The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-06-23
BRIDE-ELECT IS A
SUICIDE FOR LOVE
OF MARRIED MAN
Take My Advice, Don't Bluff;
I Bluffed and Must Pay the
Penalty Of My
Life"

New York, Tune 20.-The strange dis
appearance of Miss Minnie X. wentz,
governess in the home Of Eben e. Whit
man, a wealthy cotton merchant of
Lawrence, l.. l., was cleared up when
she was found dead in the cellar of the
home of her uncle, August Gamer, with
a bullet hole in her right temple. The
revolver with which she shot herself
was clasped in her powder-burned
hand.
From unmailed posta. cards she left
it is taken that owe for a married man
caused her to end her life. Miss Vent.
who was 20 years old, had been engaged
to marry Ludwig Reichold, manager OF
an electrical concern. She came to this
city from Lawrence on Wednesday of
last week to spend a day with her
brother, Eric Wentz, n his wife.
Her fiance, who had furnished a house
at ~Portchester, l.. l., for his bride-to-be.
was to see her the next night at the
home of Gamer, and there they were to
have arranged to take out a license to
marry on Friday. Reichold telephoned
to Miss Went at her brothers home on
Wednesday night, and she expressed
delight that the day of the wedding was
so near.
Last WoroS TO 7er Rance.
I'll be sure to see you tomorrow
night" was her last word to him.
Reichold went to her uncle's home on
Thursday night with a boquet of white
roses and waited two hours for his
sweetheart, but she failed to aDpear.
While he waited he talked with the
| girls aunt and was amazed to learn
expressed doubt that she ought to mar
ry. Deeply perplexed. Reichold re-
turned to Portchester late that night. ,
On the next day DR.. Whitman tele-
phoned Reichold asking IL he knew
where Miss Weintz was, Whitman hav-
ing expected her back at his home in
Lawrence. Shortly after that h po-
lice were asked to IN for the young
g~overness. They searched the woods
Of Lawrence and also Whitman's town
house, where she had told her brother
she proposed going for the jewelry she
had left there. 1855
Detectives called at the home of Mrs.
Gamer in the hope of getting a clew.
but she told them she had not seen
Miss Wentz. The disappearance was
shrouded in mystery.
The discovery Of h suicide was
made yesterday afternoon while Mrs.
Gahzer, with a newspaper reporter,
were looking over the Gamer home for
a photograph of the governess, by the
publication Of which it was hoped she
might be traced. Mrs. Gamer thought
Of a trunk in the wood bin of her cell
lar, in which were some Of Miss Wentz's
belongings.
AS Mrs. Gamer, with a lighted taper
in hand, CROPPED her way into the wood
/ bin,-she-eame~u pom the gOvernesses's
body, lying close to the trunk. Mrs.
Gamer shrieked and tainted.
Coroner's Physician Weston found
Miss Wentz's handbag lying at her side.
In it were five postal cards with grew
some pictures upon them Of a woman
PROSTATE before a tomb. The cards
were addressed to various members Of
the family. One Of them, written to her
brother, Eric, "a the only hin Of the
reason for the suicide. 1t read:
Dear Eric-This, / guess, will be the
last that any of you will lear from me.
Take my advice and don't bluff. 1
bluffed and must pay the penalty Of my
life. I was to marry today, but instead
/ die by my own hand. God bless you
and keep you safe. Lovingly, your sis
ter, Minnie"
Loved a Married Man.
Eric Wentz told a reporter that his
sister had spoken to him of a man other
than R~eichold, while Mrs. Gamer went
further and explained that Miss Wentz
had confided to. her that this man was
married and that she loved him.. The
conclusion of the girls relatives Is that
she found, on the eve Of her proposed
marriage to Reichold. that she could
not carry out her promise.
To her fiance, Miss Wentz left a
postal care reading:
Forgive the deed, dearest. There Is
no other way for me. On the day we
are to be married, / do that which costs
me my life."
The coroner's physician expressed the
belief that Miss Wentz had gone to the
cellar late last Thursday, or early FRI
day, while the family was in another
part of the house. She could have en-
tered through the basement by slipping
the catch on an iron door and got to
the cellar unobserved. She had prob
ably pawned some of her jewelry to buy
the revolver. The WOO bin is so tight
ly closed up that the sound Of h shot