Omaha daily bee., 1919-11-17
PAST HUSBANDS
AND TRAGEDIES,
SHADOWED LIFE
Touching Story Of Mrs. Alma
Steane's Suffering From Hys-
terra Told at Inquest.
(By Universal Sefvice.)

London, Nov. 16.-A touching
story of suffering from hysteria, adj
duced by unhappiness with two pre-
vious husbands and by the shadow
| of the mysterious family tragedies
constantly darkening her mind, was
told by her husband at the cor
oner's inquest into her death by
suicide.
Much of the dead woman's past
was laid bare by various witnesses
and pieced together. The testimony
made stirring drama of love and
romance. the heroine of which was
always haunted, partly by an III
herited spirit OF brooding. partly by
as yet unsolved tragic blows that
married the days of her childhood.
Here is the, story of the beautiful
young woman's tragic death as'told
by her husband, Capt Cedric Sc
bastian Steane, at the inquest:
MY wife was 20 years old. |
married her on August 80, last, and
we returned after our honeymoon
to London last Tuesday. We went
to 70 Duke street, Westminster,
where my wife had fiat.
Appeared Very Happy.
about 9 o'clock we went to the
Claridges to dine and attend the
Armistice day ball. Mrs. Steane did
not dance, but she appeared very
happy. We had bottle of cham
payne between us.
However, my wife was often hys-
terical and neurotic. She had been
unhappy in her previous married
life, but we had never quarreled.
When we. returned to my wife's
fiat after the bali, we sat down on
a couch together. My wife said:
"I'm so happy to be back here,
and so glad you're here. | do not
feel any effect of the dreadful thing
that took place here
Then | realized for the first time
that the thing she referred to as
having happened in this fiat was a
previous attempt at suicide.
Then she suddenly said: Don't
sit on that couch l knew that she
was becoming hysterical. l took her
in my arms and tried to comfort her.
Then she went into the bedroom and
dining room. | heard her call Tony,
I'm going to take that stuff this
time
Il ran into the bedroom and saw
her standing before the fireplace.
She had one hand on her mouth, and
there was some white powder on her
fingers. Then she drank some water
and went to the window and opened
it. / heard a tinkling noise, as if
something had been thrown out.
Then she came BACK and said:
Gets Kiss for Last Time.
"'Tony, kiss me for the last time
II clasped her in my arms and
she sank back. | telephoned for
doctor. My wife had often been de-
pressed and talked of suicide. I
understood her being depressed be-
cause both her parents had commit
ted suicide. When she had hysteri-
cal fits she would say she heard her
mothers voice calling. Her attacks
of hysteria were very numerous.
They happened two or three times
weekly"
DR.. Mcdonald Brown testified he
had been consulted by the dead wo-
man frequently some years ago. AT
one time he was summoned to the
Duke street flat where he found her
very i'll. She had taken poison and
said she didn't want to live any
longer and that the doctor could not
help her. The latter found subl-
mate of sulphur in her system but
she recovered after treatment. The
doctor added Mrs Steane had been
very neurotic and hysterical
DR.. Phillip Dunn, police surgeon,
testified death was caused by eva"
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