Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-28

G1sss,v suicide o. a. assd and Pssa'siis
Woman.
fferajd.t

ctssssv suicide o. a. Ased and Pssaisms
Woman.
lTieraid.l
Old Michael Lahey, grizzlcd aud
bent with the sixty-hye years that have
come to him, works whenever he can
get work to do, for the contractors who
are blasting away Harlem rock to make
room for houses. A blacksmith, he has
had pretty steady employment sharp
enjng the drills that were dulled in
making the holes into which the powder
was poured. lie had been widower
for many years, and had led lonely
life. when dozen years ago he met
woman whose lot in life was siiailar to
his own. The two old people concluded
thai they would be company for each
other, so they married. Everything
went along smoothly for decade, and
they were as happy as people ever can
be who live from hand to mouth.
But two years ago Mrs. Lahey was
stricken with paralysis. She woke up
one morning to find that she could not
move her limbs. Not since that time
has she moved across the room except
as she has been dragged across in a
rocki3g-chair. Her husband would
dress her in the morning. prepare her
breakfast and his own, and after placing
her in her rocker near the window
20 TO his work. At noon he
would return and attend to her
wants. Frequently some Of the neigh
bors from the shanties round about
for they lived in the heart of
Shantytown, on Sixty-seyenth street.
between Eighth and Ninth avenues
would drop in for chat with the old
woman and liyen up the monotony of
her existence. Occasionally one Of the
priests from the Raulist Fathers church,
in Fifty-ninth street, would call in and
see her, and more frequently some ofthe
Sisters of Charity. She was a very
religious woman, and bemoaned her
condition mainly because it prevented
her attending mass. She has been
growing weaker during the past few
months, and two weeks ago sent for
one Of the fathers. He gave her the
consultations Of religion. and her physi-
cal condition seemed slightly improved.
COMING HOME TO DINNER.
Yesterday morning the old black
smith propped up his wife in her
rocker by the window as usual. and
shortly before I O'Clock started for his
work at Seventy-second street and
Ninth avenue, where Contractor Whalen
was building some houses. At noon
time lie knocked off and hurried home.
The shanty, on the top floor Of which
he lived, was in the rear of Green's
grocery-store. AS was his custom, he
stopped there to get five-cent loaf of
bread. This, with pint Of beer that
he had previously purchased, was to
form the frugal MONDAY meal Of the
old people. lie stumbled up the three
rickety stairways and pushed open the
door. His wife sat in her accustomed
place by the window.
Hello" he said cheerily, as he laid
the things on the table, will you have
a glass Of beer?"
But there was no response. APP
preaching the window the old man al
most tainted at the sight that awaited
him. His wife was reclining in the
chair. Her eyes were closed and her
face was pale in death. In. her throat
there was a gaping, red cash, from
which the blood had poured over her
calico dress and down into the check
apron in her lap. Her right hand
grasped an open razor. No explanation
was needed. The poor old soul
had endured a miserable existence
as long as she could. She could
look forward to no other release than
death, and the sooner that came the
less time would she be burden to her
husband. As she sat there in solitude
she, must have thought it all over. In
a bureau drawer six feet in front of her
was that which would end all her trou-
bles. Her arms were not affected, and
with them she could move her chair
backward and forward q little way.
The drawer from which she had taken
the razor still remained open. After
getting it she had moved herself back
ward to her old position and had then
drawn the sharp instrument across her
throat with her remaining strength.
When the bewildered old man had
taken it all in he made his way down
stairs again. leaving the razor still
clasped in the withered, wrinkled fin
gers. His first thought was to bring
the horrible news to her relatives.
Notifying the police did not occur to
him. As he went out, however, he
told Mr.. Green, the grocer, and then
started down town. A married sister
of the dead woman, Mrs. Hughes,
lived in Horatio street near Washing
ton. Her daughter, Mrs. McHugh,
lived in Vandam street. When they
had been told what had occurred he
returned to the house. The police were
there and the coroner had been notified.
1t was then late in the afternoon.
AT THE wRETCHED HOME.
In the evening Herald reporter
visited the cherries apartment, with its
bare floor, bed, a stove, and two or
three wooden chairs. A few crude re-
ligious pictures hung upon the walls.
Mrs. McHugh, the dead wornan's daugh-
ter, was wringing her hands in the mid
die of the floor as she gazed upon the
corpse, which still sat upright in the
chair, with @ sheet thrown over it to
hide its ghastliness.
"Oh, why did she do such thing?"
moaned the daughter. A policeman
tried in kindly way to soothe her.
Then she told how her mother, now and
then of late, had had Authorizations.
She imagined that the neighbors were
putting things in the window, trying to
poison her. But these would last for a
short time only, when she would be en-
tirely sane. She seemed to have con-
templated the act, however. a neigh
Dor had told her a week ago that pare
goric would ease her troubles,
and she tried to get some,
but the druggist would not give
it to the child she sent for it. If | took
enough of that it would kill me,
wouldn't 2" she had remarked. She