Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-11-01
1A[ SUICIDE THEORY
Detective johnson Visits and Talks
With the Parents Of Mabel
schofeld.
Conversation and Manner Indicate
That They Believe in the Sui
eide Theory.

Family Physician Also Gives Facts
To Support lt-Girl's Health
Was Poor.
Des Moines, Nov detective Ed
Chief Johnson to proceed to Macksburg
and confer with the parents of Miss
Mabel Schof1eld with view to ascer-
tanning If they We're in possession of
any information not yet made public
that would cast any light upon the
mysterious death of their daughter re-
turned last evening, having gone down
to Macksburg yesterday morning. To
representative Mr.. Johnston said:
After my visit to Macksburg and a
conference with DIR. Schofieid and his
wife, the latter of whom so far as def
initely known, is the last person who
saw Mabel alive in Des Moines, would
be recreant to my conscience and best
Judgment if 1 We're not to state that
the visit served to strengthen and con-
firm my previous belief that the girl
committed suicide by drowning Not
only do ! believe this but have rea-
sons for thinking the parents are of the
same opinion, though neither of them
in the conversations / had with them
separately and jointly would admit it
specifically. The whole trend OF the
canvass of the subject on the part of
DIR. Schofield was a passive admission
of the soundness of the suicide theory,
both by manner and bearing other than
by spoken words. He told me that
Mabel, while delicate in physique, was
very sresolute and determined when once
she made up her mind. She had never
been robust, he said. but had been the
victim in recent years of severe attacks
of headache, during the protracted con-
tinuance of which she sometimes be-
came depressed in spirits to point
bordering on melanchola. He told me
that so far as he or her mother knew
there was no reason for them to appre-
hend Mabel had been murdered. He
could not conceive of any motive for
such crime. Later he conceded in a
half reluctant manner that she might
have suffered from headache to an ex-
tent that would produce condition of
mind that might. perhaps. dispose her
to suicide
He would discuss the subject in a
quiet way, but il was observed that
he always came round to the tacit adj
mission of self-destruction. He told me
that before she left home he prepared
for the girl a bottle of tablets for use
when harassed by the headache to
| which she was subject, and / wrote
down the name of the preparation, but
| lost 1T coming home, so | can not give
! it now. To sum it all up in a sentence
/ Mabel was confronted with a situation
at the time of her death which she had
never before experienced. She had beer
with her mother visiting at#Cedar Falls
| and Waterloo. A I the first named place
she had spent several days WITH a
schoolmate. an intimate girl chum.whom
1 she had to leave when she returned
/ to Des Moines with her mother. Mrs.
/ Schofield tarried in the city only day
or two and then started home, leaving
her daughter in a large city with no es-
pecially intimate friend She was prac-
/ tically out of work, and she was wor-
/ ried. She entertained, in my opinion
La deep affection for DIR. Childs OF
I Macksburg. He was going to leave the
town in a few days to seek location at
/ Sainsville Mo She was a girl of deli
cate and sensitive nervous organization
| and when all the disappointments men
i tioned f!oated before her like dark
/ cloud she became Respondent and
/ starting to walk aimlessly about, brood
ling meanwhile over the situation as i
presented itself to her, she yielded in {
4 moment of weakness to an impulse t.
end it all by suicide. Mrs. Schotield
Il who is vet suffering from the shocl
caused by the painful death of he
daughter, told me that no conversation
occurred between herself and Mabel a
/ the depot the Saturday morning sh'
i left Des MONIES for Macksburg, con
corning DR. Childs. Mabel, she said
Il was not accustomed to make her a con
fidante in the affairs of her heart, bu
4 rather relied upon herself and though
lover within herself matters of this char
| acter. she stated that when Mabel ant
i herself arrived at the depot Saturda.
morning the train was standing outsid
4 and nearly ready to start. She hurried
. ly purchased a ticket and. passing from
4 the station. was followed by Mabel who
4 in taking leave of her at the car plat
form, babe her to kiss her two little sis
tiers at home for her. She offered tn
girl some money for car fare, but sh
declined It, renarking that she pre-
ferred to walk-that it did her good.
Mrs. Schoiield, though she would no
explicitly express the opinion that Ma
bel had died by her own act, yet admit
ted 1t in many ways by implication. /
was by the unwritten language of look
facial expression and actions. rattle
than by spoken words that she betrayet
to the observer the conclusion embed
ded in her secret thought. l took will
4 me the printed opinion of DIR. Smouse
of this city. in which he gave his rea
sons for believing the girl had commit
ted suicide. showed it to DR.. Soho
field. He read it through from begin
ming to end. and handed 1t back to m
without giving expression to hi
thoughts, but to me it was clear he re
garded the analysis by DR.. Smouse a
more than plausible. perhaps logical.
have believed from the first it was
case of suicide. 1 am now convince
that her parents in their secret heart