Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-06-13
4 Terrible Confession.

4 Terrible Confession.
A decided sensation was created in
Philadelphia yesterday, when Mrs.. Sarah
Jane Whiteling voluntarily confessed that she
had poisoned her two children-a girl,
aged zine, and a boy, aged two years-and
that she had furnished her husband with
the poison with which, she declares, he took
bis own life.
II am sorry now that | killed them, and
want people to pray for me, if it is not too
late," she sobbed, as she sat in the coroner's
Office. "My conscience is clear now, and
feel easier because have told everything
Dear little BERTHE and Willie, l will meet
you in heaven" Further soiloquy was cut
short by an officer, who took the woman TO
the Central Police Station, whence she was
conveyed to Moyamensipg prison. Mrs
Whitelings victims were her husband, John
Whiteling, her nine year-old daughter, Ber-
tina, and boy, Willie, two years old. The
family lived in poverty in the rear of No.
1927 Cadwalader street, and the husband
died on March Goth last, the girl on April
Oath, and the little boy on May Goth.
Detectives worked at her for confession,
but until to-day were unsuccessful. Final
IL, the woman broke down from the weight
OF her awful secret, and made clean
breast of the whole affair, and when
taken before the coroner yesterday
she detailed to that official with
great minuteness how she had poison
ed the children. II gave Berthe the first
dose OF the poison on April 2lst," she said,
sand on April Oath she died. I put one
spoonful of the stuff in glass of water and
called the child to me, and said, Now. Ber-
tie, here is some medicine; you must take
it like good girl, and gave her one spoon
full 1t made her sick, and when the doctors
prescribed some powders 10 be given in
water, bought the medicine, but gave her
spoonful of the poison every half hour in
stead. 1t made her 90 very sick and she
suffered 30 much, that felt sorry, aud the
day before she died I stopped giving her
poison, and gave her the medicine, but it
was too late. Little Willie died the same
way. had the insurance placed on each
child only ehort time before they died"
"And, suppose. you arranged to have all
three deaths come month apart, so as not
to excite suspicion?" asked the coroner.
"Yes, I thought if they all came together
the neighbors would suspect me-" was the
answer But when asked if she had given
poison to her husband, the woman stoutly
maintained that he had taken his own life.
II did not tell the doctor that be had swal-
lowed poison" she said. because the insur-
| ance policy said the money would not be
paid if the person committed suicide"
Il killed BERTHE because l was afraid she
would grow up in sin and crime, as she was
bad child, and had atolen pennies from the
neigh bors, and once she stole her school
teachers pocketbook. The boy killed be.
cause he was in the way"
"I am sorry now for what 1 have done,
and want people to pray for me-" she said
to the coroner after the confession had been
concluded. II could not sleep in the house,
and on Sunday thought of taking my life,
I had such horrid thoughts. but dSred not
do it. I was afraid l could never 60 to
heaven, for you know the Bible says that
suicides cannot enter heaven"
On Monday, June 4, Coroner Ashbrdge
was informed that the three deaths were of
suspicious nature, and be began an inves-
tigation, aided by city detective, which led
to the arrest of the woman and her confes.
sion that she poisoned her two children.
She stoutly maintains that her husband COM
mitted suicide becauae of his poverty and
Door health, though she admits having
bought the poison with which his life was
ended.
Certificates of death from natural causes
were given by the attending physicians in
all three cases The coroner decided that
post mortem examination of the bodies
should be held, and upon hearing of this &C.
ton Mrs. Whiteling attended it. She pro
fessed great piety at the time, and on Sun
dav last she went to church in the
neighborhood of her home, and kneeling
at the altar rail asked the prayers
Of the congregation for the forgive.
ness of her sins. Her actions. together
with the result of the examination, which
proved conclusively that poison had been
the cause of all three deaths, led to her
arrest last Sunday night. There were
several policies of insurance on the lives
of the woman's victims. each of them be-
ing for small amount, but amounting, in
the aggregate, to 1869, all Of which she COL
lected.
The coroner will hold an inquest on Fri
day, and In the meantime officers are
searching the house for the boxes from
which the poison, supposed to be arsenic,
was taken.
Mrs. Whitelng was married in Clinton.
Ia, in 1868. to Tom Brown, who died in the
Eastern Pepitentiary while serving q
term for highway robbery. The couple
went to Philadelphia from Chicago after
the great fire, and few years after Brown
was sent to prison. The woman married
John Whiteling in March, 1880. her child
Bertha. being then about nine months old
Its father was Thomas Storey, whom she
said once kept an oyster saloon in this city
Mrs. WhiteIipg told the coroner at one o.
the interviews that she did not like to have
a post mortem examination made on the
children, as once. before she was married
one of her children died at the almshouse
and the doctors found, on using the knife
that life had not really been extinct wher
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