The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-05-28

The girl answered ITO be alone
When the girls reached the Central
tracks Edith again demurred and
wanted to turn back. Grace insisted
that she must come as she had some
thing important to tell her. They
would walk out the track. ways, as
no one would hear them talk. Edith
again consented to follow. They
walked a distance OF several blocks.
This was six o'clock and the section
men coming from work passed the
I girls. Mrs. Catchpool asked Grace
several times what she had to tell
Grace turned upon her almost in a
fury and stated that she was in trou-
BILE and intended to kill herself. The
companion was frightened by the
girls actions and appearance. Grace
vent on TO say that her husband had
left her. that she was in the way, not
wanted at her own home or anywhere
else; no one cared for her any more,
and she would be better dead. The
statements of the girl were so contra.
~ to the facts as Mrs, Catchpool knew
them to be that she thought Grace
must be joking She asked how she
was going to kill herself. and the girl
showed her the labeled bottle of
strychnine. She said she was going
to take poison and then jump in the
river. Mrs. Catchpool grabbed for
the bottle and Grace fought for it like
a maniac and seemed to have deyel
oped sudden and great strength.
Edith could not get the poison bottle
away from the girl. She now begged
and pleaded with her to return, ar
gued with her, told her she was fool
ish and tried in every way. to dis
suade her. To all of which Grace
had but one reply. Her mind was
made. up. She would die. Edith,
now thoroughly alarmed, was herself
half crazed with fear She did not
know what to do. They were all
alone and all she could do was to fol-
low blindly after the almost running
girl She wanted to get help, but did
not know where to look for it. The
girls now passed into the highway and
as they came to a house, the Clark
Terrell residence. Mrs. Catchpool no.
ticed a wire running to the house
and this suggested the telephone as
an assistant. She made pretense of
getting a drink. but was so excited
that she could not make anyone under
stand her. She called the Charles
Carr residence to try to get word to
her husband. but he was not at home.
In despair the girl told the Terrells
about the matter and hurriedly left |
to catch up with her friend Mrs. |
Sauser Immediately knew that Edith |
had been using the phone. She be- |
came very angry, asserted that she |
should never stop her, and began run
hing as fast as possible toward the
liver. Mrs. Catchpool reasoned that |
( she could get word to kthe police |
hey would stop Grace. She knew she |
vas closer to the city than Grace was |
o the river. She would reach town |
irst. She thereupon turned and ran |
almost all the distance back to the |
,ity and summoned the police from |
he Office of the Singer Sewing Ma
chine company. The officers took the |
patrol and went out on the river road
rs far as West Center. The case was |
really outside the jurisdiction of the
police, being outside of the city, and |
they had to return.
The Alarm is Sounded.
In the meantime the people at the
Terrell home called the water works
and told them of the circumstances.
They said a girl acting in an unusual
maneT was coming toward the river
and had threatened suicide. Better
look out for her. Howard Taylor, su-
of the plant, was at work
near the site of the old mill. He
saw the girl approach, accompanied
by pet dog. He watched her as she
crossed the bridge. She sat down on
the east side of the road near the
gate and seemed playing with the
dog. He watched her for fully three
and she seemed all right. He
returned to his work to complete 1t
before dark. George Hurley, who had
been on the north side of the river,
passed the girl and spoke to her,
thinking her some of the folks resid
ing north of the river She turned her
head and did not reply to the saluta-
ton.
Soon after that Loren Taylor, the
little son of Howard Taylor. who had
been sent after a horse on the north
side of the river, reported to his faith
er that he saw woman in the well
lot" Mr. Taylor then lost no time in
getting over to the place. The girl
was gone from where she had been
sitting, nor could he see her in the
timber. He was attracted to the riy-
er bank by the frantic actions of
brown water spaniel which was leap
ing wildly about, running up and down
the bank watching the water, and
then plunging into the stream and
swimming around in the place where
the girl evidently went down. Mr..
Taylor found the tracks of the girls
shoes in the mud where she had
walked into the water. Following
these back he came upon the jacket
and hat placed by log and in the
pocket Of the jacket was the bottle
NJ f,oienn tfntnuchod This was ahnut