The sun., 1919-01-29
SENTRY SAW SUICIDE
OF CROMWELL GIRLS
Alarm Given Slowly and Liner
Did Not Stop for 10
Minutes.
BOTH SEEN IN WATER
Brother Gets Sisters Last Let
ter Revealing Motive, but
Maintains Silence.

The Cromwell twins, the Misses Gladys
ana Dorothea. gave up their lives In the
estuary OF the Glronde at the point
where 1t flows into the Bay OF Biscay.
early In the evening OF January ~ by
jumping from the French liner La Lor-
faine. In which they had embarked at
Bordeaux early in the morning.
Seymour L. Cromwell. brother OF the
girls, received yesterday morning a re-
Spouse to his wireless message to the
liner. nearing the coast, asking for con-
firmation of the report OF the. double
suicide. and was so overcome by the
dashing OF his hope that the sisters were
alive that he was unable to meet the
Lorraine when she locked at the foot OF
West Fifteenth street last evening.
Mr.. Cromwell later received a letter
from the girls. brought to him by Major
James C. Sherman in charge OF eighty
RED Cross workers returning from
France including the Cromwell twins.
convincing him that they had killed
themselves and revealing the reason. He
declined to tell what his sisters had
written, remarking merely that the only
statement he cared to give 10 the press
was that "he had received confirmation
Of the death of his sisters
Soldier Saw Girls Leap.
The impression aboard the liner was
that they had become demented through
brooding over what they deemed to be
the failure of their work in the Red
Cross service. This. according to their
friends. was not justified by the facts.
Only few OF the Lorraine's passen-
gers. including a large contingent OF
American troops of the 339th Field Ar
~
Gay after II occurred, and only one man.
surnamed Edwards; a sentry on duty on
the main deck, saw the girls go over
board. He was pacing the forward deck
on the port side when he noted one OF
two young women in the uniform OF the
Red Cross go TO the forward port rail
and mount 1t. She jumped. and the
other young woman climbed the rail and
did likewise.
The sentry was inclined to suspect for
. moment that the tragedy was not real.
It looked like a motion picture exhibit
tion. II was dusk and the sisters were
emily mistily outlined. Edwards. after
grasping the reality Of the incident.
called for the corporal of the guard, ac-
cording TO other passengers who hap
pened to be near
There was scurrying of soldiers and
passengers. but nobody seemed to think
the perfunctory sea phrase Man Cor
woman) overheard" Two Red Cross
workers. F. r. Noe of Springfield. Ky.
and e. d. Brown Of Peeksk!ll. ran to
the port rail and saw. as the ship went
serenely on her course through placid
sea, the two girls in the water. one an
parently almost lifeless and the other
dipping her head under in an effort to
drown swiftly. The vision was mo-
mentary. as the Lorraine was going at
about eighteen knots, and the dimness
Of the evening made II impossible for
the observers to see the faces OF the sui
cides clearly.
Ship Goes on Five Miles.
The unreality of the thing may have
been one OF the reasons why there was
not swifter effort to make known to
the ships officers that two of her pas
sengers had gone over>the rail.
In peace times the response to an ap-
peal for help would have been almost
instantaneous. but war apparently had
blunted the acuteness Of the senslbii
ties of the passengers, martial and civ
alan, and 1t was not until about
eighteen minutes after the twins had
gone overheard that the Lorraine's
comman der knew and stopped the ship
then well out in the Bay Of Biscay. and
probably Ave miles from the point
whore the twins had sought and found
death. The liner was stopped and life
boats lowered. but naturally nothing
was seen Of the sisters.
Major James c. Sherman. in charge
OF the Red Cross workers. was notified
before the lowering of the boats, that
two young women had been seen to
Jump into the Gironde, and he went i'm
,nediately to the cabin of the twins
They had been unable TO get first class
accommodation, the ship having been
sold out early, and had taken stateroom
7o3. in the second cabin. with Miss c.
keiien, another Red Cross worker, who
later refused TO say anything on the
subject
Major Sherman found four letters on
a table in the stateroom. one. in an un-
sealed envelope. addressed to himself
another to Mr.. Cromwell, another to
Mr.. Cromwell's wife and another to a
woman friend.
Demented, Say PassenEers,
Major Sherman read his own letter
and took possession OF the others He
said the sisters had admitted they we're
going to kin themselves and requested
him to deliver the other letters to the
persons to whom they were addressed
which he did last evening. He said that
personal reasons forbade him from say
ing anything about the suicides
He went to the stateroom of the twins
because he had been requested to look
out for them Whether he believed they
we're mentally unbalanced he declined
TO say. but II was asserted by other pas
sengers that this was the case and that
1t was known to some of their friends in
the Red Cross contingent that came
with them.
Mrs, Edward Shearson Of this CITY n
Red Cross worker and a member OF the
Committee for the Care of FatherIess
Children of France. received Yesterday
morning a wireless message from Mr.
Cromwell asking IL the report OF the
suicides was true. She answered that II
was. and that the bodies had not been
recovered. That is why Mr.. Cromwell
did not visit the liner on her arrival
sending to represent him his attorney
James c. Manchester, who took ca
r OF tho girls baggage.
Mrs. Shearson said she suspected that
the sisters were very much depressed
after the reaction from their hard work
In the canteen service OF the Red Cross
She added that ahe would advise tho
Americans TO send over no more women
war workers between the ages of IS nnd
70, and to bring all back, as they were
rot needed now.
Miss Florence Chapman, ambula, ce
driver for the American yvomen's Hos
pital at BuIancy. said that she had noted
that one of the twins, she could not tell
which, was very melancholy the nigh.
before they decided TO die.
---------
Arnold ROthstein Set Free.
Ayppld nothatain - H..