John S. Farrell
(1880 - 1938)

As President of the Wisconsin Association of Postmasters in 1928, he was one of three from the state to make a personal call on President Coolidge during his summer vacation on the Brule River in the northern part of the state. Mr. Farrell was a member of the original national recovery administration local committee in 1934 and met frequently on code matters and also handled the distribution of the hundreds of codes which were distributed to merchants through the postal department.

After leaving the post office, friends prevailed upon Mr. Farrell to run in the 1936 Eighth District race for congress on the Republican ticket. He easily won the nomination and ran a strong third in the election.

After his defeat for congressman, friends began pressing him as a candidate for mayor the following spring, and after a vigorous campaign, he was elected by a majority of nearly 2,000 votes.

As mayor, he held office just three days lacking eleven months. He was well known as a vigorous worker in the interest of the city and put in as many as eighteen hours a day on frequent occasions.

On Wednesday, March 16, 1938, the Green Bay Press-Gazette headline ran a bold "Mayor's Death Shocks City." According to the story, the Mayor took his own life with a shotgun in a private washroom adjoining his office in city hall.

The article went on to say: He had withdrawn $8,500 from the estate of which he was executor in 1935 to meet the demands of kidnappers, he wrote, and had only been able to refund $2,500. His failure to file his executor's report for the years since then had caused issuance of a county court order directing him to appear in County Court at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, and give an accounting or show cause why he should not be removed as executor.

When he failed to appear, Attorney Davis called his office and was informed that he was out. Yesterday afternoon's mail brought the letter, postmarked 11:30 a.m. and presumably mailed shortly before that hour in the box on the ground floor of city hall.

"There is only one way out," the mayor wrote declaring he had been "driven crazy" by his troubles and the "kicking, back-biting and chiseling" accompanying public office.

While he had never mentioned the kidnap threat to friends, to police, or to the federal F.B.I. office in Milwaukee, close friends were unable to explain what use he could possibly have made of a sum such as indicated in his letter unless it were to meet an emergency of some kind.

They pointed out that he lived moderately and temperately, was not known to gamble or speculate, had always drawn a good salary, and, so far as his closest friends know, had lived within his means.

He was closely attached to his family and, friends declared, if confronted by a situation such as he mentions, he probably would not have hesitated to have taken money to save a member of his family, even though he might face ruin himself as a result.

The note received by Attorney Davis was written in pencil on two sheets of yellow ruled paper which the mayor always kept on his desk, and was in a plain stamped envelope. Apparently it was written under stress, and though unsigned, the handwriting was verified by his son, Attorney Richard Farrell. It read: "Mike: This job and my troubles have driven me crazy. There is only one way out. Thank you and Judge Merrill. I bless you both with my dying breath. Mike, I am not a coward. I never took a dishonest cent in my life. Mrs. Delvoye (Mrs. Mary Ann Delvoye, the Testatrix) never intended to have me bonded. I saved her money for her by persuading her not to make certain investments. She wanted to do something for me.

"Mike, the foundation for this is I paid kidnapers $8,500 when at P.O. in 1935 made threat of death of (here the penciling is scratched out and illegible) I have paid $2,500 to estate since then".

"God, Mike, this is awful. My wife. My family. What is life anyway. Kicking, back-biting, chiseling, a man trying to be square in public office is driven crazy by the so-called Christian people".

"My insurance will cover shortage. Ask the Surety Co. to be charitable. I paid them for 13 years, if only Hank Boland were he would..." and the note ends abruptly.

History of the case goes back to Mrs. Delvoye's death in 1929. Under her will, her personal property, consisting of cash, bonds and mortgages was left to her daughter, Mrs. Louisa Mart, with the provision that it should not be paid to her until 15 years after the death of the testatri. Farrell, friend and neighbor, was named executor and directed to "take charge" of the estate until expiration of the 15-year period.

The estate was finally wound up in 1931. Up to the spring of 1935, the executor's reports were filed regularly and the last one, filed in the spring of 1935, showed the value of the estate at approximately $9,000. It was accompanied by the securities, in compliance with the new law requiring this.

After the filing date had passed in 1936, Farrell was requested to make his report as soon as possible, and promised to do so. When he failed to comply in more than a year, Judge Merrill advised Attorney Davis to proceed at once in securing an accounting.

A letter went unanswered, Davis said, and he followed it by a personal visit, in which he declared the mayor assured him the matter would be taken care of. A week ago Monday, the court order was issued, returnable at 10 a.m. March 15. As late as last Friday, Davis said, the mayor assured him that "everything will be all right."

As soon as he received the note yesterday afternoon, Attorney Davis immediately contacted Judge Merrill, and they then called Attorney Richard Farrell, who at once started in search of his father. The search was ended by discovery of his body in the city hall.

Up to noon today, Davis said, nothing had been learned as to the actual status of the estate. The mayor had given no clue as to where the funds or securities might be located, he said, and the statement in the note was all they had to go on.

The mayor's act is believed to have been committed about 10:30 yesterday morning. Shortly before, he had sent his secretary, Miss Katherine Terry, out of the office on an errand to get his glasses fixed. About 10:30, employees in the offices of the clerk and treasurer next door, separated from the washroom only by a partition, heard a sudden sound, which they attributed to a filing cabinet falling. They stopped work for a moment, but nothing followed, and they thought nothing more of the incident.

When Miss Terry returned, the mayor's hat and coat were missing and she assumed he had stepped out. At noon, employees of the clerk's office mentioned the sound they had heard, and when the mayor failed to return during the afternoon, Miss Terry became uneasy, especially when she noticed that the washroom door had remained closed.

At 5 o'clock, she communicated her suspicions to Inspector H.J. Bero. He tried the door and found it locked with a key on the inside. From the clerk's office, he climbed out of the building and peered through the washroom window, where he saw the mayor's body slumped down against the door.

Forcing up the window, he entered and unlocked the door, and then immediately notified Coroner Orlen Miller. Beneath the mayor's body was his double-barreled 12 gauge shotgun, which he had brought to the city hall some weeks before, for use in event of a holdup in the treasurer's office during tax collection, he had explained. The gun was broken at the breech, apparently by the recoil. Beside it was a length of wooden molding, which the mayor presumably had used to press the trigger as he bent over the muzzle. The charge had torn through his chest at the heart, causing instant death. His overcoat was lying in the corner and it is believed that he had drawn it over his body to deaden the report. One discharged shell was found in the gun."

The City Council named Vice-Mayor Biemeret to take over the duties until an election could be held.