grave import

Obituary

The death of Mrs. Anna Black in Burlington hospital Saturday night revealed a situation in which two sisters, both more than 70 years old have lived within 30 miles of each other for 27 years without seeing each other or knowing of the other’s whereabouts.
Mrs. Black was overcome by gas in her apartment Thursday morning of last week and died Saturday night without regaining consciousness. Her aged sister, Mrs. Mary Wells of Mt. Pleasant, having learned of Mrs. Black’s whereabouts through press accounts of the accident was at the bedside waiting for a state of coma to end so a long-delayed reconciliation could be effected.
Mrs. Black and Mrs. Wells have weathered some rough storms in life together. As children, 5 and 3 years old, respectively, they were brought from an orphan’s home in New York to be farmed out in the homes on the Skunk River. They had no recollection of a mother and father.
A humanitarian movement was started in Mt. Pleasant vicinity in about 1844 and a whole shipment of orphans was ordered from the east. Mary and Anna Mallen were included in the lot.
In the process of distribution, Mary was assigned to the William Faulkner home. The Faulkners were brothers farming along the banks of the erratic river now causing such havoc in Green Bay Bottoms.
The two girls have lived in this county ever since that time. Anna was married to William Black in her early twenties, while Mary was wed to Mr. Wells.
Mrs. Black and her husband separated and Mrs. Black came to Burlington to earn her living. That was 27 years ago. Through some misunderstanding, Anna and her sister discontinued correspondence and Mrs. Wells lost trace of Mrs. Black.
Thursday evening of last week, Mrs. Percy Wells, 16 South 10th St, Burlington, picked up her Gazette and saw where a woman, known to her neighbors in the flat over the Lau meat market, as Miss Bertha Black, had been overcome by gas. Mrs. Wells referred her husband to the article, pointing out the similarity in the name to that of his mother’s sister, who had not been heard from for so long.
Mr. Wells, who is a cashier at the Burlington freight house, made a trip to the hospital and partially identified the woman as his aunt. He called his morning from Mt. Pleasant and she completed the identification at first glance. Business papers all bore the name of Mrs. Anna Black.
The aged sister of the stricken woman spent many hours in the hospital waiting for the cloud to pass from her sister’s mind, that she might see a gleam of recognition in her eye. But Mrs. Black died without regaining consciousness.
Mrs. Black is 77 years old and Mrs. Wells is 75. Mrs. Black is the mother of two children, one of which died in infancy. The other, a son, Rolla, 54 years old, cannot be located.
As far as can be ascertained, Mrs. Black has been living in her apartment on the third floor at Third and Washington Streets for ten years. She lived alone, and for the last two years has been retired from active work. It is presumed she has been living on the savings of her years of toil.
She was reclusive, and apparently of a timorous disposition, as she had five or six locks on the door. She also stuffed the cracks in the windows, so no one could get in. Mrs. Percy Wells stated this morning that she had often believed that Mrs. Black was her husband’s aunt and had made several trips to her apartment to talk with her, but always found the door locked. She stated that others reported the same success with their attempts at sociability.
Relatives are given to the opinion that a paralytic stroke was as much responsible for Mrs. Black’s death as the gas. They believe that she suffered a stroke, and felt the need of a hot drink, and tottering to the kitchen stove, and just as she turned on the gas, fell back in a faint, before she could ignite it.
They pointed out that the door was slightly ajar, which would afford enough air to prevent asphyxiation.
The marvel of the situation in their minds is that an explosion did not wreck the building as a coal oil lamp was burning in the midst of a gas-filled room.
Mrs. Wells is going over her sister’s personal effects today.
Funeral services will be conducted from Prugh’s chapel Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 with burial in Aspen Grove Cemetery.