The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-06
She Was TIRED OF LIFE
Gertrude Baker Drank Enough
Laudanum to Kill Ninety.
DEED DONE IN D., l.. 4 ". DEPOT
She Was u Wcll.kuOwn Young Woman
and Wanted to bic Because Her
Husband Left lIcr-Taken to
Lackawauua Hos pital,

Gertrude Baker attempted suicide
last evening by drinking enough or
laudanum to kill ninety persons. The
overdose did not prove fatal but Drs.
Blanchard and Lewis, at the Lacka-
wanna hospital had hard time to save
her life. She will recover and be
around i'm a week or so.
The unfortunate young woman COM
mitted the rash act in the toilet room
at the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western station on Lackawanna ave-
nue. At $50 last evening. She had been
hanging around the station since o
O'Clock and had purchased ticket for
Pittston. Immediately after she came
out of the toilet room after drinking the
poison, she sank in a seat and vomited
upon her clothes. Philip Goerlitz, the
station officer, saw her and formed the
conclusion that she was under the in
fluence of liquor. He took hold of her,
intending to deliver her to an officer on
Lackawanna avenue, and rs they We're
going out the door she told him that
before morning death would have her
in its grasp. He remarked that she
would be all right after SOLDERING up.
and she then told him that liquor was
not the cause of her condition. but that
she had drank a bottle of laudanum.
and to prove her assertion she told him
to go back and look on the floor of the
toilet room, where he would find the
empty vial.
He took her across the street first
and turned her over to Captain Ed
wards and Patrolman Feeney, with the
information that she had given to him.
They called cab and had her con-
veyed to the hospital. The doctors there
used the stomach pump and got the
poison out of her, and after an hours
work they brought her to a safe condi-
tion.
TWO OUNCE BOTTLE.
Officer Goerlitz went back and found
the bottle. 1t was IA two-ounce one and
had been purchased at the B. 4 u.
pharmacy on Franklin avenue. There
remained bu: small portion of the
poison In the bottle The rest of 1t.
presumably, she drank.
She was dressed in y black dress.
waist and sack and II small black lace
hat. Her hair is short. black and
straight, and her face, which was once
pretty, Is now marked with the lines of
dissipation. That she contemplated
selfdestruction is without doubt, for in
her pocket was pad purchased at Bal
ley's news stand, North Washington
avenue. and ON II was written in
scrawling style the following two let
ters:
My dear husband. ! am writing yul
those few lines for the last time to tell
you that dearly love you and never will
forget you, my darling. You will never
see me, never speak TO me again. | hope
you will neve. forget my last words, those
we spoke at the door when We parted.
Good by, dear John.
Gertrude Baker was my maiden name.
Dear mother am writing these few lines
FOR the last time, for | have no money To
take me nome. so, mother dear, don't
feel bad when ! am dead, and tell all my
brothers and sisters | would like to See
them ALL but we will meet in heaven.
Tell my father that never will see him
any more. l would love to see him before
! die. Keep my clothes ANA trunk for
Mamie, for | long TO see their faces once
more.
Dear mother. I am heart broken to-
night: no one, no friend tC depend on or
home ! am married three months to-
day to John. Mother dear, don't cry for
me for | will be better off when | am
dead. Good by, dear mother, these are
my last words.
LIVED ON WYOMING AVENUE.
The police say that herself and hus-
band had rooms until u few days ago
on Wyoming avenue, near Linden
street. A quarrel arose and the hus-
band left her. She was married to
John Bacon, it is said. and the sea
of matrimOny was a very stormy one
for them. From the fact that she had
IL ticket for Pittston 1t is quite likely
that she was bound for there. hut she
just missed the 8 o'clock train. She
had a small dry goods package and
bag of bananas purchased.
Up to a late hour she had not recov-
cred sufficiently from the effects Of
the drug to talk coherently. but there
is very little doubt but that she will
be all right in five or six days.
SlX CRITICISMS OFFERED.
Against the Present system OF the
Traction Company.
1t had been expected that n meeting