Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Atwell, John July 26, 1919
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Nan Wheaton wheaton1624@yahoo.com February 15, 2017, 2:11 pm

Sentinel-Standard - Friday, Aug. 1, 1919

               JOHN ATWELL, WHO KILLED SON, BURIED AT PORTLAND

The body of John Atwell, the former Portland man who shot himself and his five-
year-old son, Victor, in Lansing Saturday night, was brought to Portland where 
funeral services were held Tuesday. Funeral services for the little son were 
held at the same hour Tuesday at the home of the child's grandmother, Mrs. 
Maurice Brown, Lansing.

Jealousy of his wife and an insane, passionate love for his young son, who had 
been given over to the custody of the mother pending the outcome of a divorce 
suit, prompted Atwell to go to the home of his mother-in-law Saturday night on 
the avowed mission of killing his wife, his little son and himself. Armed with 
a heavily loaded revolver which he had taken from a trunk owned by his 
landlady, he entered the Brown home at 714 West Lapeer street, and drew the gun 
from his pocket, "I have come to kill you," he told his mother-in-law. Then he 
fired at the little boy, who was playing about the room. The shot went wide of 
the mark. Mrs. Brown ran outdoors to give an alarm. The little boy followed. 
Trembling with anger and excitement, Atwell took a shot at the grandmother but 
missed. Then he pointed the revolver at the fleeing boy, took good aim, and 
fired. The bullet struck the little fellow in the neck and severed the juglar 
vein. His purpose accomplished, Atwell withdrew to the kitchen of the house and 
sent a bullet crashing into his right temple with fatal effect.

A neighbor lady, who ran to the house upon hearing the shots and Mrs. Brown's 
cries for help, took the limp form of the little boy in her arms. The child 
bled profusely and lived but a few moments. Atwell was lying in a huge pool of 
blood on the kitchen floor when the police reached the house. 

Additional Comments:
Age: 27
Funeral: Tuesday, 29 July 1919
Portland cemetery #EMd 111


Ctf: b. Nov. 29, 1891, MI
son of Wm. Atwell & Lyia (Bell)

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