Tragic Death of a Woman at Her Family Home
Lola Cohn, 24, died by strychnine suicide in her father's Main Street home, months after prior attempts.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Lola Cohn, aged 24 years, committed suicide in her room at her father's residence, 907 Main street, last night about midnight by taking strychnine. She had a mental disorder which produced a chronic desire to kill herself. Miss Cohn had a remarkable history for attempted suicides, including an attempt only last Thursday evening when she jumped off the dock at the foot of Main street at low water and was saved by Officer Sam Corbett. Dr. Titus worked to save her life, but the poison had taken such effect that she died without showing any sign of recovery. Coroner investigation officially announced death due to strychnine taken with suicidal intent.
“She was still conscious, and her sister Anna immediately went for Dr. Titus and then for Dr. Johnson, but the latter declined to have anything to do with the case.”
The reporting of mental health crises in the 1890s was often blunt and fatalistic. Today, we recognize these tragic events not as failures of character or 'unbalanced minds,' but as public health crises requiring compassionate intervention.
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