New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-14
SISTERS DIE TOGETHER.
LEATE BODIES TO KNIFE.
Ask Decent Burial an Return
D1Uen to Suicide bg Poverty.

round each other they lay face to face and
placed tubes leading to a chandelier gas jet in
their mouths They found in the dlsman-
tied fiat yesterday morning. In the hand of the
younger was letter in German, which Coroner
Jackson translated as follows:
Whoever finds this letter, kindly carry out our
requests We beg of you. for the love of hu-
manfty, do not separate us, for we have loved
each other through life and have decided TO die
losether We have talked this over for week
ana decided that life is not worth living. Some
people are afraid to die. We not.
We have had much trouble and very little joy
and happiness III this world. Our last request is
TO bury us in one grave If you do our spirits
will be happy. For this consideration we give
our bodies for the benefit of medical science.
They may be of use to the medical profession
perhaps to Mount Sinai Hospital. Forgive us
against us.
We leave money for you to send these letters
We beg of you, Mr. Rohkohl 0he janitor), to
forgive US for causing you so much trouble and
unpleasantness- We have lived long enough.
We love all mankind, but nobody loved or cared
LOUISE AND VALERIE.
The women were clothed in nightgowns, with
their outer clothing underneath and above them,
as a protection, apparently. from the cold of the
unheated room. They were dispossessed on Fri
day. having failed to pay their rent while on
the same day the furniture of the flat, which
they had bought from an instalment company
was taken away in default of payments Their
clotheS ana 81 O0 in cash seemed be their
only remaining possessions
Increasing poverty with no friends to whom
they could turn for aid, and the dispossession,
it is supposed drove the sisters to suicide Ac-
cording to the janitor, Frederick Rohkohl, they
had no visible occupation, but seemed to have
money in plenty up to the last six weeks.
Although the police and coroner accept the
statement that they sisters, the janitor
believes they were sisters-in-law, if related at
oil fny h.
two speak of her husband and son. now said
to be at Heidelberg University Germany.
According to Rohkohl the two women went
to the house three months ago and rented a fiat
on the second floor The rent $2S month.
They furnished it comfortably, putting into the
six rooms and bath furniture worth about 81 600
which they purchased from instalment COM
pany.
Rohkohl learned little as to their friends in
this city He gained the impression that they
had previously lived near Eleventh-st. and Fifth
ave. They apparently had no occupation, but
he found nothing to object to in their deport-
ment. About two weeks after they had been in
the fiat the elder sister asked the janitor if they
might let room to man. they did not need
the entire fiat He refused the request. They
made no further demand, and accepted his rul-
ing without unpleasantness.
When the rent for October fell due they did
not pay il on time When Rohkohl complained
the older woman who always did the talking,
said that by November l she would have plenty
of money and would pay him everything. He
consented TO wait On November ! the money
was not forthcoming Rohkohl spoke about it,
and the elder sister again asked him to wait "a
few days longer
He refused, and got a summons in munich
pal court against her, returnable last Fri
day She paid no attention to it, and a warrant
for dispOssesson issued. 1t served late
Friday afternoon, AT the same time the furni-
ture company hearing of the dispossess pro-
ceedings. on hand with truck to take the
furniture away. The women We're behind on
their payments on it, and its removal had been
threatened
Although their furniture was gone and the
rooms We're bare, Miss Louise asked Rohkohl
for permission to keep q little clothing in The
rooms until the next day He willing. The
two women then went out, and Rohkohl does
not know where they spent Friday night
On Saturday afternoon they returned to the
house, and Miss Louise told RohkOhl that she
would like keep the keys of the flat a day
longer promising for the privilege that. the next
day she would pay all that was due. Rohkohl
supposed that they merely wanted to keep few
articles of clothing in the fiat for the night and
I let them keep the keys. They went out again.
About midnight on Saturday the janitor heard
them return AS he was sleepy, he paid little
attention 10 them. He says that when they left
him in the afternoon they said they going
to spend the evening in Broadway theatre
and afterward dine sumptuously somewhere
They had apparently raised little money, he
thinks, by paWning some of their jeWelry. The
elder sister told him tha1 she had pawned ring
in a Third-aVe shop Tor 50.
Yesterday the ianitOr awoke to find the ten
ants complaining of a strong smell of gas in the
Railways. He investigated everywhere, and
finally opened the empty flat which the two sis
! ters had occupied. In bedroom opening off
the paror at the front of the fiat, he found
their bodies.
The elder sister clasped the younger to her
breast on the floor directly underneath the
chandelier. They had found this necessary, evil
IDENTIFY. so that the sx1foot gas tubes which it Is
supposed they purchased on Saturday evening,
would reach from the chandelier to their mouths.
ON the mantelpiece We're six letters, written In
German to friends in this city and in Germany
and Austria In the right hand Of the older
woman was the photograph of a young man,
about twenty years old. which is believed by the
ianitor to be that of her SON
OF the letters on the mantel, one was addressed
10 Mrs Paul Frankel. No. pa East Eleventh.
st" A photograph of young woman, with the
words Rose Franker written on it's back. stood
or the nantel also. Another letter ad-
dressed 'Mr. s. Hirschman. Wien, Is Demp-
scherstrasse. Austria" Another was TO Mr..
VictorIus care of T Grosenzana, jeweller, No.
ia East Fourteenth-st., city. Another was TO
Harry c. Curran. No. 306 West Fourteenth-st..
city and another to Mrs. Emma Schoberl,
Wien, Taborstrasse, Austria
These letters were sealed but not stamped.
Evidently the money found with the bodies was
irtended for postage.
Pobkobl informed the police of the East Fifty
frst-st station, and Captain Lantry went To
the house and made an investigation. He found
nothing call for his action and turned the
case over to Coroner Jackson.
AS TO their appeal for burial together, the
coroner said he would communicate with the au-
thoritfes of Mount Sinai Hospital. and that IL
the hosnital did not wish TO give the bodies
burial In return for the Of them for medi-
cal purposes. he would see TO 1t himself that
they did not go TO the Potter's Field
But do hope that some one VIII come for
ward to pay the burial expenses of these two
unfortunate women" he said This is one or
the most pathetic suicide cases have seen in
~fa az a