Evening star., 1935-02-22
GIRLS NOTES HOLD
SUICIDE SECRET.
Du Bois Rushing to London
to Receive Last Message
From Daughters.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, February 22.-Two fare
well notes, their contents undivulged,
held the death secret of Jane and
Elizabeth Du Bois today.
Coert Du Bois, United States con-
sui general at Naples, father of the
attractive young women who plunged
to their deaths yesterday from an air.
plane, was en- route here with his
stricken wife to receive his
daughters messages.
The two notes, found on a seat Of
the airliner after the sisters had leaped
from it at an altitude of 5000 feet
over Upminster, Essex, were in the
custody Of the American consul here.
He declined to divulge the contents to
any one except the parents.
Meanwhile, a witness of the sisters
horrifying death leap disclosed further
details of the strange dual suicide.
The source of the information was
Frank Solomon, who was standing in
a cabbage patch at Upminster when
the two human plummets hurtled
from the sky and struck the ground
near him.
Hands Clasped in Death.
IT was standing drinking my tea"
he said, when something flashed past
my eye and heard a violent thump.
I looked around and saw what ap-
peared to be two girls lying asleep,
faces downward.
and looked just as If they were taking
rest. The force of their fall had
driven them 8 inches into the ground,
but there was no blood"
The notes addressed to MIR. and Mrs.
Du Bois, which Jane and Elizabeth
left behind, were reported to have ex-
planned that they wished to die be-
cause two young Royal Air Force ayia-
tors in whom they were interested per-
lshed in an air disaster at Messina,
Sicily. last week.
The young women were said to have
been informally engaged" to the two
flyers, Flight Lieut.. Henry Longfield
Beatty and Flying Officer John A. c.
Forbes.
CDR. S. Blakeley of Bedfordshire
said his daughter Kathleen was en-
gagged to Forbes and that their mar
rage was to have taken place after
the aViator's return from Singapore in
April. Mrs. Harold Lett, mother of
Beatty, said in Dublin that her son
had written of his acquaintance with
the Du Bois girls, but that she knew
nothing Of any romance.)
Letter Still Sealed.
Despite rumors concerning the pur-
ported contents of the two farewell
notes, both the American consulate
and Scotland Yard officials denied the
envelopes had been opened. They
would remain sealed, they said, until
the coroner's inquest.
A new angle to the death leap came
to light with the disclosure of the
woman manager of an apartment
house where the sisters lived last
Spring that the sister she knew as
Jane Du Bois had told her she was
married.
"The girl knew as Jane" the wom-
an told police Investigators, said she
was married and gave me a married
name. but I have forgotten it. She
wore gold wedding ring. They asked
me to call them both Miss Du Bois,
however"
The apartment house manager de-
scribed the sisters as happy and full
Of life.
A strange episode illustrating the
deep feeling which the sisters felt
for their reputed sweethearts was dis
closed last night.
Among the last to see the girls alive
was Thomas Dedman, who said:
Il was standing outside the Labor
Exchange Wednesday at pm. when
taxicab drew up and two girls in
fur coats stepped out.
THE elder had a bagful of silver
and went up to several people, hand
ing out half crowns (about 60 cents ,
saying: This is from Lieut.. Forbes
Seldom have I seen two women who
looked so obsessed with grief"
STITCVnr NCyUS xxrvrrrErn