The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-28
Mrs, Eleanor M. COupar, a Talented Author, Shoots
 Herself
TRAGIC MANNER OF
 CARRYING OUT DEED
Mrs. cowper Lies Down In Bed and Covers Herself Up, Then Pulls the Trigger, Which Sends
 Bullet Into Her Head.

New York, November 27.-Using a pillow to muff1e the report of re- volver, Mrs. Eleanor Merron Cowper, a talented playwright and actress, shot herself in the right temple today in an apartment at the St. Regis hotel. She was rendered unconscious and is dying.
 Before making the attempt at self destruction. Mrs. Cowper wrote num- Der of letters, one to her lawyer, an other to the coroner, a third to an un- dertaker, and a fourth to John Hood, a friend. In the letters she appraised the four persons of her intention to commit suicide.
 At about the moment Mrs Cowper pressed her finger to the trigger of the revolver, the letter addressed to John Hood was being delivered. Mir. Hood glanced through the first few lines, grabbed his coat and hat and ran to the St. Regis hotel. He was breathless when he told the clerk of the letter he had received.
 The clerk secured a pass key and hurried to the room of Mrs. Cowper, ac- companied by Mr. Hood and maid employed in the hotel. They found Mrs. Cowper lying in bed with pillow still over her head and the revolver clutched in her hand. The bed cloth ing was stained crimson.
 Investigation revealed that Mrs. Cowper had made careful preparations to end her life. In addition to writ ing a letter to her lawyer, County Judge H. B. Royce of Middletown, N. Y., to take charge of her body, Mrs. Cow per had ordered an undertaken to pre- pare her body for burial and she had painstakingly written brief autobiog- 4apily of her life.
 The biographical sketch stated that Mrs. Cowper was born in England, that she came to this country at the age of three months. Her maiden name was Eleanor Merron. Her stage career be- gan in Boston in a production called Youth" Mrs. Cowper gives a list of the various productions she appeared in.
 Mrs. Cowper wrote four plays which were produced on Broadway. They were: Dairy Farm, "1n Love- "A Broad way Favorite' and "A Last Rehearsal.
 Mrs. Cowper does not give the date of her marriage referring briefly to the fact that her husband, Archibald Cow per, was an actor and that he died three years ago. Practically her only home life, she wrote, was when she lived on the farm of James. H. Wallick at Middletown, N. Y-
 Mir. Wallick, who was 66 years old, col laborated with her in the writing oi some of her plays.
 MT. Wallick committed suicide and his tragic death seemed to have made a deep impression on Mrs. Cowper. Mrs Cowper tried to kill herself in identically the same manner today. The police en- deavored to get into phone communica- tion with Judge Royce of Middletown and learned that he was on his way to New York, having received letter from Mrs. Cowper saying she intended to kill herself He arrived at the hotel to find, the police in charge of the dy- Ing woman.
 In the letter Mrs. Cowper wrote to Judge Royce she asked him to notify her parents in New Hampshire of her death and to take charge of the body, She asked that her body be cremated
 Mrs. Cowper was not removed from her apartments at the hotel as the doc tors said that to do so would probably hasten her death.