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| Tombstone of Delia Brey |
Delia died tragically in the prime of her life at the young age of 34. I found the tombstone on a visit to Bellefountaine looking for another Brey ancestor. She is buried there in a single grave. It intrigued me so I set out to discover more about her. She was a successful young woman with a career as a teacher who indeed came to a tragic end.
On 8 May 1877, Delia died of an overdose of chloroform. The circumstances were debated in the newspapers and the Coroner's Inquest that was held on 9 May 1877. The Coroner's report found that "the deceased was found dead on 8th day of May 1877 in the 3rd story of the above mentioned place [2702 Olive St.] in her bed at or about 6 o'clock pm. It was elicited that the deceased came to her death between the hours of 3 and 6 o'clock pm from the effects of an overdose of chloroform, which the deceased had been using to allay the pains of a facial neuralgia from which she was suffering at the time."
Facial neuralgia causes extreme pain and spasms of the muscles of the face and is caused by disorders of the cranial nerves. In the 1870's chloroform, a colorless, sweet smelling liquid, was used to relieve the pain. It was very volatile, the same dose taken one day could be fatal the next. This is why it is no longer used as an anesthetic.
A series of articles published in the St. Louis Globe Democrat provide details of the story of Delia's death and give us some insight to how she lived. On the previous Thursday, Delia attended the oratorio of Elijah at the Merchants' Exchange and caught cold. The next day what began as a headache morphed into neuralgia. She stayed home from teaching at the Central High School on Tuesday because she was still not feeling well. Delia occupied rooms with a fellow teacher, Mrs Mary B. Cushman, on the third floor of Nelson's boarding house at 2702 Olive.
About 10:00am Harry Nelson, the son of Delia's landlord, purchased a four ounce vial of camphor for .15 cents at J.C. Kirkbride's drug store at the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue near Olive Street for Delia. He took it home and his father, William Nelson, saw him show it to his three year old nephew. William smelled it and it was definitely camphor. At noon, Mrs. Cushman returned home so see how Delia was. She said she felt better and they chatted and laughed pleasantly. Mrs. Cushman left to return to school at 12:30 pm. The maid changed the bed linens about 2:00 pm and Delia returned to bed.
At 3:00 pm one of Delia's students stopped by but when the maid went to her room to delivery the note the student left, the door was locked and there was no answer so she assumed that Delia was sleeping. Delia had not stirred by 6:00 pm when the bell rang for tea. When Mrs. Cushman could not rouse her, a passkey was used and they found Delia laying on her left side in bed with a little bag of hops and a towel on her face. There was an uncorked bottle under her pillow labeled camphor, however the bottle contained chloroform. They called for help and Dr. Briggs came to the house and determined that Delia had been dead for several hours.
Mrs. Cushman was sure that they did not have any chloroform in their rooms because she needed some to remove a greasy spot from a dress a few days before and they didn't have any. She believed that the druggist had mistakenly filled the bottle with chloroform instead of camphor since no other bottle was found in the room. The coroner's inquest cleared the druggist, they did not believe that he had filled the bottle with the incorrect liquid. Unfortunately the only paper that survives is the finding of the inquest so we don't know what testimony was given.
The newspaper article mentions that the friends interviewed did not believe that she had committed suicide. She was "pleasantly and comfortably situated with numerous kind and loving friends. In addition to this she had laid her plans for a visit to California during the coming summer, and began, last Saturday, to make her arrangements with this object in view."
Delia's funeral was held at First Presbyterian Church. She had been a member of the Second Baptist Church but her friends thought First Presbyterian was larger and more centrally located so that is where the funeral was held. The pall bearers were from the faculty of Central High School. The church was filled with her students, relative and friends. "Floral decorations and designs had been liberally supplied by the High School and by individual friends." The services were conducted by Rev. J. V. Schofield of the Fourth Baptist Church. "The music, as always at this Church, was suitable and beautiful. The choir for this occasion consisted of Messrs. Cooper and Steins, the regular tenor and bass of the Church choir, and Misses Branson and Clegg, formerly composing with the gentlemen named, the choir of the Church."
"The services opened with the sentence, "Cast they burden on the Lord," sung with marvelous delicacy and pathos. The place was filled with sweet melody floating out from voices as pure and musical as are ever heard in combination. The other selections were the familiar and tender hymn, "Come, ye disconsolate," and an exquisite chant, set to a fragment from Beethoven, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. At the conclusion of the service, opportunity was given to see the face of the deceased, reposing in dreamless sleep. In slow procession the large audience passed the casket containing the mortal part of the teacher and friend universally beloved and widely honored in this city, which has been so largely benefited by her useful life and the remains were borne to their burial place."
A few days later, on 13 May 1877 a tribute to Delia written and signed by nine of her co-workers appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
They wanted to let everyone know that the idea of suicide was completely out of character as was taking chloroform. The tribute talks about a woman with firm convictions. They go on to say that she did not use narcotics in any shape. She was especially afraid of chloroform. Not only was it dangerous but "to her, unworthy weakness of seeking refuge from pain in insensibility. Her contempt was of the same nature as that she felt for the inebriate drowning his woes in the brandy-bottle."
Delia's sense of smell was "defective" and since she was not familiar with the smell of chloroform, she might not have known what was in the bottle. Her ideas on suicide were firm, it was a sin and a "cowardly weakness that could shuffle off its burdens upon another's laden shoulders, instead of patiently bearing its share to the end." They describe Delia as "far-seeing, systematic and careful. She would never "have left things in such a state that even the slightest suspicion should fall upon another."
The article ends with a lament, "her early life was filled with many sorrows, but the days of her great trials were long since passed, and the future had begun to broaden and brighten for her as it only could for noble, useful woman, who had lived through and conquered her trials, and had at last no more to lose than gain." It is true that Delia was no stranger to loss. Her four younger siblings died when they were all less than two years old. Her mother was a victim of the typhoid epidemic in 1858; her brother Harman went south just before the Civil War and was never heard from again; and her brother Julius was shot at the battle of Shiloh (stay tuned for his story) and died following surgery to remove the shot from his leg in 1867.
The tribute's claim that she was conscientious, organized and was financially comfortable. The inventory of her possessions included rental property in the Carondelet neighborhood, certificate of deposits at Boatman's Savings Bank totaling $1478.00 and cash in the bank of $168.00. Her total estate was valued at $2500, a significant sum for a single lady in 1877.
Strong, successful women seem to run in our family and Delia is one of them. The tombstone in Bellefontaine Cemetery is a perfect monument to her tragic death. Thanks to the St. Louis Globe Democrat we have some details of the store of her untimely end.
Sources
1. St. Louis City, Missouri, Coroner's Records, Inquests, Box 11, File 166, "Delia Brey," filed 9 May 1877; St. Louis County Library film SLCR-3.2. City of St. Louis, Missouri, probate case files, no. 12739, 8 May 1877; Probate Court Clerk's Offfice, St. Louis.
3. Miss Brey Tribute to Her Memory from Those Connected with the Public Schools—The Idea of Suicide Indignantly Refuted … (News) Wm. T. Harris. St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Sunday, May 13, 1877; pg. 3; Issue 358; col F.
4. Coroner’s Cases Inquest on Miss Brey—A German Blows His Brains Out—Sudden Death of a Work House Rat (News) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Thursday, May 10, 1877; pg. 4; Issue 355; col G.
5. Was It a Mistake? A Lady School-Teacher Found Dead in Bed (News) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Wednesday, May 09, 1877; pg. 3; Issue 354; col G.
6. Death’s Doings (News) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Friday, May 11, 1877; pg. 5; Issue 356; col F.
7. The Last Rites Funerals of Two Well-Known St. Louis Ladies Yesterday (News) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Friday, May 11, 1877; pg. 8; Issue 356; col B.
8. Obituary (Obituary) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Sunday, May 13, 1877; pg. 5; Issue 358; col A.
9. St. Louis in Splinters (News) St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Tuesday, June 05, 1877; pg. 3; Issue 16; col B.
