Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1926-07-29
II. VI. REED DiEs--HARROWING
EXPERIENCE or AGED MOTHER

Mr.. Frank NJ. Reed. aged ~
years, died Tuesday morning at his
home in Malta township, south Of
Joetown. The circumstances sur
rounding his death, and that which
follows are almost too sad to re-
late.
The deceased and his mother, Mrs.
Sarah Warner, aged about 90 years,
lived together, their home being
off a road. They had no near
neighbors- rs-neither did they have a
telephone. For some time Mr..
Reed had been troubled with heart
disease, and of late had not been SO
we'll Tuesday morning he had been
to milk, and on his way back to the
house it is thought he had an at
tack with his heart, and it would
seem that he leaned up against
picket gate, and in that way ne
either succumbed, or in his weak
ened condition fell, and in so doing,
his neck was caught and crowded
down between the pickets, and he
was hanging there in that position
when found by his mother some
minutes later 1t may have been
that he strangled to death. His
throat was torn by the pickets. The
aged lady who is in very frail
health, managed in time to pry off
some pickets and by so doing the
body dropped to the ground. Then
she screamed and cried for help.
but being so far away from neigh
bors, no one heard her. She con-
tinued to call for help all day long,
and into the night, until her voice
got weak, and she became so ex-
hausted that she could call no long
er. The mother was not fully aware
that her son was dead, and in her
feeble, tottering condition, carried
water and moistened his lips; took
out bedclothing, covered him up, and
did everything a mother could do
under the circumstances. She
states she thought at times she saw
him breathing. To add to it all,
and make things still worse, there
was an almost constant downfall of
rain The hours of the day wore
away, and night came on. The
mother was afraid to leave the body
alone and try to make her way to
her nearest neighbor for help. What
could she do? She must face the
awful situation alone. She got a
lantern, lighted it, and hung it on
the fence above the dead body, took
chair out to where the body lay
on the ground, and with the rain
falling, there alone by the dim
Pickering light of the lantern,
away in that lonely spot, she kept
watch beside the body of her
son, all through the long dreary
night, alone. Thus she kept vigil
until Wednesday afternoon about
o'clock, in all more than 30 hours.
Then it was that Mrs. Ernest Thorn
ton who lives on the R. E. Scott
place, and is nearest neighbor OF the
Reeds, became concerned because
Mr.. Reed had not been down to the
road near their place to their mail
box after mail, for several days.
Going to the Reed place, Mrs. Thorn
ton learned of conditions, and
at once called a doctor, who went
out and found Mr.. Reed dead, his
death having occurred probably
Tuesday morning as above stated.
The deceased was a son OF the
late John Reed, brother OF Mr..
Joseph Reed. His mothers maid
en- name was Sarah Parker. She
was twice. married. They had three
sons by the first marriage-Joseph,
Frank and Charles Reed, all now
deceased. The latter died few
months ago. The deceased was
highly regarded citizen and good
farmer. For a number of years he
served on the Morgan county fair
board. He was never married.
Funeral services will be held Fri
day afternoon at / o'clock at Deer
field, conducted by Rev. G. G. Van
Interment will be made
in the Deerfield cemetery.