A local family's tragic tale

On Sept. 7, 1880, Bernard McLoughlin of Johnston was struck and killed by a locomotive. The 50-year-old mill laborer left behind seven children ranging in age from 12 to 29 and their 50-year-old mother, Mary Ellen (Hogan), who he was divorced from. He also left behind a supposed family history that people had whispered about and would whisper about again.
The will bequeathed $94.45 to each of his children. However, for the next three months, executor Herbert Wood would be petitioning the court to serve citations against three of them. He accused Bernard’s 23-year-old daughter Mary Jane of concealing, embezzling and conveying away parts of her father’s personal estate. He accused 24-year-old son William and 29-year-old son James of concealing the notes of certain real estate properties his father owned. At the time all the legal chaos was taking place, the youngest son, Thomas, was just 12 years old.
Mary Ellen and her children lived together in a large tenement house she owned at the corner of Lexington Avenue and North Allen Street. In the fall of 1895, Mary Ellen announced to her children that she was going to remarry. Thomas, now almost 27, was so upset about this news that he argued with his mother about it and then decided to move out of the house.
In October, Mary Ellen exchanged vows with blacksmith James McDole. A few weeks passed before Thomas returned to the house. When Mrs. McElroy, who lived in the upstairs tenement, answered the door, Thomas told her he was there to see his mother. The woman could tell that Thomas was under the influence of alcohol so refused to let him inside. Thomas responded by slapping Mrs. McElroy and referring to his mother in vile terms before departing.
When Thomas’s brother James heard about this physical and verbal attack, he told Thomas that he was going to the authorities and having him charged with assault. For the next week, Thomas worried about police coming to his house and hauling him off to jail. In fact, that was all he could think about. Finally, on Halloween night, he decided to go back to his mother’s house and fix the situation.
His stepfather was sitting at the table eating supper when Thomas arrived, explaining that he wanted to apologize to his mother for how he had been behaving. James explained that Mary Ellen was sick and was resting in the bedroom. Thomas asked if he could see her and then made his way toward the room.
Seconds later, James heard a commotion and his wife crying out. He ran to the bedroom door but found it locked. After rushing upstairs to tell Mr. McElroy that something terrible was happening, he fled from the house to obtain police assistance.
Mr. McElroy could hear the cries of distress as he entered the McDole’s apartment. Then the quick firing of three gunshots rang out. He heard Mary Ellen scream, then another gunshot followed by the shattering of glass.
Mary Ellen’s dead body was soon discovered on the floor of her bedroom, horrendously beaten. In her right temple was a bullet hole. Thomas had managed to escape through a window but it didn’t take long for police to find him, standing in a swamp about 100 feet from his mother’s house. His own head contained two bullets.
He later explained to police that he had gone to his mother’s house that night to assure her he would cause no more trouble. Terrified of going to jail over the assault he had previously committed, he stated that he intended to kill himself that evening. He described how, while in his mother’s bedroom, he had fired a shot at his head. He said he then directed another shot at himself but it went off course. The third shot, he said, accidentally hit his mother. He claimed he then aimed a fourth bullet at himself.
At the hospital, Thomas was conscious and able to speak freely but doctors could see that he was slowly declining. He died 11 days later. The following day, the pistol he had used to kill himself and his mother was located in the swamp.
Although the horrendous event was shocking to most people, there were some who were not surprised and claimed that the McLoughlin family suffered from hereditary insanity.
That may or may not have been true. Thirty-three years later, at 11:30 on the evening of March 14, Thomas’ sister Sarah died of tuberculosis and pneumonia. She was 68 years old and an inmate at the Rhode Island Mental Hospital, where she had been committed some time earlier due to being declared “insane.”

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.