The age-herald., 1901-06-24
THE AWFUL DEATH OF ADELBERT HAY. Young Man Had Gone to New Haven to Partici-
 pate in Festivities FELL DISTANCE OF 50 FEET The General Theory Seems to be That While Sitting In the Window He
 Dozed Off and Fell to
 the Sidewalk.
FELL DISTANCE OF 80 FEET

New Haven, Conn, June 2S.-Adelbert
 Stone Hay, former consul of the United
 States at Pretoria, South Africa, and
 eldest son of Secretary of State John
 Hay, fell from window in the third
 story of the New Haven House in this
 city, shortly before 2:3O o'clock this
 morning and was instantly killed.
 The dead man was graduate of Yale.
 of the class of '9s, and his death oc-
 cured on the eve of the university com
 mencement. which brought him here yes-
 terday and in which, by virtue of his
 class office, the young man would have
 been one of the leaders.
 The full details of the terrible accident
 will never be known. It is generally
 supposed that after going to his room at
 the hotel Mir. Hay went to the window
 for air, and sitting son the sill, he dozed
 off and overbalaneing, fell to the pave
 ment below, a fall of sixty feet. The
 fall resulted in instant death and within
 fifteen minutes the body had been identi-
 fled as that of young Hay.
 
 Repeated efforts, to locate Secretary
 Hay by wire were futile until the early
 morning hours when request from the
 father reached Seth Mosely, the pro
 prietor of the hotel to take charge of
 the body until the members of the
 family could reach town. Meanwhile the
 sensation occasioned by the tragedy con
 tinued Every movement of young Hay
 was traced in an effort to penetrate the uncertainties of the awful affair. It
 was learned that the young man on May 29 left Washington with his mother and two sisters for Newburn, N. H., the sum-
 mer home of Secretary Hay. Last week he left New Hampshire for New York where he spent some days. He arrived in New Haven last evening In time for dinner and went into the New Haven
 House where he was assigned to room No. 47, third floor, front, directly over the Chapel street entrance to the hotel office,
 Young Hay was one of the vanguard of the academy class of Yale, '9S. Came to Assist in Festivities. He had come to his old college town as a member of his class triennial committee and arrived early to assist his colleagues on the committee in preparing for the fes- tivities of commencement week in general and for the class supper in particular.
 He took dinner with some of his class
 mates and then hurried to the theatre where he witnessed the evening perform ance He spent an hour in the hotel cor ridor and smoking room after the thea | Ire and shortly after midnight retired to his room, remarhing to the hotel clerk | that he was sleepy and leaving a call for | g o'clock this morning. He was not seen again until his body come whirling | through the air to it's destruction two and | a half hours later.
 A laborer on the city streets saw the form of a man falling through space. An instant later the body lay directly in
 front of the main hotel entrance. Tho mortified laborer rushed to the spot and
 his shouts brought others. The usual crowd gathered In it were several be- lated Yate graduates They bent over the body. One of them, Julian Mason, son | of the late Edward G. Mason of Chicago, and classmate of young Hay. drew back and, horror-stricken, cried: My
 God, it's Del Hay By this time the hotel clerk had reached the scene and made the Identification complete. The body was clad in pajamas. On the window sill | of the room occupied by young Hay was found a partly consumed cigarette. On worn by the victim. His clothing had | been heartily arranged and the bed clothes | were drawn back. The bed, however, had not been occupied. Here the mystery be- comes intangible. The popular theory
 seems to have it that the young man, having prepared for bed, thought to in- dulge in good night smoke" and that | he chose the cool of the window, possi- l bly, dozed, lost his balance and fell from the window. The presence of the ring on the floor however gave rise to the fancy | that possibly while toying with the ring
 1t dropped and that in an effort to re- cover it. the fall resulted. However, it | happened, the known facts seem to make | it conclusive that 1t was all a frightful accident.
 | Young Hay was in particularly good spirits during the day and had planned with unusual enthusiasm to participate
 in many engagements this week. In the
 harbor lies a yacht in which a party of his friends he had promised to join in a trip on Wednesday to New London for
 the Yale-Harvard boat races on Thurs day.
 In the college chapel at the morning service President Hadley. in addressing
 the members of the graduating class eulo- gized young Hay.
 Secretary Hay Receives News. l Secretary Hay learned of the death of his son, Adelbert, within an hour and .
 half of the tragedy through Secretary l Cortelyou.
 MT. Hay appeared to be for moment completely crushed. but rallied and set | calmly about preparing for departure for New Haven. The family had gone to | New Burn. N. H. on the shores of Lake sunapec.
 l President Mckinley and the cabinet | sent messages of condolencs and will st-