Iowa
Old Press
Daily Iowa State Press
Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa
July 16, 1900
DEATH BY SUICIDE
Frank Yenn, of Liberty Township, Ends his Life with a Rifle Ball.
Coroner Schneider was called to Hills' Siding this morning by a
message bearing the intelligence that Frank Yenn, a man 31 years
of age, had committed suicide. The deceased lived at the home of
his father, Simon Yenn, on a farm two miles southwest of Hill's
Siding. He was 31 years of age, and of unsound mind, having been
an inmate of the Mt. Pleasant asylum for some time. Last fall he
escaped from that institution and made his way home where he has
since lived. As he gave no signs of being mentally unbalanced,
the authorities did not send him back to Mt. Pleasant but let him
stay at home. He seemed to be recovered from his affliction and
was doing well until last Saturday when he was left at home alone
while the family came to town. During
their absence a man called at the Yenn farm and attempted to
collect a bill from Frank, saying if it was not paid he would
send the debtor to jail. This seemed to worry Frank considerably
and when the family returned he told them of it, and expressed
his fear of going to jail. That evening he went to bed as usual
at about 9:30 but sometime during the night got up and left home
taking a rifle and several cartridges with him. At the time he
arose he was sleeping in the same room with a brother who did not
notice his absence. At the breakfast table Sunday morning he was
missing and a search revealed the fact that he had taken the
rifle and cartridges. No uneasiness was felt by the family and
when dinner time came and Frank did not appear they became
alarmed, but did not report the incident to neighbors. All day
Sunday and Monday nothing was heard of him and Tuesday a
searching party was organized and the hunt begun. A short
distance from the house was
found one of the shoes of the victim which was dropped by him as
he was climbing a fence. A little further along a stocking was
found and finally in a timber mile and a half from the house was
found the body of Frank Yenn. The searchers discovered him at
6:30 last evening. He was lying on his left side and just above
the right eye was a hole made by the rifle's bullet. The rifle
was laying close by and had been discharged showing that Yenn had
killed himself. The gun was a small one being of 22 calibre and
but one shot had been fired form it by the suicide. The coroner
decided that no inquest was necessary and the body was prepared
for burial and the funeral taking place from Riverside this
afternoon. The deceased in not a brother of Amos Yenn, the
cigarmaker, as was reported on the street this morning, but a
cousin. The popular belief is that the threat
of placing Yenn in jail unbalanced his mind and he took this
means of keeping from being bothered. When found the body showed
every indication of being dead for at least three days, showing
that Yenn must have killed himself shortly after leaving the
house.
[transcribed by C.J.L.,July 2005]
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Daily Iowa State Press
Iowa City, Iowa
July 20, 1900
Mr. Van Gorden, of Emmetsburg, representing a large mill in that
city, came over to THE PRESS office yesterday with Mr. George
Hummer to get a sample of that "German speltz wheat"
grown by George Fairall. He said he had heard of, and never seen
it, and carried away a handful of heads to show his customers.
[transcribed by C.J.L., Nov. 2003]