NYMONROE-L Archives

From:
Subject: Sept 15, 1902 KENT - DINGLE # 1
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:16:04 EST

Rochester, Monroe, NY
Democrat & Chronicle
Mon Sept 15, 1902

GIRL IS FOUND DEAD, HER COMPANION DYING

Mysterious Tragedy in a Room at the Whitcomb House
Ethel Bates Dingle, Nurse From a Buffalo Hospital,
Found With Her Throat Cut, While Leland Kent,
A Medical Student, Has Serious Wound -
Kent Says Girl Attempted Murder,
Then Committed Suicide - Coroner and Police Investigating.

Leland Dorr KENT and Ethel B. DINGLE, both 22 years old and living in
Buffalo, made a compact of death and attempted to execute it in a room at the
Whitcomb House early yesterday morning. When their room was broken into by house
employees, summoned by a guest in the next room, they found Miss DINGLE dead in
bed with her throat cut. KENT, still alive, but with a gash in his throat,
lay beside her.
In the girl's open left hand lay a razor, slightly specked with blood.
KENT was almost a raving maniac. He acted as though drugged. When taken from
the room by Homeopathic Hospital surgeons he turned to take a last look at
the corpse of the girl.
"I thought I saw her smile," he said and bent low over the cold form.
He was greatly agitated and cried out, "Ethel," "Ethel."
KENT is at the Homeopathic Hospital and will recover from the gash in
his throat. Detectives have guarded him since he was found at the hotel and
his arrest on the charge of murdering Miss DINGLE will depend on the result of
the investigation began yesterday by Coroner Henry KLEINDIENST.
Director of Detectives HAYDEN also began an investigation as soon as he
was notified of the crime, only a few moments after its discovery. He has
several letters left by KENT and the dead girl and they explain the agreement
to die together which the young couple had made.
KENT made a statement of the tragedy to Coroners KLEINDIENST and Thomas
A. KILLIP. This statement is not given out, but it is learned that KENT told
others soon after being found in the room that Miss DINGLE cut his throat
and then her own. This is generally doubted by the physicians and police.
SOMETHING ABOUT KENT AND THE GIRL
Leland Dorr KENT is a medical student who would have graduated in
another year from the Riverside Hospital at Buffalo. His father is general
manager of the Masonic Life Insurance Company in Buffalo.
Young KENT lived with his wife and 2-year-old boy at No. 484 Fargo
avenue, Buffalo. He had been married three years. His wife and sister arrived at
the Homeopathic Hospital last night and talked with him of the tragedy at
the Whitcomb House. It is learned that KENT and Miss DINGLE had been intimate
only about two months.
Ethel Bates DINGLE was born at Picton, Canada, but her home later had
been Hamilton. For the last four or five years she had lived in Buffalo and
most of that time had been in the Riverside Hospital as a nurse. That is where
she and KENT met and became infatuated with each other. She was discharged
from there a few weeks ago and was brought to this city by KENT, who arranged
for admission to St. Mary's Hospital, where she was to undergo an operation.
Dr. J. H. ACHESON, of No. 115 Atlantic avenue a friend of KENT, had
been consulted and was in counsel with another physician concerning the
intended operation. Miss DINGLE concluded not to submit to the operation and left
St. Mary's Hospital September 2d, after being there a week. It is supposed that
she then returned to Buffalo.
During the four years that she was connected with the Riverside
Hospital, Miss DINGLE left several times and returned. At one time while away from
there she worked for the Bell Telephone Company, in Buffalo, and it is her
photograph that may be seen on the first page of the Bell telephone directory.
Miss DINGLE commenced suit for damages against the Bell company for the
unauthorized use of her photograph in the book and that action is still
pending. It will be seen that she was a girl of unusual attractiveness. She had a
fairly clear skin, brown hair and eyes with heavy dark lashes.
JUST PRECEDING THE TRAGEDY
KENT and Miss DINGLE had been together in Buffalo Saturday and boarded
a train for the city at 11:15. Arriving here at 1:15 A. M., they went to the
Whitcomb House.
"L. D. KENT and wife," was the way KENT registered. The couple was
assigned to room No. 147 on the second floor. After that they went to the
Eggleston Hotel, where they had lunch and some liquor.
The hotel clerk on duty when they turned to the Whitcomb House said
they went to their room at about 4 o'clock. Nothing was heard from the room
afterwards. It was nearly 8 o'clock when a guest, said to be John BOWMAN, alarmed
by the strange noises in the room, called a porter and as a result the door
of No. 147 was forced open. The spectacle of KENT beheld it.
An ambulance from the Homeopathic Hospital, in charge of Drs. PERRINE
and SNODGRASS, arrived promptly in answer to a hurry call. KENT had on only an
undershirt and trousers which were covered with blood. He was smeared with
blood from his face to this feet. He had been walking about and had washed his
hands at a washbowl in the room.
He had tied a towel about his neck and staunched the flow of blood.
There was no towel about the girl's neck. Her head lay in a great pool of her
own blood which had run from the deep gash in her neck. It appeared that she
had not moved after the wound was inflicted. Her left hand, which held the
razor, was unstained with blood and the razor itself was singularly free from
blood stains.
About the room were several small bottles of powerful drugs, among
which were hyoscine and atrophene, and morphine tablets. These little phials were
from a pocket case carried by KENT. Whether their contents were taken by
KENT, given to him by the girl or taken before or after the tragedy is one of
the problems of the case.
CONCLUSIONS ON AUTOPSY
The autopsy was begun at the morgue at 3:45 o'clock yesterday afternoon
by Coroner's Physician JOHNSON, assisted by Drs. KILLIP, ROSS, MacNAMARA,
BURNS and JONES. The chief result of the examination was in the decision
reached by all that the wound in the neck was without doubt made with a slash of
the razor from left to right.
There were no marks of violence upon the body, save the gaping wound in
the neck, with the exception of a couple of slight cuts or scratches upon
the left arm. These were in such a position that they might have been made
without difficulty by the woman herself. There was a small scar upon the lower
left leg on the outer surface, about three and a half inches below the knee,
concerning which the physicians were somewhat divided in opinion. The
probability is that it is the mark of vaccination, as it is said by a certain
physician that she was vaccinated there last winter.
There were a few eruptions on the face and some on the hips, which it
was thought might be due to the results of vaccination. It was said that the
blotch's on the face were not there a week ago, and this statement was
verified by Buffalo persons who identified the body. They were certainly not post
mortem blotches, as but one such spot, and that a small one on the lower left
leg, was to be discovered.
A careful examination of the wound at the throat was made. It gaped
widely and there was still a slight exhudation of blood. It was a clean cut, the
razor entering the neck at about the middle point of the left side and
following the upper edge of the left clavicle, severing the artery, although the
windpipe and jugular vein were not cut. At the lower end of the cut the
incision was deepest. There was a slight cut on the under edge of the right
clavicle, showing that enough force had been placed in the blow of the hand that
held the steel to carry the instrument across and against the right clavicle,
and would have cut much further had it not been stopped by the bony
obstruction. The wound was 3 1/2 inches in length and 1 inch in width, while its
greatest depth was nearly 1 1/2 inches.
The woman was 5 feet, 5 1/2 inches tall and weighed about 135 pounds.
She had fine teeth, complete with the exception of the first upper molar on
the right side, and sound save the first incisor on the left side of the upper
jaw, that tooth having been filled.
GIRL WAS IN BEST OF HEALTH
The internal examination showed an excellent healthy physique. No signs
of disease were to be discovered. All the organs appeared to be in their
normal condition. The heart was nearly empty, but one large blood clot was found
in the right auricle. There were small adhesions on the right side and still
larger ones on the left, of a nature that indicated that the woman had at
some time or other had the pleurisy.
The doctors were reticent as to whether the woman could have gashed
herself in the manner described. They united in saying that the wound must have
been made from the left toward the right. They were of the opinion that the
woman was right handed, and none would say that the wound might not have been
made by a suicide. At the same time it was evident that a great deal of force
had been put into the blow, and from the position of the bodies it would
have been possible for the man to have been the one to wield the weapon. No one
at the autopsy suggested that the woman, if left handed, could have committed
the deed with any other than the right hand, notwithstanding the fact that
the razor was found clasped in her left hand.
As for signs of disease, there was no one present who stated that the
marks on the body were the marks of any disease, or denied that they might be
the results of the action of the virus used when the girl was vaccinated.
THE GIRL'S LAST HOURS
What took place in the room between the time KENT and the girl retired
and the girl's death may always be a sealed book. There was a period of about
four hours, the occurrences of which Coroner KLEINDIENST and Director HAYDEN
will endeavor to discover KENT was not backward about talking of the events
of the night and from various ones who were in the room immediately after it
was forced open a fairly clear idea of what took place has been obtained by
Democrat and Chronicle reporters.
It appears that the first intimation there was of trouble in room No.
147 was the sound of groans and heavy breathing heard by a guest in an
adjoining room.
"You'd better get into that next room," said he to James McCARTHY, a
bell boy who answered his ring. McCARTHY got Night Clerk Fred KOHLMAN and with
much difficulty they broke open the door, after repeated pounding on it
failed to bring a response. A chair had been placed against the door by the
occupants so that the top of the back was under the knob.
KENT had realized his condition sufficiently after the cutting to wrap
a towel about his neck. At times he talked in an apparently rational manner.
Dr. PERRINE thought KENT might take it into his head to use the razor
that lay in the girl's hand. He took it, and, closing it, turned it over to an
officer. It appeared clear of blood then, but examination showed spots of
blood.
Why the blade was so clean after the two bloody deeds is part of the
mystery of the case.
The body of the woman was on the left side of the bed and KENT lay on
the right side. The razor was in the open palm of her left hand and the gash
in her neck, as well as that in his neck, was on the left side. How the wounds
may have been inflicted by either one is a subject discussed from every
point by the physicians and detectives.
(to be continued)
----<>----

Glenda


--
GjS
Find all the transcribed Monroe Co., NY Early News articles at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nymonnws/

This thread:

• Sept 15, 1902 KENT - DINGLE # 1 by