Smith, Harry C.

Passed: 1934-02-15

Age: 55

Source: Mountaineer

Death Notice:

Obituary Date: 1934-02-22

Information: GRANT DISTRICT MAN KILLS SELF - Harry C. Smith, age 55, of Grant district, this county, committed suicide by hanging Thursday of last week.  Mr. Smith had been in ill health for several months and of late his mind was so bad that the family had been advised to send him to some institution.  Mr. Smith was one of the leading citizens of the county.  He, two years ago, was a candidate in the primary for assessor.  He owned a good farm.  He is survived by his widow and six daughters.      Mr. Smith, with his wife, had arisen for the morning, Thursday about 5 A. M.  None of the rest of the family was up and while Mrs. Smith was busy about the house, with the fires,  Mr. Smith left the house and when he didn't return within a few minutes his wife called one of the daughers and they found his lifeless body hanging to a rafter in the wood shed.  They notified a neighbor, Mr. Boso.  They then called the coroner, Dr. Roy Kessel at Ripley and asked what to do with the body.  Dr. Kessel told them to take the body down and care for it and that he and the prosecuting attorney would come and make an investigation.  Mr. Boso cared for the body and had it on a bed when the officers arrived.  They were very much satisfied that Smith had met death at his own hands.  It would seem that Smith had gone to the woodshed, had procured the rope, got upon a gasoline drum and tied his feet together and then another rope around his neck and to the rafter overhead and then he had kicked the drum from under himself.  His neck was not broken and there were signs that he had struggled.  The woodshed was about three hundred feet from the house.