LOPER, Osborne (1853-1936)

LOPER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/12/2020 at 08:37:10

Death of Osborne Loper
(March 4, 1853 – February 22, 1936)

Newspaper article at the Warren County Historical Society Library, Indianola, Iowa, dated Feb 22, 1936

Son Escaped Similar Fate, Sheriff Says
Indianola, IA – Mrs. Ora L. Forman, 50, killed her father, Osborn Loper, 82, attempted to slay her son, Fred, 15, and then drank chloroform, Sheriff Frank Houghtaling said Saturday afternoon. The sheriff said the slaying occurred Saturday morning on the 120 acre farm where Mrs. Forman, her son and father lived. The farm is near the Medora community, 15 miles south of here. Sheriff Houghtaling said that Mrs. Forman, a widow, attacked her father while he slept, strangling him with a light leather belt. Her father, who doctors said suffered arthritis, had been bedfast for five years.
Says Son Escaped
The widow then went to her son’s room upstairs, the sheriff declared, with intentions to choke him. The sheriff said he learned the son had doubted his mother’s sanity and had fixed his bedroom door with nails to warn of her entrance. He heard his mother at the door and escaped her attempt to choke him with her aprons, the sheriff said. The son then fled downstairs, where the mother is alleged to have tried to knot a towel about his neck.
Widow Unconscious
Fred ran outdoors and to the nearby store at Medora to summon neighbors. When neighbors and Dr. G. A. Jardin of New Virginia, IA, arrived they found Mrs. Forman in an unconscious condition from the chloroform, the said. Dr. Jardine said Saturday night that Mrs. Forman probably will recover. A long letter was found in the home, giving reasons for the widow’s actions, the sheriff said.
“Best Way”
The letter explained that Mrs. Forman, worried by the care of her father, who had been bedfast for five years, and by financial troubles, had planned a double killing and suicide. “This is the best way to end it all,” Sheriff Houghtaling stated the letter set forth. The sheriff said the letter instructed officers to have her body used for medical purposes, asked that Mr. Loper be given a “plain burial” and that Fred be buried “in his school clothes.” Fred is a junior in Indianola High School.
Coroner Called
Coroner, C. H. Mitchell, was called and he notified County Attorney Stanley Prall and the sheriff. Investigation of notes and letters written during the last few months by Mrs. Forman, indicated that she thought she was going insane, the sheriff declared. Mrs. Forman was kept at the home in orders of Dr. Jardine. She is a widow of Fred Forman, who died in 1920.
Await Outcome
Sheriff Houghtaling said the outcome of Mrs. Forman’s condition was awaited before charges would be filed. Mrs. Forman’s brother, Howard Loper, lives at Boone. A sister, Mrs. Sherman Anderson, lives at Ventura, Cal. A foster son is Orlin Rooney of New York City.

Osborne Loper Murdered at Medora
Aged Man Found Strangled, Boy Escapes Similar Fate. Mother Is Adjudged Insane
Daughter of Pioneer Resident Became Demented as a Result of Financial Difficulties
Mrs. Ora L. Forman, 50, was taken to the hospital in Clarinda Monday afternoon following a hearing in the morning before the sanity commission in connection with the murder of her father, Osborn Loper, 83, found strangled to death in his bed last Saturday morning about 8:30 o’clock at his home east of Medora. Neighbors were called to the scene of the tragedy by Mrs. Forman’s 15 year old son, Fred, who ran from the house to escape what he declared to officers was an effort by his mother to strangle him with an apron string in his upstairs room, and again downstairs with a stocking.
Found on Cot
Upon the arrival of Mrs. Verle Edwards and daughter, neighbors, Mrs. Forman was found lying on a cot in a semiconscious condition, having swallowed about two ounces of chloroform after the boy had fled from the house. To a question that she attempt to get up and walk she replied that she could not, and then lapsed into unconsciousness. Dr. George A Jardine of New Virginia was called immediately to administer first aid. He reached the Loper house in a few minutes and shortly afterward Coroner C. Mitchell, Sheriff Frank Houghtaling, Deputy Sheriff Ivan Marquis and County Attorney Stanley E. Prall arrived.
Strangled with Strap
The boy, according to the story he told officers, had informed neighbors his mother had told him that she had strangled her father. He was found dead in his bed and evidently the deed had been done while he was asleep. Officers believe that a strap, found hanging at the head of the bed, was used. He had been bedfast for four or five years, ill with arthritis and the daughter had cared for him during all this time. A statement was made to officers by the boy that he had doubted his mother’s sanity for some time. He had so adjusted his bedroom door that he could hear her in case she entered his room. About 8 or 8:30 o’clock she came in, he told officers, and attempted to strangle him with an apron string. He escaped and tried to quiet her. She then informed him what she had done to her father, and when they reached the downstairs room, she made another attempt to fasten a stocking around his neck. He escaped a second time and then ran for help.
Letters are Found
This led to an examination of downstairs rooms and on a table an envelope containing a mass of notes and letters written on catalogs, scraps of paper, and letter heads of various companies was found. None of the notes were dated, and evidently they were written at different times since last fall. A reading of these notes convinced the officers that she was mentally unbalanced and that a hearing before the sanity commission should be held. They showed that she had been laboring under great mental strain as a result of taking the bankruptcy law last October. One short note is believed by officers to have been written the morning of the tragedy. It read “I am not pleading insanity and I don’t expect anyone to believe this but it is the truth – it seemed there was something within me urging me on to do something and that one thing seemed to be all I could see and I didn’t realize until after I had done it what the consequences would be.” Another note read as follows: “I’ve known all last summer my mind wasn’t working right and all winter I’ve realized it more and more. I would do things and it would take me about two weeks to realize it was the wrong thing to do.”
In still another she wrote that she didn’t know whether she would kill herself or give herself up. One letter was addressed to the people of the Medora community. It was written on a return envelope of a seed company. Evidently referring to the bankruptcy, she wrote that everything she had done had been the opposite of what she should have done. “But my head had been so thick I couldn’t see it at the time.” She continued. “It took me about a week to think things through and see I was in the wrong. I hope there is someone in the community to find it in their hearts to be the least bit charitable – it seemed justified and the manner of doing it was also justified.” “I realized soon after going into it that it was unlawful and oh, the agony I have suffered ever since.” The letter says she was not guilty of a premeditated crime even if it meant utter ruin for her folks. She expressed the hope that no one who had befriended her would suffer any penalty. Another letter was addressed to “Darling Freddie,” her son. It read in part: “It is such torture to think that I, your mother, who have always wished to raise you up to be a strickly honest and honorable man and have always felt that I was honest and honorable, have been the one to fall. The thought of bankruptcy was unbearable to me but at the time I thought it was unjust for the debt to be thrown upon me. It seems that my nerves were in such a state that I almost lost my reason and my mind seems in a sort of a fog. Since taking bankruptcy I can hardly look the world in the face and shrink from business dealing with them. I would go in rags the rest of my life to undo what I have done.” To some one named Alta she wrote asking if she needed a chore boy, and suggesting that Freddie be taken for that purpose. In this note she said she had worried herself nearly crazy for fear she would be unable to care for her father as long as he needed her and until Freddie was old enough to “shift for himself.” In one note she wanted authorities to turn her body over to a medical school. Officers believe she was contemplating suicide at the time she wrote this note. She also said she wanted to be buried in a rough box, and that “father wanted a plain burial.”
Funeral Thursday
After reading over this mass of material the sanity commission, composed of P. K. McKee, clerk of the districk court, Frank P. Henderssn, and Dr. H. M. Humphrey, Mrs. Forman was adjudged insane, and was taken to Clarinda in a New Virginia ambulance. The funeral of Mr. Loper will be held Thursday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Medora church, and will be in charge of the Rev. Reed Kessler. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Forman, and Mrs. Sherman Anderson of Ventura, Calif.; a son, Howard Loper of Boone and a foster son, Orlin Rooney, of New York City. Mr. Loper was born March 4, 1853. He moved to Warren County on a farm west of Medora in the spring of 1881. He sold this farm and moved to Woodburn where Mrs. Loper died in December 1912. After the death of Mrs. Loper he moved to New Virginia, later purchasing the farm east of Medora where he had since lived.
Assessor 50 Years Ago
About 50 years ago he served as township assessor of White Oak Township. He was always highly esteemed as a citizen. His neighbors always spoke well of him, more especially of his neighborliness and his willingness always to accommodate even to making loans without interest in considerable amounts. Mrs. Forman also was always regarded highly. She was a hard working woman and throughout the severe weather of this winter she did much of the outdoor work on the farm, caring for the livestock and dairy cows. Her son is a student in the Indianola high school. She is the widow of Fred Forman who died in 1920.
No Inquest
No inquest was thought necessary by Coroner Mitchell. He released the following statement relating to the tragedy made by the boy, Fred Forman: “Mrs Ora Forman came upstairs and woke me up. She came into my room, took an apron string and tried to get it around my neck. I broke away and quieted her and we came downstairs. She then got an old stocking and tried to get it around my neck. I broke away and went to Verle Edwards. Before going she told me that she had strangled my grandfather. When we came back she was lying on a cot. I grabbed her and raised her up and asked her to get up. She said she could not and dropped over in a stupor.” [copied from newspaper clippings in a scrapbook at Warren County Historical Society Library, Indianola, IA, burial was in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Indianola, IA]