St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-23


her that he had been married in the old
country. but he had secured a divorce.
year subsequent to their marriage
he received a letter from woman
N Sweden who claimed still to be
his wife. This fell to her hands
and she asked Critic for an
explanation. Critic said he was di-
vorced from the woman, and Mrs. Critic
demanded to be shown the papers. lie
replied that he had lost them in the
Chicago fire. She did not believe him,
and like conscientious woman she re-
fused further marital relations with
him so long as
The Other 81 oman Lived.
Since that day, although living under
the same roof, they have not lived as
man and wife.
The reporter asked him concerning
the poisoning episode.
Yes, L poisoned him." she replied,
without hesitation. Ever since /
found he had q wife he has been trying
to poison me. Several times he has
| put poison in the victualS, but | always
discovered it. Then he would choke
and beat me and say he was going to
| Kill ME. That happened almost every
day when we lived on the flats. He
| said he would kill all three of us. A
man named Frederickson, who is now
working for Walterstatf & MoritZ, on
! Seventh street, was boarding with me,
| so as to help me support the family.
One day we discovered carbolic acid in
the tea and L threw it out. and Mr..
Frederickson went away TO board
somewhere else. He knows all about
| it. Critic was drinking up every cent he
earned then. and | had to take in board
ers. The reason, guess, found the tea
was poisoned was because knew he
had carbOlic acid, and he had so often
said he was going to put it in my tea.
Then, one day, when girl named
| Tilda johnson was living with me, and
he had said that he was going to kill
me that night, he came home drunk, and
tried to beat me, but he was too drunk.
got away from him. He went to sleep,
| and was so drunk | couldn't wake him
up. Tilda told me not to live with him
any longer. She said we could go away
somewhere, where he couldn't find us.
She told me to take away his money
and then go. | went through all his
pockets, found his money, and also
found
Some little Packages.
This was fifteen years ago. The pack
ages were marked with a skull and
cross bones. l opened them and it was
arsenic. Tilda told me what it was,
and told me to throw out the poison and
put soda in the packages. did it. and
when he gave it to me in my food,
of course it did no harm, and
he was surprised. Tilda went
away and I'm afraid she is dead. Eve
tried to find her by advertising in the
Swedish papers, but she never an
swered. This poison was bought at
Simon's drug store, because his name
was on the package.
''Then he tried to poison me several
other times. Three years ago, when he
had been sick and wasn't able to whip
me any more, he brought home some of
the powder again and l threw it out. A
few days later he got some more. l
was frying meat for supper and | went
down into the cellar for some
thing. / heard him walking around
in the kitchen whistling. At once l
thought he was trying to do something.
/ hurried up the stairs and listened. |
heard him walk softly to the stove, and
| heard the door open and shut. Then
l came up and he went out doors. /
took up the meat, and it was covered
over with white powder. l threw it
into the water closet and cooked some
more meat. When he came in told
him never to do that again or | would
report him to the police. He said he
would shoot me if did. | didn't say a
word to any one because l was ashamed
to.
Zone evening l left some meat cook
ing and went out to milk the cow. |
left the children to watch l was about
half through when Joe came running.
Mamma he cried, pa has put some
thing in the meat came in and
threw tho meat out and told him never
10 do it again or | would surely report
him, and he laughed at me, for l guess
he knew l was
Afraid to DO 1t.
"He was often sick with heart fail
ure and at this time he was doctoring
with DR.. Mccoy and he often brought
home poison, and threw it out as often
as l found 1t. | was cooking some pigs
head and he put arsenic in it. but |
could see it and we didn't eat any. The
last time he put poison in the meat
saw it, and when he came in l was so
mad hit him over the head with dish
and broke it.
The Sunday morning that l gave
him the arsenic, he got up very early.
He always got up early. He came back
about z o'clock and wanted to know
why his breakfast wasn't ready. | told
MIN / would get when felt like it and
not before. He hadn't given me a cent
for a long time and bought everything.
He came up to me and spit tobacco Juice
in my eyes and called me id old -.
1t made me so mad | didn't know
what to do. He said he would
fix me and the children that day. When
was getting the breakfast l found
some of his poison, and | was so mad
took the littlest pinch and put 1t in his
cup. Honestly, as God is my Judge, l
didn't think it would kill him. thought
there wasn't enough poison, but l
thought maybe it would make him sick.
and then l would tell him, so it would
scare him. Alter breakfast he went
across to the engine house, and stayed
there long time. Then he came and
he came in l asked him if he
wanted some dinner, but he said
he didn't. He said he was awful sick.
and wanted to go to bed. He staggered
against the wall and helped him to
the bed. didn't think even then that
it was the poison. He often had such
spells. l asked him what allied him.
and he SAID his old sickness. but he
said he didn't need a doctor. When he
grew worse got scared and sent Anna
after a doctor. | went to him and told
him what had done. and asked him to
forgive me. told him L put little of
the
Arsenic In His Coffee,
and he said he did forgive me from the
bottom of his heart. He said that il
was a good thing for me and and the
children, for he was going to give it to
us that day. Mr.. Moriarity came in but
he didn't say anything to him (Moriar-