Grayson County TXGenWeb

Denison Daily News
Monday, June 6, 1880
pg. 8

May 1878 ~ Mollie Ritter morphines out on the 11th.

The Denison Daily Herald
Monday, May 13, 1878
pg. 4

PERSONAL
Mollie's Mournful Mistake
A subscription paper was circulated yesterday morning. Its purpose was to raise sufficient means to bury a pauper. A woman died during the night. Her name was Mary Ritter. Once she had been the wife of an industrious farmer in Kansas. Her evil inclinations had led her away from her home, husband and hearth.
Thenceforth she led a life of shame.   The little spark of virtue that remained in her prompted her to quit her course of degradation. The only avenue of escape from such a career is death.   A little morphine, possibly a little hesitation overcome, then death. All that remained of Mollie Ritter was a stark, repulsive corpse.
None to mourn, but Banjo Bob. He had lived from the yield of her shame. His sorrow was more for the stoppage of his revenue
than of grief. His distress was more the result of whiskey than of mental anguish. Her soul and her sins are with her Maker. Her body was consigned to Potter's field.
Unimposing were her obsequies. Banjo Bob was chief mourner. He mourned as one without hope.   He fell upon his knees and prayed. He admonished the bystanders of the uncertainty of life. He prayed for daily bread (which in Banjo Bob's mind consists principally of whiskey) and the forgiveness of the sins of the departed. His own sins he touched upon very lightly. Banjo Bob will
now have to go to work, or come within the displeasure of our ordinance relating to vagrants. There are too many of the Banjo Bob stamp in Denison.   Our police should see that their number is decreased. Should Bob Beasley and his like tire of the world and its vanities, some arrangement should be made to furnish them with morphine ad libitum.

It was Barney Cunningham who circulated the subscription and raised the money to bury the suicide, Mollie Ritter, yesterday.

Denison Daily News
Tuesday, May 14, 1878
pg.4

THE FATAL CUP
Another Frail Creature Gone to Solve the Mystery

Seduced, Deserted, Abused and Driven to Desperation
Molly Ritter, a noted prostitute of this city, committed suicide Saturday night, by taking morphine. Shortly after taking the deadly poison she informed some of her frail friends of the fact, stating that life was to her a torment. Medical aid was at once summoned, but it was too late, the subtle poison had already entered her system, and her death occurred Sunday morning at 7 a.m. A collection to pay her funeral expenses was at once taken up, and the unfortunate creature was committed to her last resting place, in Oakwood cemetery, Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
We learn the following from Mr. D.K. Graybill, a gentleman from Whitewright, who is well acquainted with the parents of the deceased, and knew her when yet an innocent maiden:
Her father's name is John Hagar. He resided formerly near Colbert Station, C.N., whence he lately moved to some place near Dallas. He is a carpenter by trade, possessed of some means, and respected and esteemed by all who know him.
Nearly 4 years ago, while the family resided in the nation, this daughter formed an attachment with one, John Ritter, a worthless fellow, addicted to gambling, drinking and other vices. He sought her hand in marriage, but the parents, knowing his true character, sternly forbade the bans, and ordered him never to darken their door again. He managed to communicate with the girl, however, and proposed an elopement, to which the girl, though fondly attached to her parents, after a severe struggle consented. The marriage ceremony was performed, and for a few weeks her cup of earthly bliss seemed full to overflowing. but soon he disclosed his true character, and after a few months turned her adrift, without a cent, to shift for herself the best way she could. She came to this city, and after vainly endeavoring to procure employment, entered upon a life of shame in one of the dens on Skiddy street.
A short time ago her parents heard of her condition and offered her forgiveness for all if she would return to her parental home. Mr. Graybill, who accidentally met her on the street, did everything he could, offering to advance her the necessary funds, if she would abandon her shameful life, return to her parents and try to lead a virtuous life hereafter, but in vain. She had become infatuated with a certain individual known as Banjo Bob, whom she has supported for the last 2 years by prostituting her body.
Woman is indeed a strange creature. She was offered forgiveness for the past, a good home by parents who still loved her, and a chance, by abandoning her evil ways, yet to become a useful member of society. All this she refused, out of love for one miserable being, lost to all shame, devoid of all manly feeling, one who abused her when she did not procure for him money enough to fill his worthless carcass with whiskey. For him she sacrificed all, gave him all she earned by her life of shame; yes, even submitted at various times to imprisonment for fines imposed upon her, rather than deny him the money for which he craved.
Some of her frail companions assure us that he often abused her if she could not provide him with funds, and last Saturday while he was drunk, he abused her so shamefully, that at last driven to exasperation, she procured the deadly poison to end an existence, which indeed had become a torment.
Deceased was about 20 years old, and her face bore evidence of having been quite handsome before her body and soul destroying vocation had engraved its traces thereon.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, May 20, 1906
pg. 3

EARLY DAYS IN DENISON
Week Ending May 18, 1878

Molly Ritter, a girl of about 20 years old, committed suicide Saturday night by taking morphine. She was of good family, but eloped with a worthless fellow who soon deserted her and she went to bad.