The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-02
CROWD OF PEOPLE
LET WOMAN HANG
LIFE MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED
BY PROMPT ACTION.
Body Found Dangling to Oak Tree Near
Robbinsdale, and Was Left Hanging
Till Coroner Came-Unwarranted
Fear Of the Law Probably Caused the
Neglect.

While more than hundred morbidly
curious persons were gazing at the body
of woman dangling from the limb Of
an oak tree near Robbinsdale, yester-
day afternoon, not one of the throng Of
fered to lend a helping hand and cut
the body down.. IL
After the discovery Of the body by
a hunter, the crowds began to flock,
but arriving on the scene and seeing no
officials there, they stood gossiping
about the situation. When the coro-
ner arrived nearly an hour later, the
body was still warm and physicians
think that had some attempt been made
to revive the woman when she was
first discovered, her life might have
been saved. H.
Coroner Kistler says that the woman
had been dead about an hour when he
arrived. The failure of the curiosity
seekers to cut down the body, he says,
is due to the prevalent idea that no one
has right to do so. This, he says, Is
a mistake, for there is always a posi-.
bility that the person may be alive, and
if cut down, could be saved. There is
no more violation Of the law in cutting
down a hanging body than in trying to
bring drowned person back to life.
The life of the woman might have
been saved yesterday, says the coroner,
had someone had the nerve to climb the
tree and sever the rope.
Finding the Body. :
The body was first seen by John
Simons, who was walking in the woods
near Penn and Thirty-second avenues N.
Simons was out hunting rabbits, and
noticing tracks of a woman 8 feet on
the soft moss he followed them until
he came to the tree, where he was
struck speeches. by the horrible dis,
covery In his excitement he turned
and ran out of the woods to a nearby
saloon, from which place the coroner
was notified. .
Coroner Kistler at once went to the
scene and cut down the body, which
had been hanging. but a short time.
|, The flesh was still warm and the limbs
still flexible, showing that death had
come but a few minutes before discOv-
| cry. When the coroner arrived nearly
hundred persons had gathered to view
the remains, but no one in the crowd
had ever seen the woman before. She
was apparently about 35 years old, and
was fairly we'll dressed. j
A bicycle path that is much used
leads from the city to the little grove,
but no one saw the woman go there.
She had laid aside her large hat and
umbrella, had tied the strap about her
neck and climbed to one Of the large
branches. Here she fastened the other
end of the strap to the limb and
! dropped to her death. -
Suicide Carefully Planned.
The suicide was carefully planned, for
the young woman had taken pains to
remove everything that would give a
clue to her identity. She wore a white
shirtwaist and over this black jacket
| trimmed with white lace. Her skirt
was black and her hat black and
trimmed with white flowers. -
h.. The body was at once taken to the
county morgue, and altho the news of
the discovery spread rapidly the body
has not been Identified. Throngs have
visited the morgue in an effort to tell
the coroner who the woman was, but
the case remained mystery.
Altho several women have been re-
ported missing to the police recently
none Of them fits the description of the
suicide. The police are working on the
case.