John Sundquist

John Sundquist
Born	c. 1837 either Illinois or Sweden (the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway)
Died	9 August 1898 (61) Moline, Rock Island Co., Illinois
Burial	Riverside Cemetery, Moline, Rock Island Co., Illinois

John Sundquist (b. c. 1837 - d. August 9, 1898) was a Swedish itinerant worker who was reported to have committed suicide at his boarding house in Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois after having become "demented over his unsuccessful effort of years to invent a perpetual motion machine." The owner of the house he lived in, George Swanson, said he knew nothing about the man's family or background, and little about what he even did for a living, except that he travelled extensively and in "first-class style." No details of the alleged machine were provided.

Press Coverage

• "JOHN SUNDQUIST'S END: THE PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE Which He Couldn't Invent Crazes Him, and He Shoots Himself in His Room at the George Swanson Farm House East of Moline - A Resident Hereabouts for a Quarter of a Century", Moline Daily Dispatch (Moline, IL): 4, 9 Aug. 1898, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121261796/john-sundquists-end/ 
• "BURIED BY THE COUNTY. Sundquist, the Felo de Se, Seems to Have Died Penniless.", Moline Daily Dispatch (Moline, IL): 4, 10 Aug. 1898, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121262285/buried-by-the-county-sundquist-the/ 
• "UNEXPECTED FIND. Pocketbook of a Moline Suicide Yields $250.", The Daily Times (Davenport, IA): 1, 11 Aug. 1898, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121262400/unexpected-find-pocketbook-of-a-moline/  — this seems to be a misreading of an earlier article that stated $2.50 was found in the pocketbook.