Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-29

elist's death was accidental
Zola was asphyxiated by fumes from 6
stove, the pipes of which are said to have
been out of order.
1t is hoped that Madame Zola will sur
vive.
Had Been in the Country.
Zola returned to his Paris home from his
country house at Medan, where he
had spent three months. Owing to q
sudden spell of cold weather here he
ordered the heating stove in his bed room
to be lighted. The stove burned badly, but
Zola and his wife retired at 10 o'clock last
night and the servants, not hearing any
movement in the apartment this morning,
entered the bed room at $50 o'clock and
found Madame Zola lying on the bed inan1-
mate. Zola was lying half out of bed, with
his head and shoulders on the floor and his
legs on the bed. Doctors were summoned,
but they failed to restore Zola to life. Aftet
prolonged efforts they resuscitated Madame
Zola..
The rumors circulated regarding Zola's
supposed suicide from poison were based ON
the fact that elections thought to have been
from his stomach were found on the floor,
but the doctors say they came from Zola'S
dog. which was also in the bed room, and
which did not suffer from asphyxiation.
Zola dined with good appetite yesterday
evening and the servants Of the household
ate of the same dishes. Nothing unusual
was heard in the bed room during the night.
How the Bodies Were Found.
Some workmen arrived at the Zola resi-
dence at 9:3O o'clock this morning in order
to make certain repairs in Zola's bed room,
but the servants had already become
alarmed at hearing no sound from the
room, decided to enter 1t and burst the
door open. A slight odor OF carbonic gas
was at once noticed. and the bodies Of the
novelist and his wife were found in the po-
sitions already described Zola had evt-
IDENTIFY been awakened by a choking sensa-
ton, tried to rise, but was overcome by the
fumes. which apparently escaped from the
defective stove The windows were imme-
dately opened, doctors and a commissary
of police summoned, and the utmost efforts
were made to revive the novelist and his
wife, but the former had already suo-
cumbed. Madame Zola regained conscious
ness about noon. She now lies in state
of complete prostration. An Improvement
in her condition is anxiously awaited In
order to obtain further light on the occur
renee
Story Of the Druggist.
A druggist who was the first to arrive at
the house in order to attend Zola and his
wife said:
when I entered the bed room NJ. Zola
was partly lying on the floor amid matter
thrown up from his stomach. No special
odor likely to cause asphyxiation was then
distingushabIe The two victims, more
over, did not present exclusive symptoms OF
asphyxiation. Their faces were contorted
and their lips were bloodless, but not violet
coIored."
The commissary of police, in his report to
the prefect of Paris. said:
1.-The heating stove was not lighted, and
there no odor of gas. 1t Is believed
that his death was due TO accidental poison
ing by drugs. Two little dogs found In the
bed room are alive"
DR.. Leyrmand, who attended the victims,
is reported as saying, in an interview pub
lfshed this afternoon, that the plate Of the
stove was still warm, and that the elections
came from dog.