The Washington times., 1901-12-29
TOOK HER LIFE IN THEATRE.
Continued irom Eiat rase)

Continued from Bist Page)
seemed to sec him Quickly taking the
bottle Of poison from her bosom. she
placed it to her lips, and swallowed mos,
of its contents. h1E
Usher just n Second Too Late.
Hendley did not realize what the young
! woman was doing until he caught the
telltale odor Of carbdifc acid. He then
snatched the bottle from her hand. but not
before she had swallowed enough TO ac-
complish her purpose. quantity of the
acid fell on Hendley's hand as ., took
the bottle from her.
| Before more than few in the imme-
| date neighborhood Of the scene of the
tragedy were aware OF what had hap
pened, Hendley had picked up the young
woman and carried her to the ladies' re-
| firing parlor. DR.. Stone. moment later.
| uttered the room, and finding that the
young woman had taken carbolic acid,
| called for some alcohol, which he ad-
| ministered as an antidote. A hasty ex-
animation showed that the woman was
| hurry call was sent to the Emergency
Hospital, and DR.. Kuhn. not waiting for
the ambulance. ran to the theatre, med
icine case in hand.
Mother Shocked by Tragedy.
While everything possible to save the
life of the young woman was being done.
her mother who had become alarr-ed over
not seeing her daughter take ker seat
in the theatre. came down stairs to To-
cate her. The news of the tragedy was
broken to her as gently as possible.
When the young woman's body was
borne from the theatre to the ambulance
the mother followed, hysterical with
grief. On reaching the hospital she
found that her daughter had brcathed her
last. She was there Joined by the son
and brother. Joseph y. Benner.
The two grief-stricken members of the
family sat in the waiting room of the
hospital after the young woman had been
pronounced dead. When seen by a re-
porter for The Times Mrs. Benner was
almost frantic.
Suffered From Epilepsy.
ITO think that should have worked
for her and cared for her for twentythree
years, only to lose her." she moaned.
''The poor child had been q cripple since
she was six years of age. an attack OF
chickenpox having resulted in her losing
her left leg. She was always an invalid,
and suffered from epilepsy. My friends
time and again entreated me to send her
away for treatment, but 1 could not part
with her. And now she is gone frcm me
forever"
soas choked her utterance. and it was
several minutes before she regained suf
flcient composure to state that her daugh
ter was nothing more than a child, that
her afiiiction had made her decidedly NOR
bid
Theatres Her One Pleasure.
"The one pleasure she took in life was
attending the theatre. and she was a
regular attendant at the matinees. while
often accompanied her to evening per-
formances."
1t is stated that few minutes before
Miss Benner drank the poison a special
delivery letter from the young woman.
addressed to LozeIle, was received by one
of the stage hands. The latter knew the
letter was front Miss Benner. as he had
handled notes from her before and was
acquainted with her handwriting.
Actor Lazeiie's story.
David Lozelle. or. as he is commonly
known in theatrical circles. "Lozelle the
Great" was just leaving the theatre last
night for New York City. where he will
lay off, for several weeks. when a re-
porter for The Times located him When
asked regarding his acquaintance with the
lead girl, he said:
1T is too terrible to think about.
met Miss Benner when | was playing a
weeks engagement at the Academy Of
Music Theatre, under the Hashim man
agcment. September a year ago. 1t was
at a Friday matinee that I received
large bouquet of roses from the girl with
her card attached.
Il was told afterward Miss Benner
had insisted on throwing the flowers on
si25 10 baltimore and Return Via
Ii. a q. II. r.,
saturday and sunday, December 2s and %