The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-13
TRAGEDY IN BOSTON
Miss Weed Shoots and Kills
Miss HaIdee
THEN COMMITS SUICIDE
Was Suffering From Me|anChOIia
Due to 0VelWOTk

| Graduation from Same College.
| Had Recently Opened n School in
| Boston-Miss Hardee Native OF
! Savannah Ga.
| Boston, Mass, March 1l.-Sutfering
| from melancholia due TO overwork
Miss Sarah Chamberlain Weed. OF
Philadelphia, shot and killed Miss Eli
| zabeth Bailey hardee, OF PA Gwin-
nett street, East Savannah. Ga, and
| then committed suicide at the Laurens
school for girls in the Fenway dis
| trict today.
The Laurens school was establish
| ed last fall by Miss Hardee and Miss
| Weed. On October /, the day the school
opened, Miss Weed broke down as a
| result of overwork, and was commit
| ted to a sanitarium in order TO be
! treated for nervous prostration. Last
| night Miss Weed escaped from the
sanitarium and made her way TO the
school. She appeared to be badly de-
| ranged mentally. A fruitless attempt
was made to communicate with the
authorities of the sanitarium, and at
| length Miss Hardee succeeded in get
| ting Miss Weed to go TO bed in Miss
Hardees chamber on the third floor
of the school building. Miss Hardee
| retired with Miss Weed
Both women were awakened by Mrs
Page about a. m. and notified that
| they must get up if they were 10 catch
| the 1886 train on which Miss Weed
was to be taken back to West New
| ton Mrs. Page left them, and in a
| few minutes later the shooting cccuTr-
ed Mrs Page thinks the mention
CT returning to the sanitarium must
have excited and angered Miss Weed
and induced the shooting.
From the nature Of the wounds Med
| ical Examiner Stedman decided Miss
Weed had committed suicide by shoot
| ing herself through the right temple.
after having shot Miss Hardee through
| the base of the brain.
Both women were about 50 years OF
age, and they had been intimate
friends since their graduation from
, Wellesley college, Miss Hardee receiv-
| ing a diploma in 1894, while Miss
Weed received hers year later. Mis-
Hardee was an instructor in mathemat-
| les at Wellesley in 1899 and 1900 and
since that time has been teaching In
Vermont.
Miss Weed had also been teaching in
various sections of the country. Last
summer the two women decided TO
open a boarding school for girls on
Audubon Road in the Fenway dis
trict. On October 1, the day upon
| which the Laurens school, as they
called it, was opened Miss Wood broke
down as a result of overwork and was
taken to a sanitarium in West New
ton, where she had since been under
| treatment While at the sanitarium
Miss Weed had been subject to severe
attacks of melancholia.
Escaping last night she made her
way to Laurens school where Miss
| Hardee volunteered to care for her
during the night.
Miss Weed behaved in a peculiar
manner, according to the teachers,
wandering aimlessly about the school
building and occasionally making some
strange or incoherent remark
| At length Miss Hardee persuaded
Miss Weed TO retire. and the demented
| woman followed her to her own cham
Der on the third floor ct the school
| building.
The pupils at the school. about for
| ty in number, are the daughters of
wealthy parents from all sections OF
| the country.
| Miss Hardee, in addition 10 her
! school work had taken great interest
| in settlement work in this city, espe-
cially among italians in north end.
| During her college career she was
| prominent in many branches and ex
tremely popular. Miss Weeds work
since leaving college has been confin-
| ed almost entirely to teaching.
| While in the sanitarium at West
Newton she was frequently subject to
extreme Droxissns of weeping. but
| did not seem TO hold any animosity
| against any OF her friends.
| Philadelphia, March 1.-Mrs. Silvia
M. Weed. the mother OF Miss Sarah
Chamberlain Weed, lives at 10 West
Willow Grove avenue, Chestnut Hill,
fashionable suburb Of Philadelphia.
, with a daughter and L w. Taylor,
an uncle OF the dead woman. The
! family did not know Of the tragedy
until shown an Associated Press dis
patch from Boston. and 4 was decid-
ed not to inform the mother who is
a widow and is Ill In bed. until off1-
cial confirmation shall have been re-
eeiYed from SISTER Of tho dad WOMAN