The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-12

busy streets the loving hands of Mrs.
Cooper's nearest friends, Mrs. George T.
Gaden and Mrs. w. E. Hale, wife OF
Warden Hale, were doing the few kind
offices that remain for friends to minister
to their cherished dead. To these friends,
both of whom have been the advisers and
supporters of Mrs. Cooper in her labors
the blow was heavy, yet neither was
wholly unprepared for the awful happen
ing. As the afternoon wore on Mrs.
Gaden became Frustrated, but Mrs. Hale
maintained her position as temporary
mistress of the abode of death with re-
markable fortitude. For a time she
sought to draw veil of privacy about the
tragic affair, but later, fearful lest some
thing of mystery might attach to the
death of her friends, she consented to tel
everything she knew in regard to it.
"There is no mystery about this affair
at ALL" she declared. Miss Hattie has
been addicted to this mania for months
10 my knowledge and recently she con-
fessed she had been aware of it for year,
but had striven to battle against it.
This mania is hereditary with her.
Her father killed himself without an
apparent reason. He was of bright and
cheerful nature always, enthusiastic in
his aid of Mrs. Cooper and happy in his
domestic life. One day he escorted his
wife and daughter to church. They
stayed to Sunday school and when they
returned he was dead.
"Mrs. Cooper did not know then that
insanity was hereditary in his family. /
think it was only about year ago when
she first learned that three of her hus-
bands relatives had committed suicide.
The letter which apprised her of this fact
unfortunately fell into the hands of Miss
Hattie. From that moment the young
woman considered herself doomed. Mrs.
Cooper was grieved that her daughter
should have seen this letter, but Hattie
acted as her mothers secretary and re-
ceived the letter before her mother had
seen it.
.During the last four months Hattie's
condition has been very serious aud it has
weighed heavily upon her mother. She
could not bear to think of putting her in
an asylum. The hope was constantly in
her mind that her daughter would re-
cover and be all right again.
'Tne intention to commit suicide wa s
firmly fixed In Hattie's mind and she al
ways said she would take her mother
with her. Twice she made actual at
tempts to carry out her threat that
know of. Her mother detected her both
times in the act of turning on the gas
When Mrs. Cooper tried to make her de-
sist in each instance struggle ensued.
QOD m6un LO say q CIuel SLIuRRlG, DuL
the daughter tired to prevent her from
interfering.
"a short time ago Mrs. Cooper and
Hattie spent week at my home ct San
Quentin. While there Hattie promised
US that she would never take her mother s
life. That was when she was sane, but
nightly while they were there the insane
periods recurred. They seemed always to
come between and 4 o'clock in the morn
ing. Then MRS. Cooper would be awake
and argue and soothe her dau hter until
the force of the mania had passed away.
tAbout month ago l persuaded Mrs.
Cooper that she should write and tell her
sister, as tenderly as possible, of her daugh-
ter's misfortune. She dreaded having
any one know of the trouble, but eventu-
ally wrote the letter which has been given
to the press and the Coroner This sister
and one IN the South are her nearest
relatives. Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll is
her cousin, and the most affectionate
relations existed between them, though
their views were so greatly opposed.
miss Hattie was never religious in the