April 17, 1928
Nadine Stumbo, 22 Years Old, Takes Her Own Life On The Sidewalk In Pioneer Plaza.
Dies In Half Hour After Taking Acid
Came Here In December From California, But Home Is Said To Be In Odessa, Mo.
Nadine Stumbo, pretty 22-year-old red haired girl died in a local hospital last night as the result of drinking the contents of a bottle believed by physicians to have been acid. When found the girl was in a semi-conscious condition wondering in front of the Hotel Sheldon. She was rushed to the Hotel Dieu by A.J. Biggar, city circulation manager of the El Paso Times and Herald.
Mr. Biggar and his wife were en route home from the theater when attracted to the scene by the girl’s outcry and a number of men surrounding her. An unknown male was holding the girl and attempting to dislodge the poison from her stomach when Biggar reached the spot, he said.
“Spit it up,” the man commanded. “I don’t want to spit it up, let me alone, I want to die,” was the girl’s answer to his command, Biggar reported.
Other witnesses stated the girl rushed out of the Modern Cafe about 11 o’clock, followed by a man, dashed across the street, knocked the head from a small vial wrapped in red tissue paper, then swallowed its content.
Burns about her hands face and breasts led doctors at the Hotel Dieu to believe the contents of the bottle were strong acid.
Biggar stated he and his wife picked the girl up shortly after 11 o’clock. She died at 11:30 and was unconscious at the time of her death.
Miss Stumbo was well dressed. She was wearing a smart tailored red dress bordered with embroidered flowers, a tan felt sport hat. Her address was given as the Worth hotel.
With the exception of a wedding ring there was no jewelry about the dead girl’s body.
Hartford Undertaking Company has charge of the body and are holding up funeral arrangements until word is received from some of the girl’s relatives.
According to Mrs. Corda Lowry, manager of the Worth hotel, Miss Stumbo came to El Paso from California last December. She is survived by three sisters Ruby, Lois and Nina Lowe, all of Odessa, Mo. the girl’s home and her mother Mrs. J.W. Lowe of Mount Vernon, Mo.
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