Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-08-25
CAUSE OF HER DEATH.
VERDICT IN THE DELLA GAINES
CASE CHARGES THAT MADAME
SCH1IALZER
AND WILSON ALIAS LOwERY
Performed a Criminal Operation.
Testimony Taken Yesterday mt the
Schmalzer Home and mt the Cor
0ner's 0ffice-MOre Sensational
Developments-Acti to Be Taken
by the Authorities.

A number of witnesses testified yes
terday in the case of Della Gaines, the
young girl of Metz, Marion county,
who died recently under suspicious cir
cumstances at the Schmalzer house
near Elm Grove, and a verdict was
rendered last night. 1t was to the eff
feet that Della Gaines came to her
death on the Sth day of August as the
result of an abortion performed upon
her by Madame Lizzie or Lou Schmal-
ger and James Lowery, alias Wilson,
at the Schmalzer home on or about
the goth day of July. The official in
CURRY into the case was begun Thurs
Gay evening, and this conclusion was
reached after a very careful and per-
sistent investigation
At the SchmnIxer House.
Coroner Schultze, Prosecuting Attor-
ney Meyers and Stenographer Schroe-
der visited the Schmalzer home yes
terday afternoon and heard the testi-
mony Of Madame Schmalzer, who is
now confined to bed suffering from
heart disease. While there the Off
cials also elected additional testimony
from Mrs Maggie Bang and Miss Mag
gle Loefiier, who were present Thurs
day night at the inquest, and other
witnesses. Madame Schmalzer was
able to speak only in an undertone,
and it was quite difficult at times to
distinguish her words.
Mrs. Banig and Miss Loeffler jointly
testified to the effect that in the after
noon of the day the girl died they
heard a sound resembling the baa-ing
of sheep in the yard of the Schmalzer
home and later found the noise was
made by Madame Schmalzer. They
claimed that her husband led her from
the yard into the house, and that when
he asked her what she had been TAX
ing she told him rough on rats in hopes
OF shielding him from disgrace, which
she considered inevitable
Madame Schmalzer testified that the
girl first came to her establishment to
purchase hat, and later was accom-
panied to her home by Mr. Wilson to
board. She had noticed the girls con-
dition and claimed that the girl be-
came Ill on Sunday night, which was
about four days before the physicians
were called. She said she done her
duty by calling medical aid and notify
ing the girls relatives. She testified
the doctors told her the case was one
in a hundred that pulls through and
that the girl told her she took i'll on
railroad car. The girl had told her
she was sick five months before coming
to her house. Witness said that Della
Gaines slept one night at Mrs. Loeff-
lers home because the rain had leaked
into her own house, and that Mrs.
loeffler washed clothing and admin
1stered to the girl and was paid
for her services by Mrs Brown, her
mother. The witness further deposed
that Della Gaines complained for
about a week before Dr. Best was sum-
moned
Mrs. George Garrison also deposed
that she lived near the Schmalzer
home, and while she had seen both
Wilson and Della Gaines there, she did
not know them. She also stated that
when the girl died, Mrs. Brown had
asked her to come into the house and
that she consented. She had not OBJ
served anything very closely.
Mrs. Alice Ward, another neighbor
of the Schmalzers, stated that at the
request of the girls mother she had
taken care of the patient one evening.
sac had not conversed with either Della
Gaines or Mrs. Brown The girl seem
ed TO her to be very weak
Last Evenings Testimony.
At the coroner's office last evening
about $3.50 the first witness called was
DR.. f. B. Ridgeway.
He testified at first as to the post
morton examination. He gave the
names of the physicians who were pres
ent and stated that Drs Armbrecht
and Megail, the county physicians,
conducted the autopsy, while he took
the notes. He then described the con-
dition of the body as he had found it.
saying that septicema had been pro-
duced evidently as a result of mis-
carriage. He had found the organs
nearly bloodless, due to hemorrhages.
When asked by one of the jurors If he
thought an abortion had been perform