St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-07
Mamie Starr Proves a Sue
cess at Spinning Peculiar
Yarns.
She Denies Ever Having Been
at the Residence Of the
Newlands,
Proves by a Druggist She Did
Not Purchase Poison of
Him,
And Then Says She Purchased
1t to Kill Herself
With.

teller is in Jail here in the person of the
woman Mamie Starr, who cooked the
corn that poisoned to death Mr.. and
Mrs. Newland. by whom she was en-
plOyed. The prisoners narrative that
she had sister who was perfect i'm
age of her was startling in its ingenious
detail, but her latest explanation, the
most sensational yet advanced, Is that
she bought the ''Rough on Rats at the
drug store intending to kill herself, and
afterwards threw it away without open
ing the box. When Chief of Police
Marsh and his assistants locked
the girl up last night she
had positively denied all con-
nection with the poisoning. More
singular than this, she had denied that
she was ever at the Anchorage mission,
the institution from which the Newland
family secured her as servant. She
also denied ever being at the residence
of the Newlands, and maintained, in
spite of the fact that a dozen persons
identified her, that her sister must have
been the girl who prepared the dish. A
circumstance that greatly strengthened
the denials occurred when she was TAX
en- before DR.. Rogers, the druggist
who sold the poison. DR.. Rogers looked
her over carefully in all possible lights,
and formed his conclusion most delib-
erately. Finally he said:
'tShe is not the girl who bought the
.Rough on Rats" am just as sure of
that as l am of the fact that am alive.
The girl who came in for that poison
looked very cool and collected,and | con-
cluded as soon as l saw her that it
would be perfectly safe to trust her with
the stuff. She said she wanted it to kill
rats with, and remarked that she
would have to be very careful to keep
her little brother from getting hold Of
it. She was older than this girl and
better dressed"
'Can it not be possible that you are
mistaken" asked Chief Marsh.
mo, it cannot bepossible. You have
surely got hold of an Innocent girl. L
am sure that this girl never was in my
store before"
The officers went away puzzl ed.
Early this morning Chief Marsh and
Inspector Hunt entered upon house,
toulouse canvass to find If any one in
the neighborhood had purchased rough
on rats at DR.. Rogers store. 1t was
tedious task, but they kept at it all day.
Every house within mile Of the store
was visited, and nobody was found who
had bought poison at the store, or who
answered the druggists description.
However, man was found who had
seen the girl enter the drug store, and
he described Mamie Starr accurately.
Finally, the chief and his companion
drove into the city convinced that
Druggist Rogers was either intention
ally or unintentionally: mistaken. The
girl was brought up from the cell where
she had been confined and taken into
the presence of Chief Marsh. Inspector
Hunt, Capt. Laughlin and other de-
tectiveS.
Mamie" commenced the chief, "why
did you tell me you were not in that
drug store?"
s.Surely, never said anything of that
kind" said the girl, and her eyes rolled
wildly. "Of course. was in the drug
store. went there and bought the box
of poison. paid Is cents for it, and 10
cents for some gum. had just quar-
ter.'
..Why, you told US last night that you
had never been in Hyde Park in your
life; that you had never seen the New
lands: that You were never in the An
chorage mission. and a dozen other
things"
"Impossible; you must have misun-
derstood me. OF course, l was in Hyde
Park. Pll tell you just how it was. l
was very Respondent, and did not want
to live any longer; you know l have
often been deSpondent, and once tried
to kill myself in Chicago two years ago.
So went to the store for the poison,
and thought would take it while the
family were asleep that night. hid
the stuff while L cooked supper. /
cooked the corn, and L am sure there
could not have been any poison in it;
but it was wrong somehow. for | took
taste of it myself and was dreadfully
sick afterwards. When all the family
began to get sick l was scared, and
thought the best thing | could do
would be to get out. I took the
box of poison and rolled it
up in my apron and then went away. l
was very much excited at the time. but
l remember that l threw both apron
tight and threw the package over
fence. L am sure 1 don't know just
where it was. but probably could find
it if had but half chance"
''This is an altogether different story
from the one you told yesterday" re-
marked Inspector Hunt.
"Oh, no." responded the girl-and the
same crazy gleam was in her eyes
that is just exactly whatI said yester-
day. By the way, do you know l can't
find my umbrella anywhere. wonder
where it is"
1t was an open question with the
officers after the examination whether
the woman's apparent insanity was
teigned orreal.
81 never heard of case similar to
this One," said Chief Marsh. II never
saw a prisoner so self-possessed and
cool when under arrest for serious
crime. l do not know whether the
members of the family were poisoned
by rough on rats or by some other sub
stance in the corn. l am sure that the
girl had 10 possible motive to poison
them, and that she had never seen them
before last Friday morning. All the
ic in fha