Francis Earl Leitch (1942)

LEITCH, MCHUGH, PEARSON

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 9/5/2006 at 06:16:42

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, October 14, 1942

ST. CHARLES MAN COMMITS SUICIDE

Francis Leitch Worried by Failing Health and Business

Francis Leitch, aged 38, of St. Charles, committed suicide last Friday night by inhaling fumes from a fuel oil stove.

He left no note to indicate the reasons for his act, but it is known that he had been in poor health and had been worried about business matters.

Leitch and his wife lived in an upstairs apartment at the home of his parents in St. Charles. Friday he and Mrs. Leitch drove to Winterset to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Pearson. He returned to St. Charles alone, leaving his wife here. That night he went to his rooms and detached a section of the flue from the oil stove, so that the fumes escaped into the room. He then started a fire in the stove and went to bed.

He was found the next morning by his wife's father, who had taken his daughter to St. Charles. He had been dead several hours when found. Sheriff A. E. Null was summoned, and after making an investigation he termed the death a suicide.

Leitch was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Leitch of St. Charles, and was born at Coon Rapids on Sept. 15, 1904. After finishing school he worked in several counties before moving to St. Charles to make his home with his parents. For the past 14 years he had been in the garage business in St. Charles.

He was married on Nov. 25, 1932, to Miss Gladys Pearson of Winterset.

He is survived by his wife, and his parents, all of St. Charles; a brother, Allen Leitch of Denmark, Wisc., and a sister, Mrs. Lillian Eloise McHugh of Spencer. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Raymond and Vernon Leitch, and a sister, Isabelle.

Funeral services were held Monday from Anderson's home for funerals, in charge of the Rev. Tom Foglesong of the Winterset Church of Christ. Burial was made in the Winterset cemetery.
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Coordinator's note: Middle name taken from his Iowa Death Certificate.

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