Private James Shea enlisted in Co. K, 139th Infantry, in Newton, under Capt. Howard M. Randall, in the spring of 1917, as company cook. He had made his home here but a few years, and was quite well known and well respected.
While the company was in training at Camp Doniphan, Private Shea became ill and grew despondent, and it was while being treated in the camp hospital that he drank poison, taking his own life. The Evening Kansan-Republican, Newton, Kansas. Monday, May 19, 1919. Page 3. (c) Harvey County Genealogical Society.
