Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-25
CRAZEO BY RELIGION
Woman Attempts to Take Her
Life ALl-sss
BY LEAPING FROM WINDOW
After Elldeavoring to Amputate Her
Left Arm.
KNIFE AND MANICURE SCISSORS
Used With Such Effect as to Render
Operation at Hospital Necessary
Internal Injuries Feared.
,NIFE AND MANICURE SCISSORS

Ina ginning she had lost her reasoning
powers because of religious excitement,
Mrs. Annie Squires, forty-nine years old,
wife of William x. Squres. a highly re-
spected resident of Brooke, Stafford county,
Va, almost severed her left arm from her
body this morning and then jumped from
the second-story window of the home OF
Mr.. Owen X. Truitt, 1890 Monroe street
northwest in an attempt to end her life.
She was taken to Garfield Hospital, where
DIR. Wilkinson found it necessary to arnpu-
tate her arm. He found that Mrs. Squires
was weak from loss of blood and that she
had injured her back when she jumped
from the window. She appeared to suffer
so much from the injury she had received
when she jumped from the window that the
surgeons fear she may have sustained an
internal INJURY.
of Mr.. Truitt. The first intimation mem
bers of the family had of anything wrong
in their guests condition was when Mr..
Truitt heard the noise of her fall this morn
ing and went cut in the yard in rear of the
house, where he found the unfortunate
woman He summoned the police as soon
as he discovered what Mrs. SQuireS had
done, and she was hurried to the hospital
by Policeman High Although the woman
was extremely weak from loss of blood she
was able to converse with the policeman
while on the way to the hospital She was
rather inclined to he laxative, but the Of
fcer would not let her do much talking for
fear she would lose what little strength she
had left.
why did you do this?" she was asked
by the policeman, who wanted to learn
enough of the case to be able to make an
intelligent report of the affair
Because | had lost my reasoning pow
ers over religion" was her response.
Used Manicure Scissors.
She fully regretted what she had done, it
appeared, and she was anxious to get treat
ment in time to save her life. Upon reach
ing the hospital the wounded woman was
hurried to the operating room and given
solution calculated to afford almost i'm
mediate relief for the loss of blood. Mem
bers of the family of her host had no
thought that their guest would make an
effort to destroy her life and were surprised
when they learned what she had done. She
had been visiting them for some little time,
and while they probably realized that she
was laboring under religious excitement
they did not anticipate that her mind was
in such condition that she would attempt
to take her life.
After she had been removed TO the hospi-'
tai her room was visited and it was found
that she had used the knife and scissors
of her manicure set for the purpose OF
attempting to sever her arm at the elbow
Blood stains about the room indicated that
the task of infiicting the serious wound
in her arm had been a troublesome one.
| She had gone from one side Of the room
to the other while hacking and gouging at
her arm Withsthe two instruments, ana had
left the stains to show her movements. The
condition of the wound also showed that
she must have spent some minutes in her
efforts and surprise was expressed by the
| surgeons that she had been able to CON
tinue the use of the knife and scissors for
so long a time without fainttng or giving
it up as q bad job.
Believe Her Mind is Affected.
"A women who could continue TO use
knife or scissors for SO long time" re-
marked a physician to a Star reporter,
must certainly have been of uusound
mind"
The fact that she was sane and able to
tell of why she did it while on her way to
the hospital, he stated, would not discoun-
tenance the idea that she was not in her
right mind during the time she cut her
arm. The shock following the use of the
knife and scissors might have restored her
| reasoning powers in the short time. At the
hospital the surgeons stopped the flow or
blood from the arm as quickly possible,
but her condition was such that the arm
could not be amputate ted this morning. All
the flesh had been cut from the bone and
an effort had been made by Mrs. Squires to
sever the arm at the elbow joint This eff
fort had proved unsuccessful, however, and
it was probably for this reason that she
did not succeed in ending her life without
having to resort to jumping from the win
low She was dressed only in her sleeping
garments when she jumped from the win
dow Mr.. Truitt made her comfortable
as possible in the yard and cared for her
until the arrival of the patrol wagon He
was afraid that an attempt to remove her
inside the house might cause the loss OF
additional blood and be the means of less
| ening her chances for recovery. Mr.. Squires
| has been notified of his wifes conduct and
| is expected here tonight or tomorrow morn
| ing to take care of her.