TRAGIC SEARCH FOR QUIET

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

TRAGIC SEARCH FOR QUIET

Woman Composer Found Hanged In Hotel Room “DRIVEN FRANTIC” BY NOISE OF ROAD DRILLS AN invalid’s search for peace, and relief from the incessant throb of pneumatic drills, is believed to lie behind the tragedy of a handsome and cultivated woman who was found hanging by a silk scarf behind the door of her room in a Windsor hotel recently. The woman, Miss K. Dorothy Fox, aged between 30 and 40, of Hyde Park Square, London, W., arrived at the hotel on July 30.* She said she had come to be quiet. Half-finished manuscripts of musical composition and poems in her handwriting were discovered by the police, who searched her luggage. A friend said that Miss Fox came to Windsor for relief from noise which she said had been driving her frantic. “She had been staying with a woman friend, a writer, in a country town. Road drills which were being used outside the house made life unbearable there, she told me. She and her friend could stand it no longer, and about a fortnight ago they left the house. . “Miss Fox was an invalid when sne was 17. She had suffered a lot. She had been under medical treatment for an illness, but she had no undue cause for anxiety about it. With care it was hoped that she might fully recover. ” ’ . “Her whole life was wrapped up in her music. She was a gifted compbser. I think that she worked harder at her music to forget her troubles The drills affected her more than they would a stronger person. “she was very weak when sne came to Windsor. Since she has been at the hotel she has lived a quiet life. She seemed happy to have found the peace which she sought. When she went out she walked with the aid of a stick, and if the journey was more than a very short distance she always hired a car. “Miss Fox, who was well off—she had a considerable allowance —led a somewhat strange life. For some years she has had no fixed home, but spent the time travelling around, living at hotels or with friends.” On the eve of the tragedy Miss Fox was in the best of spirits. She said good-night to friends in the hotel and went to her room. A maid brought her a glass of milk. That was the last time she was seen alive.