Bloomington (IN) Evening World, Sep 13, 1907, p. 1.
SUICIDE PROBABLE--BLOOMFIELD CASE
Coroner Renders Verdict Supporting Suicide Theory
A Bloomfield dispatch says: The coroner of Daviess County, who conducted
the inquiry growing out of the mysterious death of Homer S. Casey of
Raglesdale (sic) who was found in his buggy in the barnyard of his father's
home with a bullet wound in his temple, has reached the conclusion that the
case was one of suicide. In Casey's notebook was found written: "This
pain at my heart is costing me my reason. I would rather die than suffer
it again."
A revolver was also found in the buggy with one chamber empty and blood
stains were traced along the roadway in the drive from Bloomfield for two
miles or more. There was also a blood stained handkerchief in one pocket,
indicating that he still retained more or less consciousness after the shot
had been fired and had made ineffectual attempts to relieve his
condition. The horse, left to its own will, naturally continued till
reaching the barnyard of the home place.
Members of the family, at least some of them, are not disposed to accept
the theory of suicide, and still think that Casey was the victim of foul
play. When Miss Anna Stone of this city, whom he would have wedded
yesterday, heard of the death she left at once for Raglesville, some
fifteen miles distant, and she has not returned. She reports that Casey's
condition was normal when he visited her during the day and that he brought
flowers from Indianapolis to be used during the wedding ceremony. Prior to
departure in the evening, he telephone to his mother of his purpose to
drive home, and he seemed to be lighthearted and anxious for the hour in
which he would claim his bride.
The note in which he referred to the pain which he suffered in in a cramped
hand little resembled his usual style, and this is a nother reason why some
of the family are unwilling to accept the theory of suicide. He has also
had more or less money in his possession, and yet only $1.27 was found
after his death. Mr. Casey was formerly a merchant at Raglesville but he
sold out to go on the road as a traveling salesman. The fact is noted that
on the eve of his wedding while at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Stone,
they urged him to remain and meet the attendants selected for the wedding
ceremony, but he insisted tht it was his duty to go home as his mother was
waiting for him.