Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-05-13
A moDuRN BoRa1A.
ITKolesale Murder By Poison CoatIesion and
Death the Aurderess.
tcorre.posieae. Of .Ae New York D.ny Ns-,l ,

send you : detailed statement OF a strange tFSS'
edy which has taken place near US, and which,
perceive you have noticed briefly in your pa
per to-day.
knew and know well all the parties have
mentioned The facts in the case, not stated
! upon hearsay, have learned from the District
| Attorney. The confession was made 10 Mr..
I Wood. the pastor Of the church to which Mrs.
/ W. belonged and By the District Attorney told
10 me, with request that should write them
out for the press.
! Mrs Phebe Wcstlake, formerly of Ulster
county, whose maiden name was Irwin, aged
nbont As years, died at Chester, in Orange coun-
! ty, \. Y, on the 9TH inst, no doubt from the
effect of poison taken for the purpose of self
destruction.
I Phebe had lived in Chester ten or twelve
years She was industrious, and knew how TO
! do all manner Of women's work, and was able
and willing TO do it well. withNl she was pro-
4 fessedly piOus. She gained friends in the best
I families in Chester, and when any OF them need
ed help, they thought it a loss if they could not
I get Phebe.
I About twenty years ago, we hear, her hus-
band died suddenly. a paper of arsenic was
I found in his pocket, and upon post mnrtem
examination arsenic was found in his stomach.
II was supposed he had committed suicide, aud
no further action of inquiry was had.
! Four or five years ago, Mr.. Pelser, who kept
hotel in Chester, died Of erysipelas. He was
a widower, aud had but one daughter at home,
n noble young woman, who before that time had
been afiianced to Mr.. Hiram COlwel, wealthy
and respectable drOver, well known in Orange
| county. She aud her fathers assistant, Mr.
| Heard, thought it best to secure Phebc us cook
| in the hotel, and they did so. Shortly after
Phebe came there, Miss Pelser was taken sick
with some strange disease that her physian
could not understand. Her only sister and her
husband, Mr.. Clark, was sent for, Ond came from
the South and took charge Of Mr.. PelseT's husi-
ness and property at Chester. From that time,
! Phebe was left mainly TO nurse and care for the
sick and dying Miss Pelser. She fingered and
died under circumstances to induce strange suS-
! piciOns but to one suspected her faithful nurse
| Phebe. About the time of her death, Mr.. Col
well received an atirctiOnatc letter, while he
was at the West bringing cattle, purporting to
come from Miss Pelser, but at n time when it is
| known she could not write. requesting him
among other things, to remember Phebe for her
kindness to Miss Pelser.
| Last fall Phebe was employed as q domestic in
| the house Of John Is. Tuthil, n respectable mer-
chant OF Chester, in view of the prospective con-
| tinement Of his wife, who was the only daughter
of the late Francis Tuthil Esq.-ittle Martha,
As all who knew her. and many knew and loved
| her-called her. She was confined; her babe
never knew life. Some unusual symptoms at
tended her case. DIR. Smith, her physician said
| they indicated poison; but yet they might be
commissions which sometimes attended partnri'
! ton. Phebe was her nurse, and could not be
suspected. Martha died, aud
| blossom and Uough is whsred in one blight"
| Mr.. John Ii. Tuthll'S family being thus
| broken up-fUr little Martha vas all he had-hG
y erl TO board with his brother and partner in
business, Mr.. Charles S. Tuthill, aud Phebe was
duly transferred to that establishment as cook
and maid Of all work
On the LIST of April last, Mr.. Fuller, clerk in
the Tuthili's store, took possession of Mr. John
| Il. TuthilS house. under an arrangement that
s.-a1s 4 -. 4 Il, I,
Fuller had no family but his wife. Phebe was
| thrown out of employment, but still she was re-
| tanned temporarily between Mr.. Tuthilrs and
| Mr. Fuller's. Phebc did many acts of kindness
for both Mrs. Tuthil and Mrs. Fuller, and carried
delicacies to and from them.
On the 9th of April last Mr. Fuller had pro.
! vided for dinner can of preserved corn aud
beans. They were not all eaten at dinner
| Phebe was at Mr.. Fuler's. After tea, aud after
| Mr. Fuller had gone To his business, she sug.
| gcsted to Mrs. Fuller that the corn and beans
might spoil, and they might as well cat the lit
tie there were left Mrs. Fuller consented, and
| Phebc brought up two small plates Of corn and
beans, one of which she ate herself and the
other Mrs. Fuller ate. That evening Mrs Full.
| Ter was taken sick, with symptoms indicating
poison. She died shortly after. No one could
be suspected. Her husband loved her. He
had no one else to love. Phebe was kind, oblig.
ling asSiduOuS and alfrctiOnate, and remained
by Mrs. Fuller to the end. Who could suspect
hcrg
After the death of Mrs. Fuller, Phebe remain
ed temporarily Mt Mr.. Charles 5. Tuthil's, where
both the brothers were perEorce brought into the
family. Some ten or twelve days ago both the
1uthills and the wife of Mr. Charles S, also a
Mrs, Dcrrick-an Irish woman-with whose
husband Phebe had had some difficulty about
porterage, were taken sick, with symptoms near.
Is akin to those Of Miss Peser, little Martha aud
Mrs. Fuller. They have all been treated on the
hypothesis of poison. The brothers ruthill are
out about their business. Mrs. Charles s. Tut
hill is doing well. and Mrs. Derrick is still dam
gerously i'll.
Suspicious began to thicken about Phoebe
Last Monday she taken violently i'll with
the same symptoms. On Friday morning she
died. In her last agonies she said, "She had
sprinkled little arsenic on John b. Tuthil 5
toast; that She knew there was poison on the
window sill near where his soup sat and it might
have blown in; and that she had sprinkled a
little arsenic on Mrs Fullers corn and beans, -
and further said not The grave has closed over
Phcbe and her victims. No more Of the facts
will probably ever be known Her motives
must be left to conjecture, and Imagination must
Gil up this tale of horrors.
A SAILOR died recently in Texas and on his
death bed confessed that he was one Of the crew
who murdered Mrs. Aston, Of South Carolina,
forty years ago. Mrs. Aston was the daughter
Of Aaron Burr. She sailed from Charleston for