Thompson - Frederick
Source: Crawfordsville Journal, Thursday, December 31, 1903
Frederick Thompson, living four miles east of Darlington, committed suicide this morning shortly before 6 o'clock. His lifeless body was discovered in his barn, where he had been feeding his horses, stretched across a sack of grain with a fragment of paper in his outstretched hand.
Mr. Thompson, who is about 55 years of age, arose at his usual hour this morning and nothing out of the ordinary was noted in his conduct. He did a number of chores about the house and went to the barn to feed about 5:30 o'clock. A call from the house after about a half hour had elapsed failed to bring any response, and Mr. Thompson's brother-in-law, who had been at the house all night, went to the barn. Near the door, stretched across a sack of grain, with a rifle on the floor by his side and a torn note in his stretch bloody hand, he beheld the lifeless form of one of the most prosperous farmers of the neighborhood. The note was almost entirely illegible, indicating that it had been written while Mr. Thompson was in a state of great nervous excitement. “It is too bad” was all that could be read until the last two words were reached “Good bye,” several sentences between being entirely too poorly written to be deciphered. No cause is known for the deed, nor can any hardly be imagined. Mr. Thompson's domestic relations and home life were always apparently full of harmony and joy, and in a financial way he was considered prosperous. His health was not bad and his friends are at a complete loss to ascribe a motive for the deed. The suicide leaves a wife and four children to mourn his death. Mrs. Thompson was at Wingate on a short visit at the time of the disaster, and the children were away from home. Mrs. Thompson's brother, “Bud” Sutton, was at the house with Mr. Thompson.
The dead man was always of a jolly, happy disposition, and just yesterday was at Darlington most of the day, apparently in as high spirits as ever. Last year he bought an eighty acre farm in Franklin township, on the Montgomery county line, and has enjoyed the best of prosperity. Prior to his purchase of this real estate he lived on the farm of Rev. Shutts, five miles north of Darlington. Mrs. Thompson is the daughter of Ari Sutton, a well known farmer of Coal Creek Township. John Thompson, of Madison Township, and James Thompson, living near the Boone county line are brothers of the deceased. The arrangements for the funeral have not yet been made but will be announced later. – thanks to Lena H