CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - OBITUARY OF CLARA TAGGART ==================================================================== NEGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the NEGenWeb Archives by Carol Tramp Permission granted by: Rob Dump, Editor, Cedar County News ====================================================================== THE CEDAR COUNTY NEWS - AUGUST 7, 1924 DESPONDENT WOMAN DIES FROM POISON MRS. CLARA M. TAGGART, OF NEAR ST. JAMES TAKES FATAL DOSE MONDAY Despondency due to family differences is believed to have induced Mrs. James Taggart, 47, of near St. James, to swallow enough strychnine last Monday night at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Lewis E. Jones, Jr., to cause her death a few hours later, without regaining consciousness after her condition was discovered. Mr. and Mrs. Taggart are reported to have had some family differences Monday morning and he left home shortly afterward. During the day Mrs. Taggart brooded over the matter and in the evening accompanied by her daughters, Eunice and Florence, went to the home of her married daughter, Mrs. Jones. She decided to take a bath and Mrs. Jones assisted her. She then decided to wash her hair and was further assisted. When she went to bed she asked for a clean gown in which to sleep. The Jones family slept on the ground floor and the Taggart girls slept across the hall from their mother. Miss Eunice went into her mother’s room and kissed her goodnight as she went to bed. Several hours later, she was awakened by moaning and ran to her mother’s room to find her suffering from a convulsion. She summoned Mr. and and Mrs. Jones and a physician was called but before he arrived Mrs. Taggart had passed away. County attorney Millard was notified and together with Deputy Sheriff Anna Olson and the physician, went to the Jones home Tuesday morning and made an investigation. An empty bottle, evidently long in the family medicine chest, which contained strychnine combination was found in the inside pocket of Mrs. Taggart’s dress. The officials decided that the poison had evidently been taken with suicidal intent and that no inquest was necessary. Mrs. Taggart’s maiden name was Clara M. Hoover. She was the daughter of Charlotte Ferber, a pioneer resident of Cedar County, by her first husband and was born in Iowa, coming to Cedar county as a child and living here practically all of her life. In addition to her husband, James Taggart, who is about 70, Mrs. Taggart is survived by five children, two sons, Walter and James, and three daughters, Mrs. Jones, Eunice and Florence at home. Mr. Taggart had gone to Newcastle, heard Tuesday of the tragedy and returned home that day. Mr. Taggart is a day laborer and is widely known over the northeast part of the county, having worked for many farmers in that section. The funeral will be held from the Wynot Methodist Church, the last of the week, interment to be made in the Wynot Cemetery.