A tragedy occurred at the Perry Wall farm in the southeast part of the county last Sunday morning that will long be remembered by the people of Comanche county.Thomas R. Hinkle committed suicide about seven o'clock Sunday morning by shooting himself with a Winchester rifle. He also shot his favorite saddle mare before committing the crime, and in some way the house was set on fire and burned to the ground.
Mr. Hinkle was a bachelor and lived on the place by himself, being in the employ of Mr. Wall as a farm hand. A new barn is under construction at the place and Mr. Wall, T. D. DeJarnett, Victor Hays and Roy Griffin had been working on the barn and batching with Mr. Hinkle the last two weeks. On Saturday they left their work and came home leaving Mr. Hinkle there alone. The first suspicion that there was something wrong at the place was when a man by the name of Brown rode in to Mr. J. W. Alley's place and ask him what had become of Perry's house as he could not see it as he rode in sight of it on his way there.
They went immediately to investigate and discovered that the house had been burned to the ground. Closer investigation revealed the body of Mr. Hinkle lying across the bed springs. Close by his side was the rifle with which he shot himself.
The Coroner and county attorney were notified and came at once to the scene. Upon examination the coroner found that the man had been shot in the head and circumstances were so plainly that of suicide that the officers decided that no inquest was necessary.
The house that was burned was a substantial four roomed structure and with the contents represents a loss of about $1000, which was partially covered by insurance.
The deceased was about 50 years old. The remains were interred in the Coldwater cemetery on Monday.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!
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