The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-09-13
Children of Mrs. Jennie
Burns Not Told of the
Suicide of Parent.
BOYS, NOT KNOWING,
CALL FOR MOTHER
Body Will Be Laid to Rest
Beside That of Her
Parent.

While the body Of their mother. a
suicide, lay in an undertaking shop
many blocks away, two little boys,
Claude and Paul Burns. eyed five and
three. wandered through the Railways
of a darkened home at al Eleventh
street northeast today. and between
their games would ask IN turn:
Where is mamma; when is she COM
Eng back?''
They haven't been told yet that last
might as heT children slept beside her,
Mrs. Jennie Burns, wife of an adver-
sising solicitor out of work. despond-
emit. facing probable poverty. too proud
20 ask aid Of a wealthy father, knowing
that on the morrow she must seek work
herself, and that a separation from her
little ones was imminent. took carboliC
acid and died They haven been told
nor could they appreciate. perhaps
that, as she expressed It IN a farewell
note. their mother has gone 20 that
bourne from whence no traveller re-
turns
when they grow older they wiz un-
derstand the tragic story told on little
slip Of blue-tinted note paper pinned
70 the dead womans dress when her
nuSDdEQs dohtpn BUTTS ENNAfhtu anu
found her, which read:
Ny Dear Father: When you receive
this I shall have gone TO that bourne
from whence no traveller returns. Every
thing has gone wrong, and 1 have had
20 20 to work. But the most terrible
thing ] nave had to face IL separation
from my children. ] find I cannot be
without them, and live. Forgive and
forget your unhappy daughter, and
burr me beside the body OF my mother.
JENNIE
Remembers Her Daughter.
On the opposite side, penned evidently
es an after-thought. and perhaps just
Before she lifted The deadly vial 70 her
lips. was written:
MY last request is that you take Lei
Ia and look out for her.
Leila is a little daughter By a form
~ marriage who is now with Mrs.
Burns father in South Dakota
Pending telegraphic advices from
the father, no funeral arrangements
have been made. The body. however.
will be buried as she requested beside
her mother at Truemansburg, y. Y,
where several OF her relatives live.
Singularly pathetic is the suicide OF
1frs. Jennie Burns. She took her life
BY the side Of her sleeping little ones.
who never awakened while dis
traught husband and father sobbed
<pver the dead body. They slept on,
too, when the physician, the coroner.
the police. and the undertaken came.
and finally as the body was removed
from the home to an undeTtalIers thirty
blocks away.
Today. had she lived. It was planned
that Mrs. Burns would obtain position
herself. in order 10 help long until her
husband could find work a thing he
had sought FOR weeks IN vain. With
mother and father gone and a grand
mother not physically able 70 watch
over them. Il had hepu decided. after
many a fearful hour on the mother 2
part, that She two children would be
taken 70 an orphans home until better
DAYS came for Burns and his wife II
wes this thought, evidently. that finally
caused the mother. meeting face to
face with adversely for the first time
10 decide 20 end II u. Tucking them
IN bed. she watched for the steady
breathing that indicated innocent sleep.
gave one last tender look, and ? moment
later had swallowed two and a half
ounces Of carboliC acid.
Found by Husband.
She must have died practically with
out pain. for when her husband re-
turned. shortly after Q o'clock last
night. her features were calm and her
hands were folded across her breast
The two little bows lay not three feet
away in the same bed.
The meaning or II all came quickly
20 young Burns, for the fumes Of
soom and an empty bottle labeled
poison lay upon the floor. The hus-
band threw himself across the pros
trats form. 1t was warm.
Ny God. Jennie has killed herself.
Get doctor. quick ne cried. A physi-
clan soon arrived from tie C1sudlty
Hospital After q cursory examina ton
he shook his head Burns. as he held
the dead body Of his wife close TO HIM.
1ound the note pinned a. her breast.
A. this Juncture Policemen Hauschi!d
and Neb, Of the Ninth precinct. enter
I'd the room. and while the weeping mem
bers Of the family gathered below, stood
guard until the coroner arrived Or.
hewitt issued a certificate Of death b.
Suicide The body was removed later
10 an undertaking establishment Al COOS
pennsylvania avenue. where IL will re-
main until Mrs. Burns relatives. who
p~Fs been teleSraphed, are heard from.
Hard Times Come.
Joseph Burns. IT. is one OF the best
known advertising solicitors in Wash
ington. He met his wife while travel
ing IN South Dakota seven years ago.
About three years ago he accepted a
position with a Washington afternoon
paper. later going 10 a morning pub
icatiou OF an ambitious stature. he
gave up his position early IN fhe spring
and branched out in an advertising
arency for himself Things we're bright
for awhile and Burns and his little
family were happy in a home Al
Rrlghtwood But the summer duIlness
came on the home was given mp. mex.
Burns office in the Bond building dion
pay. and as a last resort he was COM
PEELED TO ask 20 live with hts father and
Inothcr Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Burns. ~
~ Eleventh street northeast until
things brighten up n BIT IN tne advsrtis-
ing line
zt-hout avail At last = final little
family council was held and IL was
decided that the wife should help "A
little TO 'tfdC over until the husband.
horetofore a man who made a good
salary, could find another position.
Then anne the decision about the 1T
tie ones. Separation even for a brief
time. ~ they lived apart. the mother
thought. would be more than she
could bear. She sought and found tho
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