Newspaper Clippings for
September, 1938
from a loose clipping, source unknown 6 September 1938
James H. Bonner
James H. Bonner, 88, eldest son of James and Margaret Anderson
Bonner, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on January 29, 1850,
and passed away Tuesday morning, September 6, 1938. He was
brought to this country by his parents when he was three months
old. The family settled in Avon township near Millburn, where he
resided until his marriage, when he moved to a farm directly
across the road in Warren township where he resided until his
death.
On September 10, 1879, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth
Stewart, who survives him. Five children were born, two of whom
died in infancy. The surviving children are Miss Vivien at home,
Leslie S. and Mrs. Gordon Bonner, all of Millburn. Five
grandchildren: Geraldine, Lyman, Beryl, Howard and Lois Bonner
survive, also two sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart of Gurnee and
Mrs. Mina Gilbert of Waukegan.
Funeral services were held at Millburn church Friday afternoon at
2 o'clock, with Rev. Samuel Holden officiating with burial in
Millburn cemetery.
from the pages of the Chicago Herald and Examiner 14 September 1938
Two Slain in Farm Mystery
Scott LeVoy, 65, Lake County farmer, and his son's wife, May, 26,
were found mysteriously slain yesterday in the LeVoy farm home
west of Waukegan. She was killed with a .22 rifle and he with a
shotgun fired close to his chest.
First indications were that LeVoy killed the young woman and
himself, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Thomas Kennedy, but two clues
led him to decided to question James LeVoy, 31, May's husband,
and ask Culver, Ind., authorities to question her former husband,
Lee Sutton of Culver.
The clues were: May's body was warm and LeVoy's cold when James
led deputy sheriffs to them, and the shotgun which killed Scott
LeVoy had been replaced against the kitchen wall.
James said when he returned from hauling milk he found his
father's body and called to his wife, May, 26. Her body was at
the foot of the basement stairs.
Sheriff's officers found her neck was broken. They assumed she
started upstairs at the sound of the shotgun and fell, but an
autopsy revealed her top vertebrae had bee shattered by a .22
calibre bullet, fired from behind at close range. A .22 rifle,
found behind the door between the kitchen and dining room, was
sent to the Chicago police laboratory with the bullet.
loose clipping, source unknown 14 September 1938
PRY INTO FARM WIFE'S PAST FOR CLEW TO KILLING
Murder and Suicide Theory Doubted.
Puzzled neighbors shook their heads yesterday at the theory that Scott LeVoy
shot his young daughter-in-law to death and then ended his own life
Tuesday morning on his farm home west of Waukegan. And officials,
impressed by the neighbors' doubt, began inquiring about romances Maye
Le Voy had with men other than her husband, James Le Voy.
They learned that she had married three times before her elopement
with young Le Voy. Two of these marriages were to the same man. And
the authorities were told that she had quarreled with one of these
men on Labor day, when she was visiting at her mother's home in
Culver, Ind.
Starts Indiana Quiz.
Thomas E. Kennedy, chief deputy sherif of Lake county, sent Deputy
Stanley Christian to Culver to question
Mrs. Le Voy's mother. Thence the deputy was to go to Rochester,
Ind., to question the ex-husband with whom she is reported to have
quarreled. She was divorced from this man a second time five days
before she eloped with Le Voy in 1935.
Her husband, who is 31 years old, told Coroner John L. Taylor that he
believed his wife and father had been murdered by a third person. But the
authorities were unable to reconcile this belief with the fact that the
family police dog, 100 feet from the house, was not distrubed by the
shooting. The dog, they said, is vicious.
Letter Is Studied.
A letter from a man who signed only the name "Carl" was regarded
as important by George W. Field, assistant state's attorney. Unknown
to Mrs. Le Voy's husband, it came to her at the farm in July, a short
time after she had returned from one of her extended stays in Chicago.
In it the man thanked her for lending him money and said he was sorry
he could not repay her.
Investigation of other letters and papers yielded little to help solve the
mystery. Mrs. Le Voy, who was 26 years old, carried a $1,000 insurance
policy payable to her husband. It was to pay double indemnity in case
of accidental death. Scott Le Voy, who was 65, had a $2,000 policy, to be
shared by James and another son in Oak Park. It was believed the sons
would be heirs to the 80 acre farm.
Shot Early in Morning.
Kennedy revealed a puzzling feature. The elder LeVoy, a special
deputy sherif, was known as a man who went to bed at 8 p.m. Yet he
asked Kennedy a few days ago to get him a .38 caliber pistol, explaining
that he was often out extremely late at night.
James Le Voy found his wife and father shot to death when he returned
from milking at 5:55 a.m. Monday.
His father had been killed with a shotgun and his wife with a rifle. A
shotgun was found in its usual place in a corner of the kitchen. A rifle
was found behind a door in the living room. Both guns apparently had
been carefully placed where they were. Authorities said it would have been
difficult for the elder Le Voy, mortally wounded, to put them both away.
14 September 1938
SUICIDE SEQUEL TO FARM DEATH
Investigators Believe Elder Levoy Shot Self
After Killing Daughter-in-law.
Scott LeVoy, 65, shot his daughter-in-law to relieve his son of
the domestic grief caused by her intermittent desertions and then
killed himself, law enforcement officers said today.
LeVoy, who had been a county highway maintenance patrolman for
more than a decade, was an expert rifle shot. Despondent over the
death of a grandson several months ago, LeVoy apparently intended
to end his life when his daughter-in-law said she was going to
leave the 80-acre farm on route 45, a mile south of Millburn.
His daughter-in-law, May LeVoy, 26, wife of James, 31, had left
her housekeeping duties at the LeVoy farm on three different
occasions in the three years since the marriage in December,
1935. Mrs. LeVoy had been married three ties before her wedding
to James LeVoy.
Plans to Leave Again
When Mrs. LeVoy informed her husband that she was going to leave
again to work some other place, the elder LeVoy pleaded with her
to stay at the farm so that the family could get on a sound
financial basis, Coroner John L. Taylor was informed.
She had packed her clothes Monday and was preparing to leave.
Yesterday morning, according to
The story, while her husband was tending cows in a barn about 100
feet southwest of the farmhouse, she was in the basement of the
house preparing sandwiches for the elder McVoy for his
luncheon.
Reconstructing the tragedy, Chief Deputy Sheriff Thomas E.
Kennedy and Assistant State's Attorney George W. Field today
visited the farmhouse again.
"It would not be difficult for LeVoy to load the rifle and fire
about 15 feet from the kitchen to the basement," Kennedy said,
"and then place the rifle against the wall and walk to the
kitchen and shoot himself with a shot gun and push it against the
wall."
Both the .22 calibre pump rifle and the .12 guage shotgun found
in the house are in the hands of ballistics experts for
examination. Three shotgun shells were found in the pockets of
the elder LeVoy.
Investigators are still puzzled by the fact that neither the
watch dog, which was outside of the house about the time the
shooting occurred, or James, who was milking the cows, heard any
unusual noises. They gave little credence to the theory that an
intruder entered the farmhouse and killed LeVoy and his daughter-
in-law, using two different guns, and then escaping without
attracting the attention of the dog.
While the law enforcement officers believe that the theory that
LeVoy shot his daughter-in-law and then killed himself is the
most plausible, they are continuing the investigation of theories
of a possible double murder.
Funeral services for James Bonner were held from Millburn
Congregational church Friday afternoon, Sept. 9, Rev. Samuel
Holden officiating. Burial was made in Millburn cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Gillings of Waukegan, were callers at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Webb Thursday afternoon.
Mrs. W. M Bonner and son Roy, drove to Champaign Sunday,
taking Glenn Strang and Geraldine Bonner back for school. They
also visited their cousins, the Dodge sisters, in Peoria.
Mrs. Marcus Hoffman and Eddie Druce visited the Brookfield zoo
last Wednesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Keefe and daughter Barbara of Waukegan,
were callers at the J. Kaluf home Friday evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kennedy of Waukegan, were supper guests at
the E. O. Martin home on Friday.
Mrs. Mattie Edwards returned to her home in Forest Park on
Sunday after spending several days with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
D. B. Webb.
J. G. Bonner and son Howard, and R. J. Bonner of Kansasville,
Wis., drove to Lake Mills, Wis., on business Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Becker, Mr. and Mrs. Gus Hedstrom and son
Jerry of Kenosha, called at the Lewis Bauman home Sunday
afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. William Thompson and daughter Helen and Mrs.
Jennie Pickles of Hickory, called at the D. B. Webb home Sunday
afternoon.
Frank Edwards spent Sunday at the John Dickey home in Forest
Park.
Miss Ruby Gillings is visiting at the W. M. Bonner home.
George McCredie, who has been ill at the home of his sister,
Mrs. W. H. Miller, for several months, died last week and the
funeral was held Thursday. Mr. McCredie has many friends here who
will miss him.
15 September 1938
MARRIAGE OF DEAD WOMAN KEPT SECRET
Mrs. May LeVoy,
Believed to Have Been Killed by Father-in-law,
Had Tangled Marital Career.
Mrs. May LeVoy, who is believed to have been killed by her
father-in-law because she was planning to leave the farm on route
45 a mile south of Millburn, kept her marriage to James LeVoy in
1935 a secret from her mother and former husband, it was revealed
today just before funeral services were started for her and for
Scott LeVoy at the Millburn Community church.
"Her mother, Mrs. F. V. Brown, living on a farm near Culver,
Ind., had no knowledge that her daughter was married again,"
Deputy Sheriff Stanley Christian said today. "Her former husband,
Leo Sutton, a farmhand near Rochester, Ind., did not know of it
either."
Mrs. Brown and Sutton, who married May twice, told Christian that
May had spoken of James LeVoy and his father as being "nice
people to work for."
Met Former Husband
While Mrs. LeVoy was visiting her mother in Indiana during the
Labor Day weekend, she was in the company of Sutton and another
couple. At that time Sutton told her he still cared for her. He
told Deputy Christian yesterday that he questioned the legality
of May's divorce from him. He had divorced her the first time and
after a remarriage she had divorced him.
The marriage, James LeVoy said, was in the form of an elopement
and took place Dec. 13, 1935, at Winnetka. Mrs. LeVoy, who had
been housekeeper at the LeVoy farm before the marriage, resumed
her position after she became James' wife.
On three different occasions since the marriage May left the
LeVoy farm for extended periods. The last time she left in June
1937, and returned the following September. During that interval,
it was learned, Mrs. LeVoy spent about three weeks with her
mother visiting in Tennessee.
Liked "Good Time"
"She was always gay and ready to have a good time," Deputy
Christian quoted Mrs. Brown as saying. Mrs. Brown as well as
Sutton first heard of Mrs. LeVoy's death from the deputy
sheriff.
On Tuesday morning, when Mrs. Levoy was killed with a rifle shot
and her father-in-law was found dead from a shotgun wound
believed to have been self-inflicted, Sutton said he was
performing his chores on a farm near Rochester.
By persistent investigation in and near Rochester, Deputy
Christian said he was satisfied that Sutton was on the farm near
Rochester during the past weekend.
Although law enforcement officers, Coroner John L. Taylor, Chief
Deputy Sheriff Thomas E. Kennedy and Assistant State's Attorney
George W. Field, were in agreement on the theory that Scott
LeVoy, the 65-year-old county highway maintenance patrolman, shot
his daughter-in-law and then killed himself, they were continuing
the investigation into other probabilities.
The rifle and shotgun found in the house are now undergoing
ballistics tests which the law officers believe may throw some
light on the mystery.
Planned to Leave
Mrs. LeVoy had announced to husband and father-in-law that she
was leaving the farm again. The elder LeVoy was reported to have
pleaded with her to remain as housekeeper so that they could get
their 80-acre farm on a sound financial basis. James LeVoy, who
had been taking care of the farm since he graduated from high
school in 1924, was said to have owned 18 acres of the farm.
Shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday, James, who said he had been
milking the cows in the barn about 100 feet southwest of the farm
house, came into the house with a pitcher of milk and a pail of
water to find his father sprawled on the kitchen floor in a pool
of blood.
He called for his wife, who had left him about 20 minutes earlier
to prepare some sandwiches for her father-in-law's lunch. She did
not answer. James looked down in the basement where a light was
on and saw his wife dead.
James said that he did not hear any shots fired while he was in
the barn and a swatch dog on the farm was not disturbed during
the period from about 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Investigation showed that Scott LeVoy had a $2,000 insurance
policy and Mrs. LeVoy carried a $1,000 policy with a double
indemnity clause for accidental death payable to her husband.
