On May 22, 1887 one of the saddest events in the history of Silver City occurred on the south side of the Potosi mine dump when Lewis F Leonard, aged 19 years, was instantly killed by the accidental discharge of his revolver. Lewis and his friend Henry Sommercamp were on a walk up Long Gulch to the Potosi mine when they stopped and sat down on a track rail leading from the mine to the dump. They sat but a short time when a squirrel came into view among the debris below them. Lewis fired at the squirrel and remarked that he believed he had killed it. When Henry and Lewis started down to the place where the squirrel was last seen, the deceased having revolved the cylinder so that the hammer rested on an unexplored cartridge, put the pistol in its scabbard as they went down. Arriving at the place together, the deceased stooped over to reach the squirrel when the revolver slipped from the scabbard, and in falling, the hammer struck fairly on a stone, exploded the cartridge, and the ball from the pistol struck him in the middle of the breast. Henry caught him as he fell and asked where he was shot, to which Lewis replied, “I am dead,” and expired without saying another word.
Lewis was the son of Robert and Adelaide Leonard, longtime residents of Silver City and his funeral was widely attended by most of the town.
“May his grave ever be kept green, and may he rest in peace.”
Also laid to rest here is Jack, 23 months, son of Judge and Mrs. RH Leonard, who passed away on March 10, 1925 after a brief illness. The sickness was not considered serious until the last 24 hours of his life, when a physician was called. It is somewhat remarkable that little Jack, who was the eighth child of the Leonard’s, was the first to require the services of a physician.
