The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-07-11
THE C0NNEcEEeUT BORGLA.
The Shocking RECORD OF Her Murders
DnmnIng Evidence at the Prshmina-
ryTrinl-Unabashe Demeanor Of the
-Accused. -'---.-, ------.-s =. =

Our readers have been made acquainted with
the circumstances connected with the arrest
Of q hrs. Sherman at Derby, Connecticut,
charged with having murdered, within the pc
riod of few years, three husbands and eight
children, in every instance by the factle. and
sure and readily concealed meihod Of poison.
The monster woman, whose career in mur-
der has thus at last heen arrested, is but
forty.seven years of age, although bearing o
load of guilt upon her soul which 1t would
seem centuries of crime could not have ac-
cumulated. She is o native OF New jersey,
to.her first husband at the agesof seventeen,
by whom she had several children, six Of
whom, all under ten years, and the husband
Himself, died very suddenly within single
year. Her second husband, whom she mar
ried soon after the disappearance OF her family,
which 1t does not appear excited any suspicion
of wrong, was an old man Of property, who
died, suddenly also, within fourteen months
of the marriage, but not Without exciting
some suspicious In the minds Of the doctors
who attended him, which, for reasons not
stated, they never made known. The third
and last husband was married to her some
ten months since, ha7lng four children by
former wife, whom ne introduced Into the new
family. Two of these children, girl OF nj
died suddenly within six or eight months after
their relationship to their step.mother, and
still without arousing suspicious although 1t is
remarkable that all these sudden deaths .oc-
Cured from the same. cause. or with the
same symptoms of disease-cramps, .vio-
lent fever and vomiting. after the death
Of, these stepchildren, there seems 70
Sherman and her husband, which led to
their living partially apart He fell Into un,
steady aud Wasteful. habits, and estranged
himself more or less. from his home, and re-
Gently he died with the same suddenness and
under the same circumstances which had at.
tended the death of the eleven individuals OF
the family Who had preceded him. Suspicion
being now aroused, q post morteM examination
was had, and the unquestlonable presence OF
arsenic In the stomach ascertained. The
bodies ofthe two children also were exhumed,
and, ample proof discovered OF their having
been poisoned
The preliminary examination of the female
monster was commenced. on Thursday at
Derby, CT, the scene Of the unhmely end or
her victims. Although there Is no positive
evidence that she administered the arsenic.
there is evidence that four Of those deceased
persons died from the effects Of that drug, viz
her last two husbands and her last husbands
two children There Is evidence that she had
arsenic In her possession, and that when call.
ed upon to- account for its absence, was unable
TO do 30. Professor Baker, the chemist who
made an analytic examination Of the stomachs
and 'ivers of the deceased persons, testified
uneduiyocally that arsenic was found In those
organs in sufficient quantities to produce
death, and that death did result fronlt the
presence of this poison. All that remains
to be done is to prove that Mrs. Sher-
man Is the person who administered the
deadly medicine. q Circumstances can point TO
no one else. and circumstances point fercely
ather... Still she appears to regard the serious
charge as O very light matter. During the
trial. and while the doctors who attended the
Victims were giving their testimony, she
maintained the role ofinjnred innocence, and
ed,unabashed around the courtroom, her
piercing black eye never once wlncing under
the most determined look OF her prosecutors.
But when Professor Baker took the stand and
gave his testimony .as to the finding Of the
poison; stating that in the liver alone Of her
second husband, Hurlbut, he found sufficient
quantity OF arsenic to kill three men; nshe be-
came exceedingly nervous, and for the first
time her eyes sought refuge her rhfs hfssv f8H
Saf sH9P9 US % SS6eE the court
is denounced by. all who have seen her as the
most accomplished dlssembler and shrew that
ever became publicly known, and yet, strange
asit NAV appear, this class OF women always
set the heads OF o class of men crazy. Mrs.
Exir 10 onnthnr woman of this character d.