Patterson Cemetery District, Stanislaus County, CA 

Submitted by Gale Stroud and Burta Herger 26 Aug 2007

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O'Shea Fritz 360410 p1
Kills Self in Prison; Laborer Strangles Himself When Arrested for Petty Theft; Old, friendless and penniless, Fritz
O'Shea chose what seemed to him  the easiest wav out when he was jailed for petty theft early Friday morning, and he
was found strangled to death with an improvised noose a few hours later. Night Officer Manuel Silva saw O'Shea take
two loaves of bread and a package of butterhorns from a bread box in front of the Patterson Market at 5 a. m.  Such thefts
had become increasingly frequent and Silva decided to make an example of this case and locked O'Shea up. About 8 a.m.
when Chief of Police Carl Busengdal came down they went in to get the prisoner and found him kneeling beside the bunk
in the cell, lifeless. He had used a knotted bandanna handkerchief and a piece of fishing line to improvise a slip noose.
One end was tied to a cell bar and O'Shea had pulled on the other end to tighten the noose.  He was not hanging and
could have released himself by a slight movement so the will to die must have been strong. Dr. A. M. Field was
immediately summoned but declared O'Shea had been dead an hour or so already.
Nothing Known of Deceased; Differing from most similar cases booze had no connection with the affair.  O'Shea was
perfectly sober when arrested and bore no signs of dissipation or evidence that he was a heavy drinker, and was neat and
clean in appearance. Nothing is known about him beyond the fact that he had been around here for some time,
occasionally working at odd jobs.  He was apparently between 60 and 70 years of age. The remains were taken in charge
by Davis and Evans and interment was made in Del Puerto Cemetery Saturday. Fingerprints were taken and an attempt
will be made to trace his history, if possible.