It's time for another episode of Seavers in the News. Today, it's an article found in the Boston Herald newspaper, dated 6 January 1914, on page 12:
The transcription of this article is:
HOLD INQUEST IN ASYLUM DEATH---------------------------Medical Examiner Seeking the Cause of Ten Ribs Being Broken---------------------------OFFICIALS SAY MAN FELL---------------------------Would Have Lived Two Months Longer, Says Investigator---------------------------WORCESTER, Jan. 5 -- Arrangements were made today for an inquest into the death of Charles E. Seaver, the 66-year-old Cambridge man who died a few days after 10 of his ribs were broken at the Worcester State Hospital for the Insane. He died eight weeks after entering the institution.The source citation for this article is:
The matter is now in the hands of Medical Examiner Fred H. Baker, to whom the police have reported their findings after an exhaustive investigation, during which they questioned employes of the insane asylum.
According to Dr. George V. Scribner, superintendent of the asylum, Mr. Seaver died from general paralysis.
Thinks Patient "Fell"
"While Mr. Seaver did have 10 broken ribs, he died from general paralysis," said Dr. Scribner to a Herald reporter today, "and as far as we have been able to learn from the investigation he did not receive the injuries as the result of being assaulted. There were no marks on his body and the most reasonable explanation is that he must have fallen and broken them. No one is under suspicion."
It is understood that following the autopsy made on the body by Medical Examiner Baker, his associate, Dr. E. L. Hunt, and Dr. E.B. Bigelow of the state hospital. It was stated that the injuries "might have been due to violence on the part of some one." Medical Examiner Baker is reported to have said that the broken ribs contributed to Seaver's death and that the insane man would probably have lived two months more under normal conditions. He declared that the direct cause of death was paralysis.
Saw Seaver Fall
According to Dr. Ray L. Whitney, assistant superintendent, a patient named Perry and Starrett Corkum, an attendant, told him that they saw Seaver fall against a bed.
Seaver formerly lived in Allston, and was a travelling salesman until his health caused him to quit work. He had no near relatives.
"HOLD INQUEST IN ASYLUM DEATH," Boston [Mass.] Herald, 6 January 1914, page 12, column 2, Charles E. Seaver death article; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 29 November 2016), Newspaper Archives collection.
The death record in the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1915 collection on American Ancestors, has this extracted information about the death of Charles E. Seaver:
* Place of Death: Worcester, Worcester State Hospital
* Full name: Charles E. Seaver
* Residence: Allston, Mass.
* Date of Death: Dec. 21 [1913]
* Sex: Male
* Color or Race: W[hite]
* Marital Status: Widowed
* Occupation: Salesman
* Birthplace: Cambridge
* Name of Father: Ezra Seaver
* Birthplace of Father: Me.
* Maiden Name of Mother: Clara Eaton
* Cause of Death: General Paralysis of Insane, Fracture of Ribs, Shock, Chr[onic] Infected Bladder, Septicemia
* Signed: F.H. Baker, M.D., Dec. 22, 1913, Worcester
* Place of Burial: Cambridge, Mt. Auburn
* Date of Burial: Dec. 23, 1913
The source citation for the death record is:
"Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915," online database, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed 29 November 2016), New England Historic Genealogical Society : 2008), citing original records held by the Massachusetts Archives, Deaths, Worcester County, Volume 1913/112, Worcester, Page 349 of 504, Charles E. Seaver Certificate of Death.
Charles E. Seaver was born 7 November 1847 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the only child of Isaac (not Ezra) Seaver and Clarissa not Clara) Eaton. He married Alice J. Carle on 4 January 1881 in Belmont, Massachusets; she was born in 1856 in Maine. I have no death record - she probably died before 21 December 1913 because Charles's death certificate says he was widowed. I looked for a death record for Alice Seaver in the Massachusetts vital records, and did not find one. Charles and Alice (Carle) Seaver had one daughter, Hellen Seaver (1883-1883).
Charles E. Seaver was my 6th cousin 4 times removed. What a sad way to die - falling, fracturing ribs, probably breaking his back causing paralysis. Charles E. Seaver had an aunt and several first cousins residing in Eastern Massachusetts at the time of his death.
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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver
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