Volume 14 , Issue 48

1912 - Death Comes To Magill

In The Democratic Banner, out of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, dated 26 November 1912, page five, we find the headlines of "Death Comes To Magill." Whether this Magill is related to our McGills, I do not know, but I found it to be an interesting article anyway.

As the article stated -- At twelve fifteen o'clock Monday morning William B. Magill died at the Mt. Vernon hospital as the result of a gun shot wound inflicted in his neck and jaw nine days ago when he murdered his wife and then attempted suicide with the some weapon, a double barreled shot gun. His death followed several hours of intense suffering which was slightly alleviated by opiates administered by hospital attendants. contrary to expectations, he made no confession.

On Saturday Magill appeared to be improving and seemed to be growing stronger every hour. The first nourishment in a week was taken by him at that time and it was believed that he would live. He asked several times Saturday night for his wife, but was answered each time to the effect that she could not come to him. This fact appeared to cause him some worry.

Granting the possibility that the man really was ignorant of his having committed the terrible deed and that it was done in a moment of temporary insanity, the hospital attaches forbade any mention of the affair in his presence and, consequently, he was never told anything about ti and had no occasion to make a denial. The general belief has been that he knew all about having committed the crime and was feigning ignorance of it in order to make his case more difficult to prosecute in case of a murder trial. His failure to confess, however, rather strengthens the contention of the few who maintained that Magill was mentally deranged.

Sunday at about noon Magill began to suffer pain and his condition, from that time on, became rapidly worse. During the early hours of the night his pain became almost unbearable and opiates were administered to ease his sufferings.

In an interview Monday morning the nurses said that the man was perhaps mentally incapable of forming ideas for a period of several hours before his death and that he probably would have been unable to make a confession even though it had previously been his intention to do so.

The body was taken tot he Chappelear, Kaufman & Co., morgue to be prepared for burial. Magill was absolutely unrecognizable and it is remarkable that he lived for nine days after having sustained such a wound. Blood poisoning had set in and his features were terribly disfigured.

The funeral was held at the home of the deceased's daughter, Mrs. Harrison Houbler, on the Martinsburg road, Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 standard time. The funeral was strictly rivage. Burial was in Mound View cemetery.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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