Mattie V. Lett

Mattie V. Lett

• Mattie V. Lett was born in September 1852 in Alabama.
• She married John M. Shields, son of William Bryan Shields and Elizabeth Jane Cochran, circa 1871.
• She was interred at Martins Station Cemetery, Dallas County, Alabama.
• Mattie V. Lett became a widow at the 19 December 1903 death of her husband John M. Shields.
• The following appeared on 20 December 1903 in The Montgomery Advertiser: (Selma, Dec. 19) Posing himself before a mirror, John Shields this morning aimed a revolver at his head, and fired a bullet into his right temple, inflicting a wound from which he died in an hour. The suicide, which is thought to have resulted from worry over ill health and business troubles, occurred on the Henry place, ten miles west of Selma, where Mr. Shields had his home.
       Soon after the fatal shot was fired, it was discovered by a negro servant that Mr. Shields had shot himself, The negro had been ordered by Mr. Shields to harness a pair of horses so that they could come to Selma and soon after the servant left his master's room he heard the report of a pistol which, however, he thought was the explosion of a firecracker. But when he returned to Mr. Shield's room to advise him of the readiness of the team, he found that the noise he had heard was the report of a pistol and that Mr. Shields was wounded.
       Mr. Shields sat in a rocking chair, his head fallen backwards, his legs crossed. In his right temple was a small wound, blackened by powder and emitting a steady stream of blood; in the right hand was a 32-calibre revolver. He was breathing slowly and thickly and did not respond to remarks addressed to him by the negro. Immediately before the wounded man was the mirror of his wash stand, the glass tilted forward so that he had been able to see his own image and aim the fatal bullet. It is evident that though the suicide may have been done from a sudden impulse, it was cooly planned.
       The shot was fired between 9 and 10 o'clock this morning and the negro who discovered that Mr. Shields had been wounded came to town for assistance at once, but when a physician reached the Henry Place the man had died. There had been no white persons on the premises and no one entered the suicide's room after the messenger had left it to come to Selma for help. Mr. Shields probably lived an hour after he wounded himself.
       It is thought the suicide was caused by despondency over ill health and financial troubles, though of the later [sic] there has only a hint.
       Mr. Shields was about 55 years old and belonged to a family prominent in Dallas County and in Alabama. He served in the Confederate army though during the was he was only a lad. He is survived by his widow and by a brother, Claude Shields of Selma, and by two sisters, Mrs. F. M. Blackwell of Selma, and Mrs. J. B. Ellis of Orrville.
       The funeral of Mr. Shields will take place tomorrow from the residence of the brother, Claude Shields, on Dallas Street.

• Last Edited: 4 May 2012