Extracted from The Caldwell Watchman-Progress (Columbia, LA)
Thursday, June 9, 1960

Eastside Resident Found Dead In Home of Sister

A 43-year-old Columbia man, William E. (Judge) McDonald, was found dead in the bedroom of his sister's home in West Monroe, Sunday morning about 10:30.

Police said he apparently shot himself in the left side with a shotgun, while his sister, Mrs. T. Gallien, 321 Stewart Street, talked on the phone in an adjoining room.

Mrs. Gallien told investigators her brother called her early Sunday and said he wanted to talk to her. She said he came to her house and they had coffee.

McDonald then told his sister he was going into the bedroom to write a letter, according to police information.

Mrs. Gallien said she was talking on the phone when she thought she heard a shot. She went into the next room and found her brother lying on the floor. She then ran to a neighbor's house and asked for help Mrs. Gallien told officers.

The neighbor called an ambulance and then the police. Officers said McDonald was dead when they arrived at the scene, and they informed Dr. John T. Burton, parish coroner.

SERVICES

Funeral services were held Monday at 3 p.m. in the First Baptist Church in Columbia, with the Rev. Jimmy Bolton officiating.

Interment followed in the [Old] Bethel Cemetery under the direction of Riser and Son Funeral Home of Columbia.

Mr. McDonald is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth McDonald, Columbia; mother, Mrs. W. E. McDonald, Sr., Columbia; a daughter, Mrs. Carolyn Thompson, Columbia; a sister, Mrs. T. Gallien, West Monroe; and three brothers, F. J. McDonald, Shreveport, and J. D. McDonald and Orville McDonald.