Newton Smith Boyle (1920)

BOYLE

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 8/11/2004 at 21:47:42

Earlham Echo
Earlham, Iowa
Thursday, January 22, 1920

AGED DEXTER MAN SUICIDES

N. S. Boyle Hangs Himself in Barn During Period of Mental Depression Due to Unwarranted Financial Worries.

Mr. N. S. Boyle, aged Dexter resident, committed suicide by hanging himself Saturday evening, life being extinct when his body was found hanging in the barn by his neighbor Jacob Arnold ten or fifteen minutes after the rash deed. In a note found in his coat and addressed to “My Dear Children” Mr. Boyle confessed his knowledge of the horror of the thing he was meditating, but said he realized that his mind was affected at times, and that life offered no further hope for him. Although a man of independent means, Mr. Boyle has brooded considerably of late over a recent financial loss, and it is believed that the worry unsettled his mind. He was of a very ------------ disposition, and this ------ occurring after a career of marked success in financial dealings seems to have come as a bewildering shock. His fate is evidence of the terrible error of living and thinking in terms of money—literally making a god out of temporal wealth.

The deceased had evidently mediated upon self destruction for several days to judge by statements and conversations which have occurred. Saturday afternoon he called up his neighbor, Mr. Arnold over the telephone, and finding him absent, informed Mrs. Arnold that he wished to see him. Upon his return from town, Mr. Arnold went over to the Boyle residence where Mr. Boyle has lived alone for some time and talked at some length with him. About five o’clock Mr. Boyle asked to be excused for a few moments and handed his friend a copy of the Saturday paper to read while he went out doors. His absence prolonged itself to about ten minutes before Arnold began to wonder and finally went out to see if he could ascertain his whereabouts. The open door of the barn somehow fitted into his misgivings, that something was wrong, and entering the barn he detected the outline of a human form in the deepening shadow. His cry of “Hello, Boyle,” being unanswered he approached the body, which proved to be hanging inanimately. Overcome with horror he managed to secure the help of Len Moore, and later Dr. Sherman came and removed the body. The man had fastened a rope, undoubtedly prepared beforehand about his neck and stepped into eternity from a carpenter’s trestle.

Newton Smith Boyle was born September 6, 1847 and was 72 years old at the time of his death. He is survived by six children, including Cord, Ervin and William and Miss Grace Boyle, now residing at Newton.

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