Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-09-11
Who Was Snells
lLouisyille Tlmes.l

MI. Il. ~. Anderson, SnefllI OF Met
calfe county, was in the city thii
morning and brings news of mos
horrible murder committed in tha
county on Monday last. From hin
we learn the facts that make up the
following narrative:
There lives in the northern portion
Of the county courtesan named
Malvina Hiser. When girl she was
a very beautiful woman, whose mag
netiC charms enslaved many admirers.
She married a man named lliser
about thirty years ago, but her un-
chaste life caused a separation be-
tween husband and wife which re-
suited in a judgment divorcing them.
She afterwards married another man,
but upon his conviction of the crime
of grand larceny she was again di-
vOrced, and entered upon an open
life Of shame, which, indeed, she had
actually led for many years. She is
Il well-preserved woman now, with
many traces of great beauty.
Six or eight years ago there came
a man in the vicinity, one w. Il. Smell.
lie was a most accomplished drug
gist and had engaged in business for
years pre-, ious in Clarksvilc, Tenn,
and Hopkinsville, Ky. lie was ad-
dicted IL. the opium habit and was
such slave TO the drug that his
moral instincts were wholly cradicat-
ed, and his will power completely
subjected. Though man OF intelli-
gence and the instincts of gentle
man, lie was absolutely unreliab bic in
every particular so completely was
he enslaved by the cursed appetite.
Smell soon formed intimate relations
with the lliser woman, and upon his
failure in business took up his abode
at her residence and lived in open
aGu'trey with her. They had thus
been living for several years, when
last Monday morning he was found
lying on the bed with five gashcs III
his throat, any one Of which was
sufficient to produce instant death.
On the night previous Mrs. Iliser
appeared at the house ola neIghbur
and said she was afraid to stay ut
home because Smell was acting very
strangely and she believed lie con
templated suicide. She was accom-
panied 10y a small negro boy, who
had lived with her for several years.
On the next morning several Of the
neighbors accompanied her lone
and found the house securely barred
up.
When they broke the door open
CHASTITY sight met the mortified gaze
of the party. The dead body was
lying on the bed with great pools of
blood coagulatcd on the pillow. A
razor was claspcd in the right hand,
but loosely, and the blade was above
the grip. 1t was at once apparent
that no one could have inflicted all
the wounds upon himself A close
of the room revealed the |
fact that some planks in the floor had |
been raised and some one had passed |
out of the building.
Mrs. lliser had confessed that she |
left her home at midnight, and when |
The negro boy said Smell |
was dead when lie left. Suspicion
was so strong that Mis-. lliser was
at once arrested, charged with MUIR
der, and an investigation is now in
progress. The woman is respectfully |
which occasions a great |
shock TO the community.
The cause assigned for the deed is
that Smell consumed large quantities |
Of morphine, and the woman deter
mined that she would bear the ex-
pense of is purchase no longer.