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

day as above dated. We leave for the country
tomorrow. SARAH B. COOPER.
The fact that Miss Cooper was practi-
cally insane was known to but few of her
friends, and her mother guarded the
secret with the greatest care and surren-
dered her life by continuing to sleep with
the child whom she knew had mania to
end her life and take her mother along.
The history of the previous attempts is
best known to the family physician.
1t was but natural that, with the ten
acity of groundless hope, DR.. Sidney
Worth, the family physician, should have
been hastily sum moned to the bedside of
the women who had been his patents and
his friends 1t was o clock when he ar
| rived-hours after the time when his skill
might have thwarted the subtle agency OF
death. He viewed the bodies lying side by
side as in sleep. But to the trained eye of
the physician their quietness meant more
than sleep.
'It is over" he said. And the friends
knew that there had passed from their
midst those whom they had learned 10
love and revere.
at is somewhere between six and eight
months" said DIR. Worth yesterday after
noon, "since | was first called upon to at
tend Miss Hattie. She was suffering from
melancholia, with tendency toward sui
cide-what you would call suicidal melan-
cholia. Mrs. Cooper told me it was
hereditary in her husbands family. Her
husband, as you know, committed suicide,
as did two of his cousins and an uncle.
With Miss Hattie the tendency was very
marked. She was constantly talking of
taking her own life. She had absolutely
no cause to be respondent. Physically
she was strong and hardy. There was
nothing to worry her. She had every
thing she could reasonably wish. Yet
during the time have attended her this
morbid desire seemed almost constantly
with her in varying degrees.
- L am tired she used to say; I want
to end it all, want to go away and take
you with me, mother / warned her
mother repeatedly against the danger she
was running in living alone with her
daughter while she was in this condition.
Twice her daughter has attempted the
act which termina ated fatally last night.
SIZE arose from her bed on these occasions
when she thought her mother sound
asleep, surreptitiously she glided toward
the gas Jet and was in the act of turning
on the gas, as,when Mrs. Cooper detected her.
"With difficulty Mrs. Cooper would dis
suade her daughter from her deadly pur-
pose. Even after these attempts, both of
which occurred during the last three
months, Mrs. Cooper could not be per-
suaded to place her daughter in an insti-
properly treated. Always she hoped and
believed that the great love which existed
between her daughter and herself would
protect her from the influence of the fatal
mania Her fears seemed all for her
daughter. She sought the power of argu-
ment to counteract her daughter suicidal
tendency.
"'You have no right to take your own
life,' she would say to her unfortunate
daughter 1T was given to you by an allwise
Providence, and in him only is the right
to take it away At such times the argu-
ment would apparently prevail, or at least
Miss Hattie made no attempt to reply
to it.
''At one time we talked before her of
sending her to an institution in San
Mateo County. The idea was distressing
TO Miss Hattie and also 10 Mrs. Cooper.
warned Mrs. Cooper that she was not well
enough to nurse her daughter. She was