Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-06
DEAD, BUT NOT BURIED
AngInsane Woman in Buffalo Keeps
the Corpse of Her Mother
IN THE HOUSE FOR THREE MONTHS.
Every Day She Took Food to the Room
Where Was the CHASTITY Sight.
AWFUL DISCOVERY MADE BY A LAWYER

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
BUFFALO, Nov. 5.-!The discovery of
mummifed and worm-eaten body in the
house 924 Washington street, this morning,
revealed one of the weirdest phantasies of
diseased mind that ever came to light in
Erie county. There was corpse, no longer
bearing any resemblance of the living, after
three months of putrefaction, carefully
treated and tended as one in life by an inI
sane woman who dwelt all alone with it
and kept her horrible secret to herself for
three months, until suspicion started an in
vestigation this morning.
No. 924 Washington street is small ~
story brick structure. Here for four years
lived Mrs. Barbara Luber, far advanced in
years, and her daughter, Mrs. Magdalena
Mochel, woman about 4S years old. On
September 27 John Luber, of Michigan, a
brother Of Mrs. Mochel came to this city
to visit his mother. He stayed for four
days at the house, on Washington street.
and went away puzzled BY the strange
things he had seen. Naturally, one of the
first questions he asked was about his
mother, and his sister answered sharply
that it was none of his business where she
was. He was accustomed to his sisters
queer conduct, and so took her answer
quietly, but when he again asked her of his
mothers whereabouts he received the same
reply.
Curiosity Aroused by Sisters Secrecy.
This made him furious. His sisters
secrecy and unusually strange demeanor
aroused him. He had noticed her fire.
quently visit a bed chamber, the door of
which was always closed, and one day he
stepped over to the door and thrust it open.
just then he felt firm grip on his arm.
His sisters hand grasped the door knob,
and the door was closed quickly, while his
sister drew him away from it. He had q
seen, however. that the bed was undis-
turbed, and apparently there was no one
there, but he had not looked behind the
door There was the CHASTITY secret.
On October Mr.. Luber returned to his
home in Michigan, his sister still refusing
to tell him where his mother was, but he
worried over her disappearance. and could
not rest until he learned the truth Yester-
day he came back to Buffalo and went to
Day & Romer, the attorneys and asked
them if an investigation could not be made.
Mr.. Romer, who is Mrs. MochePs attorney,
went to the house and asked her where her
mother was. She told him confdentially as
her friend she would tell him secret which
she had carefully guarded from all the
world because everyone was her enemy.
Then she led him to her bed chamber, threw
open the door and bade him go in.
Horrible Discovery by n Lawyer.
A sitting, nauseating stencil came from
the room Behind the door on the floor
was a great pile of blankets and pillows,
and at one end there was newspaper
Mr.. Romer drew away the paper and from
the pile of blankets appeared the head of
corpse, wasted into skeleton covered only
by a band of dried skin, and there in that
room the insane daughter told her story.
''On the 29th of August, she said, 'T
found mother had dropped to the floor in
the middle of the room. She lay so still
and did not speak, and could BOT get her
to stand up. But 1 knew she was not dead
and would come to life again soon, so car
ried her in here and made a nice bed on the
floor. Now 1 am waiting for her to come
to life. She will come back; 1 know she
will if she is dead"
1t seems the daughter had treated the in
animate body like an invalid. She brought
fresh food three times dav and placed it
by the side of the body, and then carried
away the dishes as if the invalid had taken
nourishment. She never went out except
to get food, and never allowed her friends
or relatives in the city to visit her. She
lived entirely in solitude, and would sit fo-
hours by the side of the corpse, talking to
it as she did to her mother while alive.
Mrs. Mochel is said to be worth S75,0OO
She will be taken to an insane asylum to-
morrow.