The Buffalo Courier broke the news.

Mrs. Kate O’Neill, of No. 657¾ Seneca Street in Buffalo, New York, died at 9:15 p.m. on Nov 9, 1891. The coroner’s verdict was suicide by laudanum. The story unfolded in the newspaper and took Buffalo’s breath away.

Mrs. Smallenburg and her daughter called at her good friend Mrs. O’Neill’s home at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, November 9. For reasons that will become apparent, Mrs. Smallenburg was unwilling to leave when no one answered her knocks. Eventually she managed to force the door to the place. Inside, she discovered Mrs. O’Neill and her 8-year-old son Johnny lying on the bed in a stupor. In a fright, she ran for Dr. Hawley. The doctor instantly realized the woman and her son were in grave danger and had them removed to the hospital. The cause of the problem was only too clear. An open bottle of laudanum was near the bedside, dispensed by a nearby drug store.

Rescue came too late for Kate O’Neill, who perished at 9:15 p.m. Her son recovered and after he was discharged, he was questioned by police. According to the child, at 10 p.m. on the night of November 8, his mother offered him a teaspoon of laudanum. The boy refused. But his mother insisted and finally resorted to threats, swearing she would get the horsewhip and lick him. (As we’ll learn, this was no idle threat in the O’Neill household. ) After ensuring her boy took the laudanum, Kate O’Neill took two large spoonfuls of the liquid as well. They laid down and were not found until the Smallenburgs arrived the next afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Little Johnny was temporarily taken to Fitch Hospital after speaking to the police.

City coroner Tucker learned that Mrs. O’Neill purchased the laudanum on October 24th, after complaining of insomnia. He attributed her suicide to mental derangement but her friends and neighbors said it was no such thing. A scandal had been smoking ominously for many weeks and her suicide was a predictable eruption.

Mrs. O’Neill had been driven out of her mind by her husband, James O’Neill, who had abandoned her six weeks earlier to go live with another woman, a Mrs. Roberts.

Five months before Kate O’Neill’s suicide, her seemingly happy marriage began to crumble. The O’Neills were, at that time, living on Eagle Street. James O’Neill purchased a lot near Lester Street and was building a house on it. O’Neill was a builder and a contractor, and the house wasn’t intended for his family to live in, but as a property to sell. During the construction of the house, he got to know Mrs. Roberts.

Go to Part 2!