McKinsey - Thomas
Source: Crawfordsville (Indiana) Weely Review Dec 15, 1910 p 5
Battle Creek, Mich Dec 15 - Fearing that he is losing his voice, which will prevent him from earning his living by singing in the streets, Thomas McKinsey, age 55, formerly of Thorntown, Ind, who has been blind all his life, has appealed to the Governors of Ohio, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia to grant him the use of the electric chair, which is to release him from a living death by legan sentence. He says that he has considerd taking his own life, but behoves it is wrong. "Society has condemned me to death and I believe that the sentence should be carried out as speedily and painlessly as possible," he says. "I would rather end all than become a state charge in a state almshouse." McKinsey was educated in the Indiana state school for the blind, and became a pastor in the DIsciple Church. He held pastorates at Thorntown and Elizaville, Ind. He was born at Central, Ind. - typed by kbz