The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-03
RICH WOMAN "A SUICIDE.
JESSIE PARSONS SHOOTS HERSELF
IN TIE HOTEL MANHATTAN.

IN THE HOTEL MANHATTAN.
pn,rs,er or the late wnitsuu n. Far,ons, m
Oia.Tims Dentist or this City-Ee LEFT Her
enOO O~Oo-nnability % Ester barnard Cell
leEo Apparently tire Cause or Het Suicide.
Jessie X. Parsons, q young woman who pos.
pessed an independent fortune OF 100000.
killed herself in tho Hotel Manhattan, Madi.
son avenue and Forty-second street, on Mon
day night.
Miss Parsons, who was 90 years old, was in
tho habit Of going TO the Manhattan whom she
was in town. She always camo alone. When
nhe appeared in the hotel at 8 o'clock Monday
night Clerk Hackett assigned her to q room
without any hesitation. The hall maid went
to Miss Parsons's room several times during
the evening. The last time was at 10 o'clock.
Miss Parsons was at that time preparing to go
to bed.
The chambermaid knocked on tho door sew
eral times at intervals Of half On hour yester-
day morning without getting any answer. At
10 O'Clock she opened the door, which had not
been locked, and went in. She saw at once that
the young woman was dead. Mr.. Patch, the
manager Of tho hotel. was summoned. He
found Miss Parsons lying on the bed with the
bed clothes drawn up under her chin. There
was q bullet hole in her right temple and q
small revolver lay ON her breast. She was
dead.
On the dressing table Mr.. Patch found two
sealed notes and an open letter that was not
addressed. This said:
'Pleaso notify Mr.. Louis Werner, Tarrytown,
and Herbert Barrett, Eighth avenue, near
Thirty. fourth street" ,.
The sealed notes were addressed to Mr.. Wer-
nor and Herbert Barrett. They were opened
later by Coroner Hoeber. The one to Mr.. Bar
rett read:
DEAR HERBERT: My only reason for mixing
you up in this business is to ask that you will
break the news to the people at 40 Locust Hill.
Perhaps your aunt Eta, when she Is at liberty,
can look after my aunt q bit. With thanks for
your many kindnesses. JESSIE x. PARSONS"
"Please go up and see auntie once in q WHILE"
The note to Mr.. Werner was for the most part
taken up with business matters. The writer
Enclosed In 1t several checks to settle her af-
fairs; among them was a check to the order of
Miss Louis Pullen. the aunt referred to in the
FIRST letter. for $3.50 ito meet her immediate
necessities" Toward the end tho letter said:
81 know l am a fool, but perhaps things viii
straighten out some time. | leave one check
kindly look after my funeral, burial, &c; Good
I, %Ths $500 check closes my account in the
Besides the checks there were $50 in cash in
the young woman's pocketbook.
The persons named in the open letter were
sent for. Barrett came first He is a boy II or
a Quite Ese oTer Ssa; si Sith EMOTION noa sa0'i liz Was h aec %as
ssPothecafsy. Of 8 Eighth avenue. The older
sons, since her birth. He declined to say
much Of anything. else except that neither he
2 guess at the reason for Miss Parsons's suicide.
He was very positive about this. Young
t aarls' at % ali. MI Mr.. Barre Barrett a' added that Ia i Rfss f s%n.
lily had been expscting a visit from Miss Par.
than on her wav from hAr ANITA home in
Yonkers to her dead fathers home, at Pound
Ridge slSsd Whs H { Yons s county, rs. Pound rom 81 Ridge Is
Conn, and for this reason she preferred to
break the journey in, halves;
father. no said, was Dr. William e. Parsons,
in New York ffty years ago. Dr. Parsons re-
t tSat f to nv 6us ST Psu SwSenRtX| dSs Years H;s d aEo, and
Miss.Aikens's.school In Stamford. Her mother
a SasSer ay T, year, sss ago. IN In IN April ? 1,s ef this hi , year c her
treated at the Presbyterian Hospital, and later
She showed ID great loa exee HatdSs' ability TditS az at o tbs
trying, time. and refused to lot anybody else
BY her fathers viii she was msdo sole exec
Htrix Of his estate; He left almost every;
f fFam his lnS Sroaher R & 1Grsnn to her. he nag The ,n ais cSii.
dren Of DR.; Parsons's first wife, headed by Wi:
15s% =; pe ecnsestod r.; the 3 t Sfa' %Iss Of 5es ssh
won. She went to live with her aunt, Miss
Lois Pullen, in Yonkers. She was about to dis
pose of her property in Pound Ridge, and was
on her way there when she left Yonkers on
Monday. She had often made visits to the city
alone during her fathers life. It was consist;
do So Since her fathers death she had told
Mr.. Werner that she did not feel that she was
mentally qualified to handle properly her large
fortune. She told him first that she was going
to enter Barnard College. She found that she
could not pass the entrance examinations.
Much disheartened, she engaged a teacher in
the Yonkers High. School to tutor her. After
three weeks she became convinced that she
could not prepare for Barnard in q year. She
went to:a business college" for three days, and
then gave up In despair. Mr.. Werner did not
know of any other reason for her suicide, he
The possible nature of these troubles was in
dicated by William K. Parsons, Jr., who came
up behind Mr.. Werner when the lawyer had
REACHED this point in the statement, and said:
II think she killed herself for remorse. She
knsW she hadn't done right"
ence. He took a reporter to one side aad' told
him that the first Mrs. Parsons, the mother of
himself and five other children, had not lived
with his father for twenty-five years or more.
The first Mrs. Parsons died seven years ago, he
Iaid, and, The next day, pr. Parsons married
he had met the girl only once and then on the
street with his father, who, he said, was always
liberal with her, although penurious in other
ways. He had written at least one rather vio-
lent letter to her recently. II. as he supposes.
she has left her fortune to Miss Pullen, he says
Neither Mr.. Werner nor Mr.. Parsons ever
heard Of the Barretts before yesterday. They
were friends Of the second Mrs. Parsons.
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