My g grandfather, Elias Kelly Callahan and his son-in-law Joseph Peery are both buried in Marvin Chapel Cem.   Alanna --- On Thu, 7/2/09, B. Warner <bkwofc@i1.net> wrote: From: B. Warner <bkwofc@i1.net> Subject: [MOSTFRAN] Accidental Death of James Morris (1929) To: mostfran@rootsweb.com Date: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 7:27 PM The Farmington News, Friday, Feb. 15, 1929. SAD ACCIDENT AT DESLOGE TUESDAY. Prominent Business Man Accidentally Shoots Self Through Heart. One of the most tragic events in this county within recent years occurred in Desloge Tuesday in the death of James Morris, 44 years of age and a well-known business man of that town, who died of a gunshot wound through his heart, evidently at his own hands but undoubtedly of an accidental nature.  The accident occurred at his home. There were no witnesses, his wife having left early Tuesday morning for a day in St. Louis, and  his two boys being in school. The body was found about 12:30 o'clock by Misses Emily Banes and Edith O'Hare, teachers in Desloge schools, who room at the Morris home.  These two had eaten their lunch and had gone to their room for something before returning to the school.  Upon finding the body they gave the alarm and Dr. R. B. Lester of Desloge, coroner of St. Francois County, was called to the scene.  He authorized the removal of the body from the home to the C. Z. Boyer Undertaking establishment across the street.  A coroner's jury was impaneled and the inquest held at the Morris home Tuesday afternoon.  Employees of the Edwards Motor Company next door to the Morris home, testified to having heard a muffled report, shortly before ten o'clock.  They thought nothing of it, supposing it to be the report of a gun fired at some distance or the back-fire from an automobile.  The body indicated that the unfortunate man had been dead for two hours or more. Mr. Morris had gone as usual early Tuesday morning to the Morris Bros. Meat Market, which he and his brother, George had been operating for the past 18 or 20 years.  Shortly before nine o'clock he told his associates in the store that he was going home but that he would be back in a short time.  He was expecting a business acquaintance in and remarked upon this fact, requesting that should this man come in during his absence, he be asked to await his return. Miss Mable Bradley, cashier at the Morris Bros. Market, stated there had been a 38 automatic in a drawer of her desk for a long time.  On Monday she jokingly remarked to Jas. Morris that she was afraid of it and wished he would take it away, which he did stating as he did so that it was not loaded.  Mrs. Morris says he brought it in Monday evening and put it in a drawer of a buffet in the dining room. It was with this weapon that he was shot.  It is the supposition of Mrs. Morris and others that he went home to make sure the automatic was not loaded, knowing that his two boys would get in from school before the return of either himself or his wife.  He had taken the automatic from the drawer, was evidently standing directly in front of the buffet, and had removed the magazine from the weapon.  This would have left a shell in the barrel of the gun, which is presumed to have been accidentally discharged.  The weapon had fallen to the top of the buffet, leaving a scar on the polished surface, indicating it had been dropped from a distance of several inches and perhaps a foot or more.  Mr. Morris had fallen backward from the buffet, the body lying in the opening between the dining room and living room.  The buffet stood near this opening.  The bullet had passed through the heart, out at the back, and lodged in a wall of the dining room. When the tragedy was discovered about 12:30 o'clock, W. L. Bouchard and W. T. Newman, of Desloge, drove to St. Louis to make an effort to find Mrs. Morris.  They went to different places she had planned to visit but missed her at each place.  Hence, she did not know of the accident until about ten o'clock Tuesday evening when she and friends who had gone with her returned to her home. Mr. Morris was a man of unusually cheerful disposition, there having been nothing morbid in his make-up.  He always had a smile and a cheerful word for all whom he met.  He was a member of a number of fraternal organizations, among them the Odd Fellows, American Insurance Union, Modern Woodmen, Elks and Knights of Pythias.  He was instensely social in his nature and had a host of friends all over the county. The funeral was held at the First Baptist Church in Desloge yesterday afternoon at two o'clock and was conduted by the pastor, Rev. Theo. Whitfield.  The remains were interred in the Marvin Chapel Cemetery east of Desloge. The deceased is survived by his widow, two sons, Tom 12, and Wilson, 10; one brother, George Morris, of Desloge, and four sisters, Mrs. H. W. Coffield and Mrs. Thomas Heck, of Farmington, Mrs. William Patterson of Three Rivers, and Mrs. Sam Forshee of Desloge.  To these and other sorrowing relatives and friends, the News extends sincere sympathy. COURT TAKES RECESS IN DECEASED'S HONOR. Promptly at two o'clock yesterday afternoon, Judge B. H. Boyer, a cousin of the deceased, adjourned circuit court for a period of ten minutes which was spent in silence in honor of Mr. Morris. NOTE:  According to James Morris' death certificate, his full name was James Grover Morris.  He was born October 10, 1884, in Ste. Genevieve County.  His date of death was Feb. 12, 1929.  His wife's name was Julia (Turner) Morris, and his parents were Mary (Benham) and Thomas H. Morris. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MOSTFRAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message