Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....McCarthy, Kittie 1909
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Lyons Herald, 30 Sep 1909

Used Chloroform

Former Lyons Girl Found Dead In Bed.

The Lansing Journal of September 22 gives the following account of the sudden 
death of Miss Kittie McCarthy, who formerly a resident of this township.

Miss Kittie McCarthy, a pretty waitress in Chapman’s ??? restaurant, was found 
dead in bed this morning, with a handkerchief which had been saturated with 
chloroform held tightly over her face, and a bottle containing a quantity of 
the drug was found under the mattress.

The young woman roomed on the second floor of the building at 113 Allegan 
street east, and when she did not come to work this morning, as was her usual 
custom, Mrs. E. J. Hoisington, who is also employed at the restaurant, went to 
her room to learn why she did not report for duty.  She found the room in its 
usual morning condition, and on the bed, with her face partly buried in the bed 
clothing lay the young woman.  Believing she was asleep, Mrs. Hoisington 
started to arouse her and then made the discovery that she was dead.

After the remains had been removed from the bed, a two-ounce bottle, about two-
thirds full of chloroform, was discovered lying on the springs of the bed 
underneath the mattress, and from the previous discovery of the handkerchief 
which had been found tightly pressed to the young woman’s face, it was at once 
concluded that the handkerchief had been saturated with the drug.

Whether or not the young woman intended to end her life or simply had used the 
drug to relieve herself from pain will be determined at the inquest.

According to the friends of the young woman, she had no cause for taking her 
life as far as they knew. She had been keeping company with a prominent Lansing 
young man, and he had visited  her for a short time last Sunday night, but both 
the young man and her friends declare that no trouble existed between them.

The young woman, it is said, had suffered with valvular heart trouble, and on 
one or two occasions had been rendered unconscious as a result of severe 
attacks.  She also complained of pains in her feet and on occasions was almost 
distracted with the intense suffering they caused her.

Deceased went to visit her mother, who resides in Lyons, last Monday morning 
and returned the same evening.  Yesterday she worked as usual and appeared to 
be in her ordinary frame of mind, and she had an unusually happy disposition, 
which was noticeable at all time.

Last evening she left the restaurant about 8:20 and went to her room.  No one 
at the rooming place noticed her come in and later in the evening Mrs. ??? sent 
one of her roomers to see if “Kittie” as she was called by her friends had come 
in.  She was in her room and was apparently in good spirits at that time.

The young woman had lived in Lansing about four years, working at different 
places, and for the past seven months had been employed in the ??? restaurant 
where she made many friends.  Her mother is a widow, the husband and father 
having been killed several years ago on the railroad.

The Lansing Journal of the 23rd says:  “The many friends of Miss Kittie 
McCarthy ??? the idea that the young woman committed suicide, and as stated in 
the Journal yesterday afternoon the circumstances surrounding her death do not 
bear out any such conclusion.

The police officers who have been investigating the death do not believe it was 
suicide, as they have been unable to discover a single cause for the young 
woman ending her life.  It is pointed out that if she planned her death she 
would have used more of the chloroform than she did, and it is known that she 
was suffering pain when she retired for the night.”

The coroner’s jury rendered a verdict that deceased “came to her death between 
8:30 p.m. Sept 21, and 9:15 a.m. Sept 22, by inhaling chloroform while in a 
position which accidentally caused suffocation.”

The remains were brought to Lyons Friday for burial.


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