Wills - Bertha - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Last Thursday afternoon, Bertha Wills, the seventeen year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Wills, of Linden, committed suicide in a most tragic manner. Although she had been in low spirits because of a little trouble she seemed herself Thursday morning and ate dinner as usual with the family. About three o’clock while her mother was washing and her sister working at the sewing machine, Bertha entered her own room and took off her shoes and stockings. She then sat down on the edge of the bed and placed the muzzle of a twenty two caliber rifle directly over her heart. The trigger was pulled presumable with her toes and the ball was sent crashing straight through the center of the heart. She fell over on the bed dead. The discharge of the rifle was not heard by the mother and sister and they knew nothing of the tragedy until some minutes after it occurred when having occasion to speak to Bertha they went to her door of her room. They found it locked and being unable to arouse her they went outside to the window and climbed in, finding her dead on the bed which was saturated with her blood.

Coroner Keegan was summoned and inquired into the cause. They only reason that could be ascertained as a cause of the act was the fact that she had had a little trouble some days ago while living in the family of Thomas Parker, five miles from Linden. It seems that Mrs. Parker had accused her of taking loaf sugar from the pantry and taking it to bed with her to eat. The girl had vehemently denied the charge and according to her parents grieved woefully over the trouble. -s