daughter of Albert & Etta Bichsel

NY Evening Telegram
"Seemingly in the gayest of moods and without a care, Maude Bichsel, nineteen years old, a pretty brunette, ended her life by taking carbolic acid in the concert hall and saloon of Peter Reilly, at 101st St. and Forth Avenue, Fort Hamilton, in the presence of several hundred patrons of the place early today. She lived with her parents at 163 Harmon St., Williamsburg. Her father is Alfred Bichsel, a democratic polititian in Williamsburg and he works in the Custom House. Mrs. Bichsel said today that she could give no reason for her daughter's act. Two months ago, Maude's sister was married to Edward Clifford, a private at Ft. Hamilton. At that time Maude's engagement to Paul Underwood, a Corporal at the fort, was announced. On Wednesday night, Mrs. Bichsel said Maude left home to go to the home of Mrs. Clifford. Last night she left her sister's home to meet Corporal Underwood at the fort. They were to have been married in the fall, when his term of service in the army had expired. Mrs. Bichsel said the reason for her daughter's death was a mystery. Reilly's concert hall is frequented from the soldiers from Ft. Hamilton and their girlfriends. Every night there is a gay party, and dancing and singing make the time go merrily. Maude had visited the place about a dozen times during the last few months, it is said. Last night she went there with Underwood. She was in and out of the place several times during the evening. Toward closing time, just when the excitement was at its height, she suddenly produced a bottle containg carbolic acid and, lifting it to her lips, swallowed the contents. Underwood was not with her at the time, having gone out of the hall for a moment. Consternation reigned among the patrons of the place, and during the excitement, someone ran for a doctor. He in turn sent for an ambulance from the Norwegian Hospital, but the poison had taken too great effect, and the girl died within five minutes within reaching there. The patrons of this place were dumbfounded. To them the girl had always appeared to be lighthearted and free from care. She had entered into the singing and the dancing with the same spirit as the others and she seemed to be as gay as any even up to the moment that she took her life. Her act cast a damper upon the pleasure of the others and soon they went away. Corporal Underwood, when seen at Ft. Hamilton today, said that Miss Bichsel had been pressing him to have their marriage take place at an early date, but that he was not willing to be married until his term of service in the army had expired. he had nine months more to serve. She became despondent over his refusal to have the marriage before the time set by him, and it is thought that from brooding over their quarrels on this subject she decided to take her life".