The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-30
WOMAN TAKES A
DOSE OF POISON
Former Resident Of Salt Lake
Commits Suicide.
SHE HAD STRANGE HISTORY
POISON BOUGHT IN THIS CITY
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

y ANO4N NOUS correspondent III
n the town Of Shenandoah, Ia, has
asked Postmaster Thomas to use
his efforts in locating a sister and
niece, supposedly residents Of this city,
Of Mrs. Maggie Croft, who, in her 10th
year. found life no longer worth living
and committed suicide by swallowing
strychnine purchased twenty-five years
ago at the z. c. n. I. drug store, in
Salt Lake. The aged widow left con-
siderable property and will. in which
she bequeathed it all 70 J. F. Redfeld
Of Shenandoah, whose family cared for
her during the last years of her life
and invalidism.
Because they were members of the
Mormon church, the relatives, who are
believed to be in this state, were not
mentioned in the viii, but there is little
doubt that they are entitled to share
Of the legacy. Their names are IN
known.
1t is a remarkable history that led up
to the tragic fate OF the old woman in
the Iowa town on Washingtons birth
day. Her life story is stranger than
fiction.
SCOry OF her LIE.
Mrs. Croft was born March :. 1888.
in Stockholm, Sweden. of aristocratic
parents, and the girls early training
was at court. She was still a young
woman when her father. meeting with
heavy reverses, lost his standing. Be
ing too proud to remain in Sweden,
the daughter came to this country in
1853 and for a time found employment
in the family of the mayor of New
York. Shortly afterwards she went to
San Francisco and there fell in love
with and married an English sailor,
named Thomas Croft.
The couple moved to Salt Lake. Croft
went into mining, and after several
more or less successful ventures, start
ed with his wife to a more temperate
climate. That was a quarter of a
century ago, and Mrs. Croft took with
her from here the poison with which
she ended her career a few weeks ago.
They settled in Shenandoah, but
scarcely a year had elapsed when the
husband died. The grief of the wife
over this event caused the loss of her
reason. She was adjudged insane and
sent to an asylum, from which she was
later placed in the hospital for incur
ables at Davenport, Ia.
Released From Asylum.
After ten years, through the efforts
of the Redfields, she was released and
since that time she has been practically
under the care Of the Shenandoah fam
lily. Mrs. Croft Of late has been a
sufferer from erysipelas, and this suf-
feTing doubtless prompted her, in her
unbalanced mental condition, to the
rash act. She suffered intensely dur
ing the day Of Feb. % and Mrs. Red
field had been at her bedside constant
~ In the evening she was preparing
a meal for the invalid. She had
brought some peach butter into the
room, and. putting it on a chair near
the bed, had gone out for some other
articles, when Mrs. Croft took the
strychnine from the bottle, which she
kept in a tin box, and, mixing it with
some of the butter, swallowed 1t before
Mrs. Redfeld had time to return. The
widow expired within a few hours, de-
spite strong efforts to rescue her.
Poison From Salt Lake.
The vial containing the poison bore
an old label, on which could be made
out the inscription, "Zion's Cooper
alive Mercantile Institution, Drug
Dept, Salt Lake City, Utah" and the
usual caution that 1t contained poison.
The vial had been closely guarded for
many years and was kept in tin
spectacle case belonging to the dead
wOman's husband.
Postmaster Thomas received. in adj
dition to the letter, copies of the Shen-
andoah papers giving an account of the
suicide. The papers state that the
dead woman was the owner Of consid-
cradle real estate in South Shenandoah
and two lots in this city. These were
a source of revenue sufficient to SUP
port her The viii has been probated
since the suicide. It is short and con-
else, reading:
I give and bequeath to my friend, ].
F. Redfeld of Shenandoah, Ia, all of
my property, real, personal and mixed.
Dated July a, 1901. Signed, Maggie
Croft. Witnessed by H. I. Feskett and
John Mentzner."
At the time of her death Mrs. Croft
lived in the house Of Mrs. Lovina Mills
at Maple street and Thomas avenue.
in Shenandoah. but the Redfelds were
her most intimate friends.