Clark County NV Archives Obituaries.....MC KINNEY, Willis F. July 11 1919 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nv/nvfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Gerry Perry missgerry@cox.net June 28, 2004, 1:21 am Las Vegas Age - 7/12/1919 DEATH ENDS M'KINNEY'S DOMESTIC UNHAPPINESS UNFORTUNATE MAN KILLS HIMSELF FOLLOWING FILING OF WIFE'S DIVORCE SUIT Willis F. MC KINNEY, husband of Hazel Bray MC KINNEY, put a quick and decisive end to his domestic troubles last evening about eight o'clock, by shooting himself with a revolver. The bullet entered just below the neck, ranged downward and out through the back, severing in its passage the large arteries leading to the heart. Death was instantaneous. The tragedy occurred in one of the Lorenzi apartments on Main street where the McKinney's have been living. MC KINNEY had been brooding over his troubles for a time and the act was premeditated. In fact, but a few minutes before his death in talking to a friend on Fremont St. MC KINNEY is said to have declared that he could not stand the disgrace brought to him by his wife's suit for divorce and would take his life. He arrived at the apartment about eight o'clock. Mrs. Corinne GLENN, who was seated on the porch in the rear of one of the apartments, heard him enter. Almost immediately he came back and asked Mrs. GLENN for a small piece of ice. He said, "I suppose you have a poor opinion of me now." and Mrs. GLENN answered in substance that she thought the same of him as before. He then took the ice, went into his apartment and closed the door. Then she heard a smothered noise and then the fall of the body to the floor. She called J. E. BOURGEOIS who had also heard the shot and they notified Undersheriff WAIT. Upon his arrival, WAIT, W. J. SANDER, Mr. BOURGEOIS and Mrs. GLENN entered the room and found the body lying on its back, blood pouring from the wound, and the revolver lying a short distance from his outstreched hand. Coroner LILLIS was notified and upon his arrival, impanneled a jury consisting of J. H. JONES, G. A. NUTTAL, (illegible) BOGGS. The body was viewed where it lay, and the testimony of Mssrs. WAIT, SANDER and BOURGEOIS and Mrs. GLENN heard this morning. The verdict will be rendered this evening after the testimony has been typewritten by Miss IRELAND and subscribed by the witnesses. Coroner LILLIS found that the deceased had left two letters to be delivered after his death, one to his wife, Hazel BRAY MC KINNEY, and the other to Mrs. I. C. JOHNSON. The letter to Mrs. JOHNSON is a request made to her as an old friend, as to notifying the dead man's mother. Neither of the letters were made public. Willis F. MC KINNEY is given a good character by those who know him best. He is said to have been sober, industrious and devoted to his wife and baby. He was an expert workman and has been in the employ of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad shops as a blacksmith for several years. Those who have been in his confidence as to the details of his matrimonial troubles do not hold MC KINNEY by any means entirely to blame, if at all. It is claimed by his friends that he was not a drinking man and that the charges made in the divorce complaint filed in his wife's suit against him are unwarranted by the facts. MC KINNEY had taken certain ones into his confidence as to his troubles recently, and it is claimed for him that his chief desire was that he might have a real home with his wife and baby here. He claimed to his friends that his wife was induced by her mother to work in the restaurant and that this resulted in breaking up the home. The culmination of MC KINNEY's unhappiness, the final straw, the impelling reason for his rash act, was doubtless the complaint which his wife filed in her suit against him for divorce. The summons, and also an injunction restraining MC KINNEY from disposing of Liberty Bonds which he has partially paid for were served upon him yesterday. The suit is entitled Hazel B. MC KINNEY vs Willis F. MC KINNEY. The wife in her complaint alleges that plaintiff and defendant were married in this city August 4, 1917. That defendant was insanely jealous at a dance in Las Vegas in June 1918. That he later came home in an intoxicated condition. That about December 1, 1918, three or four months prior to the birth of their child, defendant in an effort to obtain possession of certain liberty bonds which plaintiff had in a trunk, sent word to her that he would break open the trunk with an axe and upon her refusal to open it started toward her in a threatening manner as if to do her bodily harm, and that plaintiff believes he would have done her serious injury had he not been prevented by plaintiff's brother. That on July 3, 1919, defendant suggested to plaintiff that she go to the public ball with his brother, that subsequently defendant came to the ball in an intoxicated condition and scolded and found fault with plaintiff in the presence of others. That later the same evening when plaintiff returned home, defendant threatened to kill her and himself and that plaintiff was so frightened that she could not stay with defendant the remainder of the night, but went and stayed with her mother. That July 5, 1919, defendant left home and was gone all night, returning the next morning. That he did not tell plaintiff where he had been and commenced quarreling and finding fault, and ordered her to get out of the house. On her refusal to go, that defendant violently shoved and pushed plaintiff out of the house and locked the door, keeping the baby. That thereafter, plaintiff got the sheriff of Clark county to accompany her to the house for the purpose of recovering the child and when they arrived found that defendant had given the child to a neighbor woman to care for. The complaint further alleges that defendant is a man of violent and ungovernable temper and very frequently has applied to plaintiff vile, opprobrious and abusive epithets, and on many occasions threatened to choke and kill plaintiff. That plaintiff has at all times conducted her self toward defendant as a good kind and loving wife. That defendant is a skilled mechanic to wit, a blacksmith, and is employed by the Los Aneles & Salt Lake Railroad Company and earns $180 per month and that he has subscribed to Liberty Bonds to the amount of $600, of which $450 has been paid through the company. Plaintiff prays for a decree dissolving the bonds of matrimony and the custody of the child; that the above mentioned common property be set aside to plaintiff for judgment, for costs of suit, counsel fees and such further sum as the court may deem just for the support of the minor child. Prior to her marriage with MC KINNEY, Mrs. MC KINNEY received some notoriety through her suit to annul her marriage with John E. TORBERT; being featured in Los Angeles papers at that time as "the unkissed bride." The trial of the annulment case in San Bernardino in July, 1917 was reported in the Los Angeles Herald as follows: "The impulsive love of a pretty high school girl which led to an elopement from Los Angeles two years ago and resulted in the bride leaving her husband two hours after they were married was disclosed today in the annulment suit of Hazel L. BRAY TORBERT, of Nevada against John E. TORBETT in San Bernardino. "Mrs. TORBERT declared that she was an 'unkissed bride.' and that she kept the story of her wedding a secret even from her mother for two years. 16-Year-Old Bride. "The elopement occurred on September 14, 1915. Mrs. TORBERT, who was 16 years old, came to Los Angeles in the summer for a vacation. She met TORBERT and after a hasty romance, her impulsive love led her to the elopement. "TORBERT and his bride were married in Santa Ana, the harbor of honeymooners. Two hours after the marriage the girl claimed she regretted what she had done and fled home to her mother in Las Vegas. "Keeping her marriage a secret from her parents, the girl finished her high school education and entered college. "Mrs. TORBERT asked in her complaint that the marriage be annulled on the ground that she was too young to marry and that she did not have her parents' consent at the time she was wedded. Denials by Husband "TORBERT filed an answer to the girl's complaint of which he denied several of her allegations. Judge H. T. DE WHIRST, of San Bernardino heard the testimony in the case. "I never lived with Mr. TORBERT as his wife,' declared the pretty girl. The court took the case under advisement untl certain legal points are expounded by the attorneys. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nvfiles/ File size: 8.9 Kb