Person:Mary Murray (40)

Mary Jessie Murray was born on March 01, 1916. According to her sister, Betty Smith, that year the family had just bought a cottage on Middle Road which would eventually become their home. They took their grandmother, Elizabeth Shanley, to see the place. They were having a picnic lunch on blankets outdoors when Jessie fell asleep. They took Jessie inside and laid her on a bed and went back outside. Jessie began to scream. The family ran inside, thinking maybe she had been bitten by an animal. They stipped her but couldn't find anything.

The family returned to Elizabeth Shanley's house in North Side and called a doctor to come see her. The doctor did not know what was wrong with her. They took her to the hospital and the doctors there didn't know what was wrong either so they took Jessie back home.

There was a doctor visiting from New York who the hospital sent to see Jessie. He didn't know what was wrong with her either, but warned the family to watch out for pneumonia. He also advised them to bundle her up and take her for a walk in the park, which her mother did not do.

Jessie's condition grew worse and within a week she died on May 13, 1916. No one ever knew what caused her death. Her mother would not agree to an autopsy, but for many years later regreted she had not done so.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Certificate of Baptism, St. Peter Church
   Vol 3, p 420.