Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-05-17
A Modern sHergsa,.
wHoLEsALE MURDER BY P0fs0,s-CONFESsIoN
AND DEATH OF THE MUEsDERESs.

Correspondence Of the Ne,o York Daily Nsrs.)
GOSHEN, Ulster Co., N. Y. May 8, 1851
send you detailed statement of a strange
tragedy which has taken place near us, and
which perceive you have noticed briefly in
year paper 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 to Mr..
Wood, the pastor of the church to which Mrs.
W. belonged, and by the District Attorney
told to me, with request that should write
them ont for the press.
Mrs. Phebe Westlake, formely of Utter coun-
ty, whose maiden name was Irwin, aged about
40 years, died at Chester, in Orange county,
n. Y, on the It'll inst, no doubt from the
effect of poison taken for the purpose of self
destruction.
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 il well.-Withal she
was professedly pious. She gained friendsin
the best families ia Chester, and when any of
them needed help, they thought it a loss If
they could not get Phebe.
About twenty years ago, we bear, her hus-
band died suddenly. A paper of arsenic was
found in his pocket, and upon post mOrtem
examination arsenic was found in his stomach.
1t was supposed he had Committed suicide,
anu no IuTlneT acJiOn OF was Iidu
-Four Or ffveyears ago, Mr.. Pelser, who kept
a hotel in Chester, died of erysipelas Hewas
widower, and had but one daughter at home,
noble young woman, who before that time
had been affanced to Mr.. Hiram Colwell,
wealthy and respectable drOver, well known
in Orange county. She and her fathers assis-
tant, Mr.. Heard, thought it best to secure
Phebe, as cook in the hotel, and they did so.
Shortly after Phebe came there, Miss Pelser
was taken sick with some strange disease,
that her physician could not understand. Her
only sister and her husband, Mr.. Clark, were
sent for, and came from the South and took
charge of Mr.. Pelser's business 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 I'M
der circumstances to induce strange suspi-
cions, but no one suspected her faithful nurse
Phebe About the time of her death Mr.. Col
well received an affectionate letter, while he
was at the West bringing cattle, purporting to
come from Miss Pelser, but at time when 1t
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 domes-
tic in the house of John b. Tuthill, repect-
able merchant of Chester, in view of the pro-
spective confinement of his wife. who was the
only daughter of the late Francis Tuthill.
Esq.-little 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 attended her case. DR..
Smith, ner physician, said they indicated
poison but yet they might be the con-
vulsions which sometimes attended parturi-
ton. Phebe was her nurse, and she could not
be suspected. Martha died, and
blossom and bough is withered in one blight''
Mr.. John B. Tuthill's family being thus
hro a tIa oil bo ho1
he went to board with his brother and part
ner in business. Mr.. Charles S. Tuthill. and
Phebe was duly transferred TO that establish
ment as cook and maid of all work.
On the lst of April last. Mr. Fuller, a clerk
in the Tuthills' store, took possession of Mr..
John b. Tuthill's house. under an arrange
ment that Mr.. John b. Tuthill was to board
with him. Mr.. Fuller had no family but his
wife. Phebe was thrown out of employment,
but still she was retained temporarily between
Mr.. Tuthills and Mr.. Fuler's. Phebe did
many acts of kindness for both Mrs. Tuthill
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 and
beans. They were not all eaten at dinner.
Phebe was at Mr.. Fuller's After tea, and af-
ter Mr.. Fuller had gone to his business, she
suggested to Mrs. Fuller that the corn and
beans might spoil, and they might as well eat
the little there was left. Mrs. Fuller consent
ed, and Phebe brought up two small plates of
corn and beans, one of which she ate herself,
and the other Mrs. Fuller ate. That evening
Mrs. Fuller was taken sick, with symptoms
indicating poison. She died shorely after.
No one could be suspected. Her husband
loved her. He had no one else TO love.
Phebe was kind, Obliging, assiduOus and af-
fectionate. and remained by Mrs. Fuller to
the end. Who could suspect her?
After the death of Mrs. Fuller, Phebe re-
manned temporily at Mr.. Charles S. Tuthill's,
where both the brothers were perforce brought
into the family. Some ten or twelve days ago
both the Tuthills and the wife of Mr. Charles
S.. also a Mrs Derrick-an Irish woman-with
whose husband Phcbe had had some difficult
ty about poterage, were taken sick, with symp-
toms nearly akin to those of Miss Pelscr, little
Martha and Mrs. Fuller. They have been all
treated on the hypothesis of poison. The
brothers Tuthill are out about their business
Mr.. Charles 5. Tuthill is doing WELL and Mrs.
Derrick is still dangerously i'll.
Suspicious became to thicken about Phebe
Last Monday she was taken violently i'll with
the same symptoms. On Friday morning she
died. In her last agOnies she said ''She had
sprinkled a little arsenic on John b. Tuthill's
toast; that she knew there was poison on the
window sill near whore his soup sat, and it
might have blown in and that she sprinkled
little arsenic on Mrs. Fuller's corn and
beans" and further said not The grave has
of the facts will probably ever be known. Her
motives must be left to conjecture, and imagi-
nation must llup this tale of horrors.