Butte semi-weekly miner., 1889-01-16
ONEMORE UNFORTUNATE
IN INMATE or 4 HOUSE ON PARK
srBEEr1 TAKES POISON.

IN INMATE or 4 HOUSE ON PARK
srREEr TAKES POISON.
In mt Of Mental Depression After =
Spree, Disheartened at the Loss Of Her
Lover. She Ends Her Woes BY the Nor
phine Route.
Another example Of the disgi aceful laxity
OF the custom in this city that permits the
deadliest poison TO be sold in quantities
sufficient to kill a regiment Of men, oc-
Cured last evening. The evidence taken
at the inquest on the body OF a girl who
passed by the name OF Rrby Gray, who
was an inmate OF the house No. Is East
Park street, showed that q child can go TO
any drug store in this city, call for and re-
ceiye a bottle Of morphine unquestioned.
The jury, in their verdict, censured the
practice as criminal in the extreme, and it
is to be hoped that the authorities will
take the matter in hand at once and pass
such restrictions on it's sale as are the
custom in every civilized community.
The circumstances attending the suicide
are as follows: Ruby Gray, q young wo-
man Of about 90. dark haired. and with
out any special attractions Of feature or
form. came to the house at 13 East Park
street, about five weeks ago, from Denver.
1t appears she had there been acquainted
with a man TO whom she be-
came deeply attached, but whom,
for some reason not discoy-
cred, che Left or was deserted
by. Though her companions at the house
where she lived declared she was always oil
a jolly, lively disposition, it is evident that
this separation from her ..lover' preyed on
her mind and drove her to sprees TO drown
her sorrows.
She got on one OF these sprees on Thurs.
day afternoon. Hiring a rutter, she and
a friend, Dora Edmunds. went out driving
during the afternoon, and the testimony oil
the latter at the inquest showed that the
deceased went out with the intention oil
getting thoroughly intoxicated and that
before she went she was in very despond-
ent frame OF mind. Ruby stayed out un-
til o'clock Friday morning when the land
lady Of the house admitted her, she being
then so drunk she could hardly stand.
She went TO her room, and was not seen
until 2 o'clock Friday afternoon, when
the landlady went up to her room and
found her in q very penitent frame OF mind.
iust'as any one would be under the circum-
stan.es. Shortly after, she rang for mes
senger boy, and when he came she
sent him first for her breakfast,
\ Il. lnx1 1@,.- - 4 L
that gave him dollar and told
him to go and get her a bottle of morphine,
merely telling him to assure the druggist
that there was no danger. The boy tent is
only 16 and was OF course wearing the mes
senger boys uniform. He got d bottle OF
Powers & Weightman's morphine contain.
ing about fifty grains oil the drug, paid six
bits for it and brought it back to the girl
who was still in bed. at this time she was
perfectly sober and was quietly disposiug OF
her lunch when the boy returned with the
drug. She gave him come other commits.
sions to execute aud he left.
No one apparently entered her room
from that time until about o'clock in the
evening when girl named Flora CLAYTON
entered the room and they had a few
mutual inquiries about letters, after which
few words Ruby fell back ON her pillow and
said she was awfnIly sick. Miss Clayton
knew she had been on spree that morning
and supposed it was due to this. So she
left her without any further concern.
Half an hour later the Chinaman hap
pened to be passing the door when he dis
covered her breathing heavily, and looking
in at once sUrmised the truth. He ran
down and acquainted Miss Wallace, the
Iandlady. who rushed up to the room
IN Ia,,
breathing heavily. Calling assistance, she
hastily applied every known remedy, until
Drs. Shultz, Murray and Howard, who had
been summoned, arrived. whoapplied every
form OF restorative possible, without avail.
The girl died between and 8 o'clock.
The inquest held is the first to which
Coroner Howard has been summoned. Dur
ing it's course, q druggist in a neighboring
drug store testified that he had sold bot
tie OF the same drug-just such another
bottle OF morphine-to young woman oil
about the age OF the deceased. He had been
called by mist axe, but the chances are
that the suicide of yesterday will
be followed by another in q few
days. As q matter OF fact, in
nearly every previous instance one
suicide has been the precursor OF two
more. 1t ought therefore, to be especially
uCtOoSdff IOt uiuSbinto dO tHi6 pillC VI DC
particularly cautious to whom they sell
poisons, and it is to be trusted that in the
not distaut future it will be made as much
a crime to sell poison without proper med
ical prescription, as it is in any Of the cit
les OF the Union.
The name Ruby Gray was the assumed
name OF the deceased. Her real name was
Lille DeMorris, and the last note she left
on earth, which was found under her pillow
before she died, is addressed to her father in
Philadelphia and is touching in it's brevity
and the hopelessness of despair it breathes.
1t is as follows:
"Papa-I am heart broken. Nc friends.
No one at all to love me. Goodbye to
everyone. Your only daughter,
LILLE DEMoRRIs.
''Send my body to my father.
"RUBY."
This OF itself is sufficient to give the key
note to the depressed condition OF the uu-
known to any of the in mates where she
passed her last weeks OF life. What bitter
remorse and sense of utter degradation these
few lines give utterance to can only be
guessed. Young, at an age when the spirits
OF young person are at
their highest, it is evident that
she realized that her life was
q failure and that she de-
SPARED of ever rising above the depths
to which she was surely tending. There
was no appearance in her face of more
than average intelligence or that she was
one Of those refined natures upon whom
such life as she was leading must pail
with dreadful severity. But it is beyond
question that the girl had hasted the bit
terness OF her shame to the uttermost,
and that to escape the sorrows she could
no longer endure she braved the risk of fly
ing to Others that she knew not of.
The jury found q verdict OF suicide by
morphine to herself and, as
already stated. strongly condemned the
laxity that prevails here in allowing the
sale of deadly drugs to any and every per-
son who presents the price of the same
sven children-without the warrant OF
prescription, and recommended
that the sale in futdre be surrounded with
the safeguards against the indiscriminate
vending OF poisons usual elsewhere.
Her relatives in Philadelphia have been
with and the body will be
leld for their disposal.
THE CABLE ROAD.
The "Tightener" "Arrives-Accidenti in TAX
ing It to the Power House.