Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-04-18
Modern BOrgias,

Baltimore lady, not long ago, attained
temporary notoriety as the modern Borgia,
through charges made against her of poisoning
several gentlemen who were staying as guests
at her house. A trial on one of these charges
resulted in her acquittal, but not on such ground
as 10 relieve her Of all suspicion. The jury
could not convict, because the chemist who
analysed the remains used methods which other
experts pronounced uncertain and liable to mis-
lead. DR.. S,hoeppe, by the way, the Philadel-
phia convict, who has been lying under sentence
of death for two years or more for fatally pos.
oning a lady to whom he was to be married
was convicted manly on the evidence of the
same chemist, whose ucompeteney seems tc
have been proved at the Baltimore trial. He is
at last to have a hearing on writ OF error, and
his friends are sangune that new trial will be
granted, at which his innocence will appear, Oh
at least the evidence will fail to establish his
guilt.
Mrs Wharton's case excited great interest on
account Of her high social position and that of
her alleged victims. In atrocity the crimes
charged against her were exceeded by those Of
which woman in Connecticut was soon after
accused. Three husbands and several children
were believed to have been poisoned by her, and
no motive was known or could be suggested for
these successive crimes. The evidence of cir.
cumstances seemed strong, however, and she
was held to answer the accusation. Her trial
for the murder Of her last husband was begun
in New Haven this week. If She not guilty,
she is most unfortunate in the curious train OF
circumstances which combine to fix upon her
most cruel and horrible suspicion.
Another case closely resembling the last men
toned, is that of woman at Leesburg, Virginia
little town near which the disastrous battle oil
BIlFs Bluff was fought in October, 1861, an d
which few of our readers will remember as the
place to which they made an involuntary visit
on the evening after the battle. This Leesburg
woman IS supposed to have poisoned her hus-
band and four children, all of whom died sud-
denly within about one year with symptoms of
acute poisoning. If reports are true the sus-
plcion of her guilt first received form and
strength from the accidental discovery that
shortly before each Of the deaths in her family
she had bought an ounce OF arsenic from the
village druggist.
~ e Athhi4y lNlndAhdplC tldL Nllllu SIX
mouths three persons should be charged each
with a succession of crimes SO hdeous and
unusual, and resembling each other so closely
IN their general features. If either of these
accused persons should prove guilty, Lucrezia
Borgia, whose name has for so many generations
been tue synonyme for a successful female
assassin, must be deposed from that bad emin-
ence to give place to her more guilty successor,
Mrs. Sherman of Connecticut or Mrs Lloyd of
Virginia 1t may be worth mentioning in this
connection that among the blackened reputa-
tionS which recent historical students have en-.
deavored, with more or less success, to re.
store TO purity and lusre, is that of the
typical woman poIsoner. A writer in the May
Galaxy undertakes to prove by references to the
chronicles of those times that Lucrezia Borgia
instead Of being the most infamous of women,
justly abhorred as guilty of incest and murder,
was lady of admirable character and pure
life, an affectonate and exemplary sister, wife
and mother, and benefcient sovereign The
ISLANDERS which have so long backened her
name are, according TO this writer, the baseless
fabrications of contemporary enemies, actuated
by partisan malice more intense and unscru-
pulous than even the most reckless political
luminosity Of our own day.