Mrs. William Hart
Submitted by Taneya Koonce December 24, 2009
Kinston Free Press (newspaper of Lenoir
County, NC) 25 Oct 1905
MAKES HERSELF LIVING TORCH: A KENTUCKY WOMAN DIES IN AGONY JUST
BECAUSE
HER HUSBAND LAUGHED AT HER
Cincinnati, Oct. 25--As the widows of princes in India go fearlessly to their
death on a blazing funeral pyres, so Mrs. William HART, of Newport, Ky., planned
and executed her own death because her husband laughed at her objections to his
intention of going to Cincinnati.
First, she soaked her clothing in gasoline, drenching herself until the fiery liquid was fairly soaked into her skin. Then, with a care born of insane madness, she bound her legs tightly together with a piece of stout rope, so stoutly that she might not in the involuntary struggles which would come with pain, defeat her own object. Next, she applied a match to her clothing, and with the first burst of flame fell to the floor. Neighbors found her a writhing mass of charred skin and hurried her to a hospital where she died a few hours later in agony.