Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-03-12
His Wife Was Insane.
PAT CR0NAN, OF MARTINSBURG.
WAS DEAD A WEEK BEFORE
HIS WIFE KNEW 1T.
She Thought He Was Sick and Sat Up
With Him Each Night Until the
Body Decomposed She
Died Yesterday.

One OF the most horrible tales of
death and neglect that has ever hap
pened in this part Of the country came
to light Saturday at Martinsburg, Mo.
Saturday moor Coroner Rodes receiv-
cd a telegram from Father Dell, of the
Roman Catholic Church at Martins
burg, telling him to come down i'm
mediately. He left on the 2 O'Clock
train and on his arrival was immediate
ly taken out to the farm Of Pat Cronan,
an old Irish farmer, who lived with
his wife on a small farm of 90 acres,
about a mile from Martinsburg. The
house in which the aged couple lived
contains but two rooms, and on enter
ing n of these an awful sight was
disclosed to view.
Lying on a bed in the room was the
body of Mr.. Cronan in a most advanc-
ed stage of decomposition, and the
stencil which flied the house was
almost unbearable. Mrs. Cronan,
who had been subject to insane spells,
was going about her household duties
as usual, cooking a meal in the room
where the corpse lay and taking no
special notice of it. 1t was plain to
see that she was demented, and moth
ing could be learned from her as to
when her husband died or what AUS
ed his death. Coroner Rodes examin-
ed the body and found that Mr.. Cronan
had been dead at least a week. He
could find no marks of violence and
decided that the deceased must have
died from a bad cold Or acute pneu-
monia. At any rate it was plain to
see that the man had been dead a
week.
The last time that Cronan was seen
wac on Sunday, March 1st, when he
and his wife attended mass together.
As he usually has had colds each win
ter and is confined to his bed for a
week or so, the neighbors thought
nothing of not seeing him, and no
neighbors eve called on him when he
vas sick, he and his wife leading q
oSSAAdSo me-. H vas SCh
ty and eighty years old and his wife
was also quite old.
Every day during the past week
Mrs. Cronan had gone to mass and on
Saturday morning she handed Father
Dell $40 in bills and told him that her
husband was very sick and she thought
he had best come out and see him.
The odor that arose from the handful
of bills was awful and led the priest to
suspicion something, so he went out
Immediately after mass and found the
man in the state described above. He
at once notified Coroner Rodes.
1t seems that Mrs. Cronan had
thought her husband very ill and sat
up with him each night until his face
began to turn black and she was
scared and told the priest on Saturday,
Meanwhile she had cooked all heI
meals IN the small room and the heat
fastened decomposition. When the
odor became unbearable she got q
brickbat and knocked out every pane
of glass in the house, thus admitting
the fresh aif. 1t is Coroner Rodes
opinion that Cronan died a week age
Sunday and had been lying in bed SIX
days.
Mrs. Oronan was to have been tax
en- to the Asylum Monday, but a letter
from Martinsburg that morning stated
that she died Sunday. 1t is no
known what caused her death.
This is one of the most horrible
events of the kind that has ever oc'
Cured in the State, and only one cir
cumstance tends to lift from it TIT
dark veil of sorrow-that she will
whom he had lived so long has fol
lowed in his footsteps.