On a chilly Sunday morning tragic events unfolded in the Howard household on the south edge of Leroy. One witness to tell the story of the morning was Charles Howard, the patriarch of the family, and unfortunately he told two different versions of what occurred. We will have to excuse him for being unclear, because he had only hours to live after being shot by his thirty four year old daughter.
Ethel Howard was keeping house for the family, which included her older sister, Mabelle, brother James and a nine year old nephew as well as Charles Howard. The family had just eaten the breakfast prepared by Ethel, and according to Charles' first statement, Ethel had been sitting in a chair when she suddenly rolled to the floor, foaming at the mouth, before she suddenly drew a pistol and began shooting her family members. She shot her sister first, instantly killing her with a shot through her heart. Her brother she shot twice and her father once, leaving him alive. Charles Howard struggled to call for help, crawling to the front porch and then shouting for help. A sister in law heard him from her own porch and his brother, Frank Howard, rushed to his aid.
To the police, Howard gave his second version of the incident -- he said that his daughter was restlessly walking between her bedroom and other rooms of the house before she suddenly began shooting her gun.
Young Edmond Campbell, the son of Mabelle Howard Campbell, was chased by his aunt from the house to the barn. He attempted to hide in the hayloft, but was shot down from the ladder. She then threw the gun away and ran from the scene. Edmond ran four blocks to a house that he knew and asked for shelter, explaining that his Aunt Ethel had shot him. He didn't seem to know that his mother was already dead. His injuries were superficial and his life was never in danger.
Ethel had purchased the .32 revolver the previous week, following in a tradition of gun ownership in the family. The sheriff described the home as having an "arsenal" of guns, one of which was an ancient breech loading gun.
The guns, however, held great importance to this family. According to family history, a great great grandfather of Charles Howard was a gunsmith who made some of the guns used at Bunker Hill, and one of those guns was still held by the family. Other men in the family had been gunsmiths as well.
Ethel and her sister had visited Dr. Hart about going to the hospital for care just a few days earlier, and Ethel planned to go to the hospital on the next Monday. Unfortunately, she did not seek help soon enough.
The assumption after Ethel's flight was that she would commit suicide, and a search for her body began almost immediately. Salt Creek was dragged, explosives were set off in lakes and Ethel was finally found in a sewer pipe near her home two days later. A family dog's anxious behavior near the sewer gave the sheriff the necessary clue.
Ethel had graduated from Leroy High School and attended ISNU. She taught school for a short time and at one time had attempted to become a nurse, but suffered from nerves during her training and resigned from the school. She was a lovely young woman (photo above) felled by mental illness and a medical community unable to give meaningful support.