The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 10, 1906

Death Angel Enters Hovel

Old Man Discovered Friday is Dead.

Was Sad Affair – G.A.R. Will Take Charge of Burial – Try to Find Relatives.

Last night shortly before the hour of eight, the death angel entered a miserable hovel on Central avenue where in a lowly room, Eugene Lockwood, a veteran of the civil war, had struggled for week, unattended and uncared for with the dread disease of pneumonia.

Lockwood’s case was reported in last night’s Messenger. The unfortunate man was alone in the world with the exception of distant relatives whose names or address are not known. For three weeks he has lain gasping for breath and almost with the death rattle in his throat, practically on the street where hurrying crowds rushed by, and nothing was known of his condition by those who were in a position to do anything to aid him. The members of the G.A.R. who would have done anything within their power to aid their comrade did not discover his plight until Friday and the county officers were not informed until the same day. It was then too late. Pneumonia had closed its grasp upon him, and it merely remained for him to gasp out his closing hours of life the same as he had his days of sickness before.

The local G.A.R. will have charge of the burial unless relatives come to claim the body. It is understood that distant relatives live in Mason City. An attempt will be made to learn who they are, but this seems unlikely. Lockwood has lived in this city for about five or six years. He had supported himself by doing odd jobs about town. He was last employed as a porter at the Freeman and Schureck saloon.

(Editor’s note: The G.A.R., or Grand Army of the Republic, was a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War.)

Tags: 1906, Lockwood