Agee Leland
Suicide Mystery Startles Community; A weird tale of mental unbalance caused by religious fanaticism was closed Tuesday morning as the remains of Leland Agee, 40, local farm laborer, were found in a West Stanislaus Irrigation District lateral after a three-day search. Foiled in an attempt to take his whole family, including himself and wife and five children "on a ride to see St. Peter," he committed suicide early Saturday morning. But the ysterious circumstances surrounding the case had officers and volunteer searchers up in the air until the body was finally found Tuesday morning. Although changed in some particulars later, Mrs. Agee's original, account of the affair was as follows – Agee aroused his family about 3 a. m. at their ranch home west of Westley, telling them they were going to see St. Peter. His wife, Elva, 28, also under the spell of religious hallucinations, was ready for the trip and picked up their 5-mos. old baby and bundled four larger children into the car. Evidently determined to kill the whole family, Agee drove out the Howard road toward
Ingram Canyon until, at a point not far from the old irfield, he aimed for a power line pole. The first one only grazed a hub cap, but, according to his wife's story, he laughed loudly and aimed directly for the next one, crashing into it head-on and breaking it off. High-tension wires fell on the metal top of the car and punctured it with holes as the current burned through the metal, and it seemed a miracle that the whole seven were not electrocuted. Mrs. Agee was knocked senseless by the crash, incurring a fractured nose and badly bruised knee, as well as other cuts and bruises. When she recovered consciousness, Agee had disappeared, "No use looking for him," she said, "he's gone to heaven." And the children also declared that he had gone off across the field to, vanish in the night on his way to heaven.
Return Home -- Making their way back home on foot, Mrs. Agee put the children to bed again. In the morning, she
started to walk to Patterson with the family and was given a ride part way by a truck driver. Chief of Police Carl
Busengdal was notified when they came into town and the investigation started, with Traffic Officer E. L. McCabe and
Constable C. W. Kirk also taking part.
First fear was that Agee had been dazed by the crash and might have dropped into the ditch or be found in some nearby
field. So a large force started a search and in nearby No. 1 Lateral of the irrigation system was shut off to enable the canal to be searched. But no trace and the mystery deepened. Possibility that Agee might have gone off to a convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the sect with which he had been affiliated, was considered, but was disproved when members returned from the trip. And so the mystery stood, with Mrs. Agee's contention that they would never find him -- he had been taken up into the heavens by God, seeing to have the best of the officers' more material conclusions that he must be somewhere.
Body Comes Up -- But Tuesday morning about 7:40, Tom Menurin, employee of the Guaylule Project, was riding along
Lateral 6 about two miles south of the scene of the crash when he saw the body and the mystery was solved.
Reconstruction of the episode made it highly probable that Agee had wandered off southward through the field after the
wreck and had leaped into the canal very close to the point where he was found. This was established by the fact that it
was just south of a weir, whose gate had not been opened more than four inches since the mishap. While the portion of
the ditch farther north had been drained, water had remained in this section and the search had not been carried that far south, although an intensive hunt had been carried out for a mile so from the crash scene. Merton Sperry had even wriggled through a siphon in order to make sure the body had not lodged there. Agee had resided here about two and a half years, being employed by Marion Wright. He was a good workman, an excellent mechanic, and had seemed normal until a few weeks ago when he became involved with the religious sect, as did his wife, who was held at the County hospital for observation, but later released.
Services Wednesday -- The deceased was a native of Texas but had resided in this state for the past 26 years. Beside his wife he is survived by two small children, the other three being the offspring of his wife's former marriage to a brother of Agee. Eleven brothers and sisters also survive him. Funeral services were held at the Evans Funeral Chapel Wednesday afternoon with Kenneth Horton of Modesto, a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect, presiding. Interment in Del Puerto-Cemetery followed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Leland
Inquest Adds Nothing to Agee Case; "Death from unknown causes" was the verdict of a coroner's jury Tuesday
afternoon investigating the death of Leland Agee a week previous. It was the first inquest called in Patterson in a long period of years, despite many unexplained deaths. Action followed strong criticism voiced by local people against letting such cases slide without any investigation whatever. The hearing was most perfunctory and nothing new was brought out. Coroner J. K. Ransome testified that the body was too far decomposed when recovered from the West Stanislaus lateral to permit an autopsy. The jury comprised F. L. Truman, George Atkins, Lyle Johnson, C. M. Mack, J. C.
McIntosh, H. Sykes, W. H. Wood, C. P Arambel and Emil Lutle.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Mr
County Officers' Apathy Flayed; The Agee drowning we is not finally closed yet. While the bizarre episode seems to be
fairly clear, contradictory remarks by the dead man's wife and failure of county authorities to make a complete
investigation, have led to loudly expressed local indignation against the neglect displayed. No inquest has been held, Coroner J. K. Ransome merely certifying to "death by drowning." Local people active in the case point out that there are several other possibilities and relatives of the dead man also expressed a determination yesterday to have a post-mortem conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Reluctant interest in the case was finally aroused at Modesto on Wednesday and Deputy District Attorney Walter Crow was assigned to conduct an informal investigation, which local people argue should have been staged at a formal inquest. This is still being carried on and further developments are uncertain.
Suicide Mystery Startles Community; A weird tale of mental unbalance caused by religious fanaticism was closed Tuesday morning as the remains of Leland Agee, 40, local farm laborer, were found in a West Stanislaus Irrigation District lateral after a three-day search. Foiled in an attempt to take his whole family, including himself and wife and five children "on a ride to see St. Peter," he committed suicide early Saturday morning. But the ysterious circumstances surrounding the case had officers and volunteer searchers up in the air until the body was finally found Tuesday morning. Although changed in some particulars later, Mrs. Agee's original, account of the affair was as follows – Agee aroused his family about 3 a. m. at their ranch home west of Westley, telling them they were going to see St. Peter. His wife, Elva, 28, also under the spell of religious hallucinations, was ready for the trip and picked up their 5-mos. old baby and bundled four larger children into the car. Evidently determined to kill the whole family, Agee drove out the Howard road toward
Ingram Canyon until, at a point not far from the old irfield, he aimed for a power line pole. The first one only grazed a hub cap, but, according to his wife's story, he laughed loudly and aimed directly for the next one, crashing into it head-on and breaking it off. High-tension wires fell on the metal top of the car and punctured it with holes as the current burned through the metal, and it seemed a miracle that the whole seven were not electrocuted. Mrs. Agee was knocked senseless by the crash, incurring a fractured nose and badly bruised knee, as well as other cuts and bruises. When she recovered consciousness, Agee had disappeared, "No use looking for him," she said, "he's gone to heaven." And the children also declared that he had gone off across the field to, vanish in the night on his way to heaven.
Return Home -- Making their way back home on foot, Mrs. Agee put the children to bed again. In the morning, she
started to walk to Patterson with the family and was given a ride part way by a truck driver. Chief of Police Carl
Busengdal was notified when they came into town and the investigation started, with Traffic Officer E. L. McCabe and
Constable C. W. Kirk also taking part.
First fear was that Agee had been dazed by the crash and might have dropped into the ditch or be found in some nearby
field. So a large force started a search and in nearby No. 1 Lateral of the irrigation system was shut off to enable the canal to be searched. But no trace and the mystery deepened. Possibility that Agee might have gone off to a convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the sect with which he had been affiliated, was considered, but was disproved when members returned from the trip. And so the mystery stood, with Mrs. Agee's contention that they would never find him -- he had been taken up into the heavens by God, seeing to have the best of the officers' more material conclusions that he must be somewhere.
Body Comes Up -- But Tuesday morning about 7:40, Tom Menurin, employee of the Guaylule Project, was riding along
Lateral 6 about two miles south of the scene of the crash when he saw the body and the mystery was solved.
Reconstruction of the episode made it highly probable that Agee had wandered off southward through the field after the
wreck and had leaped into the canal very close to the point where he was found. This was established by the fact that it
was just south of a weir, whose gate had not been opened more than four inches since the mishap. While the portion of
the ditch farther north had been drained, water had remained in this section and the search had not been carried that far south, although an intensive hunt had been carried out for a mile so from the crash scene. Merton Sperry had even wriggled through a siphon in order to make sure the body had not lodged there. Agee had resided here about two and a half years, being employed by Marion Wright. He was a good workman, an excellent mechanic, and had seemed normal until a few weeks ago when he became involved with the religious sect, as did his wife, who was held at the County hospital for observation, but later released.
Services Wednesday -- The deceased was a native of Texas but had resided in this state for the past 26 years. Beside his wife he is survived by two small children, the other three being the offspring of his wife's former marriage to a brother of Agee. Eleven brothers and sisters also survive him. Funeral services were held at the Evans Funeral Chapel Wednesday afternoon with Kenneth Horton of Modesto, a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect, presiding. Interment in Del Puerto-Cemetery followed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Leland
Inquest Adds Nothing to Agee Case; "Death from unknown causes" was the verdict of a coroner's jury Tuesday
afternoon investigating the death of Leland Agee a week previous. It was the first inquest called in Patterson in a long period of years, despite many unexplained deaths. Action followed strong criticism voiced by local people against letting such cases slide without any investigation whatever. The hearing was most perfunctory and nothing new was brought out. Coroner J. K. Ransome testified that the body was too far decomposed when recovered from the West Stanislaus lateral to permit an autopsy. The jury comprised F. L. Truman, George Atkins, Lyle Johnson, C. M. Mack, J. C.
McIntosh, H. Sykes, W. H. Wood, C. P Arambel and Emil Lutle.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Mr
County Officers' Apathy Flayed; The Agee drowning we is not finally closed yet. While the bizarre episode seems to be
fairly clear, contradictory remarks by the dead man's wife and failure of county authorities to make a complete
investigation, have led to loudly expressed local indignation against the neglect displayed. No inquest has been held, Coroner J. K. Ransome merely certifying to "death by drowning." Local people active in the case point out that there are several other possibilities and relatives of the dead man also expressed a determination yesterday to have a post-mortem conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Reluctant interest in the case was finally aroused at Modesto on Wednesday and Deputy District Attorney Walter Crow was assigned to conduct an informal investigation, which local people argue should have been staged at a formal inquest. This is still being carried on and further developments are uncertain.
Agee Leland
Suicide Mystery Startles Community; A weird tale of mental unbalance caused by religious fanaticism was closed Tuesday morning as the remains of Leland Agee, 40, local farm laborer, were found in a West Stanislaus Irrigation District lateral after a three-day search. Foiled in an attempt to take his whole family, including himself and wife and five children "on a ride to see St. Peter," he committed suicide early Saturday morning. But the ysterious circumstances surrounding the case had officers and volunteer searchers up in the air until the body was finally found Tuesday morning. Although changed in some particulars later, Mrs. Agee's original, account of the affair was as follows – Agee aroused his family about 3 a. m. at their ranch home west of Westley, telling them they were going to see St. Peter. His wife, Elva, 28, also under the spell of religious hallucinations, was ready for the trip and picked up their 5-mos. old baby and bundled four larger children into the car. Evidently determined to kill the whole family, Agee drove out the Howard road toward
Ingram Canyon until, at a point not far from the old irfield, he aimed for a power line pole. The first one only grazed a hub cap, but, according to his wife's story, he laughed loudly and aimed directly for the next one, crashing into it head-on and breaking it off. High-tension wires fell on the metal top of the car and punctured it with holes as the current burned through the metal, and it seemed a miracle that the whole seven were not electrocuted. Mrs. Agee was knocked senseless by the crash, incurring a fractured nose and badly bruised knee, as well as other cuts and bruises. When she recovered consciousness, Agee had disappeared, "No use looking for him," she said, "he's gone to heaven." And the children also declared that he had gone off across the field to, vanish in the night on his way to heaven.
Return Home -- Making their way back home on foot, Mrs. Agee put the children to bed again. In the morning, she
started to walk to Patterson with the family and was given a ride part way by a truck driver. Chief of Police Carl
Busengdal was notified when they came into town and the investigation started, with Traffic Officer E. L. McCabe and
Constable C. W. Kirk also taking part.
First fear was that Agee had been dazed by the crash and might have dropped into the ditch or be found in some nearby
field. So a large force started a search and in nearby No. 1 Lateral of the irrigation system was shut off to enable the canal to be searched. But no trace and the mystery deepened. Possibility that Agee might have gone off to a convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the sect with which he had been affiliated, was considered, but was disproved when members returned from the trip. And so the mystery stood, with Mrs. Agee's contention that they would never find him -- he had been taken up into the heavens by God, seeing to have the best of the officers' more material conclusions that he must be somewhere.
Body Comes Up -- But Tuesday morning about 7:40, Tom Menurin, employee of the Guaylule Project, was riding along
Lateral 6 about two miles south of the scene of the crash when he saw the body and the mystery was solved.
Reconstruction of the episode made it highly probable that Agee had wandered off southward through the field after the
wreck and had leaped into the canal very close to the point where he was found. This was established by the fact that it
was just south of a weir, whose gate had not been opened more than four inches since the mishap. While the portion of
the ditch farther north had been drained, water had remained in this section and the search had not been carried that far south, although an intensive hunt had been carried out for a mile so from the crash scene. Merton Sperry had even wriggled through a siphon in order to make sure the body had not lodged there. Agee had resided here about two and a half years, being employed by Marion Wright. He was a good workman, an excellent mechanic, and had seemed normal until a few weeks ago when he became involved with the religious sect, as did his wife, who was held at the County hospital for observation, but later released.
Services Wednesday -- The deceased was a native of Texas but had resided in this state for the past 26 years. Beside his wife he is survived by two small children, the other three being the offspring of his wife's former marriage to a brother of Agee. Eleven brothers and sisters also survive him. Funeral services were held at the Evans Funeral Chapel Wednesday afternoon with Kenneth Horton of Modesto, a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect, presiding. Interment in Del Puerto-Cemetery followed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Leland
Inquest Adds Nothing to Agee Case; "Death from unknown causes" was the verdict of a coroner's jury Tuesday
afternoon investigating the death of Leland Agee a week previous. It was the first inquest called in Patterson in a long period of years, despite many unexplained deaths. Action followed strong criticism voiced by local people against letting such cases slide without any investigation whatever. The hearing was most perfunctory and nothing new was brought out. Coroner J. K. Ransome testified that the body was too far decomposed when recovered from the West Stanislaus lateral to permit an autopsy. The jury comprised F. L. Truman, George Atkins, Lyle Johnson, C. M. Mack, J. C.
McIntosh, H. Sykes, W. H. Wood, C. P Arambel and Emil Lutle.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Mr
County Officers' Apathy Flayed; The Agee drowning we is not finally closed yet. While the bizarre episode seems to be
fairly clear, contradictory remarks by the dead man's wife and failure of county authorities to make a complete
investigation, have led to loudly expressed local indignation against the neglect displayed. No inquest has been held, Coroner J. K. Ransome merely certifying to "death by drowning." Local people active in the case point out that there are several other possibilities and relatives of the dead man also expressed a determination yesterday to have a post-mortem conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Reluctant interest in the case was finally aroused at Modesto on Wednesday and Deputy District Attorney Walter Crow was assigned to conduct an informal investigation, which local people argue should have been staged at a formal inquest. This is still being carried on and further developments are uncertain.
Suicide Mystery Startles Community; A weird tale of mental unbalance caused by religious fanaticism was closed Tuesday morning as the remains of Leland Agee, 40, local farm laborer, were found in a West Stanislaus Irrigation District lateral after a three-day search. Foiled in an attempt to take his whole family, including himself and wife and five children "on a ride to see St. Peter," he committed suicide early Saturday morning. But the ysterious circumstances surrounding the case had officers and volunteer searchers up in the air until the body was finally found Tuesday morning. Although changed in some particulars later, Mrs. Agee's original, account of the affair was as follows – Agee aroused his family about 3 a. m. at their ranch home west of Westley, telling them they were going to see St. Peter. His wife, Elva, 28, also under the spell of religious hallucinations, was ready for the trip and picked up their 5-mos. old baby and bundled four larger children into the car. Evidently determined to kill the whole family, Agee drove out the Howard road toward
Ingram Canyon until, at a point not far from the old irfield, he aimed for a power line pole. The first one only grazed a hub cap, but, according to his wife's story, he laughed loudly and aimed directly for the next one, crashing into it head-on and breaking it off. High-tension wires fell on the metal top of the car and punctured it with holes as the current burned through the metal, and it seemed a miracle that the whole seven were not electrocuted. Mrs. Agee was knocked senseless by the crash, incurring a fractured nose and badly bruised knee, as well as other cuts and bruises. When she recovered consciousness, Agee had disappeared, "No use looking for him," she said, "he's gone to heaven." And the children also declared that he had gone off across the field to, vanish in the night on his way to heaven.
Return Home -- Making their way back home on foot, Mrs. Agee put the children to bed again. In the morning, she
started to walk to Patterson with the family and was given a ride part way by a truck driver. Chief of Police Carl
Busengdal was notified when they came into town and the investigation started, with Traffic Officer E. L. McCabe and
Constable C. W. Kirk also taking part.
First fear was that Agee had been dazed by the crash and might have dropped into the ditch or be found in some nearby
field. So a large force started a search and in nearby No. 1 Lateral of the irrigation system was shut off to enable the canal to be searched. But no trace and the mystery deepened. Possibility that Agee might have gone off to a convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the sect with which he had been affiliated, was considered, but was disproved when members returned from the trip. And so the mystery stood, with Mrs. Agee's contention that they would never find him -- he had been taken up into the heavens by God, seeing to have the best of the officers' more material conclusions that he must be somewhere.
Body Comes Up -- But Tuesday morning about 7:40, Tom Menurin, employee of the Guaylule Project, was riding along
Lateral 6 about two miles south of the scene of the crash when he saw the body and the mystery was solved.
Reconstruction of the episode made it highly probable that Agee had wandered off southward through the field after the
wreck and had leaped into the canal very close to the point where he was found. This was established by the fact that it
was just south of a weir, whose gate had not been opened more than four inches since the mishap. While the portion of
the ditch farther north had been drained, water had remained in this section and the search had not been carried that far south, although an intensive hunt had been carried out for a mile so from the crash scene. Merton Sperry had even wriggled through a siphon in order to make sure the body had not lodged there. Agee had resided here about two and a half years, being employed by Marion Wright. He was a good workman, an excellent mechanic, and had seemed normal until a few weeks ago when he became involved with the religious sect, as did his wife, who was held at the County hospital for observation, but later released.
Services Wednesday -- The deceased was a native of Texas but had resided in this state for the past 26 years. Beside his wife he is survived by two small children, the other three being the offspring of his wife's former marriage to a brother of Agee. Eleven brothers and sisters also survive him. Funeral services were held at the Evans Funeral Chapel Wednesday afternoon with Kenneth Horton of Modesto, a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect, presiding. Interment in Del Puerto-Cemetery followed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Leland
Inquest Adds Nothing to Agee Case; "Death from unknown causes" was the verdict of a coroner's jury Tuesday
afternoon investigating the death of Leland Agee a week previous. It was the first inquest called in Patterson in a long period of years, despite many unexplained deaths. Action followed strong criticism voiced by local people against letting such cases slide without any investigation whatever. The hearing was most perfunctory and nothing new was brought out. Coroner J. K. Ransome testified that the body was too far decomposed when recovered from the West Stanislaus lateral to permit an autopsy. The jury comprised F. L. Truman, George Atkins, Lyle Johnson, C. M. Mack, J. C.
McIntosh, H. Sykes, W. H. Wood, C. P Arambel and Emil Lutle.
- - - - - - - - - -
Agee Mr
County Officers' Apathy Flayed; The Agee drowning we is not finally closed yet. While the bizarre episode seems to be
fairly clear, contradictory remarks by the dead man's wife and failure of county authorities to make a complete
investigation, have led to loudly expressed local indignation against the neglect displayed. No inquest has been held, Coroner J. K. Ransome merely certifying to "death by drowning." Local people active in the case point out that there are several other possibilities and relatives of the dead man also expressed a determination yesterday to have a post-mortem conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Reluctant interest in the case was finally aroused at Modesto on Wednesday and Deputy District Attorney Walter Crow was assigned to conduct an informal investigation, which local people argue should have been staged at a formal inquest. This is still being carried on and further developments are uncertain.
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