Scott, Dr. James McDonald 1865-1939

SCOTT, BRONSON

Posted By: Reggie Polfer (email)
Date: 4/18/2026 at 18:45:45

ASSASSINATE AGED SURGEON IN CHICAGO
Shot Down In Street by Young Man; Vengeance One Theory; Wife Mystified
CHICAGO, April 25—(UP)—
Police questioned today former patients of Dr. James McDonald Scott, 73-year-old surgeon, in a search for clues to an assassin who shot and killed him last night at a busy intersection.
The slaying puzzled police.

Scott, a bald, slightly-built man, practiced in Chicago for nearly 48 years. He was a staff member of two major hospitals and maintained an office in a West Side Italian business-tenement district.
Police Lieut. Kyran Phalen said he had not been able to determine a motive. He said he had questioned two Italians, the husbands of former patients of Scott’s who had given the case “a new light.” He ordered a check of Scott’s client list and said he would question other former patients today.

“There is a possibility that the motive may have been one of revenge,” he said. “We hope to be able to learn more about that today.”

He declined to elaborate on the theory or reveal the names of the men he had questioned.

Scott was slain shortly before 9 P. M. The slayer was standing near an automobile, an accomplice at the wheel, when Scott stepped from the entrance to his office. He walked up to Scott and, without a word, fired three shots. The killer jumped into the automobile and fled. Two witnesses said the killer appeared to be in his twenties.

Scott lived at a small hotel with his wife, Dr. Laura Bronson Scott, who retired from practice several years ago. A son, Frank Galen Scott, is co-publisher of a Chicago advertising magazine. The widow said she was unable to suggest a possible motive for the slaying.

“I don’t know of anyone who would want to kill him,” she said. “I’m at more of a loss about it than the police.”

She and her husband were natives of Elkport, Ia. He graduated from the Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1896.

source: The Daily Independent (Murphysboro, Illinois)
Tuesday, April 25, 1939
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