Todd - Will
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal 6 December 1911 p 4
-- With four of the Todd family of New Market dead after being afflicted with typhoid fever for several weeks, another sad chapter has been added to the story of their troubles when James Todd, the father, was brought here Tuesday and placed in jail to await a sanity inquest. For sometime his action shave been such that it was feared that he might be losing his mind and yesterday the professional nurse refused to remain at the Todd home unless Mr. Todd should be taken away. He was brought to Crawfordsville and lodged in jail Tuesday afternoon by Sheriff Ed Lawrence. The father of the family was the first to be stricken with the disease which has so depleted the stricken family and in a state of weakness and illness he has looked on helplessly while death claimed four of his loved ones. His condition is improved now but he is still very weak, and it is feared that the strain he has been under has unbalanced his mind. He is laboring under the hallucination that the nurse did not take the proper care of his wife and has asked that all help be withdrawn so that he may look after the family himself. His presence in the house has been a source of worry to those who were taking care of the sick members of the family and fearly that he might do some act of violence, he was removed. A commission in lunacy will examine him this afternoon in order to determined whether he is sane or not. Those of the family who have passed away are Oscar and Hubert, aged 5 and 7 respectively; Will, 21 and the mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Todd. Only 5 are left, and 4 of them have not yet recovered from an attack of the typhoid fever. One of the boys has never contracted the disease and the other living boy together with the two girls is still confined to his bed and the father is thought to be demented. Trustee Charles V. Hodgkin appeared before the county commissioners Tuesday and asked that more money be allowed for the benefit of the stricken Todd family of near New Market. The expenses are very heavy and the money which has been contributed is all spent. The commissioners granted $15. William Swearingen has added $1 to the fund. The family is still in a sad plight and much more money is needed. -- kbz