A handsomely dressed woman checked into Washington’s Buckingham Hotel in good spirits. By late the next morning, she was found unconscious in her room.
Believed to be Miss Sadie Hutchins of San Francisco, the woman was discovered after a maid could not get a response at her door. A bellboy climbed the fire escape to reach the room, where he found her lying on the bed in a semi-comatose state.
Doctors at Emergency Hospital believed she had taken a large dose of morphine or opium, but whether by accident or design remained unclear.
Scattered letters, one torn into small pieces across the floor, only deepened the mystery of what had happened during her lonely night at the hotel.
Woman May Die From Poison Dose
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mystery surrounds the case of a handsomely dressed woman, believed to be Miss Sadie Hutchins, San Francisco, California, who is thought to be dying in the Emergency Hospital from the effects of poison. The doctors say she is evidently suffering from the effects of an unusually large dose of morphine or opium.
Miss Hutchins was found shortly after 11 o’clock this morning in her room on the third floor of the Buckingham Hotel, where she registered last night. One of the maids made several unsuccessful attempts to get into the rooms, but failed to get a response after rapping on the door for a long time.
A. L. Bliss, the proprietor, was out at the time, but when he returned, about 11 o’clock, he immediately had one of the bellboys go up the fire escape to the room occupied by Miss Hutchins.
The woman was lying on the bed in a state of semi-coma. She was dressed only in an underskirt and a thin waist.
The Emergency Hospital was summoned, and a few minutes after reaching the institution she lost consciousness. At a late hour this afternoon it was said her condition was serious.
In Miss Hutchins’ room were found several letters, one of which had been torn in small bits and strewn over the floor.
Mr. Bliss said that he had never seen the woman before she came to the hotel last night.
“She was dressed handsomely,” he said this afternoon, “and appeared to be a woman of means and refinement. She was certainly in good spirits, for she stopped at the office and talked with the clerk several minutes before going to her room.
“I do not know that the tried to commit suicide. She was conscious when they took her out of here, but she would not make any statement.”
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. November 21, 1908.
