Hangs Self at Wife's Grave

1916

Man Who Mourned Four Years Commits Suicide.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Four years ago Michael Streb, 76, knelt beside the body of his wife and prayed — prayed that he might join her in death. Patiently, he waited for the grim answer to his prayer.

Wednesday the caretaker of Northwood Cemetery passed a little grave in a remote corner. At its head was a birch tree and dangling from a limb was the limp body of a white-haired man. The headstone of the grave bore the inscription, "My Wife." When morgue officials searched the pockets of the dead man they found nothing but a wedding ring inscribed "Rachael Streb."

Death had been too tardy and Michael Streb had gone along the road to meet it — at the grave of his wife.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.