Daily Republican., 1879-07-26
THIRD EDITION.
CHICAGu,s DOUBLE SUICIDE.
How the TFow bridge sisters Hang
cd Themssl yes In Their Own Par.

CAICAGO'S DOUBLE SUICIDE.
How the Trew bridge Sisters Hang
cd Themsel YES In Their own Par
Tor.
The Chicago " Times, F." Of Tuesday
furnishes the following detailed a.
count Of the suicide of the TrOwbridgt
sisters
The thres-story brick residence a
No. l26 Langley avenue, in the villag,
of Hyde Park, was last night the seen,
of one of the most shocking suicide.
ever psrpetratsd. The place was tn,
house Of three maiden ladies nam-c
Annie, Elizabeth, and Emma Tros
bridge, the eldest forty.two, the SECOND
forty, and the youngest thirty .rars
'of age. Some time ago the mother died
leaving them, by will, handsome
property in the shape of downtown
lands and houses. Their father, a we'll
preserved old man, remarked, and
from the moment of the wedding he
aimed to break his dead wife's will,
and gain control OF the property.
1t is said he was abetted and encour.
aged by his spouse. The result was a
long and tedious lawsuit, which ended
last week in the defeat of the sisters
and the triumph Of the father, who at
once took possession OF the entire in-
come. They songht their lawyer, aud
lie told them there was no use Of long
tr continuing the fight. They looked
around them, and could see the future
barred across by a great wall Of despair.
Tenderly nurtursd, with those accom-.
Ilishments which make women orna'
ments Of society, but leave them desti
tute OF resource to earn their daily
bread, the sisters saw no avenue open
saw. that leading down to starvation
SPENT NIGHTS IN PLANNING AND WEEPING.
rhey talked until the day had dawn
ed. Then they slept for little while,
ard arising donned their best attire,
snu attended the last church services
they we're ever to know on earth. The
remainder of Sunday was spent as had
be-n the night before, and yesterday
saw them fully settled in their resolve.
The two older sisters would die by
hanging, Emma should live to tel
their story and be a witness to their
awful end. There was no food in tn.
house, but that matters not. They
cared for none. Finally, as the after
noon settled down in the sembre gloom
of night. they made their preparations.
Annie and Lizz'e bathed with all the
neatness and nicely born of aristocratic
habits. Then they put on their clothes,
as white and pure as those of nun.
After this the three read aloud from
the Bible the Sermon on the Mount,
and, kneeling down together, prayed.
They besought their Creator to for
give what they were about to do, they
asked the pardon of the mother dead
and gone they begged forgiveness for
the father. This done, they closed all
the blinds and nailed up the windows.
There was another prayer, the three
met in a last embrace and Emma re
tired to her room in the story above.
There
sHIvERING, soBBING, AND MOANING,
L 'e one bereft of reason through griet,
the poor girl sat from I o'clock till 8.
She listened with that sense of the hor.
rible upon her, which, in her case, was
unique. She heard the preparations
completed, heard the chairs 'rawn out
of place, heard the same chairs tall,
heard choking, final protest Of life
against suicide, and then came silence
silence so awful and torturing as to
more than parallel the suffering intlic.
ted on the damned.
She went down stairs, and her strain
ing eyeballs met the hideous sightssshe
knew awaited her. The two loved ones
hung suspended aud inanimate from
ropes tied to spikes driven in above the
doors. The chairs lay beneatl. them,
and the open Bible, wet with tears, was
on the centre-table. Neither face was
distorted, although each wore a pur-
pllsh hue, and the tongues protruded
somewhat. The poor girl saw all in
an instant, and then fell fainting to
Tie floor. But mercful oblivion was
not granted to her long, and she awoke
again, awoke to moan and cry out and
ry to call back the dead companions of
, lifetime. She craw'ed to where they
nung and kissed their feet and begged
them to speak to her. Neighbors heard
the unusual noise and broke in. Never,
they say, shall they forget
THE slCKENING SPECTACLE.
The ropes were at once cut and the
'orms of the dead women neatly com,
posed on the floor of the parlor it had
oeen their pride to adorn and beautify.
The one still alive, now nearly mau.
ac, 1t was found necessary, as a matter
VI common humanity and precaution, to
AXE to the Hyde Park Police Station.
She, too, wanted to die, and the solemn
mprecations she called down upon the
leads of relatives responsible for the
alamity were blood curdling in the in
ensity of their hatred. The news of
he suicide soon spread, and the people
# the vicinage gathered about to cape
md wonder and corAlIent. Then the
light grew denser and the hours passed
y in procession until all was again 81. /
ence, an the lonely house stood like
1e abode OF lost souls with its flicker.
lg gas, its dead inmates and its soil. l
ary blus-coated guardian. a