The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-19
She Was Found Dead in Bed by the
Proprietor and the Police
Notified.
WAS A TELEPHONE OPERATOR
THE GIRL HAD JUST RETURNED
FROM A TRIP TO CINCINNATI.
1T Is Thought She Was Dependent
Becaus of Former Evil Com
paniOnship.

Ethel Coatney, eighteen years old. living
at go North Keystone avenue. committed
suicide at Fields Palace Hotel, 30 west
Georgia street, yesterday. An overdose Of
morphine is believed to have been the cause
Of her death. Dependency due to acts of
waywardness is thought to have been the
cause of her suicide.
Miss Coatney registered at the Field
house at 6 o'clock yesterday morning. She
asked that she be not disturbed during the
day, as she was tired and wanted to sleep.
She was not disturbed, as requested, but
when 6 o'clock came last evening Field
decided to awaken her. He went TO the
room and knocked several times. Receiving
no response, he tried the door and found
it unlocked. Looking in, he saw the girl
lying outstretched on the bed. He tried TO
awaken her again and, receiving no re-
Spouse, hurried from the hotel TO the police
station. He told Captain of Detectives
Gerber his story, and the latter and De-
tectives Kinney and Lancaster went with
Field TO the hotel. Bicyclemen STREET. and
Losh were also hurried to the hotel, as
foul play was feared. Investigation dis
closed that it was clearly a case Of suicide.
Coroner Brayton was called and the body
examined. He also advanced the suicide
theory. and the detectives began a search
for the druggist that had sold her the poi
son. The body was sent to the morgue IN
the City Dispensary ambulance.
INQUIRED ABOUT MORPHINE.
Detectives Kinney and Lancaster learned
from Fred Brookstine, night clerk at Chas.
w. EichrOdt's drug store, corner Illinois
street and Jackson place, that Ethel Coat
ney had visited the store at $50 o'clock
yesterday morning and had asked for %
cents worth of morphine.
What do you want it for?' asked Brook
slime.
"Oh. I'm tired and want TO Sleep" she
Brookstine m that she use
tironal, a medicine used for insomnia. She
asked Brookstine questions concerning the
size of the dose of morphine one should
take and he answered her. She purchased
some tirOnal and left the store. The detec-
tives have thus far failed TO learn where
she got the poison with which she killed
herself.
Among her belongings in the room was a
telescope, and in it the detectives and Coro-
ner Brayton found a letter addressed TO
dear grandma" The envelope had not
been addressed. The clew to her identity
was procured from an envelope and letter
addressed to Miss Nettie Viewer. chief
toll operator of the New Telephone Com
pany. The letter pertained to salary due
Miss Coatney as operator and gave her adj
dress as 90 North Keystone avenue.
The letter addressed to dear grandma
was Intended for Mrs. Robert Cook, living
at 80 North Keystone avenue, with whom
Ethe COatney lived. The letter pertained
TO EtheTs observations while in Cincinnati
and of the probable sights she would have
seen 'if she had gone to Arkansas" In
the letter the girl admitted that she had
been indiscreet in many things and said she
had left Indianapolis because she was get
ting into bad company. The letter began
with the sentence, 1.-TWO weeks ago l was
seen in Indianapolis for the last time" IT
ended with, IF l have wronged you L beg
of you forgive me-" Several times she al
luded to her troubles and said that she
was tired of it all. She said she feared the
seedlings that would be given her when she
returned. Nothing concerning her intended
suicide was found.
MRS. COOKS STORY.
Mrs. Cook, grandmother of the dead girl,
said last night that Ethel left home on the
night of March 20 to go to the New Tele-
phone C~ompany's office, where she was
employed. She told her grandmother before
going that she would probably not return,
as one of the girls was off duty at the office
and she might work all night for her. Days
passed and Ethel did not return. In the
letter found in the telescope the girl alludes
TO a trip to Cincinnati. She says she wan
dered to the Union Station on the night of
March 20. undecided as to what to do or
where to go. She heard a woman ask Tor a
ticket TO Cincinnati, and that decided her.
She would go TO Cincinnati, too. She had
been in Cincinnati since she left here. The
letter stated that she had been employed as
a domestic.
Mrs. Cook said the girl had been despond-
ent for some time, and this is corroborated
bv the girls at the telephone office. She
left the office one night and was not seen
again. The grandmother mentioned the
names of several young men with whom
the dead girl kept company.
Ethe COatney was a pretty girl of
eighteen years. She was we'll dressed and
was fond of company. She was an orphan
and has a sister living in Glasgow, Ky.