July 5, 1908
WEDDED 2 DAYS;
KILLS HIMSELF
FIRES BULLET INTO BRAIN IN
PRESENCE OF WIFE.
AFTER BIDDING HER GOODBYE.
NO REASON FOR JOS. P. THOMP-
SON'S ACT IS KNOWN.
Married Pearl A. O'Shea on July 2.
It Was a Mild Elopement, and
Her Parents Didn't Ap-
prove of Wedding.
One July 2 Joseph P. Thompson and Miss Pearl A. O'Shea took a trip to Leavenworth and were married by a justice of the peace.
Last night at 7 o'clock when the young wife entered her husband's room at 3102 East Twentieth street he said goodby to her and, pointing a pistol at his right temple, shot himself in the brain.
Thompson was a woodturner and worked for the American Sash and Door Company. He was 26 years old and had been in the city three years. A quiet young man, he never spoke much about himself to anyone, but there were rumors that he had once been married before.
For the last year, Thompson had boarded at the house of Mrs. Alma D'Avis, 3102 East Twentieth street, and it was there that he met the girl that afterward became his wife. Mrs. D'Avis has weak eyes, and requires the attention of a nurse. Her niece, Pearl O'Shea, was a nurse, so Mrs. D'Avis had her come and stay with her. That was two months ago. An attachment sprang up between the young people living in the same house, and the runaway marriage was the result.
After the marriage they told the girl's mother and he stepfather, John Reed, who lives at Twentieth an Harrison streets. The latter did not approve of the union at all. the girl was their only support, they said, and they had lost much of their property in the recent flood.
This is the only reason that the young man's friends can give for the suicide. Yesterday afternoon he came home, apparently in a normal frame of mind. He was not known as a drinking man, and was said to have no bad habits. He did not even own a revolver, so that he must have especially purchased the one he used.
Last night the young wife was hysterical with grief and had to have the care of physicians. The tragic ending of the short romance of her life affected her so seriously that the doctors fear for her mind.
Thompson came to this city three years ago from Hot Springs, Ark. He was a member of the lodge 73 of the West Side branch, W. O. W., and was well liked by all his associates. At no time did his actions give any trace of insanity.
Labels: boarding house, flood, Harrison street, Leavenworth, lodges, marriage, mental health, nurses, Suicide, Twentieth street
