Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Ingraham, Levi 1914 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net December 29, 2010, 9:25 pm Portland Observer, 26 Feb 1914 An Awful Plunge With Hangman’s Noose About His Neck, Farmer Leaps from Top of Barn Into Space. Levi Ingraham A Suicide Despondency Over Financial Matters and Inability to Secure Another Farm Drive Man to Desperation. Sobbing pitifully as he communicated with his step-son, Glenn Powers, in a long distance call to Jackson, Saturday morning, Levi Ingraham solicited the former’s promise to care for his two small children and turning from the telephone went directly to the barn, fastened one end of a 24-foot rope to the hay car track in the extreme top of the building and tieing the other end about his neck, jumped off into space. An hour or so later his dead body was discovered in the hay loft by Robert Scadin and Allen Olmstead, a neighbor. Despondency over financial matters and difficulty in renting another farm are believed to have been the causes of the man’s rash act. The farm on which the suicide was committed is known as the John A. Webber property, located 1 ½ miles west of Portland. It is now the property of Lynn D. Rudolph, of Chicago, who recently rented the place to Jos. Ruessman. At the time the deal was negotiated Ingraham is said to have been ignorant of the fact. Since learning from outside sources that the farm had been rented, Ingraham is said to have tried repeatedly to secure another location, but as most of the desirable farms had been taken it was difficult to find a place to his own liking. The man brooded over his misfortune to a great extent and this is believed to have been one of the causes of his rash act. His health had also been poor during the past few years and he had not been in the best of circumstances financially since most of his crops failed a few seasons ago. This combination of circumstances caused him to grow despondent and on Saturday morning, during the absence of his wife and children, he decided to end it all. Calling his step- son over the telephone at Jackson he asked him to care for his two children, and when Mr. Powers tried to get an explanatory statement Ingraham told him “it would soon be over” and hung up the receiver. Frantic with excitement, Powers called Mrs. Allen Olmstead, a neighbor, and told her of Ingraham’s message, whereupon the latter went to the Ingraham home to investigate. She found the house deserted. going to the barn she called repeatedly for the missing man, but received no response. Mr. Olmstead was then called, and in company with Robert Scadin, who happened to be passing the Ingraham home at the time, a diligent search was instituted. The men searched the barn thoroughly, then went thorough the house and other small buildings on the farm, but no traces of Ingraham could be found. Convinced in their own minds that the man was not there Messrs. Scadin and Olmstead started for the latter’s home when Scadin suggested that another search be made. The two men climbed to the hay loft, from which they could see a broken piece of rope suspended from the hay car track in the extreme peak of the barn. A ladder stood up against the side of the barn directly under the rope. With their suspicions fully aroused, the two men were not long in finding Ingraham’s dead body, which was hidden from view behind a pile of corn stalks, and overlooked when the first search was made. Coroner Barton and Dr. Robert Martin, of Portland, were hurriedly summoned and reached the scene of the tragedy a few moments later. Dr. Martin, who performed the autopsy, declared the man had been dead for nearly an hour. In the awful plunge the heavy rope about the victim’s neck had been broken, and the body lay in an obscure corner of the hay loft. Members of the coroner’s jury, who decided that the man met his death by hanging, were: Allen Olmstead, George B. Mathews, Henry Fishell, Robert Scadin, Alfred Whitlock and Lewis Gibbs. After the necessary legal proceeding the body was removed to the house, where Undertaker Arthur Bandfield took charge of the remains. Mr. Ingraham was 48 years of age on December 28th last, and had resided in Portland and vicinity the greater portion of his life. About 13 years ago he was married to Mrs. Nellie Powers, of Pewamo, who, with two children, Ellen, age 12, and Frank, aged 10, survive him. Deceased also leaves three brothers and there sisters, as follows: Wm. Ingraham, Henry Ingraham and Mrs. George McArthur, Portland; Mrs. E. L. David, Eagle township; Mrs. Nellie Evarts, Ionia; Wheaten Ingraham, Grand Rapids. Mr. Ingraham also has a son, Lewis, by a former marriage. A nephew, George Ingraham, of Portland, met a tragic death at Lansing on May 25, 1912, when he was struck by a Pere Marquette passenger train and his body horribly mangled. Allen Olmstead, a neighbor and personal friend of deceased, will be appointed administrator of Mr. Ingraham’s estate, and the personal property will be disposed of at auction at an early date. The funeral services were held at the late home Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock, conducted by Rev. John H. Stewart, of the Baptist church, and the remains were placed in the vault at Portland cemetery to await burial. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/i/ingraham10470nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb