Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-12-24
A PLU'a.1l g! ! To DEATH.
Daughter of Hx-Secretary Herbert
Commits Suicide. :.
WASA SUFFERER FROM MELANCHOLIA
During the Temporary Absence OF
i. Her Nurse She Lenrs from the
Third-story Window of Her
Home In Warrington.

Washington, Dec. 90. Miss Leila
Herbert, daughter of eN-Secretary
of the Navy Herbert, of Alabama, died
at her home in this city as the result of
q fall from the third-story of her home
fashionable part of the city just off
Dupont Circle. The sudden death and
tragic features surrounding it were n
great shock to the great circle of
friends she had made in the course of
her life in Washington, as the daughter
of popular representative in congress
from the south and later MS one of the
cabinet circle of ladies when she pre-
sided over her fathers household dur
ing the four years he was secretary of
the navy under the last Cleveland adj
ministration.
Her death was tracablc indirectly to
an accident while horseback riding in
Virginia last September She had always
been enthusiastically fond of riding, and
while paying a visit to friends started
home on a horse that had not been
broken. It stumbled and she was
thrown violently to the ground sus-
tanning severe injuries to her back.
She was brought back to Washington,
but recovery was exceedingly slow and
1t was not until last Sunday that she
was able to go out of the house. On
That day she went driving for the first
time since the accident and DIR. W. W.
Johnston, the attending physician, no.
.ticed considerable Improvement.
Snd Details of the Suicide.
rs Tuesday afternoon the following nu-
thorized statement was made by gem
tleman familiar with all the facts of the
suicide.
Miss Herbert, at the time of the occur
renee, was suffering from acute melan-
cholia. 1t developed several weeks ago as
the final result of injuries received by be-
Ing thrown from her horse last spring
THE melancholia was not insanity in
the sense of being accompanied by delu-
E1ons. AT the same time there was pro-
found depression, and as is always the case
An this type OF disease, there was great dam
ger that suicidal tendencies would develop
For this reason nurses were provided to
maintain the closest watchfulness No SUI
dcidal tendency developed however, until
Monday, when for the first time Miss
Herbert made an attempt to get out of
the window, but was restrained by the
nurse. This led to additional caution
and two nurses alternated In constant
watchfulness Of the patient. She was at all
times rational, quiet and gentle and 1t
was supposed the disease would yield
TO. treatment. Early Tuesday morning the
nurse on duty noticed small spot of blood
on the bed covering. She inquired what It
meant, but the invalid endeavored to pass
At by lightly. On making Investigation,
however, the nurse found that the under.
Sbedclothes were saturated with blood. and
that Miss Herbert had severed an artery OF
her wrist with pair of scissors. Feeling
that the emergency was great, tie nurse
hastened to the door and called an alarm
IN this momentary withdrawal from the
bedside Miss Herbert leaped out and sprang
from the window. The plunge was made
headforemost, so that she lighted on the
top OF her head on the asphalt pavement.
This injury alone was sufficient to have
caused death from conclusion of the brain.
and 1t was doubtless the Immediate cause.
aside from this a cursory examination
indicated that the skull was fractured. The
Hsyering OF the artery would also have re-
suited fatally. When the physician reached
her Miss Herbert was still breathing but
died about an hour after the leap
Verdict of the Coroner's Jury,
The coroner returned verdict Of sui
eide during temporary insanity. AS the
facts In the case were clear, he decided
the inquest was unnecessary.
Miss Herbert's father was not at home
at the time of the tragic event, being ON
his way here from Alabama.
Ex-Secretary Herbert reached Wash
angton at ten o'clock Tuesday night,
having been on his way from Alabama
TO spend the Christmas with his family.
when the news of his daughters death
met him on the train.
The funeral will be held to-day and
the remains will be taken to Montgom-
cry, Ala, for burial beside Miss Her
bert's mother.