SHOT HERSELF IN THE HEAD.
Mrs. Alice Buerskens Felt She Was a
Burden to Her Husband.
With a small bunch of flowers in her left hand and a large revolver in the right, Mrs. Alice Buerskens shot herself in the right temple at 10 o'clock in her home, 1700 East Twenty-eighth street, yesterday morning after sh e had written a note to her husband, Henry Buerskens, a bartender, telling him she loved him too much to be a burden to him any longer. Alice Holmberg, 7 years old, who lives at 2705 Vine street, every day paid a visit to Mrs. Buerskens and when she called at the home yesterday Mrs. Buerskens sent her to the store to purchase stamps. While the child was away from the house Mrs. Buerskens shot herself.
She died instantly and was found lying on the bed by the Holmberg girl when she returned to the house from the store. Alice Holmberg immediately ran to her home, where she notified her mother, who in turn apprised No. 6 police station.
Carpenters employed on a new building across the street from the Buerskens home heard of the pistol shot, but paid no attention to it. The dead woman and her husband had recently moved to the Twenty-eighth street house, and the neighbors did not know their name.
The police found difficulty in securing the woman's name and it was several hours before the husband was notified of the suicide. The husband could not give any reason for the deed, and the note she left to explain her act was not clear. He said that his wife appeared to be in a happy mood when he left her in the morning to go to work. Before her marriage to Henry Buerskens she was Alice Beech and formerly a nurse in the city hospital and in the state hospital at Topeka, Kas. The coroner was notified and he had the body removed to Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms.
Mrs. Buerskens left the following note addressed to her husband:
"Dear Henry: You are not to blame for this -- I love you too much to burden you longer. Pray God to forgive me -- love to my own dear mother, father, brother and all my people -- sweetheart, don't you feel bad -- I am sorry I could not help you more -- love and kisses, Alice"
When seen last night, Mr. Buerskens said his wife had been ill for several years and of late had been worse than usual. They had no children and she was alone in the house the greater part of the time, and probably brooded over her illness. He said his wife had never complained of being tired of life and he had no idea she would kill herself.
Neighbors and friends who have known the woman for several years said she had been in the habit of taking opiates to relieve the pain she continually suffered. Mrs. Buerskens's parents reside in Topeka, Kas.
