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Unraveling A Mystery: Part 3 (1913)

ESTABLISHING THE FACTS

After finding the articles about Agnes Tinkler, I wanted to know if this person was indeed family.  A search of the Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916 database on the Illinois Secretary of State website revealed the death of only one person named Tinkler in 1913 in Macon County: Alice Tinkler.  I obtained the death certificate from the state archives which confirmed that Alice was the daughter of my great-great grandparents, John Tinkler and Lizzie Wright and therefore, Agnes’s sister. 


So, the previously unknown family tragedy was true!


Alice worked as a chambermaid in a hotel.  She was barely eighteen when she took her own life by taking carbolic acid on the evening of 13 May 1913.  The place of death was at the corner of Main and Prairie Streets, at or near the district known as the Wabash Shops in Decatur. 


As for Charles, I don’t believe that he ever existed.  The newspaper must have misidentified Alice in the first article. 
 
Here is the final newspaper article I found on Agnes Tinkler.  From the Decatur Review, Sunday Morning, 18 May 1913, page 18 (Decatur, Illinois):

THE POINT OF VIEW

"The case of Agnes Tinkler, sent to the county jail because she would not answer questions put by the grand jury, brings to the front a situation that has often puzzled the courts.


Two months ago Agnes was sent to the girls’ home at Geneva, and presumably she is there for some time.  As is the case with many others, she doesn’t like the home; for a change she would as soon be in the Macon county jail for a while, perhaps a little sooner.


And so Agnes is brought before the court and is threatened with jail if she persists in refusal to answer questions.  That fate doesn’t disturb her appreciably; possibly she rejoices in the thought of staying away from Geneva a while longer.  Back to jail she goes, but this does not get answers to the questions that are put.  The record says she is punished for contempt, but she may be looking at the result as a reprieve that was worth going after.  Whether or not you can punish an individual may depend on his or her point of view."
 

TIME TO DIG FOR MORE RECORDS


So, what now?  I am sending a request for a copy of the coroner’s inquest records and the court records to find out more about this story.  Stay tuned.
 
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Location: Decatur, Illinois, USA

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