St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-09
A PLUNGE TO DEATH.
Mrs. Yam Derh0ck, in u DerGn0ed State OF
Mind, Leaps from a Bridge and
Goes Over the Fails.

Mind, Leaps from Bridge and
Goes Over the Fails.
A shrill cry, a clasping of hands above her
head, and the body OF woman shot through
the air and plunged into the Mississippi river
beneath the Manitoba railroad bridge.
shout of alarm went up from the suspension
bridge, and in a moment hundred people
had rushed upon the structure and were gaz-
ing with horror at the dark water, were the
body had reappeared and was drifting slowly
down stream. On the railroad bridge could
be seen the form of the Waterman, wildly
waving his arms. but the alarm had already
been given, and a vast crowd was
bore the object along, all eyes fastened fear
and buoyed the unfortunate woman up and
the rapid flight through the air had blown
aside the veil from features very pale and
too distant for recognition. A dozen men
dashed down the steep bank on the East side
and ran about unable to afford any assist
ance. One had gotten upon the shore ice
with board which he thrust out but the
body, with the exception of an occasional
movement of the head, seemed inanim ate
and was whirled past. A canoe was launched,
but the ice impeded it, and the body
swept on, skirted the shore ice and
reached the current bearing swiftly
toward the falls. Any effort at rescue was
now futile and the vast crowd that now as
sembled could only gaze in horror, as the
body, without motion or culver, was rapidly
carried to the ledge, swept into the eddy and
then shot under the ice and down the apron,
OVER THE FALLS.
A crowd of men hurried to the old Pioneer
mills and made their way out to the edge of
the falls but no vestige of the body could
be found. A few venturesome men climbed
out upon the ice gorged on the ledge and
peered down into the dark waters, while
others searched below the falls, but the river
had swallowed up the woman, whoever she
was, and all effort to find the corpse was vain.
The search was kept up, however, until dark
ness closed in and ended it. In the mean
time the identity of the poor woman was I'M
known and considerable excitement pre-
vailed. In the absence of any definite
knowledge the widest of stories were in cir
culation, all Of which, however, were wide of
the mark.
THE wATCHMAN's STORY.
The Waterman at the Manitoba bridge was
questioned by the police and said he had
seen the woman on Tuesday, when she had
twice tried to get..upon 1.-THE bridge, which he
prevented. About 2 80 yesterday afternoon
she got by him and ran to the center Of the
structure, where she stopped and threw off
her shawl, then, making the sign of
tie cross, she leaped into the water. He had
secured the shawl, but knew nothing what
ever of the woman beyond that she was evil
IDENTITY deranged. The police took the shawl
to headquarters as the only means of the
identification of the woman. Within two hours
afterward Capt. John Van Derhock hurried
into the room, seized the shawl and identi-
fed it as belonging to his wife, who was the
unfortunate suicide.
THE AFFECTING SCENE
which followed brought tears to the eyes of
many in the room, and the bereaved husband
was led to his desolate home.
The following story was afterward CLEANED
by a GLOBE reporter: Mrs. Van Derhock was
born in Germany and came to the United
States in 1855 and to Minneapolis in 1866.
Of late years she has been subject to attacks
of extreme dependency, and during these
periods of melancholy was not regarded as
being in her right mind. At these times she
seemed possessed with desire to end her
life, and once made an Intellectual
attempt at suicide by poison. 1t
was found necessary to send her to the asy-
lum for the insane at st. Peter, but she i'm
proved rapidly and soon seemed herself
again. Of late she had appeared much bet
ter and gave no indication of her suicidal in
tention. Tuesday morning she went out for
a walk, and at this time probably visited the
bridge as described by the Waterman. Re-
turning to the house she made some excuse
for her absence, saying she had taken long
walk and felt better. She was SO years old
and was lady highly respected and be-
loved, The family lived at the house of
Mrs. P. H. Peters, 41S First avenue north,
and consisted of Mr.. and Mrs. Van Derhock
and son aged about II years. Mr.. Van
Derhock, the husband, formerly was in the
hardware business in this city and is well
known as a man of means and good stand
ing in the community. Of late years he has
been a post-trader at Fort Sisseton,
Oak, but returned to Minneapolis
on account of his wife's delicate health,
son remaining there in charge of his bust
ness. Another son is student at the Jeffer-
SOL Medical college at Philadelphia, and
fourth is in the East Indies.