Motherless girl drinks acid

The Adirondack Journal (the newspaper of the north country) visits our home once a week with news that might appeal to us.  There is one section titled Turning Back The Pages I find most interesting.  Most of the stories are quite sad, yet I find them comical.  Others are interesting and I find myself wondering about the individual and what they were thinking. I am intrigued by the wording, the choice of words and how life was viewed 100 years ago. You too might find these stories I post most interesting. 

100 years ago 

#Driven to desperation by constant brooding over her lonely condition, Miss Rose L. Hewitt, a 20-year-old motherless girl, who formerly lived in Warrensburgh, committed suicide in Glens Falls Dec. 9, 1911 by drinking half an ounce of carbolic acid.

#She took the fatal dose shortly after 6 p.m. at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pelletier, 3 Washington St., where she boarded. In spite of all that Dr. G.A. Chapman and Dr. Virgil D. Selleck could do for her, she died two hours later.

#The girl had been melancholy for some time. Several times she had been heard to say, “Well, they are all gone and I want to go too,” evidently referring to her mother and brother who died some time ago.

#Her father is living in Herkimer and her two brothers, William and George Hewitt live there also. Another brother, Freeman Hewitt lives in Seattle, Wa. The family members are natives of Thurman and moved to that place from Warrensburgh 10 years ago to take residence in Burnhamville near the paper mill. After the death of the mother, the girl was left in the care of her aunt, Mrs. Scott Ross. For a time she was employed at the Warrensburgh Shirt Factory before she moved to Glens Falls about three years ago to work in the Leggett Box Company’s plant on Maple St.

#When Mrs. Pelletier went to Rose’s room to call her for supper, she discovered her lying across her bed in a semi-conscious condition with a small bottle in her hand. This is the second time that Rose has taken carbolic acid within six months, the former act was discovered in time to save her life.

#There is a persistent rumor that the girl committed suicide because of being jilted by a young man who had paid her considerable attention until recently.

#The funeral was held at the Pelletier home and the body was taken to Warrensburgh for burial in the village cemetery by the side of her mother in the family plot.

taken from

The Adirondack Journal

Turning Back The Pages

by Jean Hadden