A story appeared in the Harrisburg Telegrah, 4 March 1937, describing the funeral of Clair Guy Wingert who was accused killing William H. McElwee. Clair Guy Wingert, a trapper from the area around Clarks Valley, Dauphin County, claimed that the persons he fired shots at, McElwee and his wife, had poisoned his toe. Today’s post is the ninth of a multi-part series in which newspaper images and articles of the time are used to describe the affair.
HUNDREDS VIEW BODY AT LYKENS FUNERAL PARLOR
Rites Held for Guy Wingert; Mrs. McElwee Reported Improving
Hundreds of persons, many of them from distant points, viewed the body of Clair Guy Wingert in the Reiff and Helt Funeral Parlors at Lykens last night. Disregarding the announcement that the body could be viewed from 7 to 9 o’clock, persons started arriving before 6 o’clock and were still passing the bier until 10 o’clock.
Wingert died Monday from exhaustion in his cell at the Dauphin County Jail just ten days after he fatally shot William McElwee, of Clarks Valley, and McElwee’s wife, Dorothy McElwee. McElwee died six hours after the shooting. His wife, still unaware of her husband’s death, is now reported steadily improving in Harrisburg Hospital. Two blood transfusions aided her rally from a semi-conscious condition.
Refused Food
Wingert refused all food or drink from the time he was admitted to jail on a murder charge until a sanity commission recommended his removal to the Harrisburg State Hospital for treatment. Two hours after the commission met Wingert died.
Born and reared near Wiconisco he moved into Clarks Valley about twenty years ago and erected a hut on the mountainside. He eked out an existence by hunting and trapping and the occasional sale of medicinal herbs. On several occasions he had minor tiffs with the law, always for firearms infractions, then 20 February 1937 he shot and killed McElwee and wounded Mrs. McElwee, because he through they had poisoned him, he told police.
Funeral Held
Funeral services were held this afternoon at the Reiff and Helt Funeral Parlors, the Rev. H. E. Samuels, Wiconisco Congregataional Church, officiating. Burial was in the Wiconisco Cemetery.
Survivors include a brother, Percy Wingert, of Williamstown, and two sisters, Louise Wingert, and Anna Wingert, both of Williamstown.
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Another article describing the funeral appeared in the Elizabethville Echo, 4 March 1937:
SERVICES FOR ACCUSED SLAYER HELD TODAY
Funeral services for C. Guy Wingert, 51, of Clarks Valley, who died in his cell in the Dauphin County Prison, will be held from the Reiff and Helt Funeral Parlors, Lykens, at 2 o’clock this Thursday afternoon. Rev. H. E. Samuels, pastor of the Wiconisco Evangelical Congtregational Church will officiate and burial will be made in the Wiconisco Cemetery.
Wingert had been held in the county prison charged with the fatal shooting of William McElwee and seriously wounding his wife, Mrs. Dorothy McElwee, Clarks Valley, on 20 February 1937. The McElwees, it was said, had been friends of Wingert and had sheltered him the night previous to the shooting, in their home.
According to officials, Wingert seemed to be under the impression that some one was attempting to poison him or do him bodily harm.
Wingert died shortly after a lunacy commission recommended his removal to the Harrisburg State Hospital. County officials said his death was due to exhaustion, and that Wingert had refused food or drink virtually from the time of his incarceration.
Death of a brother, William Wingert Sr., and a nephew, William Wingert Jr., in a mine accident at Williamstown, 12 February 1937, is believed to have affected the man’s mind.
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For other parts of this series, see: The Poison Toe Murder, 1937.
News articles are from Newspapers.com.