Bennett, Ida Elizabeth Dandridge (1854-1925)

Additional information about her death.

Shot Herself. She says It Was Accidental – Reasons to Think Otherwise.

Emporia, Kansas, June 7. Ida D. Bennett shot herself with a 22-caliber revolver at the residence of D.H. Stone, where she was rooming. Miss Bennett was teacher in the art department of The Presbyterian College the past year and failed to secure reappointment. She claims that the revolver was accidentally discharged while she was alone packing her trunk preparatory for a trip to Chicago, but it is generally thought that the act was intentional. The doctors say that the lady cannot live, the ball having entered the left breast near the heart.

Her parents live in Coldwater, Michigan, and it is said she has a brother residing in Chicago. On being asked where the revolver was, after assistance arrived, Miss Bennett said it was in the trunk, but afterward it was found in a bureau drawer. - "Chillicothe Morning Constitution" (Chillicothe, Missouri) 08 Jun 1890.

Submitted by: Edward P. Bentley. Art Researcher and Historian. Greenville, Michigan.

Bennett, Ida Elizabeth Dandridge (1854-1925)

Writer, artist. Born Coldwater, Michigan, 1854; daughter of William and Elizabeth (Davis) Bennett.

Educated Rockford College, 1876, Chicago Art Institute 1881-1885.

Author: The Flower Garden; The Vegetable Garden; contributor to American Homes and Gardens, House and Gardens, Country Gentleman, Youth’s Companion, Christian Herald, and many others.

Sources:

Leonard, John William (editor) Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada.” 1914-1915.

Michigan Death Records: Her death was suicide by shooting. April 4, 1925. Coldwater, Michigan.

Submitted by Edward P. Bentley. Art Researcher and Historian. Greenville, Michigan.