Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-02-08
GLASS SACRIFICE
IS TRADITIONAL.
SAD ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF MISS
DOUGLASS Al MADISON CARRIES
OUT CRUEL PRECEDENT
PRECAUTION INDIRECT CAUSE.
After Cornell Catastrophe Each Room
in Lodge Was Supplied with
Fire Escape.

MADISON, Wis, Feb. Especial ]
AT the Gamma Phi Beta lodge las
evening services were held over the re-
mains of Miss Ella May Douglass. the
senior of Wisconsin university. who met
death Wednesday night by falling from
the third story of her sorority house
while, i'll Il frohc she attempted to de
scend Il "kuotted rope" fire escape.
The services were conducted by
Rev. George f. Hunt and were
attended by the members of the
sorority and number of friends
and classmates. Mrs. James X
Simpson, sister, accompanied the re-
mains to Winona, Mimi, the former
home of the young student where the
funeral was held this morning.
Precaution Causes Death.
The whole Latin section is in mourning
Miss Douglass was one of the best
known and best liked members of her
class, and the genuine grief of her
friends was only feebly expressed by the
scores of letters of confidence and
wreaths of flowers that were received
at the Gamma Phi lodge today.
1t is almost traditional in the univcr-
sity that every graduating class loses one
oL us ultIllbeIS through dCClucnI, bul lut
circumstances which surround the death
of Miss Douglass make it the saddest
event i'll college annals. After the CHI
Psi fire at Cornell month ago, the
members of the sorority decided that as
a matter of protection they would in
stall rope fire escapes i'll every room.
Rope Slack; Lost Hold.
Since the fire escapes came Il week
ago, Miss Douglass had repeatedly
threatened, in Il half-joking way, to test
them. Shortly after 8 o'clock WCdncS-
day, in company with two of her friends,
she went to her room. 1t was her plan
to slide down to the second story and
alight on the window sill of one of the
other girls room, as she expressed 1t
Just to scare her Il little"
When she started to slide she lost her
hold and fell. On the descent she struck
a bay window. crushing her face. Her
screams brought to her side half dozen
girls of the Gamma Phi sorority. When
they picked her up she was unconscious,
and died at s o'clock Friday morning
without regaining consciousness. Miss
Douglass had been in i'll health for some
time.
Coroner Blames Manufacturer.
At the inquest Coroner Lynch said
that the "knotted rope fire escape which
Miss Douglass attempted to use was I'M
fit for service.
Il never saw q poorer excuse for a
fire escape" said the coroner. The
company that installed them is morally
responsible for the death of that girl
1t would take skilled rope climber to
make the descent OH one of them. No
ordinary man could use it, and it is sim
ply ridiculous to suppose that a woman
could slide down."
Girls Warned Against Use
7. e. Birmingham, at whose sugges-
ton the rope escapes were installed
made the following statement:
'|Ehf rope fire escape was never in
tended for general use. After the Chi
Psi fire last month"; Mrs. Birmingham,
who is a member of Gamma Phi Beta,
and / thought it would be a good idea to
have a little additional protection against
FIRE for the girls, 50 we had a rope
escape put into each room. The girls
were given Instructions that they were
70 be used only III cases of extreme
necessity, and then they were to wait
until someone was at the other end so
that the rope would not hang slack. We
little thought that this supposed protec-
ton would be the means of bringing an
uutimely end to one for whose benefit it
was installed"