Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-09

Poisoning cases are the favorite sensations of
the day, and, with a curious coincidence to
which the annals of crime in other towns and
counties offer many parallels, several charges,
extraordinary in the number of alleged victims,
and in the length of time through which the series
of crimes seems to have extended, have been de-
veloped within few weeks. Less atrocious
than the deeds charged upon Mrs. Sherman and
Mrs. Wharton, but hardly less strange In its at
tendant circumstances, is the accusation made
against a Mr.. and Mrs. Colburn in Madison
county, Ofio. About four years ago the present
Mrs. ColburnIwas the wife of man of German
origin, whose name is variOusly given by those
who knew him best, as Poffenberg, Buffenbar-
ger, or any one of half q dozen different combl-
nations of syllables more or less nearly resem-
bling these In sound. His nearest relatives were
not agreed how his name should be spelled or
how be would have spelled it If he could have
spelled at all, which he could not. This man
was somewhat advanced in years, had consider
able property, but not so much as his neghbors
supposed, and young and comey but not
strikingly handsome wife.
Their mutual relations had always, SO far as
was known, been perfectly satisfactory, although
neighborhood gossip had intimated that gen.
tleman named Colburn, formerly connected with
the New York Tribune, and later broker in
New York, had been too attentive to the wife
While things stood thus, the gentleman with
the uncertain name died, apparently of con
sumption, without unusual symptoms. In q
reasonable time thereafter his widow married
Mr.. Colburn, and they have now two children
Sometime after an anonymous circular was Sc
cretly distributed accusing the wife of the muir
der of her first husband, and intimating that
proof of the charge would be found by exam
lining the remains. This dreadful charge at first
was not much needed, but by degrees it gained
attention. until four years after the death, the
body was disinterred and examined, and it is
said that arsenic was found in the stomach and
intestines. Mr.. and Mrs. Colburn are openly
denounced as guilty by the relatives of the de-
ceased, and are now, we believe, in custody,
awaiting their trial. Many of their friends are
perfectly convinced of their innocence, and 1t is
believed that the reputation of each has been
hitherto spotless.
A circumstance which tends to diScredit the
charge is that the man who has pressed 1t most
actively is the husband of a relative of the de-
ceased, who, but for the wife of the latter, would
have inherited large part of his wealth. This
man is said to have been notorious as gam
bier and a counterfeiter, and to have for a time
united the two occupations, not SO incompati-
BILE as they should be, of police detective and
thief. There are not few persons who are
ready to believe that, if any poison was found
in the body, it was put there by this man,
either during the life o: after the death of Mr..
Bufienbarger, if that was his NAME in revenge
for the loss of the expected share of his wealth.
The case has excited a strong interest In Ohio.
If, as seems probable, the accusation against
Mr. and Mrs. ColbuTn is baseless, 1t is the de-
yelopment Of one of the most atrocious plots
ever contrived against the character and life of
innocent persons.