, 1873-05-30
A WHOLESALE MURDERESS.

Mrs. La11a1t, OF okTrimbcflc, yVis.s P0fconR
RIcr Children nrid NctTlhborh--A Kklnd
Nurse, but Fed TuCr Patients with
StfyclAnfne -- a Exnycrfall Woman,
but rop Ready to Send 1aor Friends
to EEeRvcn.
Correspondence qf Tho Chicago Tribune.
sr. rAuI, May %, 1873.
At Ellsworth, in piorco County, Wis, was
commenced, yesterday, before the Circuit Court
for that county, tho trial OF N[rs. Charlotte
Lamb, arrested in November last for tho paurtlor
by poison, Of two Of lior own children, mud q mnu
and woman OF tho neighborhooa In which Bho
lived, in Trimbollo Township, An information
Is on file in each caHe separately;
but tho proof in oacll ono is con-
elusive. " Chemical ana1ysos Of tho
contents of their ston,nohs revealed. atryc!lnlno
in fatal quantitioa In tho children, nnd equal to
90 grains oaoh was takon from, tho stomacha Of
her adult victims. Bho was alone with her boy,
Don orrin Lamb, a lad Of Is years, when ho was
taken auddonly aick, and died, as was supposed
Of hoart-dseaso. sho was alao nlono with hor
little girl, pretty child Of 10 years., when it
atokonod and dicd Just as suddenly: Mrs. 0tt-
man, a neighbor, complained Of faintneBs. Mrs.
Lamb gave her doso Of her preparation, and
Mrs. Ottman was corpse In few hours. Royal
Garland alto too much dinnor, and askod Mrs.
Limb to prepare him q dose OF psinAillor. Tho
ended with his doath fow hours after. Tho
children werc poisoned in May and Juno Of last
yoar, aud tho others In Angust following: She
Is popularity acousod, also. Of having. poisoned
her husband, who died suddenly in tho full OF
1871; Mr. Fuller, OF Irimbelle, who diod
shortly boforo that time tho first Airs. Lamb,
who died in Vermont, about 1853-54 !; and q
young woman in Vermont WHO WAS her rival for
the hand Of tho Widower. But tho doctors say
hor husband died from natural cauaos, ard there
is no evidence to show that sho killed the others,
sayo that ns with hor known victims, thoy wore
nursod aud doctored by Mra. Lamb, and died in
I aaw this woman In Aor iait cell, Mt Ellsworth,
recently. she is fat, falr, and forty, with
dull but not an evil countenanco
Her characterl too, until these murders
were brought homo to her, was that Of good
girl, ind half carried har little boy,-thc aamo
| Children aho poisoned last year,-all the way
from Arlington, sibloy County, In this stato, to
st. Paul; md her mothorly devotion was noted
in all the records Of that year Of Sioux raia mud
murders. In Trimbollo, for near ton years, allo
WAS the Good 8amaritan Of hor noighborhood,
| whom everybody called upon WHOM they wanted
| country medicine compounded, o sick poreon
dcad. She was noted. too, for hor .pioty, md tho
zeal with which sho prayed for and with tho sick
and dying. Tho man Garland, whom sho
| poisoned, was. half.wittod fellow, q
bachelor, for whom no other woman Of the
|
Lamb mcided bis clothes and stockings, washed
for him and cooked for him, and pitied him that
ho was euch q Wealz-headed man. But finally
sle poisoned him, and, while be lay writhing
with pain. tho woman was all tho ,timo oxhorting
| him to put his truat in God aud bo prepared to
die. For m hour OF so next morning, she was
left alone with his corpse, and sho passed. tic
most Of tho time iu prayer,
OF courBo tho dofonso aot up iB insanity. 4
phyaician from tho Madison. Hospital for the
Insane, md number Of medical exports, have
been caled to testify Us to her sanity. Tho trial
will occupy aevoral days., md will provo the
woman ethor to be subject to a strange form of
insanity, or to bo one Of tho worst Of tho devils
that over held the form of woman.
Tho State is represented in tho case by OK.
Senator (Stnte) E. IT, Ivos, the County Attorney
Of pierce County, assisted BY his law-partnor, d
Mr. Smith, Of Prescott Tho dofonso will be
conducted by Mosurs. Spoonor j. Dakcr, Of Hud-
son, leadora in the criminal practice OF North.
west Wisconsin, and associated with Mr. DovanB
young lawyer of Ellsworth. Eouo.