A Chilling Account of Lyman Bostock's Death

by

Paul Hutchins

I dont know if you will find this interesting or not, but it IS the truth!

I didn't know anything about, or ever even heard of Lyman Bostock until the night he died. On August 23rd 1978, I was working on the railroad in the local steel mill in Gary, Indiana as a switchman. I was severely injured and was being treated in Mercy Hospital, in Gary. On September 22 I had a severe bleeding ulcer and was put back into the intensive care unit. There was a young nurse who had been working with me trying to care for this bleeding ulcer. He had been with me all day, because we were having problems getting IV's to work properly etc.

Later on that evening they wheeled in this man, he was surrounded by police officers and doctors and nurses etc. His head was almost completely bandaged. Also there was the nurse who had been helping me all that day. I asked what was going on and he said, "That's Lyman Bostock!" I asked "Who is that"? he said, "He's one of the best ballplayers in the American League"! "He was shot by a jealous husband". I heard one of the Doctors say he caught almost the whole load from the shot gun and there's nothing they could do. After a little while, everyone had left, or was asked to leave cuz after all, it was intensive care. He was right next to me. His face looked as if it was bloated. All I could hear was the sound of his heart monitor. I just laid there and stared at him. Finally after a while his breathing stopped and shortly after, his heart monitor flatlined. He was dead. The nurse went to him and unhooked his monitor and IV's etc. She then noticed I was watching and pulled the curtain around him so I couldn't see him. After she came out she asked me if I was alright, and I told her I had never seen a man die before.

Early afternoon the next day, his family arrived. Before they came to see him, the nurse went in to clean him up. She came out and her arms were full of blood soaked sheets. She then called down and said he was ready.

His wife was a beautiful young woman. I believe the older woman was his mother. I'm not sure, it could have been his mother in law, and there were also a few gentlemen with them. I could hear the policeman tell what they thought had happened and that they caught a suspect.

I found the whole experience quite disturbing. I checked into Lyman Bostock and discovered he was one of those kind of guys that should have lived a whole lot longer. He was involved in private charity work, and seemed to devote allot of time to kids, especially baseball fans. I had heard about how he wanted to give his salary back because he didn't think he earned it. He was a real class act. a true baseball hero. On top of being a great ballplayer whose potential we will never know.

The man who killed him was sent to Logansport Indiana where the state mental hospital was. He pleaded insanity and was released after serving 21 months. One good thing that happened was, there was such a public outrage over the killer's release that the laws in Indiana now say you can be "Guilty but Insane". After you're deemed fit to leave the mental hospital, you'll be sent to jail to serve your whole sentence.

I guess God needed him on his team.

Paul Hutchins