Ervin A. Gilbert (1911)

GILBERT

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 8/18/2010 at 09:52:20

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, May 4, 1911
Page 1, Column 1

TAKES HIS OWN LIFE

Erwin Gilbert, Well To Do Farmer of Grand River Township, Commits Suicide

E. A. Gilbert, a prosperous farmer living one mile west of Kasson in Grand River township, ended his life by shooting himself in the head with a 32 caliber revolver. Gilbert owned 160 acres of land and lived with his aged father. He was last seen about noon on last Thursday. His failure to return home Thursday night alarmed his father, who notified the neighbors on Friday morning. After a search, neighbors discovered his body in an old orchard about one quarter of a mile from the house. He had crawled under some bushes with the apparent intention of hiding. His body lay with face downward and his right hand still gripping the revolver with one empty chamber, mutely told the story of the tragedy of self destruction. Coroner Richards was summoned but did not deem it necessary to empanel a coroner’s jury as the manner of his death was beyond question. A brief letter in the dead man’s clothes and addressed to his father, brothers and sisters, stated that for four or five years there had been a conspiracy against him and that he could stand it no longer, let the world say what it might.

Gilbert, who was 52 years of age, was considered a little queer, cared little for the society of others and seldom went away from home. Further than this, there was no evidence of the unbalanced mind that prompted self destruction. He was not known to have an enemy in the world and he was well to do financially.

Gravesite
 

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen