The San Francisco call., 1907-01-21
Dr.. Mcneil Says Class SorOrities Are
Responsible for Daughters Death

Continued From Page 1, Coils. 4, and
airy had set the tongues of childish
gossips wagging and some Of her
| schoolmates had, by their estranged &C
tions, touched a, sensitive nature TO
| the quick-is the belief of the gray
haired father of the young woman He
does not think love affair prompted
her to shoot herself.
thread of romance-the kind that
makes up the life of every boy and
| girl in the school days-but it was the
feeling that she had been wronged by
class clique and that she could never
recover from the damage that she
thought had been put upon her name
by those she had held most dear and
| true among her friends that prompted
the ending of it aall by death.
DR.. Mcneil told yesterday of his
/ daughters little trials and tribulations
at school, and upon them, together
with her high-strung, nervous tenn
permanent and the fact that she was
the blame for her untimely end. He
said:
"Jeanie had always been good girl,
i but, owing to her nervous disposition,
prone to strong emotion over small
things. think can follow the train
of incidents that led to her death, but
I can in no way account for her TAX
! ing her own life except that she was
suffering from fit of temporary alb
erration.
'fShe was not we'll and I have no
doubt that the wagging Of gossiping
! tongues so prayed upon her mind that
| it lost its balance for the moment.
| This terrible lesson will warn young
folks against the evils of gossip and
petty Jealousies. The fraternal society
among school children is a prolific
source of woe with them and 1 know
that it has caused my daughter much
pain. .
SPEAKS OF SORORITY
1.-TWO years ago Jeanie was attend
| ing the high. school and 1t was at
that time that I first heard her speak
of the sorority. She had been a can
| didate for admission to the society, but
| for some petty reason was denied. She
at once became dissatisfied with the
high school and I determined to send
| her to. Lick.
"She seemed happy in her new envi-
ronment and became, am told, very
popular with her teachers and mates.
She was lovable and winsome and had
friends by the score. She progressed
rapidly with her studies and I was
very well satisfied with her. But she
was deeply sympathetic and also SEN
sitive regarding the opinions of others.
! "All went we'll until began to hear
again of the sorority, and two weeks
ago she seemed much disturbed about
something at school, but / paid no
particular attention to the matter, be-
cause she had ever been deeply af
| fected by little incidents, and Thought
that at this time she was just little
more nervous than usual.
Then, one day, she told me about
| three boys who had made a compact
to visit none but girls of the sorority.
and if remember right young Gerald
Kennedy was one of them.
DEFENDS KENNEDY
"Of this lad I know little, except
| that he appeared to be gentlemanly
in conduct and as a school friend of
Jeanies visited her here at the house
frequently I am satisfied that my
daughter was not in love with him in
the sense that the term is generally
accepted-that he was just one of the
tciose friends she had made since en-
tering the Lick School In fact she
often laughed when. he was referred
! to- exhibiting something of the social
superiority that all older schoolmates
feel toward the younger ones, not. of
course, feeling superior in any other
regard
| al have always felt that it was not
proper for girls who are still in their
teens attending school to go out with
members of the other sex, but have left
| the matter entirely to my wife in re-
gard to our daughter.
Some two weeks ago my wife and /
went out TO dinner, leaving Jeanie and
her bosom companion. Miss Eulalah
Kane together in the house. When we
/ returned I learned that Gerald Ken
nedy and young man named Doble
had called at the house in an automo-
bile and invited the two girls to take a
spin. My daughter at first declined to
| go out, but later consented, and the
party left about o'clock. They re-
turned before 8.
WORRIED TO HER DEATH
This was the incident that gave the
gossips at school subject for the dis
cussion that afterward worried my
daughter to death. One trouble Is that
1 nowadays young folks grow old too
soon. They attempt to initiate adults
l in all social matters, and thus some
times come to grief. When I was in
school the student body was united as
one large coterie of schoolmates, in
stead of being divided into cliques and
societies as. in this day.
"The last time young Kennedy was
/ here was, believe, on Friday. My
! daughter told me something of the gos-
sip that was annoying her and said that
when Kennedy was about to leave he
| had offered to shake hands, and asked
for the continuance of their friendship.
but she had refused to accept it be-
cause of the injury she felt had been
/ done her.
Miss Kane, who had known her
since they were babies, was with Jeanie
at the skating rink when the conver-
sation took place between her and Miss
Knowles regarding the remarks that
| some of the girls had made about her,
and Miss Kane tells me that daugh-
] ter seemed in higher spirits than usual
all afternoon and on the way home
from the rink. Il was a terrible shock
| to all of us to find her dead in her
room. AS to the aspersions that were
cast upon her / can only say that !
leave my daughters reputation in the
| hands of her teachers"
CLASSMATES LOYAL
| All day yesterday the classmates of
| the dead girl called at the Mcneil home
to express their sympathy and but for
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