The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-30
CALMLY PLANNED Her SUICIDE
TOOK EVERY PRECAUTION TO
HIDE HER IDENTITY.
Hunted TIL She Found a Room for Rent
That Suited Her Purpose Made Apart
mcnt Almost Alright Then. Inhaled las
Through a Tube-Maybe From Canada.

3 Through a Tube-Maybe From n
PHILADELPHIA. April 29.-Refined in ap-
pearance, with iewelry and money that
would have supported her for several weeks,
a woman came to Philadelphia last Friday
determined to die. Yesterday the police
and Coroner's officers tried in vain to solve
the question Of her identity or find some
clue to the reason for her carefully planned
suicide.
Determined to die, she took great precau-
tions to see that the method she had decided
upon should not result in injury to others.
A scrap Of paper with writing was found IN
her rooms at 1888 Arch street, which she
picked out for her last day upon earth.
Every letter or memorandum had been
burned. Almost every article Of clothing
found in the room was brand new.
She gave her name as Mrs. Sutherland
and said that che was from Detroit and
the police say there are several reasons
for believing that she did come from one
Of the cities that border upon Canada or
from the Dominion itself.
She was about As years old Every act
shows that her sole purpose in coming
here was to find a place where she believed
she could find death without the news
reaching her friends or relatives.
She had evidently made up her mind
to Use gas as a means of suicide, for when
she arrived at the Arch street apartments,
which are in charge of R. B. %Snodgrass.
she declined to take any of the rooms shown
her in which mantled burners we're at
tached to the gas Jets, She said that eS-
| pense was no object and looked at some
Of the best rooms in 1881, but as all these
had the mantled burners she asked to see
other rooms. In 1888 she found a sitting
room with a private bath.
The bathroom has wooden walls and a
single gas jet, After saying that the room
suited her, she suddenly checked herself
and began asking questions regarding the
adjoining rooms; 1t was thought at hrst
that she wanted neighbors, but when it
was explained that one Of the adjoining
| rooms was u~noccupied and that a big closet
separated another room from hers, she
said, That's good, l will take the rooms" =,
1t was Friday morning when she arrived
herself most of the day, although she was
out during the afternoon. Friday night
she slept at the house and Saturday morn
ing she went out and purchased a few feet
of rubber hose. This she attached to the
! gas Jet in the bathroom. She then dragged
room, and she was found lying upon this
with the tube from the gas jet beside her.
Investigation shows that she must have
spent several hours making the bathroom
practically alright. She tore several
newspapers into strips and used these to
fill in all the little c~revices in the wooden
walls and windows.
The keyhole and the crevice under the
door were all made tight, and in places in
the wall it was apparent hat she had used
the back OF a comb to press the paper tightly
into the cracks, so that the gas might not
escape and do injury 10 any one else in
the house.
1t was late Saturday night W hen a faint
odor of gas became noticeable in the halls
of the house, and after a long inve stigation
it was traced to Mrs, Sutherland's rooms.
The door was found locked and was
broken in, as was also the door leading 20
the bathroom. She was dead when found,
although the body was taken to a hos
pital TO see if there was any possibility OF
reviving her.
Coroner's Deputy Frank Kite to-day
made a detailed investigation of the case.
but everything he founa only adoed TO the
mystery of the woman's identity.
She hau a slight bodily ailment. but the
physicians say that 1t could have atforoed
no reason for her desire to commit suicide.
In a brown leather handbag was found
sl4 and some pennies in American money.
a $40 Canadian bill and a gold pin set in
pearls.
She wore Two plain gold rings. one of
which had what appears to be a Maltese
cross or a buckle upon one side. A heavy
solid gold twisted chain and a gold heart
upon which was a clover leaf set with pearls
comprised the remaining articles Of iewelry.