The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-05-16
AN INSANE MOTHERS ACT.
PolsoNs HER SON AND KILLS HERSELF
Mrs. Thomas Jordan Gives Her Youngest
Child a Fatal Dose Of Aconite And
Belladona and Then Cuts Her
Throat-Sad Details.

4! darkened window Saturday afternoon at
81 Park-ave. from the gusty breeze that
sent dust and little scraps of paper flying
heavenward, little struggle OF sunshine
would for moment play across the bodies
of two people, both stretched in death,
one little boy, with fair silken hair
clinging to brow dark with the dews of
eternal quiet, and the other woman in
the prime of life, with singularly calm
but expressive countenance. The two
were mother and child-Mrs Ida A.
Jordan and her son Frank, aged four years.
The house is the home of Mr.. Tho mas
! before last by the violent hicc ough-
ing OF his son who was asleep
with mis- mother in the adjoining room.
i Springing out of bed, he ran into the front
room and was inexpressibly shocked to
| find his wife laying upon the bed satu-
rated in her own blood from terrible
cash across her throat. Firmly grasped in
her right hand was razor which ex-
planned all at once. The suffering OF the
/ little one awoke the almost Frustrated
father to a realization OF further calamity,
and he at once examined his son to see if
he had been subjected to the same fate.
No sign of violence could be observed,
but as his symptoms grew more alarming
he hastily despatched an older son
to procure medical aid. Drs. Purdy
and Avery soon arrived, and at once pro-
nounced the boy poisoned. An empty
phial under the bed, which had been filled
with mixture of belladona and aconite,
served to show at once the nature of the
poison administered.
Everything within the power of the
physicians was done for the relief of the
suffering child but he continued to grow
worse until yesterday morning at o'clock,
when he died in terrible agony.
That the poison was administered by
the mother, there is no doubt, and
insane devotion to the little one, whom
she could not part with after having de-
termined to take her own life, is fully
demonstrated by the circumstances which
surround the entire affair.
Mr.. Jordan is quite well known in Ind
annapolis, having been formerly connected
with the grain firm of Noel, Jordan & Co.
In 1879 he moved to Richmond, IND,
where he remained for five years. Dur
ing his stay in Richmond Mr. Jordan
first began to suspect that his wife
was suffering from dementia, which
was given considerable weight
inasmuch as several of her uncles
had become insane. Mrs. Jordan was the
daughter of Fayette Gridley, who was
| proprietor of the Palmer house in this
city before the war, and who afterward re-
moved to Chicago, where he died. His
widow, Mrs. Mary L. Gridley, still sur
wives him, and through her advice, Jor-
dan sent his wife to Chicago where she
spent six weeks in the care of her mother
at a medical sanitarium. While in Chi
cage, Mrs. Jordan became interested in
the study of Christian science, and she
attended a course of lectures at an
institute controlled by Mrs. Emma
Hopkins, 2019 Indiana-ave. Mrs.
Jordan afterward entered into
| partnership with another lady and en-
| parked in the practice OF medicine in
Chicago. Last August her mental in
| firmities became more pronounced, owing
to her intense application to her new
study. She wrote to her husband several
letters in which she complained of her
mental health and beseeching him tocome
| to Chicago. He found her greatly dis
| quieted by reason of a fear that hercon-
! dition would necessitate her removal to an
insane hospital. 1t was at this time that
she was placed in the Hopkins
sanitarium, where she seemed
| to receive some benefit 1t
seems, however, that the improvement
was but temporary, for after leaving the
institution she became subject to the most
intense spells of melancholy, during
which she repined a great deal over her
distressing condition, and was frequently
| heard to express wish that she might
| die and take her son Frank with her.
Last Saturday Mr.. Jordan returned to
this city and took up his residence at 80
| Park-ave. 1t seems his wife was not at
all contented with her surroundings at this
place and complained continually OF their
poverty and changed circumstances. From
continued dwelling upon this subject, her
| melancholy attacks seemed to become
more aggravated, and day before yesterday
| she became so violent that Mr.. Jordan
was. compelled to stay at home and watch
her. During the spell she seemed to be
greatly worried, and made the remark
quite often that she had something on her
mind which she would like to tell her
husband. Mr.. Jordan says that she was
undoubtedly premeditating the deed at
this time, as several days before she had
asked that her little son Frank be permit
ted to sleep with her, stating that he was
sick and needed her attention, which was
really the case, as the boy had been suffer-
ing from a slow fever.
Several weeks ago Mr.. Jordan purchased
a bottle OF aconite and another of BELLA
dona for medical purposes, which he care
fully secreted, telling his wife that there
was danger of the children getting hold of
them, when, in reality, he feared that his
wife might be tempted to do some
rash act with the medicine during
her disturbed mental condition. That
his suspicious were well grounded
has unhappily proved true. Mrs. Jor-
dan presumably watched her husband,
who hid the bottles upon high window,
though he thought he was unobserved by
his wife.
Mrs. Jordan loved her youngest son
with an ardor displayd toward none
of her other children, two of whom
she leaves-a boy aged ten and daughter
aged thirteen-who are now in Toledo,
o. Mr.. Jordan says that his wife would
undoubtedly have taken her life long be-
fore if she had not been restrained by the
love of this boy.
The bereaved husband is utterly broken
| down, and is certainly to be pitied-
| When the undertaken arrived in the
morning to dress the bodies, and began
searching for suitable clothes to dress the
Il n 4.