A mad race against death, in which a 16-year-old Lowell High School boy sought to prevent his mother from taking her life, came to a futile and tragic end yesterday afternoon, when the crushed body of Mrs. Theodora Joseph, 2219 Jones Street, was found lying at the foot of a 400 foot declivity of Telegraph Hill.

Boy Finds Suicide Note Pinned to Tablecloth
Returning home from school yesterday afternoon, Leland Joseph found a note pinned to the dining room tablecloth addressed to his father.  Warned by some sixth sense that something was wrong he opened the note.  It said:

"Dear Joe:-I couldn't stand it any longer.  My head is getting worse.  I am going to loose my mind again.  Suicide has been in my mind like before. Kiss Leland for me.  Have my sister Olga raise him.  You will find me below Telegraph Hill.  Have my body cremated. -Dodie."

"Dodie" was the pet name by which she was called.  Below the signature, hastily written, was a postscript:
"P.S.-It is now twenty minutes of two."
The boy looked at the clock.  It was just 2:30.  Hatless and coatless he raced down the street.  His father, J. J. Joseph, an electrician, was working on a building at Filbert and Stockton streets. The boy raced to him with the note.  Joseph took one look at it and calculated the time.  Then together, side by side, down the street father and son, they went running, seeking to save their wife and mother from what she contemplated.

Race to Stop Mother's Death Futile
But they were too late.  At the foot of Telegraph Hill, at the end of Lombard street, a flick of white among the rocks caught their attention. Breathless they rushed to the spot, hoping that what they thought was wrong.  Beside the crushed body of the woman they both loved their mad race ended.  She was dead.  She had hurled herself from the cliff only a few minutes before.

Mrs. Joseph was discharged three years ago from the Napa hospital as cured, after spending several months there.  She had frequently complained of her head and told her husband she feared a recurrence of her former mental trouble.

Chronicle death notice:  Theodora Joseph, dearly beloved wife of Joseph J. Joseph, loving mother of Leland Joseph, beloved sister of Albert Sievers and Mrs. Cerelli, a native of San Francisco, aged 45 years, 11 months and 12 days.
 Friends and acquaintances are respectfully informed that the remains are at the Parlor of Valenti, Martini and Perata & Co., 649 Green Street.
 
 

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER (an afternoon paper) Tuesday, June 5, 1923

Despondent because of ill health, Mrs. Theodora Joseph 2211 Jones Street (note from above that Albert Sievers and family lived at 2201 from 1912 to 1921) leaped over a high cliff on telegraph Hill yesterday and fell to he death.
The body was found by her husband Joseph J. Joseph, electrical worker, and 16 year old son Leland, a student at Lowell high School.  Mrs. Joseph had written a farewell note, stating that she intended leaping over the cliff.  It was discovered lying on the kitchen table when Leland returned home.  The boy notified his father.  Together they started a search which ended when they found the broken body of the wife and mother in the old quarry on the Sansome St. side of the hill.
Examiner death notice:  Theodora Joseph, dearly beloved wife of Joseph J. Joseph, loving mother of Leland Joseph, beloved sister of Albert Sievers and Mrs. Cerelli and loving daughter of Mrs. John Sievers of Tempe Arizona, a native of San Francisco, aged 43 years, 11 months and 12 days.