Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1904-02-18
WIN, HOHAUS
TAKES HIS LIFE
Found Dead in His Store Monday
Morning.
BUSINESS WORRY The CAUSE
Coroner's Jury Says Tempo
rarily Insane.
BUSINESS WORRY The CAUSE

The people of Grangeville were
severely shocked Monday morning
on receiving the news that William
Hohaus, prominent and highly
esteemed hardware merchant, OF
the H. & II. Hardware Co. of this
place, had taken his own life and
was then lying dead in his store at
the upper end of Main street.
The sad tragedy was discovered
by T. A. Weinkie, a clerk, who
was working in the store, and on
going in at about seven O'Clock
to open up found the body of his
dead employer lying on the floor
near the west wall. A new num-
Der ~ shot gun which had been
taken from near by case told the
manner of his death. He must
have placed the gun squareiy
against his forehead as nearly the
whole upper part of his head was
torn away and portion of the
shot passing on up and lodging in
the ceiling overhead. The sheriff
was Immediately notified, q jury
was summoned and an inquest held,
Judge Woodland acting as coroner.
They returned the following ver-
dict:
We, the jury empanneled and
sworn in the above entitled mat
ter, find that the deceased William
Hohaus, came to his death from a
gun shot wound at about seven
O'Clock A. NJ, on February Is,
1904, said gun having been dis
charged by the deceased himself
while in a fit of temporary insanity
caused and brought on by business
troubles, and we find that the de-
ceased has been to some extent
mentally deranged for the past two
weeks.
HENRY WAX.
J. +. MCLEAN.
RUDOLPH BERTsCH.
B. d. KNoRR.
w. A. HALL.
JOHN NORWOOD.
Quite a number of witnesses
were called and from the testimony
there is but little doubt but he was
temporarily insane. For some time
past it has been known that the
business was not in the best linan-
cial condition but those most fa-
miliar with the affairs of the COM
pany declare that the complica-
tions were not serious and far
from being such as would justify
the rash act. Mr. Hohaus was a
man os the strictest integrity and
the mere fact that he could not
meet his obligations promptly
seemed to prey upon his mind un-
til he believed he was hopelessly y
ruined.
William Gustav Hohaus was
born in ST Louis, Mo-, on Decem-
: ber 26, 1856. When a young man
, he went to Wisconsin May %, 1884
/, was married to Miss Minnie Duhr-
: kopf. In 1889 they came to the
, coast and after short stops al
Cheney, and Genesee, located on a
farm near Grangeville where they
resided until few years ago when
, Mr.. Hohaus moved into town and
engaged in the hardware business
, He was member of the Wood.
{ men of the World and had a policy
in the Bankers Life Association. A
wife and two daughters, Hilda ant
Paula, age nineteen and seventeen
} respectively, survive him. H.
r was man who attended strictly
to business and during his lont
{ residence here was only out of tn
county once. Honest, sober ant
industrious, he had no enemie
, and in his death Idaho count,
loses one of her best citizens. Tht
, funeral took place yesterday from
the I. o. O. F. hall under tn,
r auspices of the Woodmen of thu
World. Interment in Prairie
, View cemetery.