The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1914-05-01
DEATH FROM HEART FAILURE

The relatives of the \ late Ruth
Strong, whose tragic death upon the
grave of her fiance, in the cemetery
at Chesaw, as reported last week, feel
confident that the unfortunate girl
died of natural causes and not from
poison. 1t is stated as confirmation
of this theory that when she arrived
at Chesaw on Tuesday evening of last
week she went to the home of Mrs.
A. G. Blaine, and was in very cheerful
spirits. When she went to the ceme-
terry Wednesday she had an under
standing with Mrs. Blaine to meet her
on the road upon her return. All she
took with her was a tumbler, to be
used for carrying water from stream
by the cemetery to the grave. She had
left Waxen flowers on the grave at a
previous visit, and she wanted the
water to wash off the flowers. A man
setting fence posts near the cemetery
saw her at the grave and noticed her
going for the water. He saw her
kneel down at the grave, in which posi-
ton she was when he left his work
for some purpose. Upon returning in
about half an hour he was surprised
to see the girl still at the grave, ap-
parently lying across the mound. An
investigation followed, and Miss
Strong was found to be dead. There
was no sign whatever of struggle.
From a kneeling position she had ap-
Iparently fallen forward upon her face
across the grave and died instantly.
There was no vial found, and no evil
dence to indicate that she had taken
poison. Inquiries were made at Re-
public and Chesaw, the only places she
could possibly have secured poison,
and it was found that she had not been
at any of the drug stores. Further
more, to bear out the belief that death
was from natural causes, she had made
plans to leave Chesaw Thursday morn
ing to visit her sister, Mrs. Elmer
Collie, at Circle, and from there ex-
pected to come on to Oroville to visit
with her father and brother. From her
cheerful state of mind, from the trend
of her conversation, from the nature
of her arrangements it is evident that
she never contemplated self-destruc-
ton. 1t is believed that death resulted
from heart failure. The funeral was
held at Chesaw Friday, and the re-
mains were buried beside the grave of
her lover. A strange cOincident, If
coincident it was, is that Miss Strong
died on the anniversary of the death
of her betroathed, who committed
suicide just year ago, the rash act
following the announcement by ply
sician that he was afflicted by an in
durable ailment.
Monday of this week A. A. Strong,
father of the late Miss Ruth Strong
received a letter that was written to
him by his daughter just upon the eve
OF her departure from Republic for
Oroville. The letter was written Mon
day, May 20, but in the preparations
for starting on her journey early Tues
day morning the deceased failed to
mail it, and it was forwarded to Mr..
Strong by his wife after her return
to Republic from the funeral. There
is not a shade of despondency in the
epistle. 1t is such letter as low
ing daughter would write to father.
1t informed him of her intention to
start Tuesday on visit to him, and
that she would stop en- route at Che
saw, go on to her sister, near Circle,
where she wanted her brother, Fred, to
meet her. The letted was written by
a person in a normal state of mind,
without thought of early dissolution
and greatly strengthens the growing
impression that death was the result
of natural causes.