McCurtain Co. OK - History:  John Thornton

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Submitted by: Doris Irons Greer   caldor@neto.com

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Idabel, Oklahoma: McCurtain Gazette Saturday October 17, 1914
 
MAN FOUND DEAD IN HIS TENT
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Tuesday Morning Seven Miles North of Valliant ---Had been
Dead About Four Weeks and the Body was in a Deomposed
Condition---Buried Near Tent.
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   John Thornton, about seventy years of age, and an old tie hacker, was found
dead in his tent seven miles north of Valliant Tuesday morning.
   County Attorney G. M. Barrett left Tuesday, in response to a phone message,
for the scene and the investigation proved that Mr. Thornton had been sick and
died a natural death, and that he had been dead about four weeks.
   The hair of his head and the flash from his face had begun to slip off and his
body was in such a decomposed state that rakes and spades had to be used
to put it on a sheet preparatory for buriel which was made near his tent.
   He had been living the life of a hermit and just worked enough to live.  He had
been a little punny but no one thought of him being dangerously sick.  Mr. Thornton
had not been seen in four weeks, but as he had so little to do with his neighbors he
had not been missed.
   The discovery was made by a neighbor who had been out hunting and went by
the tent to see how the old man was getting along.
   The deceased has a sister living in Louisiana, but her name and address is not
known.
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