HODGES

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Monday, November 15, 2010 at 04:48:11 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, July 20, 1933
Page 1

War Veteran, Despondent, Is Suicide

George A. Hodges, 38, disabled World War veteran, shot himself through the abdomen yesterday morning at his home at Santa Venetia, and when his attempt at suicide…(illegible)…he tried to drown himself in a watering trough. Not succeeding in this he went back to the barn, where the bullet took fatal effect.

His body, dripping wet, was found by his wife, who had missed him for some time and who telephoned to County Health Officer Dr. J. H. Kuser.

As the story of his suicide is constructed by Sheriff Walter B. Sellmer, Hodges shot himself with a small shotgun while in a loft of the barn, as the gun was found there. He then climbed down and evidently tried to drown himself in the trough. That failing, he went back to the barn and fell dead there as a result of the gun wound.

Hodges had been despondent, according to his widow, Mrs. Fleeta Hodges. He had been suffering from heart trouble and an eye ailment.

He had arisen yesterday morning and took Mrs. Hodges’ breakfast to her bed. He then went out to milk a goat and to attend to some rabbits. When he did not return for some time she went to look for him and found his dead.

Funeral services will be held privately at the parlors of Jenness & McElroy in San Anselmo, with interment at the National Cemetery at the Presidio in San Francisco.