Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Collins, Emma (Roe) 1886
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Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net May 18, 2011, 12:09 pm

Ionia Standard, 26 Nov 1886

Portland, Nov. 23 – Word was received here Saturday forenoon that Mrs. Emma 
Collins of Danby had been shot and killed.  The first reports were indefinite 
as to how the shooting was done, but it soon developed a case of suicide.  The 
scene of the tragedy is about three miles southwest of this village.  Dr. 
Dellenbaugh was called but the woman was dead before he arrived, shot through 
the heart.  A jury was summoned by ‘Squire Porter, consisting of Geo. Wood, 
John Dilley, Rush Baldwin, John W. Triphagen, O.N. Jenkins and Lew F. 
Cutcheon.  On investigation the body was found in a bed where it had been 
placed.  The bullet had entered the left breast near the nipple and penetrated 
the heart.  Death was of course nearly instantaneous.

The womans husband, Myron Collins, and a little girl named Eva J. Bailey, were 
at the house at the time of the shooting.  According to their testimony, Mrs. 
Collins shot herself about eight o’clock in the morning in the bedroom.  Mr. 
Collins was sitting in an adjoining room, and only a few distant at the time.  
This testimony that it was a case of suicide seemed to be corroborated by the 
position of the body and the wound, and Drs. Dellenbaugh and Alton so 
testified.  The jury rendered a verdict to that effect.

The husband and wife had not lived happily together and were about to 
separate.  The farm property had recently been sold at auction.  The Observer 
has the following about the case:

“The deceased was a native of Portland, and was about 33 years of age.  She was 
the daughter of Joseph Roe, who, it will be remembered, committed suicide by 
hanging about six years ago this month in his barn in this village.  She had 
been married to Mr. Collins about nine years.  No cause can be assigned for the 
rash act except she and her husband had agreed to live apart.  There was a 
mortgage on the farm, (which came from her father,) where she died, and these 
things may have preyed upon her mind until she thought the only relief was in 
death.  She leaves a husband and one child, an brother, Frank Roe, a merchant 
of this village, and a sister, Mrs. Sleight, also of this village.  The funeral 
was held at the M.E. church in this village, Monday afternoon, the Rev. Mr. 
Hallenback preaching the sermon.”


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