Suicide Pact

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.