John Joseph Karnes, Jr. |
| Posted 2015-04-17 by Judy Wight Branson |
| Prescott Evening Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, July 24, 1928, page 6, column 4 Identify Dead Man As J. Karns Joseph Karns, an employe at Whipple, today identified the body of the young man found in the neighborhood of the Allen dairy late yesterday afternoon as that of his son, Joseph Karns, Jr., also and employe at the post, where he served as an orderly on ward four. The younger Karns, neatly clad and with a couple of dollars in his pocket, was found dead yesterday by one of the M. M. Allen boys. He had ended his life with poison, it was determined, and beside the body there was a pint bottle of whisky from which he had taken a drink, either to top off the deadly dose, or to stiffen his courage before. No motive for the act could be determined today. An inquest begun yesterday by Coroner Gordon Clark, was continued this afternoon, when the elder Karns and a brother, also said to be a post employe, were called as witnesses. The jury included Bill Lowthian, Sandy Huntington, Leslie Sykes, Bill Gaston, William Dillett and Deputy Sheriff B. T. Brown. ------------------------------------- Prescott Evening Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, July 25, 1928, page 3, column 6 Admits In Note Plan Of Death All question concerning the manner in which Joseph Karns, Jr. came to his death on Monday of this week was settled yesterday when a note addressed to the youth's mother, which had been left in the care of a waitress in a local restaurant was turned over to Coroner Gordon Clark. Karns wrote the note on a sheet of paper from a pocket note-book and left it at the woman's room, evidently just before he went on his last trip, to the hills near the Allen dairy company's place on White Spar road, where he swallowed a dose of poison and topped it off with a drink of whisky from a flask, which was found near his body. The young man, only 22 years of age, was a native of this state having been born in St. Johns, Apache county, on October 12, 1904. The family recently had made its home in Long Beach, Calif., but about three months ago, the two boys, Joseph and his brother Ted, came to Prescott, the former securing work as an orderly at Whipple and later, at Charles restaurant on North Cortez street. Their father then joined them and he, too, was employed at the post. Young Mr. Karns is survived by his father and brother here, his mother and two sisters, Katherin and Lola, living in California. They will arrive in Prescott at noon tomorrow for the family funeral services, which will be held during the afternoon, it is expected. The farewell note read as follows: 'Dear Mother, I am going now and I love you all, so try to forgive me. Mother, you were the only one to try to understand me but you knew my weakness. Can't see any way out but this and now will leave the old world for better or worse. Signed Joe.' A postscript written along the side of this paper added, 'I love life, but I take this way out.' ----------------------------------------- Transcriber's notes: Typed at published. John is buried at the Citizens Cemetery in Prescott, Arizona. See Also: Arizona Gravestone Photo Project |
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