JEFRY, John - Putnam

At Urbana, Ohio, Saturday at the Tucker Bicycle Works a terrible tragedy was discovered early in the morning. Charlie Vanderford, foreman found the body of John Jefrys in a pool of blood at 6:30 a.m. Jefrys was night watchman and by his side was a 32 caliber revolver. No cause is assigned for the horrible deed as the dead man is generally liked by his companions. The Urbana Times says: Jefrys had a fear haunting him, of which he frequently spoke, that some one was after him; yet he was never known to have any enemies. He was practically a stranger in the town, having come here when the factory moved from Roachdale, Ind. He was a sober, industrious and faithful workman, never being known to have any bad or irregular habits.

Jefrys has for the past 3 years been employed by Mr. Tucker as a night watchman. While the factory was located at Roachdale the man first took the position which he has held ever since. He was of a cheerful disposition, up to a few weeks ago, when he was constantly complaining of noises which he heard during the nights when he stayed at the factory. He grew despondent as he would talk of the matter and said that he wished the men would stop trying to scare him while he was on duty at work at night. About 3 weeks ago he talked with Mr. Tucker, saying that he heard noises during the nights as if some one was trying to break into the building. He also said that the person would flash lights into the windows and would even follow him home, and when he was going to bed in the morning would flash the light in his face as if to locate him. Mr. Tucker told Jefrys that his imagination was getting the best of him, but Jefrys would not be convinced that way. He was laid off for 3 weeks and another man employed in his place.

Last night when Jefrys went to work he seemed more cheerful than usual. He talked with several of his companions who were at the factory at the time and also had a brief conversation with Mr. Tucker. His conversation seemed to be very cheerful and no intimation of his of his intentions wer elearned. The men left him in charge of the factory about 6:30 and that was the last seen of him alive. When Shultz & Vanderford reached the machine room they saw the body of Jefrys lying in a pool of blood with his head lying under one of the heavy trucks. A revolver was lying by his right side just as it had fallen from the hand of the suicide as he fell to the floor. Further investigation revealed two bullet holes in the body. The hole, and the one evidently made by the first shot, was directly over the heart. The shirt front and collar were burned entirely from the bosom. The second hole was through the temple, the bullet having entered the right temple, coming out of the left and was found lying several feet away from the body."

Jefrys leaves a wife and six children and was 40 years of age. He was well known in Greencastle and was a brother-in-law of Carl Bell. The remains arrived here Monday morning and after short services were interred at Forest Hill that afternoon. THe relatives of the dead man are loth to believe the suicide theory and think Jefrys was murdered.