Simons, George (died 1898)

SIMONS

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 8/6/2013 at 14:34:21

Alton Democrat
December 24, 1898

JUMPED TO DEATH.
Young Man in Plymouth County Dies in a Well.

From the LeMars Sentinel:
George Simons, a young man working for J. W. Campbell, who lives about seven
miles southwest of Kingsley, met death in a well Thursday morning of last
week at 3 o’clock. It seems Mr. Simons was in Kingsley Wednesday morning and
started home at about eight o’clock. On his way home he stopped at the
residence of William Justice, his brother-in-law, where he remained until
about 9 o’clock. When he left the home of Mr. Justice, he appeared to be
rational and in good spirits, but he apparently became mentally unbalanced
while on his way from that place to the home of Mr. Campbell and passed the
latter place, going about a mile further south. At this point he stopped
his horse and jumped out of his buggy. He then led his horse to a haystack
about 100 rods west of the road and there lay down. He evidently fell
asleep and the horse went home. On awakening, he took off his fur coat and
cap, pulled some hay from the stack and laid the coat on the pile of hay
taken from the stack. He set fire to the stack and hay on which the coat
lay and then ran to a farm house about half a mile distant and raising the
cover on the well deliberately jumped in and went to the bottom of the well,
which was about sixteen feet deep with about seven and a half feet of water
in it. When he appeared on the surface of the water he began to cry for
help. Mr. Bolton, who lives at the farm, heard his cries and hurried to the
well. He asked Mr. Simons to catch the rope and he would pull him up. This
Simons declined to do. Bolton then let a ladder down to him but he would not
come out, whereupon Bolton ran for help. But when he arrived with aid it
was too late, for Simons had gone down to the bottom and was already dead.
The body was recovered at about 5 o’clock in the morning and taken to the
home of Nat Davis, where it lies awaiting a coroner’s inquest.

Murder was the first theory of Simon’s death, owing to the story he
incoherently told when Bolton was trying to extricate him from the well. He
declared he had been robbed and thrown into the well.

But the dozens of people who flocked to the scene supposed dastardly crime,
discovered footprints leading from the well across fields to the hay stack
which had been burning. The footprints were perfectly distinct and no doubt
was entertained that Simons had rushed from the blazing hay stack and coming
to the well had jumped in—perhaps in an irrational purpose of escaping from
the fire or imaginary pursuers.

Simons was a man between 25 and 28 years of age. He had worked about that
part of the country for the last ten or twelve years. His parents live at
Kingsley. Two brothers worked for Nat Davis and another brother has a farm
near Kingsley.
-----------------------------

Note: The date of death is stated to be Thursday, December 15th, per this same article in the LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel issue dated December 19, 1898.
Note: Per WPA records, George J. Simons, age 27, buried Kingsley Cemetery.