George M. Robinson (ca. 1872-1913) and family

ROBINSON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 9/9/2017 at 20:43:32

From Nevada Representative August 12, 1913 (front page)

KILLS FAMILY AND SELF.

George Robinson Formerly of Nevada, Ends Career in Alberta

Word had come back to Story county through a clipping from what appears to be the Calgary Herald, that George Robinson, formerly well and favorably known in this vicinity where he was born and raised, had been found by his neighbors in his home with his family about him, all of them dead and all of them evidently killed by himself. The locality of the tragedy is given as near to Ramsey, which is twenty miles from Munson. Neither of these places is shown on maps reasonably up-to-date; but both are supposed to be somewhere near Olds, which is the place at or near which he has been understood to live. All of these places are credited to the Canadian province of Alberta.

The tragedy is indicated to have occurred on the morning of Thursday, July 24; but it was not discovered until the following Saturday afternoon or evening, when one of the neighbor women went over and upon entering the house saw the bodies of Robinson, his wife, stepson and little daughter. She gave the alarm and a general investigation followed. From this investigation it was deduced that Robinson had shot the others in the order names and himself.

The weapon was a shotgun and it lay across him. The time was indicated as Thursday morning; for breakfast appeared to have been in course of preparation, the boy had been at the post office on Wednesday afternoon and a weed inspector calling Thursday forenoon got no responses to his knocks, nor was anyone seen later about the premises until the neighbor woman called and made the discovery. The condition of the live stock and the decomposition of the bodies supported the theory as to time. The interment was to be at Munson on Monday July 28.

Mrs. Robinson is stated to have been a Mrs. McFarlane of Olds, widow of a doctor of that place She was keeping a boarding house where when Robinson, who was employed there in a lumber office, boarded with her. She is spoken of as a woman much respected, and she had then a son and some property. In time there was born to the Robinsons a daughter and for three years the family home had been on a homestead which she had entered during her widowhood and upon which she had finally proved up only about two weeks before the tragedy. The tone of the newspaper report is very hostile to Robinson, who is reported as surly, abrasive and of poor character and as having been very insistent that his wife should turn over to him all of her property.

The foregoing is the substance of the story as it comes down from the Canadian northwest. It is a shock to all who knew here the principal character in the days of his youth. At the same time there is here a clue to the matter that is not hinted at in the Canadian report. Up to a certain period in his life George was a very prepossessing and worthy young fellow. Then he seemed to go wrong mentally, and it was seriously considered that he should be sent to the hospital for the insane. It does not appear that he was actually sent; but it is remembered by many here that the matter was discussed, and after that time his disposition seemed to different. Later, which means a dozen years of more ago, he went up into Alberta, and the impression here had been that he was getting on. He was a son of Henry H. Robinson, who lived formerly at the center of Nevada township and who now resides at Kelley. He was of good family and good bringing up. He attended the Nevada high school and when he went off to seek his fortune the expectation was warranted that he would win it honorably. We think he would have done so, but for the mental disorder previously suggested.