Julius, a descendant of an early and distinguished New Hampshire colonial family, was one of ten children of Hiram and Elizabeth (Sherman) Huntoon. Born and raised in Vermont, Julius left the state of his birth in the early 1870's for the Pacific Coast, settling first in California where he married Alida Gilbert (Sacramento), and then in Nevada where he was enumerated in the 1875 Nevada State Census for Lyon County (Silver City). The couple remained in Silver City until the 1880's when they moved to the near-by town of Dayton.
Julius and Alida had four children, three of whom were living in 1900 (noted in Alida's enumeration in the 1900 U.S. Census) and all of whom were born in Lyon County, Nevada, most probably at Dayton: Lloyd Gilbert Huntoon, born 3 October 1885; Amy L. Huntoon, born in February, 1890; and Stella M. Huntoon, born in December, 1891. Following Julius' death, Alida and the children remained in Dayton, but by 1900 had relocated to Santa Ana Township in California, where her mother, Susanna, and brother, Herschel, were living.
Julius was a popular and respected man in Lyon County who served as Lyon County Treasurer for ten years (1885-1895), and District Court Clerk for two years (1893-1895). He was an active member and officer in both the A.O.U.W. and the I.O.O.F. organizations on both the state and local level. It is little wonder that the circumstance of his death sent shock waves throughout the community.
The Lyon County Times (Dayton, Nevada), January 5, 1895
COMMITTED SUICIDE
County Treasurer Huntoon Sends a Bullet Through His Heart on New Year's Eve -- A Shortage of Nearly $6,000 Found in His Accounts.
"Last Monday evening, about 8 o'clock, this community was thrown into a state of wild excitement by the report that County Treasurer, J.A. Huntoon, had committed suicide in his office in the Court House. Everybody rushed to the Court House as soon as the report spread. Dr. Hazlett was immediately summoned, and it was found that there had been no false alarm, for on the floor of his office lay the Treasurer with a bullet hole in his left side and his life-blood ebbing away. He breathed his last at 8:20.
A Coroner's jury, which met at 4 o'clock Tuesday, brought forth the following facts:
The old Board of Commissioners had met Monday to wind up the affairs of the county for the old year, and had finished all business except counting the money. Since the Auditor and Treasurer were not quite ready with the reports, the Board adjourned until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This time having arrived, the Board met again but the Treasurer failed to put in an appearance and the Board took another recess until 7 o'clock that evening. At this hour the Board found no light in the Treasurer's office where the meetings are held, the door was locked, and the Treasurer had not been seen since shortly before 3 o'clock that afternoon, when he was seen walking through the lower part of the Court House and out the back door.
A search was made but Mr. Huntoon could not be found. Being suspicious that something was wrong, Commissioner Holland, Deputy Sheriff Dreyfuss, District Attorney Lothrop, and Treasurer-elect Loftus went to the door at the office and found it locked. As they were going upstairs, a dim light that was noticed to be burning in the office went out. A pass key that Attorney Lothrop had for the door failed to open it, so Dreyfuss climbed through the window and opened the door from the inside. As the other persons entered the room, and as Attorney Lothrop stepped around the end of the long desk in the office, there was a deafening sound of a body falling a short distance, and then all was quiet except a gasping noise made by the dying man. A light revealed Huntoon lying partly on his side on the floor in the center of the room. He was sitting on the floor when he shot himself, and by his side on the floor sat a lamp, the chimney on which was still warm. A letter addressed to John Lothrop and another to one of the Commissioners was found in the safe.
It was found that the bullet entered his left side, passed between the fourth and fifth ribs, through the apex of the heart which severed the abdominal aorta. The wound produced a deathly internal hemorrhaging.
Shortly after death, the body was removed to the lower hall in the Odd Fellows building. The pistol used was a 38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver of the hammerless pattern, and the bullet, after passing through the body, imbedded itself in the side of the wood box in the Treasurer's office. The weapon belonged to E. Pierini, and was taken from behind the bar by Huntoon sometime Monday morning. The letter left by Huntoon to the Commissioners said he had been robbed since the 3rd day of December last, but he knew people would not believe this and he had made up his mind to die instead of stand trial for the defalcation. The letter to Mr. Lothrop asked him to look after the affairs of his office and suggested that Grand Master Taylor go as representative to the Supreme Lodge in Chicago, a trip Mr. Huntoon was to start on the third of this month. He left another letter, to his wife, in a sack of coin amounting to $4,330, which he took home to her Monday morning and explained that it was Lodge money, and that she was to pay it out when demanded, except $500 that was to go to his sister, and the balance she was instructed to keep for herself.
J.A. Huntoon was a native of Vermont, aged 47 years. He came to this State in the seventies, and for a time resided in Silver City. He has been Treasurer of this county for the past ten years, and Clerk for the past two years. He was defeated last November by A.J. Loftus for another term as Clerk and Treasurer, and his term would have expired next Monday. He was Grand Recorder of the A.O.U.W., jurisdiction of Nevada, and Grand Treasurer of the I.O.O.F. of this State, as well as Treasurer of Dayton Lodge No. 5, I.O.O.F. It is supposed that the money that Huntoon took to his home is enough to set the Lodge accounts nearly or quite square, and his bondsmen are good for the amount of money the County is short.
It is evident that the shortage has existed for some time past, and that when the quarterly count of money had been made, the Treasurer turned in Lodge funds in his possession to make the county funds balance, but this time there was not enough money in both accounts and funds were short about $1,300 to show an even balance.
Mr. Huntoon left no money anywhere. While not much of a drinker, he was a liberal and jolly man who would average an expense of 2 to 3 dollars a day in the saloon. His election expenses during the last two campaigns were very heavy, and he has loaned considerable money to different parties, some $1,200 in notes being found in his safe, only about half which are good.
The funeral of the deceased took place from the Court House Thursday under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. and was largely attended, the members of both Orders to which he belonged turning out in force. He leaves a wife and four young children here, one sister in Vermont and one in Wisconsin, and a brother in Canada to mourn his loss."
Julius and Alida had four children, three of whom were living in 1900 (noted in Alida's enumeration in the 1900 U.S. Census) and all of whom were born in Lyon County, Nevada, most probably at Dayton: Lloyd Gilbert Huntoon, born 3 October 1885; Amy L. Huntoon, born in February, 1890; and Stella M. Huntoon, born in December, 1891. Following Julius' death, Alida and the children remained in Dayton, but by 1900 had relocated to Santa Ana Township in California, where her mother, Susanna, and brother, Herschel, were living.
Julius was a popular and respected man in Lyon County who served as Lyon County Treasurer for ten years (1885-1895), and District Court Clerk for two years (1893-1895). He was an active member and officer in both the A.O.U.W. and the I.O.O.F. organizations on both the state and local level. It is little wonder that the circumstance of his death sent shock waves throughout the community.
The Lyon County Times (Dayton, Nevada), January 5, 1895
COMMITTED SUICIDE
County Treasurer Huntoon Sends a Bullet Through His Heart on New Year's Eve -- A Shortage of Nearly $6,000 Found in His Accounts.
"Last Monday evening, about 8 o'clock, this community was thrown into a state of wild excitement by the report that County Treasurer, J.A. Huntoon, had committed suicide in his office in the Court House. Everybody rushed to the Court House as soon as the report spread. Dr. Hazlett was immediately summoned, and it was found that there had been no false alarm, for on the floor of his office lay the Treasurer with a bullet hole in his left side and his life-blood ebbing away. He breathed his last at 8:20.
A Coroner's jury, which met at 4 o'clock Tuesday, brought forth the following facts:
The old Board of Commissioners had met Monday to wind up the affairs of the county for the old year, and had finished all business except counting the money. Since the Auditor and Treasurer were not quite ready with the reports, the Board adjourned until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This time having arrived, the Board met again but the Treasurer failed to put in an appearance and the Board took another recess until 7 o'clock that evening. At this hour the Board found no light in the Treasurer's office where the meetings are held, the door was locked, and the Treasurer had not been seen since shortly before 3 o'clock that afternoon, when he was seen walking through the lower part of the Court House and out the back door.
A search was made but Mr. Huntoon could not be found. Being suspicious that something was wrong, Commissioner Holland, Deputy Sheriff Dreyfuss, District Attorney Lothrop, and Treasurer-elect Loftus went to the door at the office and found it locked. As they were going upstairs, a dim light that was noticed to be burning in the office went out. A pass key that Attorney Lothrop had for the door failed to open it, so Dreyfuss climbed through the window and opened the door from the inside. As the other persons entered the room, and as Attorney Lothrop stepped around the end of the long desk in the office, there was a deafening sound of a body falling a short distance, and then all was quiet except a gasping noise made by the dying man. A light revealed Huntoon lying partly on his side on the floor in the center of the room. He was sitting on the floor when he shot himself, and by his side on the floor sat a lamp, the chimney on which was still warm. A letter addressed to John Lothrop and another to one of the Commissioners was found in the safe.
It was found that the bullet entered his left side, passed between the fourth and fifth ribs, through the apex of the heart which severed the abdominal aorta. The wound produced a deathly internal hemorrhaging.
Shortly after death, the body was removed to the lower hall in the Odd Fellows building. The pistol used was a 38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver of the hammerless pattern, and the bullet, after passing through the body, imbedded itself in the side of the wood box in the Treasurer's office. The weapon belonged to E. Pierini, and was taken from behind the bar by Huntoon sometime Monday morning. The letter left by Huntoon to the Commissioners said he had been robbed since the 3rd day of December last, but he knew people would not believe this and he had made up his mind to die instead of stand trial for the defalcation. The letter to Mr. Lothrop asked him to look after the affairs of his office and suggested that Grand Master Taylor go as representative to the Supreme Lodge in Chicago, a trip Mr. Huntoon was to start on the third of this month. He left another letter, to his wife, in a sack of coin amounting to $4,330, which he took home to her Monday morning and explained that it was Lodge money, and that she was to pay it out when demanded, except $500 that was to go to his sister, and the balance she was instructed to keep for herself.
J.A. Huntoon was a native of Vermont, aged 47 years. He came to this State in the seventies, and for a time resided in Silver City. He has been Treasurer of this county for the past ten years, and Clerk for the past two years. He was defeated last November by A.J. Loftus for another term as Clerk and Treasurer, and his term would have expired next Monday. He was Grand Recorder of the A.O.U.W., jurisdiction of Nevada, and Grand Treasurer of the I.O.O.F. of this State, as well as Treasurer of Dayton Lodge No. 5, I.O.O.F. It is supposed that the money that Huntoon took to his home is enough to set the Lodge accounts nearly or quite square, and his bondsmen are good for the amount of money the County is short.
It is evident that the shortage has existed for some time past, and that when the quarterly count of money had been made, the Treasurer turned in Lodge funds in his possession to make the county funds balance, but this time there was not enough money in both accounts and funds were short about $1,300 to show an even balance.
Mr. Huntoon left no money anywhere. While not much of a drinker, he was a liberal and jolly man who would average an expense of 2 to 3 dollars a day in the saloon. His election expenses during the last two campaigns were very heavy, and he has loaned considerable money to different parties, some $1,200 in notes being found in his safe, only about half which are good.
The funeral of the deceased took place from the Court House Thursday under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. and was largely attended, the members of both Orders to which he belonged turning out in force. He leaves a wife and four young children here, one sister in Vermont and one in Wisconsin, and a brother in Canada to mourn his loss."
Julius, a descendant of an early and distinguished New Hampshire colonial family, was one of ten children of Hiram and Elizabeth (Sherman) Huntoon. Born and raised in Vermont, Julius left the state of his birth in the early 1870's for the Pacific Coast, settling first in California where he married Alida Gilbert (Sacramento), and then in Nevada where he was enumerated in the 1875 Nevada State Census for Lyon County (Silver City). The couple remained in Silver City until the 1880's when they moved to the near-by town of Dayton.
Julius and Alida had four children, three of whom were living in 1900 (noted in Alida's enumeration in the 1900 U.S. Census) and all of whom were born in Lyon County, Nevada, most probably at Dayton: Lloyd Gilbert Huntoon, born 3 October 1885; Amy L. Huntoon, born in February, 1890; and Stella M. Huntoon, born in December, 1891. Following Julius' death, Alida and the children remained in Dayton, but by 1900 had relocated to Santa Ana Township in California, where her mother, Susanna, and brother, Herschel, were living.
Julius was a popular and respected man in Lyon County who served as Lyon County Treasurer for ten years (1885-1895), and District Court Clerk for two years (1893-1895). He was an active member and officer in both the A.O.U.W. and the I.O.O.F. organizations on both the state and local level. It is little wonder that the circumstance of his death sent shock waves throughout the community.
The Lyon County Times (Dayton, Nevada), January 5, 1895
COMMITTED SUICIDE
County Treasurer Huntoon Sends a Bullet Through His Heart on New Year's Eve -- A Shortage of Nearly $6,000 Found in His Accounts.
"Last Monday evening, about 8 o'clock, this community was thrown into a state of wild excitement by the report that County Treasurer, J.A. Huntoon, had committed suicide in his office in the Court House. Everybody rushed to the Court House as soon as the report spread. Dr. Hazlett was immediately summoned, and it was found that there had been no false alarm, for on the floor of his office lay the Treasurer with a bullet hole in his left side and his life-blood ebbing away. He breathed his last at 8:20.
A Coroner's jury, which met at 4 o'clock Tuesday, brought forth the following facts:
The old Board of Commissioners had met Monday to wind up the affairs of the county for the old year, and had finished all business except counting the money. Since the Auditor and Treasurer were not quite ready with the reports, the Board adjourned until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This time having arrived, the Board met again but the Treasurer failed to put in an appearance and the Board took another recess until 7 o'clock that evening. At this hour the Board found no light in the Treasurer's office where the meetings are held, the door was locked, and the Treasurer had not been seen since shortly before 3 o'clock that afternoon, when he was seen walking through the lower part of the Court House and out the back door.
A search was made but Mr. Huntoon could not be found. Being suspicious that something was wrong, Commissioner Holland, Deputy Sheriff Dreyfuss, District Attorney Lothrop, and Treasurer-elect Loftus went to the door at the office and found it locked. As they were going upstairs, a dim light that was noticed to be burning in the office went out. A pass key that Attorney Lothrop had for the door failed to open it, so Dreyfuss climbed through the window and opened the door from the inside. As the other persons entered the room, and as Attorney Lothrop stepped around the end of the long desk in the office, there was a deafening sound of a body falling a short distance, and then all was quiet except a gasping noise made by the dying man. A light revealed Huntoon lying partly on his side on the floor in the center of the room. He was sitting on the floor when he shot himself, and by his side on the floor sat a lamp, the chimney on which was still warm. A letter addressed to John Lothrop and another to one of the Commissioners was found in the safe.
It was found that the bullet entered his left side, passed between the fourth and fifth ribs, through the apex of the heart which severed the abdominal aorta. The wound produced a deathly internal hemorrhaging.
Shortly after death, the body was removed to the lower hall in the Odd Fellows building. The pistol used was a 38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver of the hammerless pattern, and the bullet, after passing through the body, imbedded itself in the side of the wood box in the Treasurer's office. The weapon belonged to E. Pierini, and was taken from behind the bar by Huntoon sometime Monday morning. The letter left by Huntoon to the Commissioners said he had been robbed since the 3rd day of December last, but he knew people would not believe this and he had made up his mind to die instead of stand trial for the defalcation. The letter to Mr. Lothrop asked him to look after the affairs of his office and suggested that Grand Master Taylor go as representative to the Supreme Lodge in Chicago, a trip Mr. Huntoon was to start on the third of this month. He left another letter, to his wife, in a sack of coin amounting to $4,330, which he took home to her Monday morning and explained that it was Lodge money, and that she was to pay it out when demanded, except $500 that was to go to his sister, and the balance she was instructed to keep for herself.
J.A. Huntoon was a native of Vermont, aged 47 years. He came to this State in the seventies, and for a time resided in Silver City. He has been Treasurer of this county for the past ten years, and Clerk for the past two years. He was defeated last November by A.J. Loftus for another term as Clerk and Treasurer, and his term would have expired next Monday. He was Grand Recorder of the A.O.U.W., jurisdiction of Nevada, and Grand Treasurer of the I.O.O.F. of this State, as well as Treasurer of Dayton Lodge No. 5, I.O.O.F. It is supposed that the money that Huntoon took to his home is enough to set the Lodge accounts nearly or quite square, and his bondsmen are good for the amount of money the County is short.
It is evident that the shortage has existed for some time past, and that when the quarterly count of money had been made, the Treasurer turned in Lodge funds in his possession to make the county funds balance, but this time there was not enough money in both accounts and funds were short about $1,300 to show an even balance.
Mr. Huntoon left no money anywhere. While not much of a drinker, he was a liberal and jolly man who would average an expense of 2 to 3 dollars a day in the saloon. His election expenses during the last two campaigns were very heavy, and he has loaned considerable money to different parties, some $1,200 in notes being found in his safe, only about half which are good.
The funeral of the deceased took place from the Court House Thursday under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. and was largely attended, the members of both Orders to which he belonged turning out in force. He leaves a wife and four young children here, one sister in Vermont and one in Wisconsin, and a brother in Canada to mourn his loss."
Julius and Alida had four children, three of whom were living in 1900 (noted in Alida's enumeration in the 1900 U.S. Census) and all of whom were born in Lyon County, Nevada, most probably at Dayton: Lloyd Gilbert Huntoon, born 3 October 1885; Amy L. Huntoon, born in February, 1890; and Stella M. Huntoon, born in December, 1891. Following Julius' death, Alida and the children remained in Dayton, but by 1900 had relocated to Santa Ana Township in California, where her mother, Susanna, and brother, Herschel, were living.
Julius was a popular and respected man in Lyon County who served as Lyon County Treasurer for ten years (1885-1895), and District Court Clerk for two years (1893-1895). He was an active member and officer in both the A.O.U.W. and the I.O.O.F. organizations on both the state and local level. It is little wonder that the circumstance of his death sent shock waves throughout the community.
The Lyon County Times (Dayton, Nevada), January 5, 1895
COMMITTED SUICIDE
County Treasurer Huntoon Sends a Bullet Through His Heart on New Year's Eve -- A Shortage of Nearly $6,000 Found in His Accounts.
"Last Monday evening, about 8 o'clock, this community was thrown into a state of wild excitement by the report that County Treasurer, J.A. Huntoon, had committed suicide in his office in the Court House. Everybody rushed to the Court House as soon as the report spread. Dr. Hazlett was immediately summoned, and it was found that there had been no false alarm, for on the floor of his office lay the Treasurer with a bullet hole in his left side and his life-blood ebbing away. He breathed his last at 8:20.
A Coroner's jury, which met at 4 o'clock Tuesday, brought forth the following facts:
The old Board of Commissioners had met Monday to wind up the affairs of the county for the old year, and had finished all business except counting the money. Since the Auditor and Treasurer were not quite ready with the reports, the Board adjourned until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This time having arrived, the Board met again but the Treasurer failed to put in an appearance and the Board took another recess until 7 o'clock that evening. At this hour the Board found no light in the Treasurer's office where the meetings are held, the door was locked, and the Treasurer had not been seen since shortly before 3 o'clock that afternoon, when he was seen walking through the lower part of the Court House and out the back door.
A search was made but Mr. Huntoon could not be found. Being suspicious that something was wrong, Commissioner Holland, Deputy Sheriff Dreyfuss, District Attorney Lothrop, and Treasurer-elect Loftus went to the door at the office and found it locked. As they were going upstairs, a dim light that was noticed to be burning in the office went out. A pass key that Attorney Lothrop had for the door failed to open it, so Dreyfuss climbed through the window and opened the door from the inside. As the other persons entered the room, and as Attorney Lothrop stepped around the end of the long desk in the office, there was a deafening sound of a body falling a short distance, and then all was quiet except a gasping noise made by the dying man. A light revealed Huntoon lying partly on his side on the floor in the center of the room. He was sitting on the floor when he shot himself, and by his side on the floor sat a lamp, the chimney on which was still warm. A letter addressed to John Lothrop and another to one of the Commissioners was found in the safe.
It was found that the bullet entered his left side, passed between the fourth and fifth ribs, through the apex of the heart which severed the abdominal aorta. The wound produced a deathly internal hemorrhaging.
Shortly after death, the body was removed to the lower hall in the Odd Fellows building. The pistol used was a 38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver of the hammerless pattern, and the bullet, after passing through the body, imbedded itself in the side of the wood box in the Treasurer's office. The weapon belonged to E. Pierini, and was taken from behind the bar by Huntoon sometime Monday morning. The letter left by Huntoon to the Commissioners said he had been robbed since the 3rd day of December last, but he knew people would not believe this and he had made up his mind to die instead of stand trial for the defalcation. The letter to Mr. Lothrop asked him to look after the affairs of his office and suggested that Grand Master Taylor go as representative to the Supreme Lodge in Chicago, a trip Mr. Huntoon was to start on the third of this month. He left another letter, to his wife, in a sack of coin amounting to $4,330, which he took home to her Monday morning and explained that it was Lodge money, and that she was to pay it out when demanded, except $500 that was to go to his sister, and the balance she was instructed to keep for herself.
J.A. Huntoon was a native of Vermont, aged 47 years. He came to this State in the seventies, and for a time resided in Silver City. He has been Treasurer of this county for the past ten years, and Clerk for the past two years. He was defeated last November by A.J. Loftus for another term as Clerk and Treasurer, and his term would have expired next Monday. He was Grand Recorder of the A.O.U.W., jurisdiction of Nevada, and Grand Treasurer of the I.O.O.F. of this State, as well as Treasurer of Dayton Lodge No. 5, I.O.O.F. It is supposed that the money that Huntoon took to his home is enough to set the Lodge accounts nearly or quite square, and his bondsmen are good for the amount of money the County is short.
It is evident that the shortage has existed for some time past, and that when the quarterly count of money had been made, the Treasurer turned in Lodge funds in his possession to make the county funds balance, but this time there was not enough money in both accounts and funds were short about $1,300 to show an even balance.
Mr. Huntoon left no money anywhere. While not much of a drinker, he was a liberal and jolly man who would average an expense of 2 to 3 dollars a day in the saloon. His election expenses during the last two campaigns were very heavy, and he has loaned considerable money to different parties, some $1,200 in notes being found in his safe, only about half which are good.
The funeral of the deceased took place from the Court House Thursday under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. and was largely attended, the members of both Orders to which he belonged turning out in force. He leaves a wife and four young children here, one sister in Vermont and one in Wisconsin, and a brother in Canada to mourn his loss."
Inscription
Lonely the house and sad the hours,
Since our dear one has gone;
But oh! a brighter home than ours
In Heaven is now thine own.
Family Members
Siblings
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