Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-01-22
HUSBANDS vHkINoNEss
Is Said to Have Led Mrs. kemple TO End
Her Life.

Pennington, Jan. H.-The suicide of
Mrs. Jacob Kemple at Pennington
Falls. Tuesday evening, has set the
town all agog. AT 6 o'clock, Cob KEN
pie entered his temporary home at the
village of Pennington Falls and found
his wife dead, with sponge and a
big wad of cotton saturated with chic
rofornl, over her face. A four-ounce
bottle with a small quantity of the
liquid still in it was found close by
The body was on the bed in a nearly
natural position.
Col. Kemple had been away for a
week or more. and for several days his
wife had been staying at Hotel Will
lows in Pennington. Tuesday noon,
the colonel returned and took dinner
at the Stoddard House, after which he
went to the other hotel to see his wife,
Late in the afternoon she told friend
that they had quarreled4 and that he
did not speak single kind word to her
She said that she had asked the col
onel to go home with her in the sleigh
he would go on the stage later. which
he did. only to find his wife dead on
arriving at the rented house.
Mrs. Kemple was the daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. John H. Goodwin of this
town, and was about % years of age.
She was of prepossessing appearance.
Col. Kemples home is in Wheeling,
W. Va. He is a good talker. and mas
taken the stump for the Republican
party during several campaigns. In
was in this capacity that he first came
to Pennington more than II years ago
He remained in this vicinity some time
and became acquainted with the fam
lily to which the woman who has taken
her life belonged Not long after he
married Miss Nellie Goodwin, a cousin
who was also a member of the family.
She lived only a short time. Not long
afterward the colonel took another
member from the family, this time
marrying the daughter, Miss Evange-
line Goodwin
The. couple went South to live, and
for a time everything appeared to be
satisfactory. Two children. a son and
daughter. We're born to them. Then
Mrs. kemple came home to her father
who lives on farm a few miles out OF
this village, where she received occa-
sional visits from her husband. She
also went South several times. but in
the main her home was with her par
ents for several years. until the house
at the Falls was rented and the couple
again took up housekeeping. ~
After the interview with the colonel
Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Kemple told
an intimate friend that her husband
was angry because he had found heI
at hotel when he reached home, and
that he had used abusive language to
her in public, on that account, and had
not said a kind word to her. She also
said that when he went away he told
her that if she was lonesome she had
better net sty in the house alone but
to go anywhere she chose and make
herself as comfortable as possible. With
that end in view she had gone to the
hotel. She said her husband seemed to
have the idea that she was hiding from
him. but that that was not the case,
and she had been perfectly willing to
meet him.
Soon after this she went to drug
store and asked the clerk how much
ckloroform would be necessary to kill
dog. She was told that two ounces
would be sufficient, but she finally pur-
chased four ounces,to be sure of a fatal
dose, as she said. She appeared to be
downhearted after her interview with
the colonel and went home to the Falls
village soon after the purchase of the
chloroform. The next time she was
seen was when she was found dead by
her husband