Rock Island Argus., 1900-04-30
BULLET IN HER BRAIN,
Miss Minnie NJ. Wray Destroys
Herself in Chi.
cago.
BEFORE PALMER HOUSE MIRROR
Had Wrecked Many LiVes--LoVed
A. NJ. Ohler, of
Moline.

Miss Minnie NJ. Wray, an attractive
young woman who visited last week
in this vicinity, stood before a mirror
in the Palmer house, in Chicago, dur
ing Saturday night and sent bullet
from a revolver into her brain. She
had grown weary of life, evidently as
a result of love affair. She was %
wears of age and of more than ordin-
ary beauty. Before destroying herself
she took precautions to conceal her
identity, but left in a wastebasket
fragments of letter, copy of which
she is supposed to have sent to A. n.
Ohler, cashier for the American Ex-
press company at Moline. By piecing
together these fragments, detectives
gained a clew to her identity, and a
hint of reasons for suiciding. The let
ter reads as follows:
"All my regret is that you will be
sad. | have tried to muster the nerve
to fight on, but it fails me. l have
wrecked too many lives alread" and
must cease. l cannot be happy with
so many mistakes in my memory, nor
can ever forget them. The world has
too many sad people here how. l
have no ambition, so end all. Re-
mem Der 1 love you and if fail in nv
attempt today, perhaps l shall forget,
but hope to be successful in ending
all. 1t may be some one will write
you regarding me, as have to put an
address on my trunk, but l will send
it TO the American Express company,
thereby avoiding EN- barrassment for
you. if possible. VIII send an or
der for it and the key to you"
OILERS Story.
Mr.. Ohler. when interviewed at
Moline. said: Miss Wray left here last
Thursday night, telling me she was 60
ing to~ChicagO on "a visit. She had
been visiting me about a week. This
morning l received a letter saying
she was about to kill herself, and that
l was the one in the world of whom
she thought the most, and as no one
else cared as much for her she would
send to me by express all of her
things. The only cause that 1 can
ascribe for her suicide is that her
beauty had attracted to her many
suitors, all of whom she had rejected.
As consequence several are reported
to have turned out badly.
Il was not exactly engaged to mar
ry her. We had talked about getting
married, but was not ready. 1 had
known her or 10 years. Her moth
er died about ten years ago at their
home near Leesville, Ind, where her
father now lives, and she then went
to live with a brother at Lincoln, Neb.
1 met her there. For two years she
has been travelling in California and
Mexico and do not know what she
did during that time.
Last week while visiting here
took her to call on friends. and during
a conversation on suicide she was
positive in saying that she did not |
know how a person in his right mind
could kill himself. She was happy
when she left here and had no idea |
that she intended to take her own life. |
While here she lived at the hotel by |
herself. l will be in Chicago Monday |
at o'clock and will try to
notify her relatives. They will prob
ably want to care for her body. She has
a sister and several brothers living
near Bedford, Ind
Miss Wray, when she reached the
Pal mer, was attired in a stylish gown
of gray, wore a fluffy hat of late de-
sign, and on her fingers were two
large diamonds. When the body was
found late yesterday afternoon it was
clad simply in a light robe of black
chintz. The trunk and grip which
she brought were gone, she having
shipped them to Mr.. Ohler. She
wrote note to the hotel manage
ment, SAYING: Il am tired of living.
Do not make fuss about me. Find
money in a purse to settle hotel bill.
Dispose of body quietly. Do not try
to locate friends or relatives. Don't
want them to know
The young woman had registered
1t the hotel as Mrs. L. Gray.