The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1883-02-15
Vancouver independent.
OFFICIAL PAPER OF CITY AND County.
Vancouver. Clarke County, Washington
Territory.
The Death.Be0 Tales of a Woman.

Mrs. Emma Stillwell, who lies on her
death bed in Waterford, Ohio, has made
q most remarkable confession of crime
She states that she assisted in the muir
der of her first husband and her child
that she attempted her second husbands
life, and that she killed q transient board
er in the family. The confession, which
was taken down from her lips, is so hor-
rible that but for corroborating testi
mony it would seem more like the fancy
of a diseased mind than a story of real
life. The invalid. Emma Stillwell, ar
rived at the home of her husbands father,
F. NJ. Stillwell, at Waterford, November
Is, suffering from lang disease, accom-
panied by her infant child, nine months
old. Her condition rapidly becoming
worse, her husband, freight condu tor
on the Chicago, Burlington and Q lincy
Railroad, residing at Ottumwa, Iowa, was
telegraphed for and arrived here on the
9TH. On the Sunday following the wife
informed him that, knowing herself to
be dying woman, she had confession
to m axe, and imploring his pardon relat
ed her horrible tale.
She said and has repeated the state
ment since, that before her acquaintance
with her husband she was married when
fifteen years old at Maryville, Nolbury
county, Missouri, to Ben Swigert, to
whom she had two children. In March,
1877, assisted by her brother, Chester
Hoard, and her mother, she murdered
her husband, whom they believed to have
considerable money. They were arrested
for the crime, but were discharged for
lack of evidence, the general belief being
that Swigert came to his death in a
drunken fit. After the death of her hus-
band, the family kept boarding house
ct Maryville for some time, and a few
months after the first murder the trio
murdered transient boarder, whose
name she was unable to recollect. She
told what disposition was made of the
body, saying that it was thrown into a
deep rlvins near the town where it was
found nearly year later, but that they
were unsupported of the crime.
She married her present husband, then
. brakeman on the Kansas, st, Joe and
Council Bluffs Railway, IN January,
1878, the family soon after removing to
Rulo, Nebraska, where she confesses
that in May. 1880, she strangled their
fourteen months-old baby named Ger
trude, by the assistance of her
aunt, a woman named Betsey Sunshine,
for the reason that it was sckly
and she thought she would have
more liberty if it was dead. She described
how the horrible deed was accomplished.
the aunt making strong tea from peach
leaves, which she poured down the baby's
throat, while the unnatural mother held
the baby, assisting in its death by strang-
ling il with her hand.
Mrs. Stillwell further informed her
Mortified husband of making three differ
ent attempts to take his life, the object
being TO obtain small insurance he was
carrying, and related details which leave
no doubt that his life was saved each
time by the merest accident. The bus.
band bore the terrible secret as long as
he was able. Then on Tuesday last four
of the best men of the neighborhood, in
Guiding minister and justice of the
peace, were called in and the confession
repeated to them. the wife signing the
statement. The mother of the woman
received fatal injuries in a railroad acct
dent in March, 1881, while travelling from
Rulo to Ottumwa, the wife says, for the
avowed purpose OF concocting plan to
kill her present husband.
A letter was received by Mr.. Stillwell
from Chester Hoard. the woman's broth
er, dated December 20, in which he ex-
pressed the utmost anxiety to know if
his sister was dead, and if she had told
anything about him, saying he could not
rest until he heard. The woman is very
weak and can scarcely speak above a
whisper, and when requested to repeat
her story to correspondent was greatly
alarmed, fearing that officers were pres
ent to arrest her. Upon being assured
that they were friends, she again related
her story and declared it to be true in
every particular.