Captain William H. Clifton 1871

CLIFTON, SUMNER

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 1/24/2017 at 16:16:37

The Clinton Daily Age, April 21, 1871

The Ottumwa Courier reports a sad case, Captain William H. Clifton, who served through the war in the Thirty-Sixth Iowa, and who has for some time suffered from a distressing malady, so seriously that his mind has become impaired, was arrested on a charge of stealing horses from Colonel Sumners, pleaded guilty, was bond over, and, in default of bail, committed to a jail. At the time of his arrest he attempted violence upon his family, and explaining his conduct by saying that he had lived long enough, but, before putting an end to his own life, he desired to put his wife and two children out of their misery. He obtained an insurance upon his life not long since, and has been heard within a few months to remark that $2,500 was worth a great deal more to his family than he was. Since his incarceration in jail he has attempted to take his own life by hanging himself, tearing up his bed clothing for that purpose.