The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-04-01
A Singular Murder Case.
THE "coSsEorrcur BoReIA'' ourDoSn.

In the case of Mary Ann Cotton, who was
recently convicted of murder in the first de-
gree, and sentenced to be hanged in London,
tue Times finds similarity to the Sherman
e"se IN Connecticut. This woman, Cotton, is
one years old. While young woman
SIC Was married to a laborer and removed
nom d natlve town to another mart of Eny-
,Sno. ,' AFTER hve years they returned and
the woman said she had four oh;ia.e' anS
saas uns al had died. In 1860 another cbild
u,eu, anu sne physician certified that its death
was caused by gastric fever. In isst lss asa.i M
child, one year old, died. In Ianwars. s,A.n 1Sa1
her husband died, and in MAY of the sa,o nooo'
| year seventh child, four years of ACE d,nn
In the cases of both the doctor assio1ed ,...
tric fever as the cause of d cath. The 5sS.
year her mother died very suddenly. af,sr
she had gone to attend her. Most If NOT ali
of these persons had their lives insured. ara
on the death of her husband she received a
sum of 935. She soon married man named.
Ward. He died in October, 1856, and the
doctor considered that he dropped of yery
suddenly" In December cf the same wear
she became housekeeper to a man named
Robinson, and in June of 1867, he married
her. He was widower with five children.
and she had at this time one girl, nine years
of age. She lived with Robinson until the
latt part of December, 1857, and during
that year there died in his house boy tan
months old in January, a boy six years old in
April,a girl eight years old in the same month
her own daughter of nine years in May. and
another little girl in December. Two sur
geons attended these children, and both stat
ed that the cause Of death was gastric fever:
Robinson, however. suspected her; he Is said
to have found out that she robbed him, and
his relations did not scrupe to tell him his
children bad been poisoned She absconded
from his house, and in October of 1870 We
find her once more married to man by the
name of fCotton. Here she was accused OF
| poisoning pigs, and became on such bad
| terms with her neighbors that she and her
reputed husband went to live at West Auck-
| land. The family then consisted of herself
her husband, and three stepsons.
In September, 1871, her husband died, at
| the age Of 33; and in March, 1872, two of
her stepsons died. In each case the death Is
| said to have been sudden, and to have been
marked by the same symptoms. After the
| husbands death man named Nattrass came
to lodge with her, and in April, 1872, he also
died, after suffering great agony for about a
| week. This left her with only one stepson, sew
en- years old, and he died OF what the
doctor at first called gastric fever in July Of
last year. Here the murder was discovered
in time and the woman has been sentenced
| W ucSttH. 1uc LOnuOu lWte5 says. AS
she has not been tried on any of the other
charges alleged against her, it may be hoped
she is not responsible for the whole of the
long catalogue of deaths enumerated.
Concerning the details of the trial the
Times said:
"The body was fully examined, and an
amount of arsenic was discovered In 1t suffi-
cient to have killed an adult. Upon this the
bodies of others who had recently died in the
woman's house were exhumed and arsenic
was found in them. Iu the body of the lodg-
er Nattrass as much as seventeen and q half
grains were detected. The only question
which the prisoners counsel could raise on
her behalf was whether 1t was proved that
the arsenic of which the child died had been
administered by her. Are the symptoms of
arsenical poisoning so subtle that trained
doctors cannot be expected to notice them?
Isit creditable to medical science that man
should be allowed to die with seventeen
and a half grains of arsenic in his stomach,
without foul play being suspected? But per-
haps the greatest wonder is that woman
could successfully practice for so many years
system Of poisoning without betraying her
dreadful secret or awakening more than once
material distrust among her neighbors."