Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-03
Fn'IND DEAD TODAY
Sad Ending Of Ida Suits Short
Career.
DAUGHTER OF JAMES HUMPHREY
Asphyxiated in DisreputabIe
House This Morning,
EST NECESS AIRY

A woman clad in her nightdress, with a
heavy robe thrown carelessly about her,
walked into the fourth precinct police sta
ton this morning about o'clock and noti-
fed the officer on duty that there was
dying woman in Belle Whites house Of ILL
fame, on street. Illuminating gas, she
said, had rendered the woman unconscious,
and a physician was wanted. DIR. Childs
was soon found, and although he worked
on the asphyxiated woman, he failed to get
her in a condition in which she showed any
signs of life. Later in the day Sergeant
Daley learned that the woman was Ida
Suit, divorced woman, daughter OF James
w. Humphrey, the retired livery stable
keeper who lives at AIT c street. She was
about twenty-eight years old and hand
some.
During her younger days Ida Humphrey
was not only handsome, but was well pro
portioned, and her neat figure made her
an unusually attractive woman. Several
years ago, it Is said, she married Arthur
Suit, and was afterward divorced from
him. Since then she has lived at her "a
theirs home. She was a young woman Of
a lively disposition, and 1t was suspected
by some of her acquaintances that her
mode of life would bring her to sad end
ing sooner or later.
Last evening while the snow was falling
and the wind blowing there came knock
en- the. door of Belle Whites gilded palace
and this unfortunate woman and. a male
companion were ushered in and shown a
room on the upper floor. The man who
was with her was comparatively young
man, of heavy build. He wore light suit
of clothes and his general appearance gave
the impression that he was German.
The Man Left.
It was early in the evening when the
couple appeared at the house and the
man left some time about midnight. Before
he left the house he was asked to pay the
rccm rent, which he did not do, but told
the proprietress that the woman would
pay the bill. When the couple reached the
house they appeared as if they had been
drinking, the woman being worse off than
her companion, but this caused no uneasi-
ness, for it is a frequent occurrence for
such people to be under the influence of
liquor. For this reason no attention was
paid to the woman, and it was not until
8 o'clock this morning that Belle White
knew there was something wrong.
Found Dead.
The odor of escaping gas then attracted
her attention, and when she went to the
room she found the woman in her night
rote lying across the bed. In the room
there was a bottle of whisky, only small
portion of its contents having been re-
moved. There was a gas stove in the room
that had been used early in the evening,
but there was no light in the stove and
the gas was turned on.
Such was the condition of affairs when
the proprietress of the house reached the
room.
AS already stated, the police were sum-
moned, and Dr. Childs was soon at the
womans bedside.
Clue to Identity.
When he had determined beyond doubt
that the woman's life was extinct the po-
lice looked about the room for evidences Of
identity, and found pinned to the collar of
her undergarment a pawn ticket. This
Sergt Daley took to Burnstine's pawn
shop and there he learned that the woman
had pawned ar article of jewelry under the
name Of annie Suit and her residence
was given as AT c street.
When the officer called at the house and
saw the woman's mother she exclaimed:
That's my daughter Ida"
She went to the house in South Wash
ington, where she identified the body of
the dead woman that OF her daughter.
Undertaken J. William Lee sent for,
and he took charge of the body and re-
moved it to his establishment Pennsyl
vania avenue. This was done by direction
of the coroner, and autopsy is to be
made at o'clock.
A rumor to the effect that foul means
had been employed in the case was set
afioat in police circles, but the investiga-
ton made by the officer failed to reveal
anything of this nature.
The identity of the man who went with
the woman to the house is not known, but
in police circles this afternoon it was stat
ed that the man is probably a prominent
merchant.