Casey - Jennie - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

A most distressing death was that of Miss Jennie Casey, the fifteen year old daughter of Timothy Casey, which occurred last Thursday at Music Hall. Mr. Casey, with his daughters, had come in from his home just north of the city to attend the play at Music Hall. He sat with Miss Jennie in about the middle of the parquet. Miss Jennie had never been a strong girl and last Thursday after taking her seat continued to wear her heavy cloak, complaining slightly of feeling cold when her father advised its removal. Shortly after the curtain went up on the first act she sank back fainting in her seat and was carried quickly by her father and Manager Townsley to the corridor. Dr. Irwin, who sat near the door, was called out and the audience supposing that the child had merely suffered from a faintness occasioned by the warm room turned their attention again to the stage.  A sad scene, however, was in the course of enactment in the corridor. Near the north stairway on the floor the girl was laid and surrounded by her sisters, father and the physician, she quietly breathed her last. She was practically dead before Dr. Irwin reached her side, giving only two short gasps after being taken from the room. Dr. Irwin had her taken to the box office and there informed the father and sisters that she was beyond all human help. The scene was a peculiarly sad one as the broken hearted girls lamented their sister’s death, and it was given pathetic emphasis by the demonstrations of merriment form within the doors, where the all unconscious audience laughed and applauded. The tragic uncertainty of human life was never more sadly or more forcibly demonstrated than then and there.  Mr. Casey accompanying the dead body of his child took a cab and was driven to his home, his daughters and a few friends preceding them to announce the news to the waiting mother. Jenny Casey was an exceptionally loving child and her death falls on her relatives with telling force. Dr. Irwin states that her death was due to heart disease and that she was virtually dead when she sank back in her seat -s

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 12 February 1897

Last night an amateur play, “The Police Alarm,” was given by local talent at Music Hall. Timothy Casey, the brick manufacturer, was present with his children, and shortly after the curtain rose on the first act his fifteen year old daughter, Jennie, fell over in a faint. She was carried to the corridor and Dr. Irwin gave medical attention, but in vain. The poor girl died in a few minutes. She had been an invalid for some time. - s