Newtown, L.I., Sept. 2, 1890 – John Leighton, a member of Mansfield Post, G.A.R., of Brooklyn, died this morning at his home in Maspeth, L.I., from a self-inflicted wound fired from a thirty-two-caliber bulldog revolver yesterday afternoon.
From the stories that are circulated it appears that Leighton has had domestic trouble. Five months ago he removed to Maspeth, where he lived rather exclusively. A cartman was removing some of the household furniture yesterday, and Leighton was very much excited. He had a revolver in his hand, and declared he would shoot the driver if he took the articles away. He summoned a young man and sent him to the resident of Justice McDonald, nearby. That gentleman said the case belonged to an officer and not a Justice.
The boy then returned to Leighton’s house, but was back to the Justice’s in a few minutes to tell him that Leighton had shot himself. Dr. E.V. Judson was summoned. He found the man unconscious, with an ugly wound over the right temple. It took him only a few moments to discover that the bullet was in the man’s brain, and that he would not recover. This morning he died shortly after 5 o’clock.
The friends of Mrs. Leighton say that the family was about to remove to Brooklyn, and that there was no unpleasantness between the couple. The husband was somewhat eccentric, caused by a fall from a wagon two years ago, when his head struck a stone. He told his youngest son the day before the suicide that he intended to die the following day between the hours of 9 and 1 o’clock. But, as he had talked strangely before, no notice was taken of the threat.