Date of Death: 27 Apr
1871
Subject: Hiram
Jenkins
Source: Holt County Sentinel, 5 May 1871, p. 3
The usually quiet village of Fillmore, Andrew county, Mo., was suddenly precipitated into a feverish state of excitements, on Thursday morning, April 27, by the report that Mr. H. Jenkins, a citizen of that place, had shot himself. It appears that a dog had been annoying Mr. Jenkins for some time by making nocturnal visits to his smoke house, and that he had borrowed and loaded a gun on the day before, and left it sitting in a convenient place in the kitchen, with the intention of shooting the dog, should he repeat his visit on that night. And on the morning in question, having arisen and made a fire in the kitchen, preparatory to his wife getting the morning meal, and hearing a noise in the vicinity of the smoke house, he reached over the table for the loaded gun, which was sitting in the corner behind a barrel, and taking it by the muzzle drew it towards him, muzzle foremost, drawing it over the table. The hammer caught on the table and thereby the piece was discharged, the ball entering the stomach and coming out near the small of the back.
Mr. Jenkins lived, and suffered intensely at times till 9 o'clock, P.M., when death relieved him of all earth's sufferings. He leaves a wife and six children, who were dependent upon his daily labor as a common laborer for their livelihood. He was carrying an insurance on his life of five thousand dollars.
Our readers will remember that during the past fall or winter, there were three men here from Fillmore and vicinity, ostensibly to buy cattle, and that while indulging too freely on a certain evening, the next morning one of the part claimed to have been robbed of his money, accusing his comrades of being the perpetrators of the deed, had them arrested, and put upon trial therefore, and that, had not the pocket-book containing the money been found by one of our citizens, and produced and identified, they would probably have been convicted of the crime; this Jenkins who shot himself is the man who claimed to have been robbed on that occasion.