Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-12-19
Aged Mother and Daughter Are
Found Lifeless in Vapor-
filled Apartment.
BOTH HAD EXPRESSED
OPPOSITION TO SUICIDE
Deputy County Physician AS
serts Belief in Existence
of Death Pact.

The relatives of Mrs. Josephine Herr
man, 10 years old. and her daughter,
Mrs. Belle zilliff, whose dead bodies
were found in the gas-fiooded apart
ment at 26 Central avenue, are today
still at a loss to determine whether the
death of the two women was accidental
or whether it was case of suicide.
ing by Frederick G. Clark and J. P.
Kelly. Deputy County Physician NJ.
Herbert Simmons. who took charge of
the case, Is of the opinion that the two
women, both widows. died in a suicide
pact.
The funerals will be held Wednesday
afternoon at 8 o'clock from the Grove
Street Congregational Church, in East
Orange. The Rev. Ferdinand @. Blaneh-
ard will officiate. Interment will be
made on Thursday in Hanover. Mr..
Blanchard will deliver the commital
address.
1t was through S-year-old Herbert
Clark that the death of the two women
was discovered. The little fellow was
on his way to Sunday school. and on
going through the hallway detected a
strong odor of gas.
Bodies Are Found.
He told his father. who went up to
the apartment occupied by Mrs. Zilliff,
but received no response to his knock
ing on the door. Mr.. Clark became
frightened and ran to the corner,
where he induced Mr.. Kelly to come
with him. Together they forced open
the door and found gas pouring out
from four jets. The women were lying
in different but adjoining rooms. In
the bath room was lighted oil stove
and 1t is a wonder to many that an ex-
plosion dia not wreck the house before
the bodies were discovered.
Drs. Simmons, Warner and Cook
when they arrived. stated that tn
women had been dead several hours
as the bodies were almost cold. Rela
tives of Mrs. Zilliff cannot understand
why she should have ended her life
Although she had been a widow fol
three years 1t was thought that she
was in fairly good circumstances and
supported herself nicely.
Southern Trip Postponed.
1t is said that she was to have gone
South as companion to an elderly
woman, and it may be due to, the fac
that her proposed trip was for somt
reason postponed, that she committed
suicide. F rederick Knapp, of II Steu
ben street, a son-in-law of Mrs Herr
man, said that she had lived with hin
for a number of years, and was as
sured of a good home as long as she
lived. He also said that both womer
had often said that persons who tool
their own lives were fools.
Mr.. Knapp said that he believed that
Mrs. Herman and her daughter light
ed the jets thinking that it would hell
heat the apartment and then laid dowr
for a nap. He thinks that water musi
have gotten into the gaspipes, put out
the lights and then when the water re-
ceded the gas escaped. The gas was
supplied through a quarter metre, and
it is said that the supply would have
stopped automatically few minutes
after the tragedy was discovered.
Mrs. Zelliff had been married twice
Her first husband was a man named
Westerwelt. Her second husband has
been dead three years. The survivors
of the mother and daughter are; Mrs
Knapp and Mrs. Anna Mulford, the lat
ter living In Joralemon street, Belle
Vile Both of the dead women wert
members of the Grove Street Congre-
gational Church in East Orange and
attended services frequently.