The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-11-27
CRAZED WOMAN
Lands on Narrow Ledge Sixty Feet
Above Ground
I'm MAD Death LEAP.

Hurls Herself From Roof, Lands on
Coping and Races Round and :
RounG.-Great Crowd Powerless
to Help Her.-Firemen Almost
Dragged to Death and Struggles
To Hold Her Balance.
Balancing herself with the skill =of
an acrobat upon a narrow ledge
projecting from the outer walls Of
the fashionable Revere apartment
house, at Seventh avenue and One
Hundred and Forty-second street
New York Wednesday, Miss Eliza
beth Coyden, a pretty girl Of twenty,
who had suddenly become v'~'ent',.
insane and ran around;and around
the house on this perilous pathway.
1t had been no part Of her insane
plan to land on the ledge. for she had
leaped from the roof, intending to
end her life. That she stuck on the
ledge was a mere chance.
Sixty feet below, men and women
filing the street and avenue, watch
ed with fascinated eyes as the girl
circuled the house again and again
on the ledge, which projected just
below the sixth story. Women in the
throng tainted and sank to the ground
as they looked. Others covered their
eyes a score Of times when it seemed
certain that the crazed girl must be
dashed to the pavement.
And the rescue Of the insane girl
was even more thrilling, for it was
not accomplished without a fight, in
which she nearly succeeded in drag
ging Fireman Quinn over the edge
Of the lie lge.
Miss Coyden had been engaged last
Saturday as a maid in the home Of
Mr.. and Mrs. Ralph Wolf, who oc-
cupy suite in the Revere. She spoke
little English, but she accomplished
her duties with a deftness that de-
lighted Mrs. Wolf. It was noted,
however. that she seldom smiled. On
Sunday night Mrs. Wolfe found her
weeping. but the girl could or would
not explain the cause. Whether her
secret unseated her reason and caus-
ed her wild attempt to die Wednes-
day can only be conjured.
Mrs. Ralph did net suspect that the
girl was mentally unbalanced until 9
o'clock Wednesday morning, when
she asked the way to the roof. Il
must go up," she said. Mrs. Ralph
tried to dissuade her, but the girl
shook her head. With her eyes gilt
tering with excitement, and repeat
ing again, II must go up,,'' she ran
into the hall and found the stairway
leading from the sixth floor, on which
the Volts live, to the roof.
Mrs. Wolf followed her>and tried
to overtake her, but the girl was too
quick. She ran to the edge Of the
roof and dropped off. Mrs. Wolf
looked cautiously over the cornice,
expecting to see the crushed form Of
the maid on the pavement. But. in
stead, she was lying on the ledge,
only twelve feet below the roof, one
arm hanging over the edge of the
narrow projection. Even as Mrs.
Wolf looked, the girl stirred; and
then got slowly to her feet
Go to a window, dear, and / will
let you in, and be very careful, :"
called Mrs. Wolf, but the girl ap-
peared not to hear it. When Mrs.
Wolf, trying hard to steady her voice,
spoke again the crazed girl looked up
and laughed harshly. Then she be-
gan to walk rapidly alone the ledge,
while a swiftly increasing throng in
the street watched her. She chang
ed the walk to a run and only slow
ed down at the corners Of the house,
where the l2-inch path turned a right
angle.
Mrs. Wolf, in despair, descended
to her rooms and telephoned to the
police. Fully twenty-five other calls
were received at Police Headquar-
ters in the next quarter of an hour,
begging that reserves be sent to save
this girl.
Fireman Quinn, of Hook and Lad
der Company No. 143, reached the
house ahead Of the reserves from the
West One Hundred and Twenty-ffth
street station. Quinn went up to the
rooms of the Wolfs, and opening a
window, waited for the girl to reach
that point.
When Quinn, reached out, grasp
ed Miss Coyden by the arms she ut
tered again the harsh laugh with
which she had greeted Mrs. Wolf.
Then she turned and fought the fire
man with strength that was aston
ishing. Twice she almost dragged
him out on the ledge.
She braced her feet against the
window sill and pulled outward with
all her might, leaning her body over
the street. Had the fireman lost his
hold she would have been dashed
downward. But he hung on, even
when it seemed certain that he must
die with the girl, and at the crucial
two policemen dashed into :
the room, and seized Quinn around
the waist. A third policeman yank-
ed loose the girls feet, and she was
pulled into the room with a force
that knocked her down, while Quinn
also went over backward.
But the young woman was on her
;eet again in a flash, and would have
eaped from the window had she not
oeen seized and held. It took the
combined strength Of the three po-
icemen to sbbdue her. DR.. Ross, who
1oc c,,roroo1a1 frovo uor1a,o uocn;t