Obit: Allen, Wallace #3 (1850? - 1913)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Allen, Pinkerton, Walsh, Miles, Haslett, Cornelius

----Source: Granton News (Granton, Clark County, Wis.) 07/18/1913

Allen, Wallace #3 (1853? - 11 Jul 1913)

G.W. Allen of Loyal (Clark Co., Wis.), well-known to many of our readers, committed suicide at his home in Loyal last week Friday by shooting himself through the head.  The motive for this act and the circumstances connected with the tragedy may best be learned from the following which we take from the Marshfield Times:

"Brooding over business reverses and family troubles, G. Wallace Allen a Loyal capitalist, kissed his wife goodbye at their summer cottage at the Chain-o’-Lakes, Waupaca, on Thursday and started for his old home with self-murder in his heart.  That afternoon, having to wait for his train in Marshfield, he wrote and sealed letters to relatives and business connection, wishing "good will to all."  The next noon he blew out his brains.

Scarcely in the history of the middle west has there been recorded a more carefully premeditated, cowardly and successful effort on the part of a responsible business man to wipe out the memory of his life and "dodge the consequences" of his failing fortunes.

His affairs are admitted to be in bad shape, though his holding of land and property may reach $150,000.  Practically everything he possessed, except his homestead was said to be either mortgaged, put up as collateral or non-productive - o doubtful value.

Allen was a familiar figure, big, strong, a dominating sort of man  who had fought his own way to apparent wealth at the age of 60.  Time after time he had told friends here of his financial ventures in Louisiana timber, New Mexico ranches or Canadian gold mines, and the like, and there was no reason to doubt that he was worth a large sum clear of debt.  And though he kept to himself as far as success went, it was known that he had sunk large sums in some of the enterprises and the returns never came in.  With a burden ever increasing in his own circle, and investments proving bad, his financial load undoubtedly seemed too much for him to endure, so he quit.

The story of his quitting, of how he planned his own snuffing out as a man would put out a lighted lamp, reads like some weird tale from Poe or Hawthorne, horrible in its cold, calculated purpose.  He returned from Texas in June and on June 26 went to Neillsville and had his will drown up by Spencer M. Marsh.  Though no one will ever know, the thought of what he was later to commit must have been in his mind then.  He returned to Waupaca and spent several weeks, apparently happily, with his second wife, Mrs. Margareth Pinkerton Allen, an estimable lady whom he married a year ago. It may be said that Mrs. Allen is a woman of high character and gentle breeding, whose efforts had been devoted to making life worthwhile for him.  Recently the five children of the deceased, daughter Ethel Walsh, came to the cottage at Columbian Park, Chain-o-Lakes, intending to visit their grandfather for two weeks, but were taken away by their father after only one day.  Mrs. Allen told a Times man the story Saturday while she sat in the old home of her husband at Loyal.  She said Mr. Allen took the departure of the motherless children much to heart, and paced the floor for hours afterward.  Mrs. Allen, who has been twice bereaved, cannot account for Mr. Allen’s later action, however.

Without giving a sign of his inner purpose, he left for Marshfield on Thursday morning, saying that he had business to transact at Loyal.  Going to the writing room at the Hotel Blodgett, he sat down and wrote letters, using hotel stationery until about four o’clock.

These letters offer the most complete evidence that Mr. Allen was not demented, temporarily insane or anything but in his usual normal condition.  He wrote a letter to his wife, expressing in special terms his love for her and for his grandchildren.  To his son he wrote a letter marking, "Freeman G. Allen, Personal - Do not send through mail."  Others were "For Ethel’s children," his sister, Mrs. A.R. Miles, his banker and personal friend, Mr. Haslet, and Charles Cornelius, president of the First National Bak of Neillsville.  The letter to Mr. Cornelius is long and explicit, describing all of his property, the amount unpaid on each, the debts against some of them, and so forth.

In the letter to Mrs. Miles he enclosed a check, "Please give this to Harry Haslett, have him use the money so Freeman can come home."  Freeman Allen lives on an orchard belonging to his father at Roswell, N.M.  The check was to provide his railroad fare.  He directed Mrs. Miles to "notify Postmaster Olson at Waupaca, he will send for Mrs. Allen with an auto."

The letters done, enclosed in hotel envelopes, addressed and sealed, he went outside and sat down for an hour before the train left.  Probably twenty of his Marshfield friends stopped to speak with him for a moment each.  That evening at Loyal he sat up until ten o’clock taling pleasantly with his sister of places he had seen.  He was an entertaining man once he got started in conversation, and Mr. and Mrs. Miles thought him unusually interesting.

Friday morning, even at the Citizens State Bank, when he transferred some papers and looked over the contents of his private box, no one suspected the purpose that he carried so carefully locked up in his own mind.  He ate a hearty dinner at the Miles home, then walked to his own house, which is separated from the Miles property by only a corner lot.  The house is nearly concealed from the street by evergreen trees.  Neighbors heard a shot about 1:30 o’clock, but as boys are continually shooting rifles in the village, nothing was thought of it.  An hour later his sister discovered him lying under the evergreens, apparently asleep, when she came closer she discovered a hole in his temple.  The revolver was still in his hand.  Mrs. Allen was notified at Waupaca and was able to reach Loyal that night.

The letters were found in the old fashioned house, which has scarcely been opened since the death of the first Mrs. Allen.  There is absolutely no theory for Allen’s deliberately planned action except the decline of his fortune and his apparent knowledge that he had too many doubtful matters on his hand.  He was only 63 years old and enjoyed good health.  He had no foibles worth noting, in fact he had been regarded as a fine example of the successful man.  He had started in as a logger and a homesteader, had built up what ought to have been a fortune, and could see some kind of trouble ahead in the money line.

Allen owned property in Clark County, in British Columbia, Virginia, Texas and new Mexico.  He had put a large amount of money into his New Mexico property, a Texas fruit ranch and his Canadian gold mine, and one of these ventures paid, according to the best testimony of business associates.  He carried no life insurance and belonged to no fraternal orders, as far as was known.