Mabel E. Seeley
Personal
Gender: Female
Date of Death: May 28, 1937
Death Place: Pasadena, CA
Mabel E. Seeley
Woman Jumps From Famed Bridge
PASADENA, May 28. – (UP) – Mrs. Mabel E. Seeley of Los Angeles, today jumped to her death from the famous suicide bridge across the Arroyo Seco to become victim No. 88 on the span’s death list.
Mrs. Seeley chose the highest arch of the bridge to make her 158-foot leap to the arroyo below. Nearby residents called police, who removed the body. She left a note on the bridge, police said.
Published in The Times and Daily News Leader (San Mateo, CA), Friday, May 28, 1937
Socialite Leaps To Death For Birthday ‘Fun’
PASADENA, May 29. – (UP) A note in society column read: “Today is Mabel Seeley’s birthday and she will be feted in an informal way * * * it will be a lot of fun * * *.”
Today Miss Mabel E. Seeley, 42, socialite and former president of the Los Angeles Junior League, was listed as the eighty-eighth person to leap to death from “suicide bridge,” the lofty span crossing a dry gully on Pasadena’s outskirts. She jumped out of her automobile and hurled herself 175 feet to death on the rocks below yesterday, while city officials were studying means of stopping the steady series of suicides which has earned the beautiful curving bridge its sinister name. Plans for a high iron grill along each side or net spread out below have been considered.
The police were puzzled over a motive for the birthday suicide. A note penciled on a paper wrapped around a gift box in the abandoned care read: “The conflict within myself makes for complete confusion, may peace reign in my absence.”
The sedan which Miss Seeley stopped on the middle of the bridge with such suddenness that motorists following skidded their tires, gave a possible clue. The left front fender and headlight were crumpled apparently from an accident.
Two years ago Miss Seeley was named correspondent by her sister, Mrs. Ada Seeley Bayly, in a divorce action charging Roy D. Bayly, wealthy broker, with a secret association with Miss Seeley. The Bayly’s later were divorced and the charge involving Miss Seeley was dropped.
Published in The Fresno Bee, Saturday, May 29, 1937
