Last Friday Thom. M. Jordan who lives a mile and a half east of town, and is an old and well known farmer, left home to attend Justices court in town where he had some business. His family had noticed for some time that his mind did not seem exactly right, but as he was in the habit of going about attending to his business, did not anticipate any trouble.
While in town there was nothing peculiar about his actions. It was noticed that he had a rope in his pocket but nothing was thought of this. He remained in town until late, and was seen just before night in the old cemetery, and it is supposed intended to commit suicide there.
As he failed to return home at the usual time, his family became alarmed and began searching for him. He was not found at any of the neighbor's houses, and a general search was made. All night long the neighbors hunted through the woods and fields, but no trace of him could be obtained. By morning the news had spread and others joined the searching parties. Late in the evening Gilbert Arnold found him swinging to a limb of a large tree in the rear of Judge Hutchins' residence.
He had hung himself by climbing up the tree to a limb and securely tieing the rope swung off. The rope was short and his head was not more than eighteen inches from the limb. One hand was on the limb and the other against the tree.
The body was cut down and the sad news carried to his family, followed shortly after by his remains. Coroner Hadaway was notified and summoned a jury of inquest. After hearing the testimony the jury returned a verdict that he came to his death by suicide.
He was buried on Sunday in the presence of a large congregation, at the old family burying ground, near the residence of his father-in-law, Martin Mahaffey.
Mr. Jordan was an industrious, hard working man, about sixty-seven years old, and leaving a large family of children, besides his wife, most of them grown.
He was an upright man, honest in his dealings and respected by everybody who knew him.
Several years ago one of his sons committed suicide, and it is said that ever since then his mind seemed to be affected at times. Two years ago his family became uneasy and again about a year ago, but he soon got over his despondency and appeared as well as usual.
Some of his neighbors discovered a week or two ago that he was not exactly right, but nobody anticipated so sad an ending of a useful life.
It is questionable whether any man ever committed suicide in his right mind, but he was certainly insane for his peculiarities were noticed by neighbors as well as his family.