OBIT: Peter M. HAUGER, 1944, Berlin, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
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PETER M. HAUGER

Took His Own Life While Seated in His Parked Car
Berlin People Shocked By Suicide of Peter M. Hauger; Cause Unknown

  BERLIN, Sept. 20 - Peter M. Hauger, 51, local jeweler, was found dead at 5 
o'clock last Monday evening in his parked automobile on a side road near the 
Allegheny Tunnel of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  He had shot himself through the 
head with a 32-caliber rifle bullet, according to state police and Coroner P. C. 
Dosch, who investigated.  No motive for the act could be learned.
  Mr. Hauger left his home in Berlin, where he lives with his mother, about noon 
Sunday, driving away in his car.
  Harold Harmon, 10, living with his grandfather, Edward Harmon, in Allegheny 
Township, went after the cows at the morning milking time and discovered the car 
with Mr. Hauger reclining, apparently asleep.  He reported the incident to his 
grandfather, who, thinking it not unusual for the driver of a car to stop by the 
roadside to catch a few winks of sleep, did not take the trouble to investigate.
  At milking time in the evening a younger brother of the Harmon boy who first 
reported seeing the dead man in the parked car, went to the pasture to drive the 
cows home to be milked, and brought the same report to his grandfather, who then 
notified the authorities who promptly investigated and found Hauger slumped over 
in his car, dead, with a bullet hole in his forehead, apparently caused by his 
own hand.
  Peter Hauger was the only son of the late Joseph and Annie Hauger, and was 
born on the Peter Hauger, Sr., farm a short distance south of Berlin.  He was a 
fine, upright citizen all his life and for many years looked after his aged 
mother, now 89 years old, with whom he made his home.
  He was a member of the Reformed Church and the American Legion.  Surviving are 
his mother, a sister, Mrs. Nellie H. Llewellyn of Belle Vernon, Pa., three 
nephews, two in the service, and three nieces.
  Private funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 at the Johnson 
Funeral Home.  Interment in I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

Meyersdale Republican, September 21, 1944