Surnames: Benedict

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 05/25/1950

Benedict, Nora E. (9 SEP 1890 - 23 MAY 1950)

A town of York (Clark Co., Wis.) farmer and his wife were found shot to death on their farm about five miles south of Loyal at noon Tuesday.

John Bergeman, Clark County Coroner, reported that Merle Benedict, 63, shot his wife to death with a .22 caliber rifle, and then committed suicide with the same weapon. Mrs. Benedict was 61 years old.

Mrs. Benedict’s body was found by a son, Harvey, 33, when he returned to the two-story fram farm home about noon for his lunch. He entered the house and found his mother sprawled on her left side on the kitchen floor.

Benedict was found a few minutes later in the hay mow by Sheriff Ray Kutsch.

Clark County officials were called to the scene about 12:10 and reported that Mrs. Benedict had been hit by three bullets. The first shot nicked a thumb, the second entered the right side of her chest and came out through the back. The third entered her temple and did not come out.

According to Sheriff Ray Kutsch, there were claw hammer marks about her head and face that indicated she had been struck several times prior to the shooting.

Blood stains throughout the house showed that she had been running about, apparently seeking to escape her husband. She had attempted to hide behind a door leading to the basement, there were powder marks and a bullet hole through the door.

Benedict killed himself by stretching out in the hay mow, placing a metal rod through the trigger guard of the rifle, holding the muzzle in his mouth and firing it with his feet. The bullet struck the brain.

Upon questioning by officials at the scene, Harvey Benedict revealed that his father had been ill for about 40 years and had often threatened to kill the family during the past 30 years.

He suffered, according to the son, from alternate seizure of violent temper and depression. Everything was apparently well with the family earlier yesterday, the son said.

The bodies of the two victims were taken to the Myre Funeral Home at Loyal.