The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-04-15
4 LEAF FROM HER OWN LIFE
The Brief Story Of the Short Career and
Death by Suicide of Lillian Bull.
Sad Experience of Bright, Well-Educated
Girl Who Believed She Was Child Of
Gsnius-Her Song of the Twilight"

herself IN a. room, turned Oh hhS knS WAsa1Ns
lighting 1t and suffocated herself to death. Tie
newspapers are not apt to more than paragraph
auch an occurrence In this city, and even when
Lillian Bull destroyed her life in THAI manner
the curious romance Of the case was only briefly
sketched. That she got that much than
ordinary attention in print due to the fact
that sbe was relative of General Sherman and
his brother the Ex-Governor She had gone
crazy Scientists tell us that no person OF per-
fectly sound mind will, under any circumstances.
commit suicide. Whether that is invariable
rule or not. il 10 certain that Lillian had per-
misted sentimentaIisy to beyond the limits
OF common-sense into mental vagaries- She set
up as . professional poetess. That is not men
toned as proof Of insanity. A number OF indi-
viduals have made rhyming vocation witnous
opening themselves to the suspicion OF crazl-
ness. But in her case there was no doubt that
the making OF verses accompanied, If IL did not
ss7-se her mental aber alton.
Lillian Bull was the daughter of Plat Bull. q
wealthy cotton merchant of Mobile, and il was
on her mothers side that she was blood rela-
ton to the Shermans. She was very carefully
educated in Alabama convent. and grew 70
She was distinctly romantic as girl, and an In
veterAte reader OF standard poetry. In the
administration of President Hayes she wrote 20
General Sherman that she was tired of incidence,
aud greatly desired cierkship in Washington.
The General got appointment for her IN the
Treasury Department, and che staid there shve
years until her health became delicate aud her
father died. The bereavement came at an I'M
fortunate time Of physical prostraton, and the
trouble upset her reason. She became abnor,
mally melancholy, and General Sherman advised
the placing of her in private asylum as Tusca-
Ioosa, Ala. Her malady was mild, however. and
in two years she discharged as cured
Again the desire for activity took possession OF
her. but this time it had unreasonable ex-
preston. She told her relatives that she meant
90 20 to New York and become school teacher
She may have really intended to do some teach
ing, If the opportunity presented itself, but her
principal scheme TO come to this ceHter OF
American literature and establish herself as a
writer of poetry She had been encouraged by
the publication, If rather obscurely. OF several
pieces and she got it into her impractical head
that maintenance as well fame could be won
readily. She arrived in New York little more
than year ago She brought letter intro
ducine her to N. w. Raphael, broker, who
was distant relative, asking him to keep an
oversight of her.
Lillian had just such an experience as do
thousands who convince themselves that they
the geniuses they aspire to be. She appre-
ciated good poetry. and thought that she could
write Ii. She lost no time il making a round or
visits TO editors sanctums. Mr.. Glider. of the
Century Magazine, tells me that he recalls her
distinctly even among the multitude of anna
teur authors who besst him. He read several
OF her poems and found them conventional, al
though she showed true poetic spirit ard some
degree of facility in expression Or course he
could not buy anything of her. A hundred ex-
celIent poems offered every MAGAZINE whsre
room can be found for one. John Foord, or Har-
per's Weekly, tells me that she seemed TO be IN
q state of mental ecstacy when she called on
him, and he found it quite impossible to get Der
to comprehend, much less to accept, his advice
that she at once give all idea of getting liv-
ing with verses She did not miss many of the
weekly and daily newspaper offices IN her quest
for buyers Chester S. Lord. of the Sun, a.
sured her kindly but plainly that while starva-
ton was danger TO writer's of prose-fction, it
certainty to those who depended upon po-
etry.
my dear Miss Bull,n said he to her, John G.
Whittier aud Henry w. Lopgfellow wouldn't be
far beyond the mere comforts of life 1t they
hadn's other cash resources than their fame"
General Sherman says Of this period OF his
third cousins life
Lillian was fine young woman, possessing
an excellent intellect. and tender and true in all
her instincts. but she lacked in force of charac-
ter. and found it impossible 10 guide her into 8
sensible view of life
.Iknew her family we'll, and assisted her as a
friend rather than relative. She came to me
several times, but soon loss sight Of her, and
the next that knew abe dead"
In that same way she dropped out of the
knowledge of her friends and relations. and
when Mr.. Raphael made search he found her
stitution for deserving female workers. But she
went away discovered.
One cold night in last October, Lillian Bull
pulled the door bell at the house of the Good
Shepherd. Roman Catholic refuge for unfor-
tnnate girls and women. When the wicket was
opened, she handed in piece of paper on which
was written:
The knock Of poet. Respond pray,
And open your portal to
seek shrine wherein to lay
The Offering of burning say
That may enter tonight and stay,
AT least till the dawn of another day.
Ny thanks your reward shall be-
My fame you shall sometime see.
It was Sister Mary Josephine who took in this
peculiar request, and Lillian invited into
the reception room. where the mother superior.
Ann Clover, had interview with her. She
WAS not qualified by misconduct for admission
as q regular inmate, and the mother told her so;
but Sister Mary Josephine had taken fancy to
her on sight, ana pleaded that she be taken in
anyhow.
1.-THE dear young woman was gentle
ture." says Mother Superior. ''Bus she existed
away mp in the ether, and it was impossible to
keep her down where her feet touched the EARTH
Wouldn't like to say that she was crazy then,
but rather that she was so sentimental that her
mind took no hold on practical subjects. She
was quiet and gentle, however. and abe made
herself useful in our nursery department The
attachments between her and Sister Mary jose
prime became very deep and fond, and il was
o sad day to Lillian when her intimate died,
"a she did two months ago." Lillian wrote
poem Oh the subject M she did on every other
that arose. and here 10 a sample verse:
Farewell, dear friend and counsellor,
No heart aches more than mine;
The wound is past all healing
seek but help divine.
Ny little bark goes drifting
Upon an unknown sea;
Guard we'll its course, sweet spirit,
lis safe when steered by thee.
Lillian found . new chum among the sisters in
Clarissa Hayne who says: mo matter how
erratie and unreasonably poetic Lillian may have
been she greatly beloved here She never |
mixed all with the girls committed to this in
etitution, her slight duties being connected with
the nursery. and she lived with the sisters. We
vere very much afraid she would 90 away after
the death of Sister Mary Josephine. and did our
best TO keep her. She q great deal of |
rhyme. but without finishing more than one |
poem in ten that she commenced. She told me |
that no true poetry could be written by anybody /
had not
ence. So when she wrote a poem which she |
called "a Song OF the Twilight" and the sub |
1ect of love between the writer and o sweet |
heart. asked her If that was something out Of |
her own life. She said that it Was; that she had |
been engaged to a New Orleans gentleman, who /
had been by some cruel cate taken away from |
her. She did give all the particulars of /
this episode, and would divulge them If sha
had done SO, because she talked with me in con- 1