#heiress

#heiress

The Feline Heiress Who Went MissingMrs. Elizabeth W. Berhm married late in life and happily resided in New York City with her husband and her beloved cat, Dunder. She also kindly fed an army of stray cats that came to her door. A few months after her husband died in 1925, Elizabeth decided she couldn't go on alone, and committed suicide by inhaling natural gas. She almost killed her beloved Dunder as well. The landlord smelled a gas leak and broke in.Apparently, she had struggled while the gas came to her through a tube attached to a chandelier. When she fell off the bed, she tore the lighting fixture from the ceiling. The gas quickly filled the room.After instructing Hess to call for medical help, Officer Kiel found Dunder squirming in a corner, trying to fight off the effects of the gas. The policeman tossed the cat out the window so she could get some fresh air.Now, the article doesn't say which floor of the five-story building Elizabeth lived on, but it must have been the first floor, as Dunder recovered and returned home. Doctors tried to revive Elizabeth, but it was too late. Her will specified that $4000 was to be set aside for the care of Dunder for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the cat escaped into the streets, and when the news got out, the entire city looked for a black female cat. More unfortunately, if she were to be found, there was no one alive who could reliably identify her. Read the story of the heiress who wandered the streets at The Hatching Cat. -via Strange Company#cat #will #heiress #historiccat