The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-05-28
MRS, LINCOLN,s CONDITION.
Two Attempts to Commit Suicide
Frustrated by the Ingenuity Of a
'Druggist.o tv- IL -rrrDrf

Drqggist9 .fGCY WgG .TMOF
4 In conversation with the Hon, Leon
ard Sgett, into whose care was placed
the chargeSof conveying Mrs. LinGolh to
the Bellevue Hospital for the Insane at
Batavia, Ill, yesterday the patient APP
peared more reconciled to her fate. y In
spe8king OF her insanity she said 70 MI.
SWEET: 1T may be SO ; and what if it is
SOP What wonder Is iR Haven't [ had
enough cause to- derangeI any wonnRnls
brainl Did / not sec. my husband yassas-
sinated before my, eyes, Haye Inpt been
homeless for yearsl and have, not bur
led all my children with the exception of
Robertl Do you wonder that l am de-
rangedl a2ri sl.I 'fUjuH brf'rss NJ "a
1t was not until q late hour in the af-
ternoon that Mr.. SWEET and Mr.. Lincoln
learned the melancholy truth that the
unhappy lady had made a determined
but Intellectual effort to commit suicide.
Of course every precaution had been Ia
ken to guard against any attempt of this
kind, both by her son and Mr.. SWEET,
who has managed this most unpleasant
matter with most commendable care and
consideration. .- -aH
So near as can be learned she found it
an easy matter to convince the girl who
had been stationed in her room to pre-
vent any effort on her part to jump out
of the window that it was necessary for
her to step out into the hall for amoment.
She then hurried down the staircase to-
ward the east front of the hotel to the
drug store of squair & Co., WHARF she or
dered two ounces of laudanurn and q
like quantity of camphor. The clerk
looked at her doubtfully when she made
this demand, but she assured him that
she was troubled with neuralgia in her
shoulder, and the pain was often so Sc
we're that she was impelled to seek relief
by bathing it in the compound she had
ordered. Still the clerk hesitated, and
finally consulted the proprietor, who
suspected the real object for which the
mixture was desired, and concluding
wisely that little strategy was better
than absolute refusal, he told her that it
should be prepared for her, but that it
would take about ten minutes to put it
up, hoping in this brief space of time to
find means of again placing her in the
control OF her friends. But this did not
suit her, probably for the reason that
she suspected the real object of the ex-
cuse, or else that she would be discov-
cred before it could be-prepared. bl
Without saying another word to indi-
cate her intention, she stepped out to the
sidewalk, called carriage, and stepping
quickly inside, drove to the store OF
Rogers & Smith, at the corner of Clark
and Adams streets. The druggist ia
whom she had first applied suspected
her object and hurried after her She
reached the store and gave her order for
the same deadly compound, but the
druggist arrived in time to prevent her
receiving it, even though the compound
er of drugs had been disposed to give it
to her. She was again met with some
excuse, and again she turned to her car
riage and drove to William Dale's estab-
lishment, two blocks further down Clark
street, toward the Sherman House. The
druggist followed, and again she failed
to procure the deadly fluid
By this time it seemed to occur to her
that her prescription must have been
compounded at the first place TO which
sue dppiieu, 50 ble Ngalu entered nef
carriage aud drove back toSquair's store
at the Pacific Hotel. Arrived there she
renewed her demand, and seeing noo 9th
er way out of the difficulty, afour-ounce
vial was filled with a colored but harm
less fuid and given her. She grasped
it eagerly and started for her room, but
had scarcely passed beyond the door
when she placed the vial to her lips and
drained it of its contents. She then
went quietly to her room, and with the
utmost composure awaited what she sup
posed to be the inevitable approach Of
death.
But in this she was disappointed, and
she was not slow to discover it. After
waiting about fifteen on twenty minutes
without feeling any unpleasant effects
from the draught, she essRyed to repeat
the effort and again slipped from her
room and passed down 10 the drug store.
She told Mr.. Squair that the lotion
seemed too weak to afford her any relief,
and asked for another ounce Of lauda.