Jules LaDuron
Jules Fernando LaDuron was an American physician and professional football player. LaDuron's medical career was marked by numerous controversies. He was a doctor for 55 years, primarily in Muncie, Indiana. A World War I veteran and the son of a Belgian glassblower, LaDuron attended Muncie High School, played college football at Indiana University Bloomington, and graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. LaDuron was also an early National Football League player, then known as the American Professional Football Association, appearing in the league's second season with the Muncie Flyers in 1921. His first wife died of suicide in 1927 while he was away in Chicago, during which time he married his second wife. LaDuron was in the hospital with an eye injury in 1937 when his second wife disappeared. It was variously reported that he had an eye infection, or had his eye punctured while treating a patient. However, decades later, LaDuron said he was hit by a tree branch.
LaDuron was charged with assault and battery at least six times during his life but never convicted. In 1950, LaDuron fatally shot two brothers during a fight at his office and was charged with manslaughter. This attracted nationwide attention and reignited suspicion towards LaDuron in the disappearance of his second wife. He was found not guilty of both manslaughter charges after asserting that the brothers had tried to blackmail him. In 1969, after 17 years of no legal issues, LaDuron was arrested for selling dangerous drugs and trying to stab a police officer with a bayonet. He was once again acquitted of all charges. He was arrested for the fifth time in 1970 and convicted on a misdemeanor drug charge. His medical license was revoked in 1976 and he died four years later.
Early life and football career
Jules Fernando LaDuron was born on June 8, 1893, in Muncie, Indiana. He was the son of Fernando Jules LaDuron, a glassblower born in Belgium, and Jemima Joris, who was from Norristown, Pennsylvania. Fernando had immigrated to Muncie from Belgium to start a glassblowing factory. LaDuron played high school football at Muncie High School as a guard. In May 1911, during a baseball game between the sophomores and juniors of Muncie's High School League, LaDuron, who was a sophomore at the time, hit a junior player on the jaw. The hit broke the junior's jaw and knocked out several of his teeth. LaDuron was arrested and charged with assault and battery and mayhem. He was released after $400 bond was paid by his father. LaDuron was expelled from school, but later reinstated. The case was dismissed on November 8, 1911. LaDuron graduated from Muncie High in the class of 1913, and gave a speech at the graduating ceremony. He received college football interest from Earlham, Wabash, DePauw, and Purdue.LaDuron decided to enroll at Indiana University Bloomington, where he was a tackle on the Indiana Hoosiers freshman football team during the 1913 season. He joined the Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Delta Psi fraternities that same year. LaDuron was also on the wrestling team at Indiana University. In August 1914, LaDuron, who was taking summer classes at Winona College, disappeared and went to New York in order to go to Belgium and join the Belgium army during World War I. The Muncie Evening Press said that LaDuron had been communicating with "strange men" who were believed to be Belgian or French agents. Police in Philadelphia and New York were asked to look out for LaDuron. He was apprehended several days later by police in New York as he was getting ready to board a ship to Belgium. On September 25, 1914, before the start of the 1914 football season, it was reported that LaDuron would not be on Indiana's team that year as he was transferring to Notre Dame. However, he returned to the Hoosiers several days later as a fullback.
On March 13, 1916, during a playing of The Bohemian Girl at a theater in Bloomington, Indiana, an African American named Jim Johnson allegedly made an insulting comment about one of the actresses on stage. LaDuron then "called" him on this remark and, between acts, the dispute was renewed outside the theater where LaDuron knocked Johnson down three times and Johnson then stabbed LaDuron. Johnson managed to escape, and the wound was later reported as non-serious. LaDuron was ruled ineligible before the start of the 1916 football season at Indiana University for an unclear reason. LaDuron then served in the United States Army Ambulance Service as a private during World War I. He played in one game, a start, for the Muncie Flyers of the American Professional Football Association in 1921. He was listed as a fullback/linebacker while with the Flyers.
Medical career and personal life
Early career and first wife's suicide
LaDuron graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He practiced as a doctor in Louisville, Kentucky, for a while after serving an internship at a hospital in Chicago, during which time he met his future second wife Freda Swanson. While in Kentucky, he reached patients on horseback. In 1920, LaDuron passed the state exam to practice medicine in Indiana, scoring over 900 points out of 1,000. In 1922, Dr. LaDuron was the Democratic Party candidate for Delaware County, Indiana, coroner. He lost theelection 10,598 votes to 7,129. On October 3, 1924, he established his own hospital, the 15-bed LaDuron Hospital, on Williard Street in Muncie for general surgical cases and non-contagious diseases. In 1925, he was a candidate for Democratic councilman in the 8th ward.
On August 26, 1925, LaDuron was arrested on charges of assault and battery filed against him by Kathleen Armint. LaDuron ordered her out of his office after an argument. LaDuron then reportedly pushed her out of the office, with Armint then attempting to hit LaDuron but falling down some stairs instead. LaDuron posted bond, and the case was later dismissed on October 9, 1925. In August 1926, LaDuron was charged with assault and battery on a Muncie taxi driver named George Baughn. He was found guilty in City Court, and sentenced to 30 days on a penal farm plus a fine. However, he appealed to the Circuit Court, who found him not guilty. LaDuron said that he would have taken the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. On December 4, 1926, it was reported that LaDuron had filed suit against the Muncie Ice Machine Company and Mr. W. O. Longhecker, alleging breach of contract and asking for $1,000. LaDuron said that a refrigerator installed in his office had not lived up to expectations. On December 11, 1926, LaDuron pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault and battery levied against him by Longhecker. On December 14, 1926, a judge quickly dismissed the assault charge as "false and unfounded."
At the age of 33, LaDuron married Edna Duerr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisville couple. About six months later on June 25, 1927, Edna died by suicide after hanging herself from an attic rafter in her mother's home. She had reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown the week prior. At the time of her death, LaDuron was away on special work at a Chicago hospital. A few months later while still in Chicago, LaDuron married his second wife Freda Swanson. He had two children with Freda, a son named Jacques and a daughter named Suzanne. In 1929, LaDuron was named the physician for both the Delaware County infirmary and the county jail. During the Great Depression, he traveled to other states to find work as a doctor. States he worked in during this time included Florida, Alabama, Michigan, and Arizona.
Second wife's disappearance and manslaughter charges
On September 16, 1937, Freda disappeared from Muncie and was never found. Freda, who was born in Sweden, had been married to Jules for nine years. They had also been separated twice during that timespan. At the time of Freda's disappearance, Jules was in the hospital due to a problem with his right eye, which caused permanent vision loss in that eye. It was variously reported that LaDuron received an infection, or had his eye punctured while treating a patient. However, in 1972 LaDuron said he was hit by a tree branch. At the time of his wife's disappearance, he had been serving as Muncie city health commissioner and a corporate officer for a local beer company. In 1937, LaDuron stated "She disappears every time she flies off the handle. She'll show up. She always does." In October 1937, Muncie police detective August Felix searched the cisterns under LaDuron's home in order to "satisfy the gossips", and nothing was found. Police also searched three gravel pits in the area but did not find anything. In 1939, a professional deep sea diver was used to search gravel pits, ponds, and streams in the vicinity. In 1943, LaDuron pled not guilty to a charge of assault and battery against Ray Wills, a tenant on the LaDuron farm. In September 1945, LaDuron filed for divorce from Freda. It was granted in March 1946 on the ground of desertion. Around 1950, LaDuron opened his own home office at Liberty Street in Muncie.On November 6, 1950, LaDuron fatally shot Seibert and Ralph Carter at LaDuron's home office during a fight. His 20-year-old son Jacq was also involved in the fight. LaDuron asserted self defense and said that the two brothers were trying to blackmail him, stating "It's a blackmail stunt. It's been going on since my wife disappeared." He said he had paid $2,880 to Ralph, who had been using the pseudonym Kenneth Miller, in four installments over a period of time after he was threatened. LaDuron said he and Seibert started fighting after Seibert demanded a payment. LaDuron then "whipped" Seibert by himself and told Jacq, who had just arrived, to get Miller from a waiting car outside so they could "settle" the matter. When "Miller" entered the office, the two brothers started fighting LaDuron and Jacq. LaDuron said he shot both of them after he was knocked down with a wrench. Seibert died at the scene of one shot to the heart and other injuries. Ralph had been shot several times and died soon after at a hospital. LaDuron was taken to jail pending a jury investigation. On December 6, 1950, a grand jury indicted him with two counts of manslaughter. He was released on $10,000 bail. Ruby Carter, the sister-in-law of the Carters, stated "It is ridiculous to say they were blackmailing the doctor. Why Pete was only 27 when he died. That would have made him only 14 when Mrs. LaDuron disappeared."
On November 10, 1950, two hunters found a human skull in a gravel pit eight miles southeast of Muncie. Police thought it might be the remains of Freda LaDuron. The skull was taken to Ball Memorial Hospital for examination, where it was determined to be that of a man who had died 50 to 75 years earlier. Later in November, after hearing local gossip, the Indiana State Police tried to find a tunnel under LaDuron's house. However, there was nothing there nor any signs that any tunnel had ever existed. Shortly thereafter, Muncie police chief Harry Nelson ordered the opening of a grave in a Delaware County cemetery. Locals had claimed the grave appeared around the same time that Freda disappeared. A pathologist determined that the grave's bones were from an Indian man who had died 50 years earlier. In January 1952, during LaDuron's manslaughter trial, The Indianapolis News noted LaDuron's history of violence and that he had once killed a dog. At the trial, Ruby Carter admitted that she had previously written two blackmail letters to a doctor in Chicago on behalf of Ralph; the New York Daily News later published a picture of one of the letters in its article titled "The Strange Case of Dr. LaDuron". LaDuron said he shot the Carters after they both attacked him with a stirrup and a wrench after Jacq had been knocked out. Jacq said that after he regained consciousness, Seibert, who had already been shot, plunged at Jacq. However, Jacq dodged him, which sent Seibert through a glass door on the front porch. The prosecution noted that this did not match with the neighbor's earlier eyewitness report from 1950 in which he saw a dark-haired man knocked through the glass door. Seibert was blond and Ralph was dark-haired. On February 2, 1952, a jury found LaDuron not guilty of the manslaughter of Ralph Carter. The verdict "brought the crowd of 600 spectators to their feet cheering, whistling, and clapping their hands in approval." On May 27, 1952, the Seibert Carter manslaughter charge was also dismissed by a judge, who ruled that no new evidence had been presented since the first trial so there was no need for another one.