From the Lexington Herald (Lexington, Kentucky) 12 January 1905; p3 c2
CUT HOLE IN THE ICE
Prominent Trimble County Man then Crawled Into River.
Milton, Ky., Jan. 11 - J. Atwood Bowman, one of the best known and most reputable farmers of Trimble county, living in Hunter's Bottom, near here, committed suicide this morning in an unusual manner. Bowman attended the lodge meeting of the Knights of Pythias here last night, and was one of the most interested and active members present. He was in a jolly, good humor, and to several of his friends detailed plans for the future. After the lodge meeting he decided the weather was too severe to make the trip home, and the night was spent at the hotel here.
Early this morning, after a hearty breakfast, Mr. Bowman mounted his horse and started for Hunter's Bottom, three miles distant. About a mile out of town, it seems, he dismounted, and led his horse down to the bank of the river. Sticking his umbrella into the crusted snow, he pulled of his overcoat and placed it on the umbrella, with his hat on top of the coat.
Going out on the ice, Mr. Bowman, with a large stone, broke a hole and crawled into the water, drowning himself.
The horse proceeded, riderless, to the Bowman home, and was first seen at the kitchen door, something never known before. Mr. Bowman's family began a search, and followed the horse's hoof prints in the snow down to the very edge of the river, where the suicide had taken place. The body was found under the ice close to the opening and was taken to the Bowman home.
Mr. Bowman was about fifty-four years of age and active in Pythian and church work. He married a daughter of Dr. Owens in Louisville. No possible cause is assigned for the suicide.
[John Atwood Bowman was my second cousin 3 times removed. He was a son of Abram Hite Bowman and Mary Atwood Tomlinson.]
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