The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-06

that she had not carried out his in
structions to the best of her ability
or that she had not shown profession
al enthusiasm and faithfulness. The
same doctors, she said, had engaged
her in subsequent cases.
Her counsel was satisfied with homi-
cidal details long before she finished :.
But she declared that she wished to
tell the whole story. -
well, how did you kill them?" she
was asked.
II gave them doses of morphine and
atrophine tablets in mineral water
and sometimes in a dilution of wills
ky" she said. Then I also used injec-
tons just as 1 did at Cataumet. l do
not remember how I killed them all.
but those that I recall were poisoned
by atrophine and morphine. My
memory is not good; l forget some
| things"
Never Felt Remorse.
AS the woman concluded, the law
yer said Miss Toppan, you must
be insane"
Insane, she repeated, "how can I
be insane? When 1 killed those people
l knew that I was doing wrong. I
was perfectly conscious that what I
was doing was not right. I never at
anytime failed to realize what I was
doing. Now, how can person be in
sane who realizes what she is doing
and who is conscious of the fact that
she isn't doing right? Insanity is
complete lack of any feeling of re.
sponSibility, isn't it?"
Yes" said the lawyer, chat is 70.
But you have no remorse, have your
No, l have absolutely no remorse. ]
have never felt sorry for what 1 have
done. Even when I poisoned my
dnn Acs& fy.{o H.
did not feel any regret afterWard
I do not feel any remccse now. l
have thought it all over, and 1 can
not detect the slightest bit of sorrow
over what I have cLne.
There is one thing that makes me
think my mind is not right. I have
great difficulty in remembering things
My memory is good at times, but on
| other occasions l cannot recall what
have said or done"
Upon successive visits of her counsel
Miss Toppan added details to the mar
rative of crime that had been the his
tory of her career as a nurse during
the last ten years.
Music in the Death Rattle.
This confession was made to Judge
Bixby some days ago and he instantly
advised with the state authorities
| that committee of experts be select
ed that would be satisfactory To the
physicians she was communicative
for some days, refusing to answer
questions and otherwise acting ugly.
| Finally she agreed to tell them Of heI
| life. For five hours the doctors lis
tened to her story, the strangest and
| bloodiest they had eyer hear. She
told them that she had killed her first
| victim when a young girl and while
attending an undergraduate school
| for nurses; that desire to see one
| die as a result of her own methods
was so strong as to overpower her.
| The victim was a young man we'll or
! the road to recovery when she gave
| him poison. To her the death rattle
| in his throat was as sweet as music
| and when she saw him cold in death
| she kissed him.
| Soon the mania became an uncon-
| trollable passion" she said. mo voice
has as much melody in it. as the one
| crying for life; no eyes as bright as
| those about to become fixed anG
! CLASSY; no face so beautiful as the one
| pulseless and cold.'
Calm While Telling of Deaths.
The physicians shivered as if they
were in draught. DR.. Stedmar
! moved farther away from her. But
| the woman was calm. Sometimes she
| smiled and once she stopped in the
| middle of sentence to tell Of hel
| sister, who had a passion for kissing
negro children, which to her (Jane's)
| taste was about the last thing a white
| person should do, and she laughed
| boisterouSly.
| when the climax of the mania pass
/ ed I realized what I had DONE" she
| said. Il have known that my pa
| tients were dying. Then my greatest
thought was to resuscitate them.
| have then worked over them, trying
| to bring them back to consciousness
I have sent for doctors and other
| nurses and tried my best to save them
Sometimes I have been successful
but many times the poison was toe
much. They were beyond recovery
/ and they died"
Miss Toppan, when she was told by
| the physicians that they believed he1
| to be insane and that she ought to be
| confined, said:
81 know am not a safe person tt
be at large. 1t would be better if
were locked up where I could do nc
one any harm No one can tell wher
am liable to have another paroXysm
I do not know myself until it comes.
Il have never been so happy in my
life as since I have been in Jail.
know 1 am safe. 1 have been treated
| considerably. Everyone has done al
| that could be done to make me COM
| Portable"
| Chicago Woman a Victim.
In the summer of 1900 the little vii
lage of Cataumet in the town OF
Bourne, Mass, was startled by a mys-
FERROUS train of deaths which partic-
ularly wiped out the family of Alder
P. Davis. Mr.. Davis was a we'll to- dc
man and an old resident of the town
He had formerly kept a hotel and ir
| that business had made little fortune
of $4,000. His energy had done much
to build up Cataumet as a summer
resort and he and his family. were wei
| liked and known to the regular sum-
mer visitors of the place.
Mr.. Davis was somewhat peculiar ir
| many of his views, and in 1879 attained
| some notoriety as a juryman in the
Freeman murder case. Freeman killed