Wayne County Press
February, 1897

About twenty years ago there was a sensation at the farm home of Eld. John Bunting, which is located east of John Lear's farm in LaMard township.  One morning Eld. Bunting's lifeless form was found hanging in his barn, a bridle being used as a noose.  Bunting's feet were touching the ground, and the people in that neighborhood were not all satisfied at the time that it was a suicide.  But it passed as such, and nothing to the contrary was positively known until recently, when it is learned that Mr. Bunting's son, Elias, on his death bed in California, confessed to the crime of killing his father, and afterwards hanging him to cover up the deed.

It seems as if the son had sent money to his father from the army for the purpose of having it invested in land, and that this the father did not do.  This caused considerable trouble between them after the war, and they frequently quarreled.  Elias was not a good dispositioned boy, anyway, and it is supposed that this trouble ultimately led to the terrible crime.  In the confession Elias says that he killed his father with a club.

Eld. John Bunting was a minister in the Christian church, and previous to his death he had had some difficulty with the congregation at Pleasant Grove, and this, together with family troubles, was supposed at the time to have so affected his mind as to lead to his suicide.  We may be able to give further facts about this case in the next issue of the PRESS.