Grayson County TXGenWeb

Bryan Morning Eagle
Bryan, Texas
July 10, 1907

BLOWS BRAINS OUT
Dreadful Suicide of a Young Man Near Pottsboro, Texas

Pottsboro, Texas, July 9 - John E Leslie [sic], aged 27 years, who resided 3 miles west of Pottsboro, blew his brains out with a shotgun. The parents of the young man had gone to the Georgetown cemetery to attend memorial exercises, leaving the son and a hired man named Joe Adams at home. About 3 o'clock young Mr. Leslie told Adams he would hitch up his horse and drive to the cemetery. Shortly after he left the house, Adams heard a shot, but thought nothing of it. When decedent's parents returned about 6 o'clock it was learned the man had not taken his horse from the barn. A search was instituted, which resulted in finding the body about three quarters of a mile from the house with the top of the head blown off.

Jefferson Jimplecute
Jefferson, Texas
Friday, July 12, 1907
pg. 1

BLOWS BRAINS OUT
Dreadful Suicide of a Young Man Near Pottsboro, Tex.

Pottsboro, Tex. July 9 - John E. Leslie [sic], aged twenty-seven years, who resided three miles west of Pottsboro blew his brains out with a shotgun. The parents of the young man had gone to the Georgetown cemetery to attend memorial exercises, leaving the son and a hired man named Joe Adams at home. About 3 o'clock young Mr. Leslie told Adams he would hitch up his horse and drive to the cemetery. Shortly after he left the house Adams heard a shot, but thought nothing of it. When the decedent's parents returned about 6 o'clock, it was learned the man had not taken his horse from the barn. A search was instituted, which resulted in finding the body about three-quarters of a mile from the house with the top of the head blown off.

The Courier-Gazette
McKinney, Texas
Monday, July 8, 1907
pg. 1

YOUNG MAN FOUND DEAD
Sherman, Texas, July 8 - (Special to the Gazette) - Near Pottsboro, fifteen miles northwest of Sherman, yesterday afternoon about 6 o'clock the body of John E. Lessly, a young man twenty years of age, was found, with his head almost blown off and a shotgun laying by his side. He was found about two hundred yards west of the residence of his father, J. H. Lesly, a wealthy farmer of that community.
Justice of the Peace W. H. McAden and Constable G. H. Harding of Pottsboro went to the scene of the tragedy, and after viewing the body, Justice McAden rendered a verdict that Young Lesly came to his death from gunshot wounds, self-inflicted.
It is stated that the young man had been somewhat despondent for several days on account of a falling out he had had with a young lady with whom he had been keeping company a great deal.
He was the only boy in the family. He leaves, besides his parents, five sisters. Burial was in the Pottsboro cemetery today.

The Waxahachie Daily Light
Waxahachie, Texas
Tuesday, July 9, 1907
pg. 3

Pottsboro, Texas July 8. - John E. Lessly killed himself yesterday afternoon about 4 o'clock by shooting with a shotgun. He was 28 years old, single and one of the most highly respected young men of this community. Disappointment in love is said to have been the cause of the act.