The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-11
SUICIDE AT WOMENS HOTEL.
GIRL HANGS HERSELF AT THE
MARTHA WASHINGTON.

Registered as Rebecca Friedman. but
Nothing was Found TO Indicate Any
thing Else About Her Apparently
Repented After h Rope frightened.
A girl who signed her name as Rebecca
Friedman on the hotel register WAS ound
shortly before noon yesterday hanging to
the end of a piece Of clothesline in her room
az the Hotel Martha Washington, 20 East
Twenty ninth street. When DR.. f. +. Will
Jams, the hotel physician, was summoned
he said hat the young woman had died Of
strangulation and that death had come to
her several hours before the body was found.
The girls body was discovered when a
o~hambernaid went to room 3l4 on the third
floor TO make the bed. She found The door
looked from within and she summoned a
negro elevator boy to investigate. The
boy climbed up and thrust his head through
the transom. He saw the face of the dead
girl within a few inches of his own. The
shrek that the elevator boy gave was
enough to arouse the whole third floor and
bring the manager Of the hotel in a few
seconds.
This was the first suicide that had oc-
CURED in the big women's hotel. The re-
port that a tragedy had occurred in the
place spread quickly through the corridors
and some Of the guests showed signs Of
becoming panicky.
When the door to the locked room was
forced the body was found hanging to a
short piece Of clothesline which had been
looped over the upper hinge of the door
and knotted securely beneath her chin.
The woman, who was partially disrobed,
III --.l--.l. -. ---, an -h,.r xyho. .hA
adjusted the knot and then kicked the
support from under her. Her toes were
only a few inches above the floor.
Apparently when the rope began to
tighten she repented of her deed, for her
right wrist was woven in the rope above
her neck and her fingers grasped the strands.
Her wrist was deeply cut by the weight
OF her body dragging on the rope and there
we're abrasions on her neck where the
slender cord had cut into the skin.
The woman left no clue to her identity.
She had brought her few belongings to
the hotel in a worn handbag. Whatever
marks OF Identification there may have
been on her clothes she had taken the pains
to rip or. Her clothing was Of poor material
and scanty in quantity. In her purse we're
% cents and a cheap gold ring with two
settings in il; one stone had fallen out, the
other was an imitation sapphire.
When Coroner AcriteHl arrived ne could
find no papers or letters among the girls
belongings which could help 20 an identi-
fication. One Card there was which bore
the name n. Goldberg in printed script and
below this the word tailor" On the back
Of the card there were some Russian char
acters. These, when translated, simply
spelled n girls name.
1t was the opinion of the Coroner that
the dead woman was n Russian Jew and
that she might lave been about 10 years
old. He thought that she might have
been out Of work and that she came to the
hotel with the intention of ending her life.
Ii was on Friday that Rebecca Friedman
registered at the Martha Washington.
She took a room thai rents for $3.50 a day
and paid each day in advance. The hotel
manager could not say whether she had
taken her meals in the hotel or not. He
said yesterday that she spoke English
%fuentfy, that she did not seem at all nervous
or moody as far as he remembered, and
that she kept closely to her room.