White - John - 1897 - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Last Monday afternoon John White, aged twenty three years, committed suicide at Waynetown by swallowing a lot of carbolic acid. He was a son of the late Tom White and lived with his widowed mother. He had been devoted a long time to Nettie Whittaker, a seventeen year old girl of Waynetown, and they were engaged to be married. The time for the marriage had been set several times but was each time changed by the young man, who offered various excuses for his postponements. At one time he asserted that the tailor had made a mistake in the making of his wedding suit, at another time he was sick and another time something else was the obstacle. The time had been set for Monday evening and everything was in readiness at the bride’s home. In the afternoon John left home to go, as his mother thought, to Crawfordsville, to secure his marriage license. He went instead to the barn of Dan Thompson, and climbing into the loft he took off his coat, making a pillow of it. He then lay down and swallowed a bottle of carbolic acid. The dead body was found some time later by Mr. Thompson, who notified the relatives, and the body was taken to the home of Mrs. White.

The prospective bride was fairly frantic with grief when told of her loss and all night long wept and lamented. It is feared the shock will severely impair her health. No cause is assigned for the suicide but it is thought the young man did not have the money to marry, and looked upon death as the best way out of his trouble.

It was currently reported on the streets on Tuesday that Dan Harper, of west of Waynetown, had also committed suicide, but later the report was denied. -s