Tuesday, December 6, 1892
San Diego Union
CIRCUMSTANCE TENDING TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUICIDE
Incidental Proof That the Wretched Girl Was Miss Lizzie Wyllie of Detroit – No One Yet Here to Take Charge of the Remains
No one now believes that “Mrs. Lottie A. Bernard,” the Coronado suicide, is other that pretty Lizzie Wyllie of Detroit, who mysteriously disappeared from her home some six weeks ago, and for whom a diligent search has been kept up by her parents and the police of that city. All that yet remains to fully solve the mystery is the identification of the dead girl by some relative. The niece of Mrs. Wyllie, who is reported to reside at Pasadena, has not yet materialized. This, of itself, is not strange. She may have changed her place of residence recently, or subsequent to the last time of writing east and any telegrams, which might have been sent would fail to reach her. Johnson & Co. telegraphed to John W. Bernard at Wichita, Kan., on Sunday, informing him that his wife had suicided. It was a pretty cold ___ and late last night John had not seen fit to make any inquiries concerning his better half. The newspaper at that place will probably this morning announce that there is an undelivered telegram at the office of the Western Union Telegraph company for John W. Bernard.
Further advices concerning Lizzie Wyllie’s past life were received at this office yesterday. She lived with her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Wyllie, a widow, and a brother and her sister May. The dead girl and her sister were formerly employed at a large book-bindery establishment in Detroit. John G. Longfield, a married man, was the foreman. He was so attentive to Lizzie that both he and the girl were discharged. They still continued to go together, notwithstanding that Lizzie knew he was married.
After his discharge Lizzie made a long visit to her married sister, Mrs. Anderson, in Grand Rapids, and returned to her home a little over six weeks ago. This accounts for the girl’s having several handkerchiefs marked Lottie Anderson. A few days subsequent to their return Lizzie left her home, ostensibly to go down town on an errand, and never returned.
It was certain that the girl must have gone away penniless, and it soon became evident to her relatives that her errand was not to secure work and that she did not go alone. Longfield was suspected of going with her. He had been calling on Lizzie occasionally, but was regarded by the family as a friend.
On the Saturday previous to Lizzie’s disappearance, this man called in the afternoon at the home and bade them all goodbye. Mrs. Wyllie and May noticed nothing peculiar in his demeanor or in that of Lizzie. He said that he was going south and the he would probably reach Southern California before he returned.
“I will be picking roses in California while your feet are freezing in Detroit, he said to May Wyllie jocosely. His call was brief, and it was not the subject of much remarks in the household. It is now remembered that soon after his departure Lizzie put on her hat and went out. After half an hour she returned. Probably during that thirty minutes she met the man and arranged for the elopement or conveyed her clothing to an appointed place, and when she failed to return on Monday it was found that all of her scanty wardrobe was gone. For four weeks the Wyllie family waited for news from Lizzie, and their suspicions settled into conviction that she had gone with the man who coolly and smilingly told all of them of his intended trip to California. Eagerly they read the newspapers, and finally the story of the strange suicide of Mrs. L. Anderson Bernard was before them.
A reporter was an unwilling witness at the home of the dead girl when the dispatch giving a full description of the suicide was received by the mother. Mrs. Wyllie read the telegram as far as the mention of the two moles on the girl’s cheek. Then the paper dropped from her hands and a most distressing cry came as from the mother’s heart.
“It’s my Lizzie, it’s my Lizzie,” she sobbed repeatedly. “What will become of me? Oh, it’s my girl. What shall I do? What shall I do?”
There is but little doubt that Longfield persuaded the girl to follow him to this state. The family can solve the Hamburg part of the tragedy in no way, except that Longfield was at Hamburg under an assumed name and sent Lizzie the $25. If this be the case, who came to California with her, with whom did she have a quarrel at Orange, and who was the man that left her at that point? Who was the dead girl expecting at Hotel del Coronado? Not a brother, but one Longfield. If the truth were known, Allen of Hamburg may have played a leading part in the dastardly affair himself. Longfield is known at Detroit as a sport, and a rounder of not the best reputation even for one of his class.
Lizzie’s body is yet at Johnson & Co.’s undertaking parlors. Late yesterday afternoon she was dressed in black. Her face looked as natural and peaceful as though she were asleep at home, not at the morgue. A telegram has been sent to Mrs. Wyllie asking what shall be done with the remains. An answer is excepted today. The three trunks at the Santa Fe depot, of which mention was made several days since, have not yet been claimed.
San Francisco Chronicle
HER NAME IN DOUBT
Mystery of the Coronado Suicide
The Detroit Identification Questioned
Many Reason to Believe That the Woman Was Not Lizzie Wyllie
There appears to be still some mystery about the Coronado suicide. Sunday morning the CHRONICLE printed a story from its Detroit correspondent tending to show that the dead woman’s name of Mrs. L. Anderson Bernard was assumed and that she was in reality Lizzie Wyllie, a girl who had left Detroit to join John A. Longfield, a married man of that place, presumably in California.
Lizzie Wyllie’s mother, it will be remembered, based her identification of the suicide on two small moles on the left cheek. She said nothing about the rings on the dead woman’s fingers.
That account of the matter contained this sentence: “The sole phase of the strange affair that cannot be explained is the fact that she was expecting money from G. A. Allen of Hamburg, Ia.”
So far as Lizzie Wyllie’s relatives knew she had no acquaintance with Allen, or, indeed, with any one of the Iowa town mentioned.
Further inquiries made in Detroit and Hamburg, Ia., leave the matter of identity again in doubt. The report from the latter place, especially, is entirely at variance with any of the theories yet advanced, while in the city where Lizzie Wyllie lived there is growing doubt of the identification.
Special Dispatches to the Chronicle
HER HUSBAND A GAMBLER
People in Hamburg Disbelieve the Wyllie Story
HAMBURG (Ia.), December 5 - It is not believed here that Mrs. L. Anderson Bernard, who killed herself at Coronado, was Lizzie Wyllie of Detroit. It was learned that there was recently in this place a man named L. A. Bernard, a professional gambler, and he is believed to be the suicide’s husband. Bernard left Hamburg November 7 for Topeka. He said his wife was sick in California and he intended to bring her back to Iowa. He tried to borrow money for that purpose, but failed. No word had since been received from him. G. L. Allen of this place, to whom the woman telegraphed for money, was a schoolmate of Bernard’s in Illinois, and had never met Mrs. Bernard. Simply out of charity he sent her $25. Therefore, it is strongly believed here that the Detroit identification is a mistake.
POINTS TO BE EXPLAINED
The Dead Woman Neither Acted Nor Spoke Like a Bindery Employe.
SAN DIEGO, December 5 – There are some points about the Coronado suicide to be explained before the Detroit story can be fully accepted. How did the woman come to have a handkerchief marked Lottie Bernard? And then the alleged plea for forgiveness on the train. What had she done that such a man such as Longfield, assuming he was her companion, should forgive? Why is a man in Mount Vernon, N. Y., inquiring about the suicide if she was really Lizzie Wyllie? People here are asking these questions, and there are still others.
The clerks at the Hotel del Coronado speak of the dead woman as better educated than the usual run of bookbindery girls and more refined than one who had been discharged for being intimate with a man would likely to be. Furthermore a bookbindery girl running away with a fellow workman would hardly go to fashionable places like the Hotel Brewster or the Hotel del Coronado. They would seek a hotel more suited to their class. She is said, also, to have spoken with more familiarity of the Place in San Francisco and of the Westminster and Nadeau in Los Angeles than would be expected of a factory girl only a month from Detroit.
LONGFIELD HEARD FROM
A letter From Miss Lizzie Wyllie That May Clear Up the Case
DETROIT, December 5 – Doubts as to the identity of the Coronado suicide are growing deeper as later developments come to light. That there was a remarkable similarity of dress, etc., between the dead girl and Miss Lizzie Wyllie is only a coincidence may yet be proved. And the next question will be, Where is Miss Wyllie?
Mrs. Longfield addressed a letter to her husband in Cleveland on Saturday. As she does not know his address she sent it to the general delivery. This morning she received the following dispatch from him in reply: “I received a letter from Miss Wyllie last Wednesday. Will send it on at once. There is no truth in it.”
Longfield does not say where Miss Wyllie was when he heard from her, but the letter he speaks of will perhaps make matters clearer. It is hardly possible that Mrs. Longfield will get it before tomorrow. The body of the suicide woman was found on the beach last Tuesday morning. Longfield says in his telegram that he received a letter from her Wednesday. It takes a letter about a week to come from California, so Miss Wyllie could have committed suicide in the meantime.
Miss Wyllie’s brother received a telegram from San Diego today saying that the dead woman wore black lisle thread underclothing, which corresponds to his sister’s garments.
WEIGHTED WITH STONES
A Young Woman’s Body Found in a Creek
MOUNT VERNON (N. Y.) December 5. – The body of a beautiful young woman was found late this afternoon in East Chester creek. When the body was removed a rope was found attached to the waist, and at the end of the rope were two stones weighing together about twenty-five pounds.
The dead woman was about 18 years old. She had strikingly handsome features and was of slender build and below medium weight. She was elegantly dressed. In the pocket of her dress part of an envelope was found. It was addressed “Miss Lulu Newton, care C. Newton, 158 Eighth avenue, New York city.”
Further than this nothing is known.
