New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-28
SUICIDE, POLICE ASSERT
Practical Joke Killed Miss Iris
tram, Coroner Believes.
TO HOLD INQUEST TO-DAY
Miss Glen Coates Will Pay
Burial Expenses, Gable
Message Says.

TIE police are more convinced than ever
,hs+ Mrs. Alice Tristram Shanks, daughter
., canon Tristram. Of Dublin, former pr1-
yste chaplain 10 the Duke of Ccnnaught
committed suicide early on Sunday morn
ing in the Van Cortlandt Hotel
captain Michael Naughton, of the Kings
h-tdre police station, opposed the theory
~ Coroner Shongut that the singer had
died as the result Of a practical Joke.
@All things point to suicide said Cap
tein Naughton.
Coroner Shongut said yesterday that
one Of the men in the party might have
nut the bottle Of carbolic acid on the table
IN q spirit Of fun. He will hold an inquest
This morning. and has subpenaed every
one who was in the hotel at the time.
Mrs. OConnell. he said, told him the
Yarmouth bottle illed with carbolic acid
was found under the table where Miss
Tristram was seated. while Mr.. O'Connel,
he added. insisted the bottle was found in
the basement.
Miss Tristran as she had called herself
since her arrival IN this country on the
Minnewaska. September g. had been TAX
ing supper with a party of Bronx business
men when she drank the acid. At the table
we're Thomas J. Totten, q real estate
dealer. Of No 1852 Broadway; his brother
Dsrsey: Edward Gallagher. clerk in the
City Paymaster's office; William Lappe, of
z5oth street and Albany Post Road; Joseph
p. Cribbens. Of 2i5th street and Albany
Post Road and another man, said 10 be a
police Lieutenant.
u was one of the party" said Thomas J.
Totten last night Miss Tristram came 10
our table about II o'clock. I had seen her
once before, when she sang at the dinner
Of the Newspaper Mems Golf Club, She
was merry and melancholy by turns.
Saw Her Fall to tho Floor.
About 1890 on Sunday morning left the
z6le 10 talk to DR.. Paul Dolan and J. P.
Q.Connell, proprietor Of the hotel. had
been with them half an hour when l saw
ny friends get up from the table. Then
Eaw Miss Tristram rise, stagger few
steps. and fall 10 the floor"
Or. Doan, who lives on the Albany Post
Road, had been treating Mrs. o'Connell,
the wife Of the proprietor Of the hotel for
= SLIGHT ailment He said he saw Miss
Tristram fall. and hurried TO her side
She was unconscious" said Dr. Dolen.
7 could smell the carbolic acid. and real
lied al once what she had done. While
waiting for the ambulance l worked over
Miss Tristram. aided by another physician
Who was with me. She never regained
rnn sciousness
7Yhen told that Coroner Shongut believed
Miss Tristram might have been the victim
OF a Joke, he said: Il don't think II posi-
bic for any one TO drink carbolic acid with
out knowing it. The moment the first drop
Of acid touches the lips It burns"
Dr. Thomas II. Curtin. coroner's physi-
clan. after performing an autopsy on the
body yesterday, said Miss Tristram had
swallowed more than an ounce Of the poi
son-enough to kill ten persons.
MIGHT Have Tossed II Down.
7 don't think it impossible for her to
have swallowed the poison without know
.ng what II was" said Dr.. Curtin. You
know how some people drink whiskey-
. they toss it right down"
. IN English artist who came over Oh the
: liirnewaska with Miss Tristram said last
night. that Miss Tristram was very Inn
pulsive.
u never thought she would commit sui
eide" he said. "She was always so Jolly,
She told me her father was Canon Tristram
and that she had spent many pleasant
weeks with the family Of the Duke of Con-
neught. 20 whom her father had been pri-
yate chaplain.
she was we'll connected. Her mother
was one Of the famous Cavanaghs. do
not know If she was related to Sir Thomas
Glen-Coats, Of Ferguslie Park, Paisley,
Scotland. but Miss Tristram told me that
Miss Winifred Glen-Coats-who, I think, Is
the daughter OF the baronet-had promised
ITO finance her until the end OF this month
! Miss TT stram came here expecting TO be
overwhelmed with invitations 10 sing She
has q son. fourteen years old. attending q
private school in England
The proprietor Of the boarding house at
No n West 18th street. whore Miss iris
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