Altha May Fiscus 1893-1913

FISCUS

Posted By: C. Tucker (email)
Date: 11/18/2010 at 17:48:27

Evening Times Republican
Marshalltown, IA [Thursday 5-22-1913] p. 9

FISCUS FUNERAL LARGEST EVER HELD

SERVICES FOR YOUNG WOMAN SUICIDE HELD FROM BETHEL GROVE CHURCH WEDNESDAY

CHURCH UNABLE TO ACCOMMODATE FRIENDS

Church Societies and Friends in Neighborhood Send Many Flowers, and Genuine Regret at Mysterious Death of Girl is Felt – No Solution of Mystery Yet at Hand

The largest funeral ever held in the Bethel Grove neighborhood was that of Miss Altha Fiscus, who took her own life last Sunday night by hanging herself to a bag swing. The Bethel Grove Christian church, from which the services were conducted, was not large enough to accommodate the friends. Genuine regret was expressed on all sides over the mysterious death of the young woman, and the cause for her act still remains unexplained. Rev. W. P. Clark, pastor of the Liscomb church, had charge of the services, and a quartet composed of Mrs. Floyd Crouse, Miss Beulah Crouse, Austin Wiley and Ward Bridgeman sang. Church organizations and many friends in the neighborhood sent flowers. The Loyal Daughters of the church, a Sunday school class of which Miss Fiscus was a member, sent a large wreath, which was borne by Misses Pearl Ralls and Emma Kjormoe in advance of the flower bearers. The Gideon Band, a boy’s class of the school, sent flowers as did the Sunday school, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen of Liscomb, and the young people of the Bethel neighborhood. The flower bearers, all from the Loyal Daughters, were Mildred Van Slyke, Tressie Kjormoe, Margaret Gaunt, Minnie Edwards, Grace Melick, and Hazel Hulet. The pall bearers were Charles and Ben Nugent, August Neff, Wilson Grammer, Oliver Kjormoe, and Jesse Norris, the latter of this city. Relatives in attendance at the funeral from a distance were Mrs. Mertie Long, of Rock Rapids; Leonard Fiscus and daughter Bertha, of Dexter; Fred Fiscus, Mrs. Hattie Arney and Charles Stahl, of Coal City, Ind.; and Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Nugent and Jesse Norris, of this city.