New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-01-21
SHE JUMPED FROM A ROOF.
A WOMAN COMMITS SUICIDE.

COULD FIND no WORK BECAUSE SHE WAS WE'LL
BRED AND HONEST, SHE SAID.
A woman whose scantv and well-worn cloth
ing indicated poverty jumped of the roof of the
tenement house No l05 Sec0nd-ave. late on Sun
dav nioht and was killed. Her death had been
instantaneous as her skull had been crushed by
striking against the sidewalk. The police made
some inquiries in the house and failed to get
any information about the woman They carried
the body to the station-house in Fifth-st., and
postponed further inquiry until yesterday morn
ing when they noticed cuts in the throat and
wrist, which evidently had been made with some
sharp instrument. The cuts were not deep. but
blood had flowed from them, and they had been
bandagcd loosely with pieces of old cloth. The
body was sent to to M0rgue
At the house in Scc0nd-avc. the police learned
later that the woman had been known there only
as Mrs. Henderson. She and her husband I'd
ward NJ Henderson, hired small attic room III
the house few months ago. 1t was said that
Henderson was book-canvasscr and had formerly
kept bookstore in this city. Drink had ruined
his health and reduced him to poverty. Lately
ne disappeared lis wife said he had been taken
10 the home of his aunt on New-JerseS larin'
She was left without money or friends and was
unable to find work. Day after day she wehO
out TO seek for employment only TO return urea
out and disappointed in the evening She pa"heu
the good clothing which she had ana az Ieng,n
she had left only the ragged dress IN when she
died Her neighbors said she was ta an5
woman about thirty years old, ana her tlik .tlln
manners showed her to be woman OF educa'loh
and refinement. - ,
Her little room under the roof was
a cherries place indeed. The walls were pias
tered but the rafterS were bare; LlghI s'ieaiHsu
into the room through small sKyllght III Vhc
roof A bed, bureau washstand ana two "a
fhroe oh
had been dragged under the skyllght, when was
open, and il was evident that Mrs; nehuels1 l
had gone up TO the roof that way. On the WASH WASH
stand the police found razor ana DOW party
full of bloody water. On the floor were rugs
soaked with blood. The desperate woman hao
tried the razor. but her courage had 1alIcd heI;
and she had sought TO stop the How of Dlo0u
from her veins. Then she had climDed 70 'ne
roof and had thrown herself to the soewa rpuoo
On the lower shelf of the washstand the ponce
found an unfinished letter to her husband, which
read as follows: $3.50
My Ever.Beoved Ed: l am not in fit condition condition
cannot get employment and what IS going 70 become
of me know not was out IN al na' SSCrr as
week, and camc IN drenehed ana a. uSus , ~ ever
full, and think will become total wreck II 4 eVe e.
again hear the expre>Soh avc you any fit sorry for
them, would not take me in their kitchens bccausc i
that ncvey had to work before. but because was
not born and bred in the gu'tsr pt T "'"''
There is help for ali but the genteel poor and they
ore The ones who suffer most bu have me 'at'siac
ton of knowing that nave ui'tl anu "ohiu
any honest work. to ScTboing. would nave
COT plenty of shady work Wldow"rs who aaVertlse
Tor housekeepcrS and then gently insnna,e uiat !on
add w,felv duties to domestic arrangements are yer,
plenty IL this city, but l do not approve "i Snch
economy. -. , -. ,,,o ,o hova
have been so indignant that ! would IKE 10 nave
shot the top of their heads of, the old fools
The police thought that Mrs Henderson nae
NOT determined to kill herself when she wrote
the fragment of tie letter. hut as she wrote OF
The troubles which she had suffered her feenngs
overcame her and She made sudden resolve 70
lN1o
her husband or any other relative. and the DodS
will nrobablv be buried in the Potters Field