What Stocktonites Were Doing 94 Years Ago
Body
Arthur Henn, who lived about six miles southwest of Plainville, was found mortally wounded from bullet wounds by County Superintendent Roland Cassett, Clyde Gardner, andRoyWhalenlastFriday forenoon in a draw about a mile south of his home. Cassett, in company with Gardner and Whalen, who with Henn made up the school board of District 97, drove to the Henn farm Friday forenoon to discuss some school business with Mr. Henn and learned that he was fixing a fence a mile south of the house. They drove down through a pasture, got out of the car, and started walking toward the draw when they saw Henn approaching them. When they spoke a few feet away, he seemed to try to answer but staggered and fell against the fence. Gardner, a near neighbor, rushed to him and laid him down on the grass. Cassett drove to a nearby farmhouse and got some water, but when he returned, he found that Henn had died. They assumed that he had had a heart attack, but later, Mrs. Henn, who had been called, noticed a dark spot on his shirt, and examination revealed three bullet wounds over the region of his heart. A .22 repeating rifle was found on a rock in the draw beside his hammer. The gun contained an empty cartridge, while a nearby bush sheltered two other cartridges, one discharged and the other dented by the firing pin. A coroner’s jury examined the body and surrounding grounds, along with the circumstances and brought in a verdict that he came to his death as a result of bullet wounds self-inflicted.