Tried To Kill Her Child

New York, 1895

Mrs. Haines Goes Suddenly Crazy — Ropes With Nooses in the Cellar.

Mrs. Nathaniel Haines, 29 years old, wife of a carpenter residing in Oyster Bay, attempted to drown her youngest child in a tub of water on Tuesday. She has been subject to attacks of insanity, and has been acting strangely for several days. On Sunday afternoon she cut off her hair and burned it, and Monday afternoon she threw $85 in bank notes into the fire. She appeared to be herself again Tuesday morning, and her husband left her at home with their two boys, aged 2 and 6 years respectively.

In the afternoon when Mrs. Haines ran from her house only partly clad and with a child almost naked in her arms no one saw her. Arriving at a part of the town known as Fort Hill, she ran into the cellar of a house occupied by a family named Gould and threw the child into a tub full of water in the cellar.

While she was trying to drown the child Mr. Gould appeared. He grabbed the boy. The woman holding the child with one hand tried to stab Mr. Gould with a carving knife which she held in the other hand. He dodged each lunge made at him, all the time holding on to the child. Mrs. Gould's screams brought neighbors, and the child was rescued.

Mr. Haines said that afternoon on going into the cellar he discovered three ropes with a loop in the end of each, hanging from beams. He believes that the nooses were prepared by his wife with the intention of hanging herself and both of her children.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 1, 1895, p. 12.