Kenosha County WI Archives Obituaries.....Rafferty, Rosemary February 14, 1920
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JoLynn O'Hare Oten jolynno@aol.com June 10, 2012, 7:24 pm

Kenosha Evening News, Saturday 14 Feb 1920
EXTRA - FATAL ACCIDENT AT CHIEF'S HOME
Little Rosemary Rafferty Dies from Gunshot Wound Received 
While Playing with Revolver
CHILDREN FIND REVOLVER
Rosemary and Brother Owen Find Chief O'Hare's Revolver in Dresser 
and It Is Discharged and Bullet Takes Life of Sister.
     Little Rosemary Rafferty, four years of age, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Frank Rafferty and a granddaughter of Chief of Police Owen O'Hare, died at the 
O'Hare home just before three o'clock this afternoon as a result of a gun shot 
wound. The little girl was shot while she and her brother, Owen Rafferty, aged 
six years, were playing with a revolver, just after twelve o'clock today.
     The little girl was shot through the right shoulder and while it was at 
first thought that the injury would not prove fatal, the little girl died from 
the shock just before three o'clock. Mrs. Frank Rafferty, only daughter of 
Chief and Mrs. O'Hare, was ill at her home and the children had gone to the 
home of their grandparents to spend the day. 
Found Revolver in a Drawer
     Without knowledge of their grandparents, they had gone up into one of the 
bedrooms to play and they found a revolver belonging to the chief in one of 
the drawers of a dresser. It was thought that the drawer was out of reach of 
the children. Mrs. O'Hare heard the children laughing and talking in the room 
and a minute later she heard the shot. She went upstairs to find the little 
girl on the floor with the wound in the shoulder.
     "I was just fooling and wanted to see how it worked," little Owen sobbed 
out as he watched the surgeons seeking to prolong the life of his little 
sister. The little boy stood near the door as the surgeons worked, refusing to 
be comforted and sobbed as if his heart would break.
Relatives Are Grief Stricken
     The distressing accident caused great sorrow in the community. Mr. and 
Mrs. Rafferty, parents of the little children, and Chief O'Hare and his wife 
were grief stricken. The revolver was a 32-calibre revolver which the chief 
had kept at his home for emergency uses and it had been put away in the drawer 
in a manner which was thought would make it impossible for anyone save the 
chief to find it. It is thought that the children were rummaging through the 
drawer when they found the revolver. 
     No announcement is made of the plans for the funeral of the little girl.


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