Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-09-23
YELLED WOMAN LONG DEAD.
Mary E. McVicker, an elderly woms q

Mary E. McVicker,an elderly woms q
the whole right side of whose face wa
disfgured by a purplish discoloratiGn
was found dead Thursday afternot il
her fat in the tenement at 32S cas-
| Thirty fourth street and toe circum
stances point to suicide. She took the
front fiat on the second floor July Is
came there dressed 10 black and yelled
and paid months rent in advance
She had no furniture, and the rooms were
empty save for cot on which she slept
She spoke to nobody in the house eX
cept when it was absolutely ne,s 'ary
She went out seldom and the tenant:
heard her walking the bare floor in the
night. She came to be known in the
house as "Tne woman in black"
Mrs. McVicker-it was believed ir
the house that she was widow-paiC
her s. cond months rent in advance or
August Is. The rent became due ageir
last Friday and the janitor, Alt )rl
Frederick went around few day:
later to collect it. He knocked at the
door but got no answer. Then he al
lowed the matter to stand until Thurs.
day afternoon, wheD, suspecting that
something was wrong, ne forced the
door open. He found the woman lying
dead, partly dressed on her cot. Clutch
ed in ber right hand was copy of the
New Testament, revised version, Oxford
edition, and on the floor beside the cot
was bottle that had contained carbol.
ica did.
Folded in the Bible was sheet Of
notepaper on which was written:
II swear before my God that Frederick
Mead has taken his sacred oath on this
book. God forgive him. May AL
mighty God forgive his perjured soul
My IL trequest, bury it with me.
"P. S.-There are others who can
affirm the same. MARY E. MCVICKER"
On the pillow of the cot wss found
another sheet of notepaper, folded, On
the paper was written
What am 1 to do without s."
The letters were uneven. Folded In
the paper was q newspaper clipping OF
yer es, entitled "The Ead OF the
Way"
The woman mad no money and little
clothing. The japitor summoned a
doctor, who sold that she had been
dead three or four days. 1t IVES lesrnt 1
subsequently, that she YVES lest seen
alive on Sunday ait ,rnoon, when the
renauts in the house across the street
saw her welking up and doWn her
room with her head ,wed aud bcok
in her hand.
The body was removed in the ai.sr-
noon to the morgue. The janitor F"'d
ne had no idea who the dead woman
wss. She had no visitors since she
came 70 the house. The directory Civ
the address of Mary E. McVicker,
widow of james, at 355 es It Eighty
second street. The janitrees there,
Mrs. Rooney, says that Mrs. McVicker
lived in the house rom December, IA,
1895, to July II of the pr ent yeer. =.
Mrs. McVicker moved in here, "
ahe said, "on December l5 She had
bod furniture and occupied a fiat on
the top floor. Sac was always heavily
y,;led and never associated with the
other tenants. She very rarely went
ort and seemed to shun society. When
,e wanted to get fresh cir she would
90 out on the fire escape but would
never remove her veil. One day l
found her in tears in her room and she
said
Il wish had home end good
husband like you. l had good man
once l said is he dead p and she
replied, Yes, he is dead to me- She
then told me she had lived with this
man twenty-three years, that he Wa:
rich and that she got an allowanre OF
$50 eyery FIVE weeks ,Iom bim One
thing I noticed was that Mrs. McVlcker
never referred 10 the mau as her nu.
hand. and never mentioned his name
Once she came into my rooms very ex'
cited and began to talk about the man.
She had a Bible in her hand and was
weeping. 1 asked her what WIS the
| matter and she said she had not gol
her usual allowance. That man. che
said took an oath on that book that
he would never forsake ne or let me
s,arve. After twenty three years OF
living with him and disparagine myself
for him. think the least he could &c
now is to provide shelter for me-
"She told me that she cf.en thought
If going into his church and denounc'
inc him. On one occasion she bought
revolver and went down to bis othce
TO shoot him, but when he came out
her heart failed her and she let MIN
mass. Then she told me she went te
Central Park, intending to shoot her
self but her nerve failed at the last
moment, and a policeman took hei
away"
Mr.. Rooney said that the woman
allowances ceased coming q few month";
before she left the hou.e and tnat snt
had to sell all her furniture to pay the
rent She said that when her tus al
tnre and her money were gone sns
would go, too. She said she would l.
IS wears old next birthday. The man
she said, was CO. She said she was oorr
in New Jersey, and had 8 sister IN tn'
west. n,:-
Two women called at 32S east Thlr
tv fourth street Thursday night anc
ssked for particulars about the wem
ans death. They said they knew her
but refo, ed to give their names. There
was quite stock of provisions in tht