Saloon Cases. Fate of the Stevens Point Mayor

Note from Irwin Collier-0 [your blogger]:

Just a reminder that the Saloon Cases involved John Korda-2 in only a minor role as a court translator. I looked for stories in the daily press that would give us some insight into political life in Stevens Point in 1910 as well as details of the particular case. At the risk of providing yet even more story about someone NOT in the Collier-Bober family, I find the details of the death of Mayor Walters touching and very sad. There in the depth of the Great Depression, after eight months of unemployment and a wife on her deathbed...

Stevens Point Daily Journal
31 January 1934

DR. WALTERS, FORMER MAYOR,
ENDS HIS LIFE
Shoots Self in Head in Room at the Wisconsin
Veterans' Home

Dr. Frank A. Walters, for many years a practicing physician in Stevens Point and mayor of the city for three terms, ended his life Tuesday afternoon at the Wisconsin Veterans' Home, near Waupaca, according to word received here by local friends today.

Bullet in Brain

Dr. Walters shot himself in the head with a small revolver, while seated in a chair in the old hospital building, according to information received here. He was found by Dr. Hofmeister, the physician at the Veterans' Home, after he failed to appear for the evening meal. He was dead when found, a bullet having entered his mouth and lodged in the brain at the base of the skull.

In Locked Room

The room of Dr. Walters was locked when the discovery was made and it was unlocked by Dr. Hofmeister, who found the body of Dr. Walters in the chair. In the room was found a note written by hand containing the names and addresses of his son and daughter.

Wife Critically Ill

Mrs. Walters is critically ill with pneumonia and is a patient in the new hospital at the Veterans' Home. Because of her serious condition she has not been told of her husband's death.
Dr. and Mrs. Walters were visitors in Stevens Point the past weekend. He came here to attend to business matters and also visited among friends. Mrs. Walters was ill with a severe cold while they were here and contracted pneumonia on Sunday, following their return to Waupaca.

Former Staff Member

He was a former member of the staff of the Wisconsin Memorial hospital at Madison and had been unemployed the past eight months. He came to the Wisconsin Veterans' Home from Madison on January 10. Dr. Walters was said to have been despondent over financial reverses. He entered the home as an inmate, to which privileges he was entitled as a former soldier, but expected later on to become a member of the staff.

Active in City Affairs.

Dr. Walters, who was about 70 years of age, practiced his profession in Stevens Point for nearly 10 years. He took an active interest in the civic affairs of the city. He served as mayor from 1910 to 1914 and from 1916 to 1918. During his first term his administration was active in promoting the return of the Wisconsin Central railroad division from Abbotsford to Stevens Point. During the Welsby administration he served as a time as alderman from the First ward. He was also a candidate for mayor in 1912 and in 1926, and was a candidate for congressman during the war period. Dr. Walters held a commission as major for a time in the army medical corps during the World war. In earlier years he was located in the West.
Dr. Walters is survived by his wife and one son, Albro of Chicago, and one daughter, Mrs. Clare Belden, formerly Miss Helen Walters, who is supervisor of music in an industrial school at Lapeer, Mich.
Funeral arrangements are not known.

**********

Stevens Point Daily Journal
2 February 1934
DEATH CLAIMS MRS. WALTERS
AT VET'S HOME
Doctor's Wife Dies Without
Learning of Her Husband's Passing

Mrs. F.A. Walters died at 6 o'clock Thursday evening at the Wisconsin Veterans' Home, near Waupaca, two days after the tragic death of her husband, Dr. Walters, former mayor of Stevens Point and for many years a practicing physician here, who ended his life Tuesday afternoon at the same institution by shooting himself in the head with a small revolver.

Not Told of His Death

Mrs. Walters was caused by double pneumonia and her condition had been so grave since the time of Dr. Walters' death that she was not told of his passing. Relatives and friends at her bedside withheld the information from her. As her condition grew worse she lapsed into a coma, but in moments of partial consciousness she asked for him. She was unable to recognize any of those around her.

Double Rites Saturday

Double funeral services are to be conducted at 1:30 o'clock Saturday afternoon at

the Veterans' Home, followed by burial in a Waupaca cemetery. Arrangements for burial in the Home cemetery could not be made, it was understood here, because formalities as to membership in the institution had not been completed.
Among friends of the Walters family who have been at the Veterans' Home this week, since the death of Dr. Walters, were Mrs. Glenn Watkins, 1116 South Michigan Avenue, and Mrs. H.S. Card, 1004 Main Street.

Devoted to Each Other

Although Dr. Walters was reported to have been despondent over financial reverses and the lack of employment during the past eight months, local friends believe that his act was prompted by his conclusion Tuesday that his wife could not live. He was devoted to her and they were never apart, the friends recalled.
Mrs. Walters, who was born in Illinois, was about 65 years old. She came here as a young woman and had spent her entire adult life in Stevens Point up to the time she and her husband left Stevens Point a few years ago.

Son, Daughter Called

Dr. and Mrs. Walters were in Stevens Point last week-end and Mrs. Walters, at the time, was suffering from a cold, which had developed into pneumonia. Following the death of Dr. Walters, their son and daughter, Albro Walters of Chicago and Mrs. Helen Belden of Lapeeer, Mich., were summoned to Waupaca.

**********

Stevens Point Daily Journal
6 February 1934

OBITUARY
Double Funeral Services

Double funeral services were held Saturday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock at the chapel of the Wisconsin Veteran's Home near Waupaca. Rev. E.B. Batle [spelling?], chaplain at the Home, conducted services and burial followed in a Waupaca cemetery.
Mrs. Walters death occurred at the Home hospital Thursday evening, following the tragic death on Tuesday of her husband, Dr. Walters, former practicing physician here for many years and a former mayor of the city.
Military rites were conducted at the grave, arranged by a guard of honor. World war veterans, members of the Home, were pallbearers.
Dr. Walters was born at Fond du Lac county on July 25, 1865. He moved to Montana with his parents at the age of eight years. The family remained in the west a few years and returned to Wisconsin and located at Ripon. Dr. Walters received his medical education at the Hineman Medical School of Chicago. After his graduation from this institution he came directly to Stevens Point, and with the exception of one year spent at Wasau, lived here continuously prior to four years ago.
Dr. Walters served as Mayor of Stevens Point for three terms, from 1910 to 1914 and from 1916 to 1918. He also served as alderman from the First ward for a time. He held a commission as captain in the medical division during the World war and was stationed at Fort Sheridan.
Dr. Walters has one brother, Fred Walters, at Seattle, Wash.
Mrs. Walters was born at Dixon, Illinois on August 14, 1866. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Behrens and at the age of 10 years she moved to Chicago to live with an older sister. Her marriage to Dr. Walters took place at Chicago, about 42 [first digit uncertain] years ago. One brother, Ed. Behrens of Chicago, and one sister, Mrs. B. Markwald, also of Chicago, survive.
The couple are survived by one daughter, Mrs. Helen Belden of Lapeer, Mich., and one son, Dr. Elbro Walters of Chicago.
Relatives from away who attended the funeral were the son and daughter and the latter's husband and Mr. Behrens and B. Markwald and son, Louis, of Chicago. Many friends from Stevens Point attended the funeral services.