Hanno, Gustav E. (Gus) 1878-1932

HANNO, LANG, HAACK, HAMMER

Posted By: Linda Mohning (email)
Date: 1/12/2012 at 04:22:07

REMSEN FARMER SHOOTS HIMSELF. Gustav Hanno Gave No Indication Of Contemplated Deed.
Gustav Hanno, 54, well known farmer living near Remsen, committed suicide some time yesterday afternoon, by shooting himself in the right temple with a .22 calibre Harrington & Richards target pistol.
The bullet made a small hole where it entered, penetrated the brain, and broke the bone on the left temple, but did not quite come through.
The body was found by one of Mr. Hanno’s daughters, who had gone out to see why he did not come into the house. The body was slumped in the family car.
Mr. Hanno did not give any indication of his contemplated act. The day before he had helped some neighbors butcher hogs. Yesterday morning he took the children to school.
About 10:30 he came home to feed his hogs. He asked his wife is she had heard the livestock markets over the radio. She said she had not been listening. A little later he said he was going out to help a neighbor get ready for a sale.
But instead, he apparently went to Remsen and look around town for a gun, saying he intended to go out and hunt a few rabbits. But no second hand gun that appealed to him was found in Remsen. So he drove to Le Mars and looked around at the local hardware stores. He finally found the target revolver with which he ended his life. It was second hand, with a good walnut grip, and had excellent care. Here he also explained that he intended to hunt rabbits. When the dealer asked him about shells he said, prophetically, “No, these will be enough.”
The revolver had nine chambers. When found beside the body of the dead man these were filled, but one shell had been fired.
Taking the gun back home with him, Mr. Hanno apparently stopped and shot himself immediately. The only tracks in the snow were those of his daughter, as she went up to the car and then turned frightened, to run back to the house and call for help.
Coroner S. H. Luken was called, and upon investigating declared that it was a plain case of suicide. The body was removed to a Remsen mortuary.
Gustav Hanno was born August 20, 1878, near Avoca, Ia. At the age of 10 years he moved to Remsen with his parents. He was married in 1901 to Annie Lang. He has long been one of Remsen’s most substantial farmers.
Besides the widow, he is survived by six children, Mrs. Clarence Haack, Earl, Roy, Mavis and Lois, of Remsen; Mrs. Charles Hammer of Santa Cruz, Calif. – Le Mars Globe-Post, Jan. 21, 1932, pages 1 and 8.