Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 05:47:07 :
The Marin Journal
Thursday, September 18, 1902
page 1
Suicide in Utah
An Ogden dispatch says
Mrs. T. Helen Van Alen, wife of William Van Alen, who came here from Santa Rosa, Calif., last May to take charge of a large cannery near here, was found dead in bed today at Reed's hotel by her husband.
There was a hole in her head through which a pistol bullet had entered, and beside her was the cruel weapon used.
The Van Alens, it is said, had not lived happily together for sometime, and about 2 weeks ago the wife attempted to end her life by taking laudanum but was prevented.
At 7 o'clock this morning Van Alen left for the cannery, and it appears there was nothing then that led him to believe that his wife would take her life before his return. The tragedy was discovered at 1 o'clock this afternoon. The body was still warm.
Between the leaves of the dead woman's bible, was found her Will in which her husband was appointed executor without bonds. The Will was addressed to her mother, Mrs. M.A. Price, Cozzens, Sonoma County, Calif. In it she bequeaths $2,000 to her mother, Mrs. Price; to her sister, Miss Mary Richards of 1416 Haight Street, San Francisco, her interest in the estate of W.E. Richards, deceased, of Sonoma County. Minor bequests are made to another sister, Miss Minnie Johns and to her step-father John Price.
At the inquest held this afternoon, William Van Alen, the deceased's husband, admitted that he and his wife had quarreled frequently lately, and their life had not been happy. After the examination of the witnesses, the jury returned a verdict of "Death by suicide". The sad affair occasioned a sensation.
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