Obituary of Richard Clark, Jefferson County, KSGenWeb Digital Library

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THE OSKALOOSA INDEPENDENT,
(Oskaloosa, Kansas), 10 Nov 1916

Obituary of RICHARD CLARK

Richard Clark of Louisburg Had Been
Accused by His Neighbors of
Patterson Killing.
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Because he was unable to bear the suspician of murder Richard Clark, 69 years old, of Louisburg, shot himself in the head with a revolver recently. Rumor had it that Clark was the mysterious assailant of William H. Patterson, wealthy bachelor, who was killed while reading a newspaper in the kitchen of his home, one and one-half miles northwest of Louisburg, October 18.

According to the story told by neighbors of the slain man, Clark and Patterson, 52 years old, had been warm friends since they homesteaded near Louisburg years ago. Two years ago a quarrel led to a cessation of the friendship between them. Since then they had not spoken to each other.

At 7:30 o'clock the evening of October 18 Patterson was shot in the neck with a shotgun fired through an open window. When his sister, Miss Mary Patterson, a trained nurse, attempted to telephone for a doctor she discovered the telephone wires leading to the house had been cut.

Neighbors indirectly accused Clark of the murder. They told the coroner Clark had threatened to "get" Patterson at the time of their quarrel.

Clark's wife and two children heard a chot in the barn lot of their home in the outskirts of Lousburg. They ran into the back yard to find Clark lying on the ground, dying. A bullet had bassed through his brain. He had fallen on his arm and in the hand crumpled beneath his body was his revolver.

It was said here that Clark had a nervous attack and called a doctor. In the morning he paid for the treatment and then went home. It also was said that before he shot himself he had denied to his relatives that he had anything to do with the murder.

Transcribed and Contributed by Louis Dolton