History

George Arnold, station master for the New York Central Railroad at the East 105th Street Station, shot and killed himself at his home, 10303 Burton Avenue, on June 1, 1931. Coroner A. J. Pearse was called by sergeant James Horkan and patrolman John Keane of Bratenahl and gave a verdict of suicide.

The news threw the village into mourning. Arnold numbered among his friends nearly everyone who lived in Bratenahl, including Albert Ingalls, vice president of the New York Central. Mayor Foote expressed deep regret when he learned of Arnold’s death.

Arnold retired from the railroad in 1930 because of illness. Several months before his death, he remarked to his sister-in-law, Carrie McLead, that he intended to "end it all if this continued."

Miss McLead was in the back yard and her sister, Miss Louise McLead, was on the front porch when they heard the gunshot. The noise did not alarm them because it sounded like a backfire from an automobile. Louise found Arnold on the floor of his bedroom fifteen minutes later. The two sisters thought had suffered a hemorrhage until Dr. Elmer McPeck found a revolver under his body.

“He was a faithful servant of the people,” Mayor Foote said, “George used to help women of the village in entertainments for soldiers when they were passing through during the World War.”

George Arnold had been a railroad employee for more than fifty years and was a train dispatcher before becoming a station master at Bratenahl.