Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-11
GIRL WRITES A
DYING PRAYER
SCRlBBLES "N0W | LAY ME-"
ON PILLOW
Edna Frances Skunk Drinks carbolc
Acid and Expires Before Medi-
cal Assistance Can Be
Rendered
Now / lay me down to sleep
! pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keer

III | should die before j wake,
/ pray Thee Lord, my soul to take.'
Last words of Edna.
After writing the pathetic prayer of
childhood upon her pillow with a lead
pencil Edna Frances Skunk a relative
of Francis r. Skunk who killed his wife
and himself month ago, and also re-
lated to Ivan Skunk, son of the mur-
derer and self-slayer, drank small
quantity of carbolic acid yesterday
morning few minutes after midnight
and after suffering terribly, without
medical assistance, she died one-half
hour after she swallowed the poison.
The girl was sixteen years old and
was the daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Isaac
w. Skunk of 42S California street. All
her life. according to the girls mother,
she had been an invalid, unable to at
tend school. Accordingly the girl be-
came self-centered to a great degree
and the tragedies which were enacted
by her relatives preyed on her mind.
Hears Girl Scream
The pillow upon which was written
the last thoughts of the unfortunate
girl was stained and eaten by the cor
dying message of the girl was blurred
by the poison.
Coroner Trout held an inquest over
the body of the girl yesterday afternoon
at 8 O'Clock. Mrs Skunk, the girls
mother, made the following statement:
II do not believe the acid that Edna
swallowed was the cause of her death.
She had weak heart and I believe that
when she realized what she had done
the shock was too much for her heart
and that caused her death. The acid
had been left in the room by Horace
Bolton, who had occupied the room IN
which Edna slept until three nights
ago. He had used the acid as face
wash.
THE first intimation 1 had that any
thing was wrong was when l heard
Edna scream. Hundreds of times before
when her heart went wrong she would
scream the same way, so l was not
greatly alarmed. l went right into her
room and asked her what was the mat
ter. She did not reply, but continued
to @>feam.
Mother Tells Story
Il said why, daughter, what is the
matter? but she did not seem to know
me at all and I sent for doctor as
soon as l could get to the telephone.
Long before he arrived, however, Edna
was dead. At first l did not notice that
anything out of the ordinary was the
matter but soon I saw that Ednas lips
were stained white and seemed to be
burned. l touched my finger to her
mouth and then discovered that it was
acid that was staining it.
Fright beside Edna's heart medicine
was where this bottle of carbolic acid
was located. l did not know it was
in the room at all until found 1t this
morning. I fully believe that Edna in
tended to take her medicine and that
her death was accidental"
The verdict rendered by Coroner
Trout was that of accidental death, al
though the evidence seemed strongly to
favor the suicide theory.
A physician who was present at the
inquest said last night
"From all the statements made, it
would seem that Edna Skunk was a
nervous, weakly, hySterical sort of
girl and~the statement of the family
that she had been in the best of spirits
some hours before her death rather
strengthens the suicide theory, for in
the case of most suicides it is only be-
fore they decide to kill themselves that
they are gloomy, irritable and morose,
but after they finally decide to take
the plunge the load of worry and care
is lifted from their minds and they are
hysterically happy and joyous"
The statements which were made con-
cerning the relationship of the dead girl
to the Skunk family, which has been
before Une pubic TOT the ldSL InOnIn Oh
account of the double killing and at
tempted suicide of the son, are extreme
ly conflicting.
Dying Message on Pillow
One of the reports which was made
public was that Edna was engaged to
Ivan Skunk, the 19-year-old son of the
murderer, Francis r. Skunk, but this
was denied by Horace Bolton, deputy
constable, who stated that Edna was
engaged to him. Inasmuch as the girl
was only 16 years old and an invalid,
both stories seem doubtful. Bolton was
the lodger at the Skunk home who left
the bottle of acid in the room, and he
was first notified of the girls death.
The Skunk family came to Los Angeles
four years ago from Marion county,
Ohio. Mrs. william r. Diebold, sis
ter of the dead girl, was one of the
first to arrive at the side of the scream
ing agonized young woman. She also
stated that in her belief her. sisters
death was accidental, for in so far as
she knew there was nothing to worry
Edna and she had been in the best of
spirits the day before, although she had
previously been rather sullen and
moody.
The pillow upon which the girl scrib-
bled her dying message is considered
the strongest evidence that the girl in
tentionally drank the poison. Until the
reason for her writing what would
otherwise be an enigmatical statement
is given the latter theory will probably
obtain The latter part of the writing
on the pillow, where she says Last
words of Edna" is regarded as especial
ly strong evidence to the contrary of
the family's statement that the death