Obituary: Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Walter S. COOLEY ************************************************************************ Submitted by Kathy Grace, January 2010 © All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm ************************************************************************ Daily Northwestern August 21, 1895 p.2 Death of Mr. Cooley Coroner's jury is summoned Walter S. Cooley, who is supposed to have shot himself shortly before noon yesterday, died at about 10:30 last night. Mr. and Mrs. George Cooley arrived from Milwaukee last evening and were at his bedside when the end came. A coroner's jury was summoned by Justice Crozier at halfpast seven o'clock this morning to hold an inquest over the remains of the dead man. The jury is composed of A.C. Austin, Seth Bowe, James Kenny, Henry Boyd, Robert Turner and Albert H. Pease. They proceeded to the house of the deceased, and after being sworn in by Justice Crozier viewed the remains and the interior of the shed in which the act was committed. From the investigations which the jury has already made, it appears that Mr. Cooley made evident preparations for taking his life. In the shed in which the shooting occurred were two benches, and a board placed from one to the other. Over this board was a white linen covering which was stained with blood. It is therefore naturally supposed that when Cooley took his own life he calmly lay down on this temporary construction, placed the pistol to his head, and fired the fatal bullet into his brain. The jury also found large clots of blood in many places in the shed, and just at the foot of one of the doorways was discovered a large pool, evidently where the injured man rested before proceeding to the house. When found the pistol was in a box some few feet away from where it is supposed the deed was committed. The jury did not arrive at any decision this morning and the matter of taking testimony was postponed until tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock at Justice Crozier's office. No post mortem examination was held by the physicians in attendance. Mr. Cooley was painter by occupation, fifty-three years of age, and had lived in the city for about twenty-four years.