingo neighborhood.
There is a general expression of sympathy for the bereaved friends, and sorrow over the tragic event, wherever the family is known.
Source: The Weekly Clipper, Colfax, Jasper County, Iowa; Saturday, 15 October, 1887