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- Lockport NY Union Sun Journal - 6/11/1934
John L. Behm entered into rest
on Saturday, June 9th, at the family
residence, Purdy road, town of Lockport.
He is survived by his wife,
Mrs. Clara Proctor Behm, four
daughters and three sons, Mrs. Edward
Wendt, Janesville, Minn., Mrs.
Bruce Moore, Lockport, Mrs. Hewett
Allen, Niagara Falls, N. Y., Mrs.
Mason Wilson, Lockport, Charles
Behm, Lockport, Arthur Behm, town
of Lockport and Irving Behm, town
of Wilson, four sisters and four
brothers, Mrs. Philip Breitenbach,
Mrs. Martin Wendlinger, Mrs. Frank
Martin, Mrs. Amiel Bush, George
Behm, William Behm, Charles
Behm and Frank Behm. Remains
reposing at the Conover & Reynolds
Funeral Home, 46 East avenue. Time
of funeral to be announced later.
Same date and paper
John L. Behm, 59, farmer, of
the Purdy road, town of Lockport,
took his life by hanging late Saturday
night after believing he had
succeeded in throttling his wife,
Clara, to death.
Mrs. Behm lay unconscious for
nearly 46 minutes before she regained
her senses and discovered
that her husband had hanged himself,
suspending his body by a cord
which he had attached to the bedpost
of his bed. His head was
Only 18 inches from the floor.
There had been no quarrel before
the tragedy, Mrs. Behm told
Dr. Ferdinand A. Kittinger, coroner.
She and her husband had spent the
evening together In their home, she
said. Her husband was in exceptionally
good spirits, she declared,
although he had brooded considerably
in recent weeks over his failure
to find employment. He had
been out of work for several
months she said.
After an evening of amiable conversation,
she and her husband decided
Just before midnight to retire.
Accordingly, she went to her bedroom
on the second floor, while he
retired to a room which he occupied
on the first floor.
"We've Got to Die."
Shortly afterwards, Mrs.
said, she beard her husband calling
for her.
As she entered his bedroom, she
told Dr. Kittinger, her husband
leaped at her and seised her by the
throat, at the same time crying:
"We've got to die, Clara."
He repeated the cry over and over
again as she vainly struggled to
free herself from his grasp, she said.
Then she lapsed into unconscious-
ness.
Regaining her senses about 45
minutes later, her first thought was
that her experience had been just
a terrible nightmare, Mrs. Behm related.
The severe throbbing In her
throat and the sight of her husband's
body, hanging from the bedpost
in his bedroom, awakened her
to the reality of her experience, ahe
said.
Touching her husband's body and
discovering it to be already cold,
Mrs. Behm ran in terror to the
home of a neighbor, where she
telephoned the sheriff's office.
Coroner Issues Certificate.
Deputies Oeorge Rawlings and
James Duffy hurried to the scene
of the tragedy. They summoned
the coroner, who ordered the' body
removed to the undertaking parlors
of Conover and Reynolds, 46 East
avenue.
Dr. Kittinger, after examining the
body and hearing Mrs. Behm's story,
issued a verdict of suicide by hanging.
Surviving Mr. Behm are his
widow, Clara; four daughters, Mrs.
Edward Wendt of Janesville, Minn.;
Mrs. Hewitt Allen of Niagara fails,
Mrs. Bruce Moore and Mrs. George
Wilson of Lockport; three sons,
Irving Behm of Ransomville, and
Charles and Arthur Behm of Lockport;
four sisters; Mrs. Martin
Wendllnger of Buffalo, Mrs. Henry
Martin of Tonawanda, Mrs, Emil
Busch of Lockport and Mrs. Philip
Breintback of Pickard's Bridge, and
four brothers, Charles Behm of Atwater,
Minn., Frank Behm of
Bralnard, Minn., William and
George Behm of Hudson, Wis.
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1874 - 1934 (60 years)