WE ALL SHOULD CARE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH - OUR OWN, OUR FAMILIES', OUR FRIENDS', OUR NEIGHBORS' ...
In the older newspapers, it was quite common for personal business to be aired on the pages of the daily paper. Divorces, Suicides, Murders, Hard Times, Spouses Cheating...with all
the sordid details which would probably not be elaborated on in current newspapers.
But, it is worth finding these newspaper articles when you are doing your family research. Many times, that article will serve as the obituary; sometimes it will describe the man himself or will expand on the family's situation. It may name family members, occupations or give some family history.
One of the Leslie E. Goodenough suicide reports was printed in The Defiance Express, Monday, April 15, 1901 on page 5:
"The World Laughed
He Courted Death.
Sad Death of L. E. Goodenough Early Sunday Morning
Leslie E. Goodenough died at the home of John B. Minsel, grandfather of his wife, near the corner of Wayne and Fifth Streets at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Death was caused by an overdose of a deadly drug, taken it is presumed, with suicidal intents.
It was the old story of a despondent man and a bottle of morphine. Troubles, actual or imaginary, made his life a horrid dream. There was no ray of sunshine to dispel the clouds. He could only see the guidepost that pointed to self-destruction on the shortest, surest route out of his misery. He was low spirited; at times he wept like a child. He needed a guardian, but no one had fathomed the tide or cared, too , possibly shaking the foundations of his mind.
He threatened to kill himself, but that only called out a careless laugh from many of his associates who little realized the stress of the shaken one. In the silence of the night, he took a deadly drug and, while his family slumbered peacefully by his side, his life ebbed out in broken sobs.
In the morn, when the sun was half way above the eastern horizon, a lad, the man's son, came to awaken him. It was in vain. The man, the father, was a castaway in the domain of death. It is a horrid picture. There are too many of them and the number will never decrease until the world's humanity is christianized.
L. E. Goodenough was born October 13, 1861, and was raised in the vicinity of Jewell, North Richland townshiJp, Defiance county. He was married to Olive Shoup, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs Levi Shoup, well known in this county, Sept. 10, 1888. Two children, boys, came of this union, Max, aged 11 years, and Don, aged 7, who, with the mother, survive the father.
Mrs. Goodenough is a granddaughter of John B. Minsel and the family was living in the same house with him near the corner of Fifth and Wayne street at the time of the tragic death of her husband. Goodenough owned property of his own in south Defiance. The house had just been newly painted and repapered and he expected to move his family there in a short time. He had been employed in the bending department at the Turnbull Wagon Works, and while he had been doing well, gave up his job at noon Saturday.
He was on the streets during the evening, but there was nothing in his actions that indicated that he intended to take his life.
Two or three days ago he threatened to cut his throat, but his nerve failed him in the supreme moment, and the horrid task was not consummated. The report of this affair went out among the people, and while the world laughed, the man brooded and kept up his courtship with death.
Goodenough retired at about ten o'clock. Before going to bed, he took a dose of medicine and in answer to a query of his son, Max, said it was for his headache. Anyhow, it ushered in the dreamless sleep that knows no waking.
Several times during the night, Mrs. Goodenough heard her husband sob as if weeping. What she heard was no doubt the gasping sounds that ensue in morphine poisoning when the respirations begin to lessen. She arose at about 6 a.m. and her husband was apparently asleep. A few minutes later, the son, Max, attempted to arouse his father, but failed. The alarm was given and the neighbors called in. A messenger was sent after Dr. J. J. Reynolds, but when he reached the house at 6:30 a.m., the man was dead.
Leslie E. Goodenough was a man of good habits. He was sober and industrious and was greatly admired by those intimately acquainted with him. He used to be employed by the B. & O. railway company. Later he worked in the bucket factory of Bugland and Shead in North Defiance where he lost some of his fingers off of both hands.
An effort was made to reach Coroner R. B. Cameron at Jewell by phone immediately after the death, but failing on this, Levi Deggler, an uncle of Mrs. Goodenough, drove down and notified the doctor of the affair.
Dr. Cameron, when he arrived in the city, viewed the remains and examined the man's effects, finding in a pantaloon pocket, a bottle partly filled with morphine. This morphine was purchased in a local drug store four or five days ago, and it is presumed that Goodenough had been carrying it around in his pocket ever since.
When Dr. Reynolds was called to the Minsel home early in the morning, he was shown a bottle labeled headache medicine, from which Goodenough was supposed to have taken the final dose. He tasted the stuff, but could not determine from tasting what was in the bottle. The discovery of the morphine by Coroner Cameron and the fact that Goodenough slept his life away left no reason for doubt as to what had caused his death.
After the remains had been viewed by the coroner, they were taken in charge by the force at Martin's undertaking establishment. The coroner has not yet filed a death certificate with the undertaker, but it is thought that when he does, it will be in accordance with the facts given above.
The funeral will occur from the M.E. church at Independence at 2 p.m. Thursday, Rev. Lilly of Hicksville officiating. The following persons have been called here by the death of Mr. Goodenough: Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Shoup and Ernest Shoup of Auburn, Ind. and Mr. and Mrs. Levi Shoup and son, Arthur, of Montpelier."
The Defiance Crescent-News added more information to the scenario above, published the same day, the day after his death:
"The troubles leading up to the time the deed was done and which seems to be the only cause for his rash act are best known to members of his immediate family, but a few facts have been ascertained.
For some months past, the relations between he and his wife have not been of the happiest nature. Last Wednesday evening, Mr. Goodenough came home from work and requested his wife to perform some work in the garden which she was physically unable to do. Mr. Goodenough became angry at his wife's refusal, and he declared he would take his own life. Saying this, he picked up a butcher knife which was lying on the table and attempted to cut his throat. Members of the family ran to the neighbors for assistance but he relented and apparently postponed his deed."
According to this account, after that incident, he became very kind toward his family, and they had no suspicions of anything further. During the night, he sobbed occasionally, but his wife said he had been crying a great deal and "brooding over family troubles."
Sources aren't named and maybe some assumptions were made, but that was the journalism of the day.
"Obituary of Lester 'Leslie" E. Goodenough
Lester E., son of Martin H. and Elizabeth M. Goodenough, was born October 13, 1861 in Adams township, Defiance county, at the home of his grandparents, J. W. and Emily Goodenough. While an infant, his parents moved to Defiance. At the age of 3 years, his mother died, when he was taken to live with his grandparents, where he remained 'till some years later, when his father married again and was then taken to the home of his parents where he lived till the death of his father which occurred when Lester was 13 years old.
He was sent to live with an aunt in Massachusetts, but not being satisfied, he returned to Defiance. His uncle, Mr Thomas Moss, sent for him, where he remained some time when he finally decided to return to his grandparents where he remained, working on the farm till he secured a position with the B & O railroad company.
He was married to Miss Ollie Shoup, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Levi Shoup, September 10, 1888, and with his bride went to Garrett, Ind. to live, where he bought a home. He remained in Garrett two years, when he returned to Defiance and since that time has made his home here.
Mr. Goodenough was a man of good habits, sober and industrious, a kind father and loving husband. He has two children, Don, aged 11 and Max, aged 7, who with their mother survive.
Lester E. Goodenough was born October 13, 1861, and died April 14, 1901, aged 39 years, 6 months and one day."
I have noticed the telling of tragic events in local newspapers is very blunt. My great grandfather committed suicide in 1914 and the article seems fairly graphic compared to the more subtle reporting of today.
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