Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-07
POETESS SEEKS
DEATH IN OCEAN
COMES FROM CHICAGO TO DIE
AT AVALON
Woman Leaps from cliffs Into Sea
During Display Of Fireworks from
Sugar Loaf-Life 10
Saved

The desire to end her life In the place
which she believed would be the most
ideal for a final resting place brought
Miss Julia Vanderchyse. a Chicago
poetess, half way across the continent
to the lure of the shimmering ribbon
kelp, the gardens under the sea, and
the multi -colored Avalon depths, where
she cast herself into the sea Monday
night in an attempt to place the cares
of the world behind her.
The glare of the brilliant pyrotechnic
display from Sugar Loaf mountain
Monday night lighted the sea for a
little group of people who had wan
dered along Banning's beach watching
the fireworks, and revealed a CHASTITY
upturned face with flowing hair roll
ing and swaying in the foamy swells
near the shore. And when some of the
bolder had recovered from their fright
sufficiently to pail the body from the
water it was at first taken for granted
that the woman was dead, but later a
faint fluttering of her eyelids caused
her to be rushed to the office of DR.,
]. II. Peckham and after remaining
unconscious Monday night and most of
Tuesday she was at length revived and
related the weird story of her desire
for death.
Leaps from Cliffs
According to the meagre statement
made by the would-b be suicide, she
could not resist the call of the sea, and
ever since her visit to Avalon several
years ago, when she watched the beau
ties of the beautiful, silent depths, she
has been obsessed by a desire to re-
turn and become part of the strange
ly beautiful submarine gardens which
enthralled her very SOUL and so, after
travelling all the way from Chicago,
she waited. until the celebration was
at it's height Monday night and hurled
herself from the cliffs into the velvet
green abyss below in the hope that
that might be her end. The doctors
state that they believe the woman will
fully recover from her stay in the sea
and believe that she can, be persuaded
that it is better to live in California
than to die sub-aqueous death.
Many tourists who have visited the
sea in the neighborhood of the attempt
ed suicide have been heard to. jestingly
state that they would like to cast them
selves into the attrective gardens of
the sea and would prefer to be buried
there to any other place and it is be-
lieved that the poetess allowed her ro-
nance to carry her too far
Returns to San Pedro
After fully recovering yesterday af-
ternoon Miss Vanderchyse passed
some time strolling along the beach,
gazing idly into the still ocean water.
Fearing she would make another at
tempt to throw herself into the sea,
several persons watched her carefully
but the woman merely stared far out
in the quiet waters.
Without a word of thanks to her
rescuers or to the physicians who
worked tirelessly all night to bring her
back to life, Miss Vanderchyse boarded
the boat for San Pedro. During the
short trip to the mainland she kept
herself apart from the remainder of
the passengers and refused to be drawn
into conversation. Most of the voyage
she kept close to the side of the boat,
gazing dreamily into the water
Arriving at San Pedro, she hurried
ashore and was soon lost amid the
confusion at the landing place.