The Washington herald., 1909-08-19
SEES Her DEAD SON
THROUGH TRANSOM
Aged Woman Attempts Des-
operate Climb to Him.
FALLS EXHAUSTED INTO ROOM
Sight of Body of w. B. Delhi Lying
on Bed I'm Locked Room Makes His
Through Trnnsom She Faints and
Falls 10 Floor-PoIice Investigate.

/ a tragedy in a house at 90 Rhode Island
/ avenue northwest yesterday afternoon
was followed bv an unusual accident.
which in turn was followed by a horrible
| experience on the part of an aged. suffer
/ ing woman.
/ William B. Delhi. twenty-nine years old.
was overtaRen by death while sitting
| on the edge Of bed in his room, re-
moving his clothing. He fell back on the
| bed, clasping in one hand a shoe. which
he had just taken from his foot.
/ His mother. Mrs Mary G. Delhi. knock
ed at the door Of the room a few min
Utes later and found II was locked.
Fearing all was not right on the other
side Of the door. the woman procured a
/ step ladder and placed il IN the hall
Peered Through TrnnSom.
/ She climbed up the lauGer and peered
/ through the transom in the room. where
| she saw her son lying across the bed.
his features distorted. and his eyes set.
The mother watched the body for a
minute, perhaps. although to her it seem
ed an hour. but she could not see that
| her son was breathing
Standing alone on the top Of the shal1y
ladder. peering through into the dark
ened room, Mrs. Delhi realized her son
was dead She tightened her grasp on
! the ladder-for she nearly tainted. She
/ fought off the weakness and in a dazei
| way began to remove the window from
4 the transom. She did not think Of call
ing for help. Her one thought was to
reach her son. who was dead
Twisting and turning the window, and
exercising herself 10 the fun extent Of her
feeble strength. Mrs. Delhi finally pulled
the window from the fastenings and
propped it to the floor. A negro servant
at work on the first floor heard the crash
but did not deem it necessary TO see
what caused it.
Mrs. Delhi put her head through the
| small opening and started 10 draw her
self through. She struggled and squirmed
murmuring in a low voice 20 the body
which lay on the bed. She found the
task was difficult, but struggled desper-
ately.
Became Wedged In.
For many minutes, she does not re-
member how many. the mother pulled
I
wedged tightly in the small rectangular
aperture. She felt her breath leaving
her and realized that she was nearly ex,
hausted.
Then all was blackness. She had
tainted. and her muscles, relaxing, al
lowed her body TO hang across the bottom
Of the transom almost evenly balanced
She does not remember how long sh,
remained IN this position. It was prob
ably about five minutes. Then her breath
ing caused her body 10 slide. and in &
second she had fallen to the floor of tn,
room nearly ten feet
The shock and pain restored conscious
ness. Mrs. Delhi found herself IN a hear
against the door. She tried to move anC
found the effort caused intense pain. Il
this dilemma the woman still forgot tC
call for help
She slowly dragged herself from tn,
door and tried to rise. Her left leg wa:
limp, and by running her hand over Il
she found it had been broken Then sh,
started pulling herself across the nool
with her hands. Hysterical with suffer
ing and racked with sharp pain every