James M. Laughlin ( - 1904)

LAUGHLIN

Posted By: Barry Mateer (email)
Date: 11/29/2017 at 17:36:54

From the Rockville, Mo., Star, we learn the particulars of the tragic death of James M. Laughlin, an old time Clarke County citizen, who resided at Hopeville, before the war. He enlisted and served through the war as a member of Captain Rarrick’s Company in the 6th Iowa Infantry, and will be well remembered by the old boys of that regiment.

The account says that a man named Sherrill was sitting in front of a hotel in Rockville when Laughlin accompanied by a friend approached him saying “there is the s_ _ of a b_ _ now.” Sherrill sprang to his feet and struck Laughlin a blow in the face with such force that it knocked him about ten feet. He fell and his head struck the stone side walk so hard that his skull was broken. He was picked up but died in a few minutes. Laughlin and Sherrill had been partners in the real estate business and had quarreled. The deceased leaves a wife but no children.

The Osceola Democrat July 14, 1904

James Laughlin was captured in the battle of Jackson, Mississippi in 1863. An account of is life as a prisoner was published in an Osceola newspaper and that account is in Documents at this website.