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| courtesy of Marilyn Young - Find A Grave |
Two Johnson kids killed themselves.
Clara A Johnson was the daughter of Peter Johnson & Mary A Woodhurst and she killed herself by drowning in 1902.
In 1912, her nephew took his life in a suicide pact with his best friend's wife. William Sanders Johnson was the only child of Walter A Johnson & Alice Lucinda Lancaster.
The Evening Item,
Richmond, IN, September 26, 1912
SUICIDE PACT BLAMED FOR
DEATH OF YOUNG COUPLE
William Johnson and
Mrs. Harriett Wyman Drink Carbolic Acid and Before Medical Assistance Can be
Secured Breathe Their Last Under Extraordinary Circumstances With Mrs. Johnson
and Wyman Present But Unaware
GREAT INTIMACY HAD
EXISTED IN THEIR FAMILIES
Shocking Tragedy
Featured by Series of Unusual Circumstances
MAN LONG DESPONDENT
No Further Explanation
for Persistent Plans on His Own Life
SEEMED IN GOOD HUMOR
Two Victims Went to
Kitchen Together and Returned to Fatal Sleep.
William Saunders
Johnson, aged 31, 425 South Twelfth street, a clerk in the Peter Johnson Stove
company, the only son of Walter Johnson, head of the firm, and Mrs. Harriett A.
Wyman, aged 30, 139 Richmond avenue, wife of Roy C. Wyman drank carbolic acid
last evening at the latter's home, in each other's company. Both died about 11
o'clock, within an hour after drinking the deadly poison. Neither made any
statement before death. Circumstances surrounding the tragedy indicate a
suicide pact. The double suicide was one of the most sensational, as well as
the strangest that has ever occurred in this community. It makes a total of six
suicides in Wayne county since August 6th.
. . .
While sitting in the
living room of the Wyman residence about 10 o'clock last evening, Mrs. Wyman
and Johnson got up and left Wyman and Mrs. Johnson in the room. They went to
the kitchen, probably remaining ten or fifteen minutes. Returning Mrs. Wyman
went to the couch in the living room, in which her husband and Mrs. Johnson
were seated, while Johnson went into the front room and sat down upon the
davenport. Neither said anything as they entered the room, the survivors said.
Within the next fifteen minutes the deep respiratory sounds from the front room
brought Wyman and Mrs. Johnson to Johnson's side. They glanced at Johnson,
whose breathing was unusually heavy but decided there was nothing wrong with
him. They did not detect an odor of acid. Upon returning to the sitting room
Wyman discovered that his wife, who had been sitting upright had fallen upon
her side, laying on the couch. Her breathing too was unnatural. However, even
then, Wyman said, he did not imagine the truth. It was probably two or three
minutes before Mrs. Johnson detected the odor of acid. A more careful
examination indicated the correctness of their suspicions. Picking his wife up
in his arms, and calling, "Harriett, Harriett, what have you done,"
Wyman carried her into the yard for air he said, the then called for help.
Neighbors summoned two physicians who worked hopelessly over the couple for
about an hour. Johnson died first. It is thought that he drank a greater
portion of the acid than Mrs. Wyman. There were no burns upon his lips.
Evidently he placed the neck of the small bottle far back in his mouth and
swallowed the contents. Mrs. Wyman's desperate effort was not carried out so
successfully, burns disfiguring her lips. A small portion of the acid run in a
stream down her neck and was blotted up by the clothing, covering her breast.
Early last evening Wyman met Johnson uptown, the latter accompanying Wyman
home. Wyman failed in an effort to persuade Johnson to return to the latter's
home. Wyman then went to the Johnson's residence about 9 o'clock and informed
Mrs. Johnson. She returned with Wyman, reaching his home about 9:20 o'clock.
She endeavored to have Johnson return with her to their home, but failed. His
gloomy spirits in the evening, however, had given away to a more cheerful
aspect of life. Wyman says that during the evening, his wife and Johnson left
the house and were gone possibly fifteen minutes. He said he and Mrs. Johnson
talked during this time. When the two returned they sat down and the four
talked for a few minutes upon subjects of no importance, and the text of which
Wyman does not recall. After this short visit Johnson got up and followed Mrs.
Wyman, they proceeded into the kitchen. The door was closed and Wyman and Mrs.
Johnson did not hear what took place in that room. The occasion of their
return, and the fact that Mrs. Wyman sat upon the couch in one room, while Johnson
proceeded to the davenport in the other did not occasion any surprise.
After the two died
Coroner Pierce was called, and he made a superficial examination. He found the
two ounce bottle on the kitchen table. There was about a grain of acid still in
it. The acid, the coroner said had evidently been purchased several days ago.
It was secured from a north end druggist. The bottle bore his label, and the
coroner judged from an examination of it that the acid had been purchased
several days ago. The coroner did not begin to take testimony in the case until
this afternoon. During the visit of the coroner, Walter Johnson, father of the
deceased, arrived. He took charge of the Wyman residence and made arrangements
for the removal of his son's body. Mrs. Walter Johnson, mother of the dead man,
who was an only son, was prostrate and her condition today was regarded as
serious. Johnson and Wyman and their wives have been very intimate friends for
the past year. It was not unusual for either to pay long visits at the home of
the other. This friendship was all the more unusual because of the serious
differences which Wyman and Johnson had a few months ago, which led to a street
fight between the two. Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Wyman, who resembled each other to
a degree that they were frequently mistaken for sisters, were often in each
other's company. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and between Mr.
and Mrs. Wyman according to the surviving wife and husband, was the most
congenial. Mrs. Johnson said that her husband's despondency was hard to
understand in view of the many things which he had to live for, the Johnsons
having a very comfortable home. Mrs. Wyman had never expressed any
dissatisfaction with her home, according to her husband. His mother and
daughter lived with the Wymans. The latter two, and a nephew of the dead women
were sleeping upstairs at the time the poison was taken.
Mrs. Wyman is a native
of Oshkosh, Wis., and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick H. Green, now live
there. She has been a resident of this city, with her husband, since their
marriage, twelve years ago. Johnson, who is survived by his widow, Gertrude,
and three children, Roy, Robert, and Walter, aged 9, 4, and 2 respectively, had
been despondent for some time, lately he had been drinking heavily. He had
threatened to kill himself several times. Mrs. Wyman, according to information
given her husband, had been in good health and he had never heard her threaten
her own life. She was the mother of an eleven year old daughter Lorraine.
The funeral of Johnson
will be held at the home of the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Johnson, 110 South
Ninth street. It will be strictly private. The date has not been arranged.
Burial will be in Earlham cemetery. He was well known and popular in Triumph lodge,
Knights of Pythias and the Uniform Rank.
