Mrs. Fannie Depler of Lewistown, aged 68, was found dead on the floor of the garage at her home Friday afternoon. A coroner’s jury after an inquest, returned a verdict that she came to her death by strangulation with suicidal intent.
Mrs. Depler had been suffering from melancholia and had several times before tried to end her life, two of the attempts having been made recently at the Spencer sanatorium in Canton, where she was being cared for.
Mrs. Depler was the widow of the late J. D. Depler, prominent Lewistown business man, who died three years ago.
Mrs. Depler had been at the Spencer sanatorium in Canton since last Feb. 14 and had been making weekly trips to her home here with Coroner Lambert on his regular visits to Lewistown. In his company she left the sanatorium at 1 o’clock Friday afternoon and at about 2 o’clock she was at the Depler and Fouts grocery, where she obtained the keys to her home from her son Dean Depler.
She had taken a piece of sheet and had tied one end to a rafter in the garage, making the other end into a noose. It is thought she climbed on the fender of the car and jumped off, after placing the noose around her neck. The knot at the rafter gave way and she fell to the floor, striking her head, presumably on the car fender. There was a small scalp wound on the back of her head.
Before stepping off the fender, Mrs. Depler had pulled a green wool cap over her head, covering her eyes.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus