Evening star., 1932-01-04
NURSE HANGS TWO
CHILDREN AND SELF.
Chicago Parents Find Baby
Dangling From Crib, Older
Child From Door.
ny the Associated Press.

ny the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, January 4.-Authorities
today sought the reasons why Mary
Roth, 2S, nursemaid, hanged her two
small charges and herself in the John
H. Heindel home, in the fashionable
suburban River Forest.
The blond domestic, who cared for
the children with devotion which some
times, the childrens parents said, bor-
dered upon jealous insanity, suspended
s-month-old George by the neck to the
side of his crib.
The elder brother, John 3. Heindel,
L. was found hanged with short piece
of rope in the doorway.
Miss Roth hanged herself in a closet
OF the basement.
Mr.. and Mrs. Heindel, who were at
tending a bridge party Saturday night,
found the bodies after police helped
break into the barred and locked home.
Detect odor of Gas.
They called the officers when, failing
to arouse any one to let them in, they
detected an odor Of gas at the kitchen
window. Bursting in, they found gas
escaping from the kitchen range. Bed
sheets had been hung about to arrest
drafts Their frantic search for the
children ended at the nursery door.
Police said they believed the nurse
maid carried the sleeping children into
the gas-filled kitchen, where she left
- y ctt iAF ny
Then she tied up the motionless little
bodies.
The grief-stricken parents were at @
loss to account for the tragedy. Miss
Roth, they said, loved the children with
such intensity that she refused to leave
them during their waking hours. She
even slept in an adjoining room. Upon
occasions, she appeared jealous when
the mother fondled the children.
During the past several days. Heindel
said, she had seemed depressed, but
inasmuch as she refused to confide her
troubles, he assumed they we're personal
affairs. He said there was no reason
for her to believe that she was to be
discharged.
Insane, Says Doctor.
Dr.. Francis j. Gerty of the Psyche
p6Cnlc HOSPITAL advanced lIle UIlSOI
that the maids affection for the chill
dren had developed into a form Of in
sanity. Such alterations, DR.. Gerty as
serted, were not unusual IN childless
women and often caused similar trage-
dies.
Police were, however, inclined to fol-
low another line OF investigation. Miss
Roth became employed by the Heindels
three weeks after George was born. Mrs
Heindel engaged her through church
employment agency.
Two weeks previous to this she was q
roomer in the home Of Mrs. John Drex-
man of Chicago. She packed two suit
cases and a hatbox when she left the
Drexman home. She had only the hat
box when she arrived at the Heindels
Silent on Own Affairs.
Mrs. Heindel said the girl explained
that she came from Georgia. Beyond
that, the girl said nothing, either to
Mrs. Heindel or to Mrs. brennan. She
never talked of her personal affairs.
The girl made several telephone calls
during the past few days and even had
a visitor shortly before the tragedy but
police ran up against dead ends when
they tried to run these clues down. Pos
sthility that the fourth person killed the
children and the nurse was precluded,
police said, by the fact that the house
was securely locked from the inside.
Heindel is secretary Of the Leonard
Construction Co.