St. Paul daily globe., 1893-08-24
WHAT CAUSED DEATH.
INQUEST on THE REyAIisS or Fa ETTY
A0LLiE SicKF0RD YESTERDAY.
CRIMINAL PRACTICE SHOWN.

Witnesses Agree That the Girl
Was in Serious Trouble an d
in Desperate Frame of Mind
Where She Died Censured for
NegIecting to Call Physician.
A coroEer's inquest was held yester-
| day afternoon OH the body of Mollie
Bickford. an account of whose sad and
tragic death was published abso-
| lutely exclusive in the GLOBE of
yester day. TIE jury, George
| Mitsch, E. ". Wallace, Matt Koch, w.
! Butler, viewed the remains ana were
! sworn ip at noon. but the taking of tes-
| timony was not commenced until 5
o'clock. Edward Bickford. the girls
| father, who lives at Excelsior. and w.
| l.. Dickey, a brother-in-law, VINO lives
! at Wayzata. took charge OF the remains
after the jury had been sworn, remuv-
ing them to Wayzata for burial. MIR.
Biekford declared his belief in his
! daughters Innocence, and said he
| would have nothing To do with prose-
| cutting an investigation as to the cause
| of her death. Mr.. Dickey stated that
the dead girls mother was dead, and as
| she had not been able to get along with
! her stepmuther, she had left home to
| make her OWN living.
| During the morning the undertaking
rooms of Willwerscheid, OH st. Peter
street, where the remains lay. were Wis
tied by hundreds of people, among the
throng being large number of those
acquainted with the dead girl from the
West Publishing company. So changed
were the features of their former asso-
ciate that many would not believe the
body before them was that of the beau
tiful girl they had known SO we'll.
The Eestf7nO n.y..
At the inquest conducted by Coroner
Whitcomb and attended by County At
torney Butler seven witnesses were eX-
amined, the principal being Mrs. Ina
Walker. at whose house the girl died.
TIE first witness was Miss Matte Ship
ley, who was employed with the de
ceased at the West Publishing COM
Bickford intimately in business way.
Mollie had worked for the firm for
nearly two years, except for the time
between June % and July 25, when she
was engaged with the Wilbur Opera
company. The witness last saw the de-
ceased alive on Saturday afternoon.
Aug. %, at which time Mollie was on
her way TO the matinee at the Metro
pOlitan, accompanied by another girl
who belonged to the company.
On Monday night the witness had
visited the Milford house to see why
Mollie had not been at work, but was
informed that Mollie had not been there
SINCE Saturday noon.
Rer Conduct Good.
Mrs. NJ. E. Tidball, matron at the
Milford home for working girls, at CIT
st. Peter street, testified that Mollie
had lived there for ten months. She
knew nothing of the girls habits except
that she appeared to be a very lady-like
and nice young lady. She was gener-
ally in at 10 'clock except when she
visited the theater. or went out of ali
evening, on which occasions she always
Informed the matTon where she was
going. The girl had a number of
gentlemen callers, but the rules of the
home were that all callers had to leave
at 10 O'Clock and when any of the in
mates had callers they were always re-
ceived in the parlors, and at no time
were they alone. At one time the
witness had spoken to Mollie about
the number of gentlemen callers she
had, and after that there had been
a noticeable decrease in the number or
callers. Witness did not recall the
names of any of the gentlemen who
called on Mollie, but 6ne certain young
man who seemed 10 be a great favorite
with her answered to the name of
"Berne." His surname the witness
could not recall. During July Mollie
had complained of having bollS and
cold, but avoided any examination.
Witness had noticed the girl acted
queerly during the past week or SO,
but supposed it was owing to her Sc
we're cold. She last saw her alive Satur-
day morning, Aug. 10, at breakfast.
She understood FROM another girl III the
house that Mollie had said she was 60
ing to visit friend Saturday night.
but would return in time TO go to church
Sunday morning. In case she did not
return she promised to meet the girl at
church Sunday morning.
Mrs. Walkers Testimony.
Mrs. Ina Walker, at whose house
Moilie died, testified that she was life
reader and clairvoyant. and had lived
| in st. Paul for over two years. She
came to st. Paul from Buffalo, and had
| been engaged in the same business
there. She had first seen the deceased
| on Saturday, Aug. IL, that she remem-
| bered, although Mollie had told her that
| she had visited her before, and had been
given ''lfe reading," at which time the
witness had told her she was afflicted
| with disease. At the visit on Aug. IL
| Mollie had seemed much distressed and
worried and asked her assistance, She
! had prescription filed and gave it to
| TO her. Last Saturday Mollie came to
| see her again. shortly after dinner, said
| she was going to the matinee, and asked
! if she could come to the house and re-
main over night, as Ii was impossible to
use the medicine given her at the board
ing house where she was staying owing
! 10 her roommates. At the time Mollie
/ told her she had no home; her father
| misused her, and that she had no money,
| but would pay ter as soon as she could
| Saturday evening Mollie came to the
house aud was given a room; at the
| same time witness told her not to be
worried about the payment for
| the room. Sunday morning Mollie
| ate hearty brRa kfaSt and durinp the
| day seemed very cheerful. On retiring
Sunday night she told AIollie if she
| needed anything or felt worse to pound
on the floor. About O'clock she was
| awakened, and OH going to the room
/ found Mollie suffering from pains i'll
her stomach. She prepared a mustard
| plaster, which was put on, but at break
fast time the plaster was removed and
| Moi'ie ate hearty breakfast. Having
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