Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Hughes, William August 19, 1922
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Nan Wheaton wheaton1624@yahoo.com September 12, 2018, 9:49 pm

Ionia County News - Thursday, Aug. 24, 1922

                    DEATH OF TWO MARKS END OF NIGHT AFFRAY
           Portland Man, Liquor Crazed, Slays Brother, Then Suicides
                        STRANGE FAMILY LIFE UNCOVERED

            Enough Arden Returns to End Curious Tangle of Affections

The citizens of Portland were thrown into a high state of excitement late 
Saturday night when William Hughes, 43, chef in a local restaurant, fatally 
wounded his brother, David, fired a bullet into the leg of his niece, Gertrude 
Hughes, shot twice at his sister-in-law, who was formerly his wife, then ended 
his life by sending a rifle ball through his head.

The terrible tragedy that awoke the citizens of the up-river village brought to 
light an Enoch Arden story that rivals the beautiful tale told of a man's love 
for a woman and his unwillingness to again enter her life after the years had 
robbed him of what was by right his to enjoy.

Something like 20 years ago, it is said that William Hughes married the woman 
whose life he attempted Sunday. After a brief married life, the call of the 
north came to him and he left for the gold fields of Alaska, where the great 
expanse of world and lure for the golden treasure within its breast seemed to 
have swallowed him into oblivion. After waiting for several years, the wife, 
believing he had departed for good, obtained a divorce and married the brother, 
David, who had remained behind in the tamed pursuits of civilization.

A few years ago William Hughes came back from the frozen wilds and learned for 
the first time the story of his brother taking his place in the home he had 
left behind. According to neighbors there seemed to have been no bitterness on 
his part and after a stay of a few weeks he again left and remained away until 
about a year ago, when he returned to Portland and took up work in the 
restaurant owned by his brother, using a room over the place in which to make 
his home.

Saturday it is said he moved his effects over to the home of his brother and 
shortly after that he began drinking lemon extract, having access to a quantity 
of the fluid through his being a cook. 

Crazed with liquor, he returned to the home of his brother about 10:30 and a 
quarrel between him and his former wife ensued. Rushing into a bedroom he 
secured a rifle and with the words, "I am going to shoot the whole family," he 
came back out into the living room. A scuffle for possession of the gun ensued 
between the brothers and in some manner the gun was discharged, the charge 
passing through the thigh of the brother, David, and striking the latter's 
daughter, Gertrude, in the leg. After firing two shots at his former wife, he 
ran from the house and was found a few minutes later by Deputy Sheriff Van 
Sickle lying in a nearby ditch with the top of his head nearly blown off. A 
note found in his pocket revealed a premeditated suicide, reading, Goodbye, 
David and Gertrude, forever. I want David to have all I have. 

Additional Comments:
William Hughes Age 43
Portland Cemetery - #B1-21
David Hughes Age 49

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