One consistent thread in any Caswell story is the
arguing. The Donnans were no
exception. Unfortunately, one argument
led to a very tragic end. Small towns may know everyone’s business, but they
can also keep a secret. Within the
family a pact was made never to discuss the events of the tragedy. Most photos of Bella (Sarah Isabella) and Emma were destroyed.
The family tree that Aunt Teddy gave to me showed
two sisters of adult age that I had never heard of. Searching the archives for old newspaper records the very sad tale of events in 1907 unfolded in all its melodramatic
detail.
“Bella Donnan (29) is an epileptic and
suffers from attacks of excitement and passion which are sometimes
characteristic of the disease. It
appears that the two girls had had a quarrel over the use of the kitchen stove,
one for washing and the other for ironing.
During the quarrel the elder sister, Bella, picked up a stick of firewood
and struck Emma (24) just behind the ear.
Emma fell and shortly thereafter expired, to the horror of the sister
who had done the fatal act. Mrs. Donnan’s
two youngest daughters were in the house at the time.”
This would be Delle and Arthena. Emma’s death took place on my grandmother Delle’s birthday,
May 30th. No wonder my grandmother turned white when my cousin Audrey asked
her who the two adult siblings were in a photo she had found. Audrey had always heard that her mother was
from a family of 10, not 12. I can’t
imagine the horror of witnessing the attack and the tragedy of having it
forever linked to one’s birthday.
 |
| From the Ledge, June 27 1907 |
The inquest dismissed any charges against Bella, referring to it as a "lamentable accident".
Burial records in Grand Forks show that the family
couldn’t afford to pay for the burial plot for almost a year after the tragedy. Emma lies in an unmarked grave in the Grand
Forks cemetery.
Sister Bella was committed to Essondale, a
mental institution in Coquitlam, BC in December of 1914 due to the deterioration
of her mental health and the increased frequency of her epileptic fits.
“Patients psychosis has
extended over a period of 12 years.
After a seizure she will fly into a violent temper and throw anything
that comes within her grasp. She thinks
that her family are all down on her and says that they keep casting up to her
about killing her sister, for she is very sorry that she did this and cries at
the slightest allusion to it.”
On August 8th, 1916 Bella died suddenly
“this morning at 7 o’clock patient had an unusually severe epileptic seizure
from which she failed to recover and died in a convulsed state.” A telegram from her mother said: “Have
wired Sarah
Donnans father, 4354 Sophia Street, South Vancouver. Receive instructions for burial from him.”
I assume like many other Essondale residents, she was buried on the grounds in an unmarked grave.
I assume like many other Essondale residents, she was buried on the grounds in an unmarked grave.
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