The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-01-20
DIVING CONFESSION.
The DctntIs or sfrs. stillweirs Confession-
She admits that She Assisted In -Four Brutal
Murders-The Tragic Story ns IL Came from
Her Own Lips.

n
the Philadelphia Press states that Mrs.
stillwelI, the woman who declared that she
had committed four foul murders, died
Tuesday night. and gives her confession rs
II was written down by the clergyman to
whom she related the details Of her crimes,
as follows
NUMBERING 4 HUSBAND.
was born IN st. Joe county, Ind, in
1851. When only sixteen years OF age |
was married TO Benjamin Swigard, Ger
man mechanic, in Marysvillc, Mo. He was
man OF industrious though at times in
temperate habits. With him lived nine
wears. becoming the mother OF three chill
drer. Nv maiden name was Emma Hoard.
| was brought up in the Catholic Church.
| can sneak the French, German, and Latin
languages as well as the English. My mo-
Tiers name was Susan Hoard. have a
brother in Missouri named Chester. In
1876 nv mother and brother aided me in
murdeiing my husband for his money.
One evening he came home drunk. They
threw him down on the floor and struck
! him on the back OF the head with The pole
ofsn axe, and he soon expired.
laid him upon bed on his face, when mo-
ther and brother left for their own home In
another part Of the town. | took the chill
drcn and went to neighbours. Here j
asked for lodging and protection from
! Ben. my husband, who, | said, had come
home terribly intoxicated, and ] craved
their sympathy and shelter till such time
a. sobriety and reason might return to this
man whom they knew TO he faithful hus-
band and kind father when not crazed
with liquor. All the iayors | sought were
readily granted. spent sleepless night.
Its hours were periods OF GRIEF, inteiYc-
Ming with remorse. Rising early and leay-
ing the children repaired az days dawn
TO our sad and bloody home. ! soon gave
the alarm that Bcn. was dcad-murdcrcd
during the night FOR his money. This view
seemed for n time TO pass as true. but after
wards the three-mother, brother, and /
were arrested, but acquitted for want OF
adequate evidence. We got Swigard's mo-
ncy, about 81 200, and deeds TO some lois
in the town where we then lived.
sMoTHEIING A GUEST.
After this we kept n lunch and lodging
house in MarySvile, Mo. 4 stranger stop
ned one evening fer supper and lodging.
! That night we three took his life in order
to get his money. After smothering him
with a fcather-bed we struck him on the
head with hammer. We concealed his
body in n pile OF rubbish in the suburbs OF
the town These remains were not dis
covered for weeks. and when found were
so much changed by natural decay as to
| have been UnrccogniZablc by the mans
i ,,-.. H. ar
we never learned.
In 1878 | first met Your son, ]. \. ollll-
well. After short acquaintance we were
married. AT Burlington Junction. No, J
! first made his acquaintance, but we were
not married till we moved to Eockport,
| Atkinson county, No. Not long after we
went to Ruo, Ncb., where my first child
| bv Stillwell was born. We named 1t Ger
| tie: but its father did not know till we had
| been married 4 year and hall that i had
ever been married before or was the
mother OF three children. Learning this,
he was deeply grieyed and profoundly in
dignant-SO much so that he left me and
went to Denver, Col. Soon after followed
! him. BY coniessing sorrow Tor my decep-
| ton, and making many good promises Tor
| the future. was again taken into his favor.
| Husband dearly loved Gertie, and she thus
became an active and efficient function OF
our retnion. Again we lived lovingly to-
gether. Leaving Denver in few months,
we returned again to Rulo, where my hlls-
band became railroader.
CHOKING DAUGHTER.
I never really loved Gertie. She was
from birth puny, fretful, and unpreposSes-
sing. And my brother Chester, my mo-
| Their, my aunt Betsy SUNSHINE. and myself
murdered the child among Us. We made
strong decoction OF pcach-leai tea, and
we poured it down the girl's throat, hold
| ing her nose till sac ceased to breathe. Ny
aunt made the tea, Chester pOnredit into the
child's mouth, mother held it, nose, and |
kent II on nv knee till felt the last CULVER
of life die away. Ny brother was about to
strike the child on the head with the shoe
hammer, but we told him that the mark
would show. As soon Is we saw that
| Gcrtic was dead we washed her and dress
ed her i'm funeral garb, laid her ont, and
awaited with some degree OF anxiety the
return OF her father that night from The
rairoad. We told him that the child had
taken a spasm, to which at times II was
predispoScd. ana 10 our amazcmcnt and
grief had died in our hands. lie suspect
cd nothing.
KILLING MOTHER.
After Gcrtie's burial feared to live any
LONGER in that place. We soon removed TO
! Ottumwa, Iowa, where We remained till
| last November, when got 20 sick that we
thought best TO come home TO Ohio, where
! am now diving. But let me tell yOu that
when in the West brother and attempted
twice. alter Gcrtie's death, TO murder her
father. We fixed upon a night for the
deed. Twice Chester and | vert into his
room when we thought him asleep. de-
signing 10 take his life. Both times he
was awake, and cXcitingly inquired what
we were after. We excused ourselves
| by SAYING that we were hunting
q rat, or checking the noise OF Il
rafting window, thus fully allaying al
suspicion. At last we agreed to send lol
mother TO aid us IN StillWelPs murder. On
| the Journey mother met with railroad ac-
cident which so disabled her that she lay q
helpless invalid at our house for SIX
months. During all this time my innocent
kind, unsuspccting husband treated her IN
Il manner truly humane. He pald all her
surgical and medical bills, and, when she
died, all funeral eXpcnsCs-eNen planting z
plain stone to her grave.
Must | say it, Mother died by my own
hand, and by mine alone! She had muir.
dercd my father also, an illegitimate child
sent to her to put cut OF the way. She is
said to have done this deed for pay-a few
dollars. She had aided in the deeds have
just told you. We had sued the railroad
officers for the injury done her. So l dis
patched her one night with the hammer
which was used in the death OF others.
The PresSs correspondent adds:
"a few minutes before she breathed heI
last she positively maintained that the con
fession She had previously made was true
| H.. I.ripfs aoranfgl