Submitted by Sharon Elijah, March 11, 2020
Source: Tipton Conservative, Tipton, Iowa. March 1, 1962

CHARGE DR. GOSS WITH MURDER

Dr. E. E. Goss, 68, Muscatine dentist, is in the hospital at the men’s reformatory at Anamosa, charged with the murder of his wife, Mrs. Inez Harding Goss, Durant elementary school teacher. Dr. Goss was taken by ambulance from a Muscatine hospital to the reformatory Monday night.

Dr. Goss has admitted to Cedar county authorities that he twice shot his wife while she stood in her classroom at the Durant school Feb. 22. He then shot himself in the head, the slug from a .25 calibre pistol entering his right temple, following a path along the inside of the skull and coming out his left temple.

It is believed that he fired the second shot into his wife’s body as she lay on the floor at the same time he shot himself in the head, since the two shots appeared almost as one to those who heard the sounds of the shooting.

It is expected that Dr. Goss will recover.

Mrs. Goss was shot twice. One bullet entered her temple and came out the back of her head. The second penetrated her neck. It is believed that she died almost instantly.

Dr. Goss told Richard Barden, Cedar county deputy sheriff, that he went to the Durant school to shoot his wife. He appeared at the school, where his wife was a second grade teacher, about 3:30 p.m., shortly after classes had been dismissed and the children sent home.

Mrs. Harold Cole, kindergarten teacher and Mrs. David Buffington, first grade teacher, were in the room with Mrs. Goss when her estranged husband entered. They spoke for a moment, then the 2 women started to leave.

Mrs. Cole told a daily newspaper that, as Dr. Goss arose from his chair, “I could see the guns in his belt. He pulled one out just as I started to run for the door to get help. He shot her once while I was in the room and while I ran down the hall I heard 2 more shots.”

Mrs. Cole called men teachers from the adjoining high school and telephoned Francis Johnson, the town marshal.

“As I started to return to the room I saw Goss come staggering out,” she said.

Mrs. Ethel Schneckloth, a school employee, told the marshal she saw Goss shoot himself in the head.

Mrs. Goss’ body was found in the southwest corner of her classroom, in front of a blackboard that had been decorated for Washington’s birthday, and near a sink.

There was a smear of blood where Dr. Goss had shot himself and, as he left the room, he brushed a row of clothing lockers, leaving a smear of blood. He then sat down at a table near the west entrance to the room. Alfred Voss, high school principal, took Dr. Goss to the high school where an ambulance was summoned. He was then taken to a Muscatine hospital where his room was put under 24-hour guard.

Dr. Goss, a native of Keosauqua, established a dental practice in Muscatine after he came from Lone Tree. He served on the Muscatine school board for 3 years. He is a veteran of World War I.

His first wife, the former Anna T. Hurie, whom he married in 1918 at Morris, Ill., was granted a divorce from him in district court at Muscatine May 22, 1958 on a cross-petition charging cruelty, after a divorce suit which he had filed.

He had been named defendant in a divorce action filed Aug. 25, 1961, by Mrs. Inez Goss, in which cruelty was charged, and in which a writ to restrain him from molesting her had been issued. The petition gave the date of their marriage as Aug. 8, 1958, at Sioux Falls, S.D.

Court records showed that a certificate of readiness for trial, dated Feb. 20, 1962, was filed Feb. 23 by a Davenport legal firm which was representing Mrs. Goss.

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March 1, 1962 - The Tipton Conservative

Funeral services for Mrs. Inez Harding Goss were held Feb. 26 at the United Presbyterian church, Wilton Junction. The Rev. Caleb Larson of Grandview and the Rev. J. Paul Boaz, pastor of the church, officiated.

Burial was at Oakdale cemetery.

Daughter of Atty. William and Helen Boudinot Glenn, she was born April 7, 1893, at Western, Ia., near Cedar Rapids. She had been a resident of Wilton Junction for 38 years and was a former resident of Cedar Rapids.

In December, 1913 she was married to Dr. Daniel H. Richards at Cedar Rapids. She was married to Dr. M. M. Harding at Cedar Rapids in December 1924. He preceded her in death in 1955. In August 1958 she married Dr. E. E. Goss in South Dakota.

Mrs. Goss was a member of the United Presbyterian church of Wilton Junction and was a leader of the Campfire Girls for over 25 years. She had been teaching at Durant 7 years.

Survivors include a son, Glenn S. Richards, Wilton Junction; 4 daughters, Mrs. Harold (Dorothy) Woodhouse of Wilton Junction; Mrs. Harris (Jacqueline) Giese, Davenport, Mrs. Lloyd (Diane) Frei, Iowa City and Doris Harding, Wilton Junction; a brother, Lewis Glenn of California; and 10 grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, one sister and 2 brothers.