Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-04-06
THEDEADLY ARSENIC.
A Wisconsin Lucretia Borgia- Remarka-
bic Bearing in COurt-She Defends by Ac-
cusiDg Her Brother of the Double Crime.

A Wisconsin Lucretia Borgia-RemarIa-
BILE Bearing in COurt-She Defends by Ac-
cusing Her Brother of the Double Crime.
WEST BEND, Wis, April 5.-The case of the
state of Wisconsin VS.. Jane Vermeer, of Fond du
Lac county, for murder, is now on trial for the
second time. The state is represented by F. F.
Duffy, district attorney, and s. J. Morse, of
Waupun. Mr.. Ely and c. E. Hooker, of Wau-
pun, and S. S. Barney, of West Bend, for the de-
PENDANT. According to the facts
alleged in the indictment upon which the
case was brought to trial, Mrs. Vermeer,
who lived in Waupun, asked her two brothers,
who were the joint owners of forty acres of
land, to deed it over to her, as they were bache
lors and did not need the property as much as
she did; but they refused to grant her request.
Accordingly, on Nov. 20, 1881, some days after
making the above request, she walked over to
her mothers (1Irs. Lockhart) residence, about
half a mile away, taking with her a pail
of soup, arriving there some fifteen minutes
after the family had finished their MONDAY meal.
Greeting her mother with an inquiry as to her
health, the old lady responded that she felt very
well indeed, whereppon her daughter saying,
"mother I've brought you some SOUP" put it
on the stove to warm. She then handed some
to her mother and brother Manus, both of whom
Half an hour later, the mother was taken
violently Ill with cramps, and was put to bed in
great agony, and very soon after Manus, the
brother, was taken down with similar pains, and
thereupOn Mrs. Vermeer took her pail rinsed it out
and departed for home, leaving hsr victims. Ibert
sent for her very soon after, and, according to
the allegations made before, she started to go
back, but was seen by boy named Miller, who
was IN there playing, to take small phial out Of
a cupboard which contained, as the boy said, a
white substance like -four. When she returned
to her mothers house, she found her mother dead
and her brother dying. lie told her it was soup
that did 1t, but she denies 1t, claiming all at
home had partaken of it. She remained at the
house until after her brother died, being per-
fectly cool and self possessed, and not manifest
ing sign of sorrow over what would otherwise
have been considered q terrible bereavement.
An analysis of the contents OF the stomachs of
the deceased persons was made by DR.. Bode, of
Milwaukee. who found in that Of the old lady
seven grains of arsenic, and in that of Manus
four grains and fraction. All circum-
stances pointed strongly to Mrs. Vermeers' guilt,
the more especially as some four years ago her
husband and his sister had died very suddenly,
it being intImated then that she had been instru-
mental IN removing them, so that when she of
fered to attend the funeral of her later victims
her countrymen refused to permit it, insisting
that she be arrested. As stated, this is her sec
oRd trial. Last fall she was brought to the bar
at this place ona change of venue from Waupun,
and after three days the jury disagreed and were
discharged. The prisoner is forty five years old,
native of Holland, and though she
has been in this country some fifteen years, she
has lived so closely among her people that she
now requires an interpreter in the court. She is
of dark complexion, has coal black eyes, is
smart looking, is cool and makes q splendid wit
ness. Though on the srsnd for three hours, she
did show nart1cln of pXcIfnma0t She
stoutly insists that she is innocent and claims in
defense that the reason Ibsrt did not eat the soup
is that he is probably the party who put the poi
son in it. 1t is held by the defense that his mo-
tives would be much the same, he owning jointly
with the brother that was killed.