William B. Hall
Payette Enterprise
Thursday, July 10, 1930
LOCAL MAN SUICIDES
WILLIAM B. HALL TAKES OWN LIFE AT RANCH HOME - NO CAUSE KNOWN FOR RASH ACT
William B. Hall, a rancher living on the Oregon side, one mile west of the Snake river bridge, committed suicide Tuesday night by hanging. No cause is known for the rash act. It is thought it may have been temporarily mental derangement.
Mr. Hall who is 38 years of age was the owner of the old Maxfield ranch west of Payette and was assisting a neighbor Tuesday in the hay field and apparently was well and in his usual frame of mind. He attended to his regular duties about the place that evening and had been listening to the radio, his wife had gone to bed and shortly after awoke and found Mr. Hall was missing. She was not alarmed, as he had often went to the irrigation ditch to take a bath before going to bed, but got up to make search and notified Mr. Jessie Ball, a neighbor, who is an uncle of Mr. Hall, who came to assist in the search and found his body hanging by a rope from the rafters of the stable. The authorities, including the coroner of Malheur county of Ontario was notified and came to investigate the case. No inquest will be held. The body was brought to the Landon funeral Home, where the funeral will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock.
Mr. Hall was a highly respected man who has lived in this community for many years. He is survived by a wife and three children, the eldest, a daughter, 12 years of age. He is also survived by a mother who lives at Seattle; two uncles, Jessie and Snowden Bell of Payette.
The Payette Independent (Thursday, July 10, 1930)
WILLIAM HALL TAKES OWN LIFE
WELL KNOWN OREGON SLOPE RANCHER HANGED HIMSELF TO RAFTERS OF HIS BARN TUESDAY NIGHT
A sad and thoroughly unaccountable tragedy left Mrs. William B. Hall a widow and her three children fatherless Tuesday night. The father, a rancher on the Oregon Slope, took his own life. When Mrs. Hall, who had been working hard all day and was tired, and her children retired, Mr. Hall was reading the daily paper and listening in on the radio. He, too, had been very busy in haying and had done a big days work, but said he wanted to finish the paper before going to bed. He was in apparent good spirits and was a man who was not apt to worry, taking everything, including hard work, which he seemed to enjoy, in a happy frame of mind.
Mrs. Hall fell asleep and had slept some time when she awakened and missed her husband. She called and when he did not answer she started out to look for him. It had been his custom to take his nightshirt and hang it on a post near the irrigation ditch while he took a plunge before going to bed. This she found, but his slippers and clothing were not there. Becoming alarmed she went to the nearby home of his uncle, J.E. Ball, and aroused Mr. Ball. They returned and resumed the search and found his body hanging to the rafters of the barn.
As the family had been a happy one and he was devoted to his wife and children, and as his financial condition was such that he need not worry, the conclusion is that he may have become overheated during the hot afternoon in the hayfield and that something suddenly snapped and he lost his mind. There is another possible reason for the rash act. His twin brother, Willard, to whom he was devoted, died about a year ago and at the time his grief was terrible. For weeks he wept almost every night and the loss affected him very much. When his brother went to war and he was rejected by the medical board he was not himself until Willard returned. This loss may have affected him more than his family knew.
William B. Hall was born as Kendrick, Idaho, February 28, 1893, and died July 8, 1930, at the age of 37 years, 4 month and 10 days. He came to this section with his brother, and they homesteaded land on the Oregon side about 15 years ago. He was married to Elsie Noble, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Nodle, June 8, 1918. To this union was born three children, Wilma, 11; Eldon, 7; and Beverly 4. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Hall, who moved to Arlington, Washington, also survive and he leaves three brothers and three sisters, all living in the state of Washington.
Funeral services were held in abeyance pending the arrival of relatives, but have been set for Friday morning at 10 o'clock at the church of God, of which he was a member. They will be conducted by Rev. Farnham, and interment will take place at Riverside cemetery.
Mrs. Hall and her children have the profound sympathy of everybody in this sad hour.
