OVERBAY, Harry
Date of death: 19 Oct 1899 – Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
The Franklin Democrat, Friday, October 20, 1899,
Volume XL Number 15, page 1 column 5
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COMMITS SUICIDE.
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Former Resident of Franklin.
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Harry Overbay, son of David Overbay and wife of Franklin, died Thursday afternoon at Indianapolis from poison. The Sentinel says:
While suffering from a fit of despondency because he could not secure employment, Harry Overbay took an ounce of laudanum. Physicians were summoned, but they were unable to save his life.
Overbay was thirty one years old, and people who knew him say his fondness for liquor was largely responsible for his death. He was last employed at the C. H. & D. railway shops, but lost his place after working one week. He was a good machinist and could have had steady employment but for the drinking habit. His wife noticed nothing unusual in his actions when he left home Thursday morning. About 11 o’clock he returned and told her that he could not support his family, and with the remark, “I am ready to die,” placed the bottle containing the laudanum to his lips and swallowed its contents.
Mrs. Overbay hastily summoned a physician, and he told her that Overbay had not taken enough of the drug to kill him. He left some medicine and returned to his office. An hour later Mrs. Overbay noticed that her husband was sinking rapidly and physicians were summoned from the city dispensary, but they were unable to save his life. Mrs. Overbay is left with three children, the oldest a boy of three years.
Note: Marion County, Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1891–1895 Inclusive, Original Record Located: County Clerk’s Office Indianapolis; Book: 105 records that Harry C. Overbay married Pearl Blocker on 2 Oct 1895 in Marion County.
Submitted by Mark McCrady and Cathea Curry