The two-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. William Addington of Rochester, Mo., is dead at a hospital in St. Joseph from a bullet wound caused by the accidental discharge of a revolver held by the baby's mother. While putting the child to bed Mrs. Addington was amusing it with a revolver she found under her husband's pillow. She did not think the weapon was loaded and snapped the trigger. The mother is in a state of collapse.
Source: The King City Democrat, 24 September 1915, p. 6
Child Killed by Mother
The St. Joseph papers tell of a sad accident at Rochester a few days since. They state that a Mrs. Wm. Addington was preparing her 2-year-old baby for bed and picked up a revolver and playfully pointed it at the baby and was snapping it to amuse the child, when it discharged and the ball entered the side and lodged in the left side. The mother was horror stricken. The child was at once taken to St. Joseph and operated on, but without much hope for its recovery. It died the next morning. It is the empty or supposedly empty revolver again that has brought such unspeakable grief to that home and ever to be remembered sorry to the mother heart. -- King City Chronicle
Source: The Albany Capital, 23 September 1915, p. 2
Date of death: 10 Sep 1915
Subject: Donald David Leroy Addington
Source: St. Joseph Gazette, 20 Sep 1915, p. 5
[Much of article illegible]
Different Version of Death of Child
Letter From Rochester, Mo., Explains Accidental Killing of Little Boy
Chief of Police James A. Clouser received a letter explaining the accidental shooting of the 2-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. William Addington, Rochester, Mo., the night of … The letter said Mrs. Addington … for the night … under … and was away … As … the gun … accidentally discharged. … was brought here to a hospital … died a few hours after ar…
… differs from that published in the Gazette, the latter … Mrs. Addington was snapping the revolver to amuse the baby and that it was accidentally discharged. The writer of the letter to Chief Clouser was a neighbor of the Addison's [sic].