Evening star., 1897-07-31
TOOK MORPHINE AND DIED
Sadie Tasku, Rsidant Of the Division.
5Comnits Suicide.
ousrrelea- VIII a Man Said to De q
Treasury Ckerl-was a Deauti-
f.f woman.

Sadie Tasker, an inmate of house of i'll
fame in the Division" died this morning
as result~of a,'dose Of morphine, taken,
presumably. with suicidal intent The fatal
drug had evidently been taken early last
evening" and the unfortunate woman lin
gered through the night, apparently in
great pain. until about I:3o o'clock this
morning. when she died.
The story of Sadie Tasker has been told
again and again in every large city, and is
probably as old the existence of the
class OF women to which she belonged. OF
the various men she knew there was one
to whom she was devotedly attached, but,
as invariably happens, harsh words often
passed between them. and there was many
a quarrel based on the jealousy of one or
the otner Yesterday afternoon she had a
particularly bitter war of words with her
lover. 1t was only few hours later that
she swallowed the drug, but the other in
mates OF the place are unwilling to believe
tnat II was suicide, and insist that it was
orIy a coincidence. and that she took the
morphine as a sedatfve and had no idea
VI her dangerous condition.
Treasury Clerk Her Lover.
yesterday afternoon Sadie Tasker had
the quarrel with her lover, who is said 20
De a clerk In the Treas, ry Department. At
the close of 1t he threatened to tell the
iandiady that she had been drinking to
excess. and then he started to leave. AS he
went down the stairs she called to him:
are you going to leave me in this way?
Dcn you DARE or you will have to take
.he consequences, or words to that effect
Later sne left the house. and when she
returned 1t was clear that she had been
drlnkinG hard. The odor of whisky was
strong upon her bI cath, and about O. clock
she was taken sick. 1t was thought that
nqCor. She was put to bed, and the land
iaoy, VINO was considerably alarmed by the
wemans groans. sat up with her, or with
In call, all through the night Toward
mcrning size fell into deep sleep, but as
she continued to groan heavily two mes
sageS were sent for a physician, but re
lalied 10 reach the house until all was over
bought Morphine.
Sadie Tasker was not a native of this
city. but she had been in and about the
division" for some considerable time She
formerly lived at house kept by Lotta
Stanton, but week ago she took a room
at the house of Della Ferguson, 32S 18th
street, and 1t was there that she died 1t
seems that yesterday afternoon she went
TO the stanton house. She had been drink-
ing then, and asked one of the women there
TO give her some of her morphine. The
latter refused but Sadie obtained possess
sion of the bottle, and, taking it to a
not known when or where she took the
&C ntents. -Nl.a-
When she returned to the Ferguson house
she was in the best of spirits and gave Miss
Ferguson a big bottle of cologne that she
nae purchased as present for her
Hantlsomest of Her Class.
The dead woman was generally regarded
as one of the handsomest of her class in the
city. She was thirty-two years of age. tall
nd wit
naturally az blond, she had still further
bieached hep hair and was quite a snowy
person.
When still but a young girl she was mar
ried to a wealthy Philadelphia and had
three childrfp. For some reason not known
here her husband obtained a divorce and
she afterward came to this city and entered
upon the life of d deni-mondaine.
A telegram was sent this morning to the
chief of poltee IN philadelphia. as the wom-
city or Camden. Later, In the morning the
body was removed to an undertaker's es-
tabishment and her trunk, containing her
clothing and other effects. was taken to the
received from the woman's family the land
lady of the house where she died will see
that the body has. decent burial.
Druggist Must Answer.
DR.. l.. W. Gfazebrook, the deputy cor
oner of the District. at once started an
investigation, and is determined at least
to press the case against the druggist for
selling a deadly POISON without a physi-
clans prescription. The bottle which she
took 10 the druggists had on it only the
label of a Philadelphia wholesale house.
She asked for quarters worth of NOR
phine, and he gave her twenty-five grains
Of the stuff. and even failed to put his own
label on The bottle: Women OF her sort
are frequently addicted to the use of some
sort of drug, and it is said that a few drug
gists are very lax in the matter of sup
plying them with pretty much anything
they ask for.
District Attorney Davis today. Mr. Davis
said that the law against selling poisons
in the District had never been enforced
as 1t should be. and that he would be only
too glad tc make test case of this AS a
result of the consultation, DR.. Glazebrook
has ordered an inquest to be held next
Monday at II o'clock at the first precinct
station. The District Attorney has ex-
pressed his intention of being present, and
if the facts arc as they seem to be today
the case will probably be taken to the
courts and vigorously pushed