Malcolm Webster Ford | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1862-02-07)February 7, 1862 |
| Died | May 8, 1902(1902-05-08) (aged 40) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Malcolm W. Ford Jr. |
| Relatives | Paul Leicester Ford (brother) Worthington C. Ford (brother) William C. Fowler (grandfather) |
Malcolm Webster Ford (February 7, 1862 – May 8, 1902) was an American athlete and journalist best known for themurder-suicide where he shot his brother Paul and then himself.
Ford was born inBrooklyn on February 7, 1862. He was the second of three sons born to Emily Ellsworth (née Fowler) Ford (1826–1893) and Gordon Lester Ford (1823–1891), a lawyer who owned a library comprising 100,000 books and 60,000 manuscripts, dealing mainly withcolonial andrevolutionary American history. His two brothers were noted historianWorthington Chauncey Ford and novelist and biographerPaul Leicester Ford, who suffered a spinal injury in early youth that prevented him from attending school.
Through their maternal grandmother, the former Harriet Webster (wife of scholarWilliam Chauncey Fowler), the three Ford brothers were great-grandsons oflexicographer and textbook pioneerNoah Webster. Their mother, the former Emily Ellsworth Fowler, was a lifelong friend ofEmily Dickinson.[1]
In his heyday during the 1880s, he was three times the American National Champion as "All Around Athlete", a competition which was the equivalent of today'sdecathlon. The event consisted of ten events (three of which are different from those which are run today). He also excelled in individual events. In 1885 and 1886 he was the winner at the National Championships of thelong jump and 100 and 200 yard dash, a "triple" which was not accomplished again untilCarl Lewis did it in 1983.[2]
In 1891, Ford tied withDaniel Delany Bulger in the long jump event at the1891 AAA Championships.[3][4]
Ford's father and the Ford family strongly opposed his participation inathletics and he was disinherited because of his refusal to give up competition. He also twice endured scandals for competing as a professional and was banned from amateur competition.
During his marriage, Malcolm was employed as a business executive. At other times he worked as a journalist (his articles ontrack and field events were published inOuting magazine). He launched his own publications twice, but both were failures.[5]
In 1892, Ford was married to Janet Wilhelmina Graves, a Brooklyn heiress. Janet's sister Marie (née Graves) Harjes, was the first wife ofHenry Herman Harjes, the partner ofJ.P. Morgan in Paris. Before the couple divorced in 1898, they had one child together:
On May 8, 1902, Ford went to 37East 77th Street,[1] his brother Paul's residence inManhattan, and fatally shot him in his library before shooting himself.[8] Ford was said to be in a dire financial condition and his brother had refused him further financial aid. An inquest ruled "temporary insanity".[9] Both brothers were buried atSleepy Hollow Cemetery inSleepy Hollow, New York.