The city awoke to the shock yesterday of hearing that Mrs.T. R. Magill had been found dead in the well on her husband's place on East Fifth street. The sad news went from lip to lip, and by 8 or 9 o'clock, the entire city knew of the dreadful happening, and was expressing deep sympathy for the aged husband, and daughter.

The particulars of the distressing affair are as follows: Wednesday night Mrs. Magill was in her usual health and spirits and talked with her husband after he came from church, until about 11 o'clock. She suggested that it was getting late, and he had better retire. It was her custom to sleep in the early part of the night, so she did not go to bed when Mr. Magill did. He soon fell asleep, and did not awake until about 6 o'clock in the morning, when he was aroused by the boy, Hiram, asking for Mrs. Magill and the keys. The boy finding that Mrs. Magill was not in her room, looked through the house, and not finding her there, went out into the yard and garden thinking probably she was out there. Not finding her, by some strange intuition, he stepped to the well, and looked in.

His search was at an end.

There, to his horror, he saw Mrs. Magill's feet sticking out of the water, and quickly raised the alarm. The neighbors assembled with all possible haste, and soon devised means of raising the body. This was done and the wife and mother who, when last seen the night before was in perfect health, was taken into her home a corpse, she having by a dreadful accident met a dreadful death.

Mrs. Magill was in the habit of rising early, and as she was dressed when found, it is supposed she walked out to the well to get water, and, as one side of the well box was off entirely except a small plank at the bottom, lost her balance and fell in.

She evidently did not jump into the well, as in that case she would not have gone in head foremost. The body was warm when recovered, by which it is supposed that she fell in but a short time before the arrival of the cook and Hiram, the boy.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Magill was born in Lancaster district, S. C., October 11, 1833, and was therefore 60 years of age. She was a daughter of Moses C. and Mary Heath, and a sister of Mr. B. D. Heath, of this city, Mr. O. P. Heath, of Norfolk, Va., and Mr. E. J. Heath, of Matthews. She was married in 1851, and came here with her husband shortly after the war. Mrs. Magill was a member of the A. R. P. Church, and a lovely Christian character. She leaves a husband and one child, Mrs. Mollie Horton, to whom the deepest sympathy of the city goes out in this their hour of the greatest sorrow and trouble. The funeral service will be conducted from the residence this morning at 10 o'clock, by Rev. C. E. Todd. Friends and acquaintances invited to attend.

The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte, NC
Friday, June 30, 1893
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