The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-11-15
CRUEL REVENGE
OF a Mysterious Rival or a Des-
perate Lunatic,
WHO IS NUMBERING

WHO IS NUMBERING
The Little ChIldr. of Mrs. Psrkin
One BY Oae. Only Four Now Sur.
v:ve of Family of Nine.
The Murderer Unknown.
to Mrs. Psrkns.
In the stately, stsid CID city O
Richmond Virginia with his
toric memories there Is today actst
a story OF secret murder, of love an:
Jealousy, OF plot and counter plot
such as Z la OF Gaboriau would relish
On the lips Of every man and Wo
man In the city to-day rises the one
ouestioH-~hst hidden hand poisoned
the children CT Mrs. Emma Perkins:
And this question, agiuatlng the pop
plation OF The whole city, remains IN
answered. One by one five Of the nine
children Of Mrs. Perkins dropped sno
died like flowers stricken by an icj
wind. Bat it Is as to the deaths Ct
the last TWO chilGren-Wiilie, 8 Two.
year. old baby, the only child OF bis
mothers secc, d marriage, and OctaV
Ia Blakey, t.y, until the afternoon
OF Tuesday, o cher Il, lad been the
youngest of MIS-. Psrklns'S FIVE suiviv
ing children by .er first marriage to
William Biakey-,lat the whole city
asks the questions wLica has dllven
every mother in Richmond, from the
woman ct society in her mansion TO
the woman OF the cottage, icto fren-
~ OF feas.
For w:ma1, as she thinks OF the
hapless Elvesi IS dying in the agonies
of phospholCu T. isoning, instructive
II gathers her cLLd:en arouno her as
II TO prote CT them 1ion the yelled as
sass:n whose hand sven now may strike
at Gheir lives.
From the moment Of that Tuesday
afternoon, now nearly three Wesks
agcre, that Octay!a, the pretty, COLA.
el-nai1ed liuIle girl vh2n every one
arC1nc her hcme in North S xsh
street, Richmond, knew and loved,
staggered ioto the house to fsll into
her mothers arms and die there, has
the Nhcle detective force Of The City
AID the State been concentrated OF
the work Of solving the p1oolsm an@
reaching the author CT a scheme OF
murcer Which in nicety OF detail, COLO
ejaculation ot caanceS and exs1titude
OF results is worthy Of the bssr efforts
CT the Byrgias. TIE death OF OcraVls
it was thai cpened the path to discoY-
cry In the case Of her little step. bro-
tier, Willie, two years ole, WHO or the
night Of September Il tad died IN
c 1res.oudlrg agonles, and with tbs
same ice us symptoms. And coW
do the /. .,los OF Mrs. Perkins, in the
days wle2 she was Ms Blskey, recall
the weirG CT. c,lnstancsS su:ropHoine
the death Ct each Il three CT The eight
children OF her first marriage. In these
deaths Wsre resent ahe charac:eTlS0lc
smoke from the mouth, the cdor OF
garlic, the ,isalhjy faintneSs, followed
by complete c>ns, found N the case
OF Ottawa AID the baby, Willie.
AS though in hideous gibe at the
ponce, at The parents, at al those who
would drag tne assassin to the light,
the fell hahG again sJrickeS the Per
kris homs:. And two Of the four cail-
dren lef5 10 the mother by the destroy
er lie a5 the point OF death, for again
in tie Same way, tie poison has been
placed IN their tcod.
Yet al tie mo Of three weeks, with
the accusations Of the mother on her
cath at the Inquest that Mrs. Mamie
Mcdowell, the pretty, dark haired,
smiling little woman, With q soft voice
and subaued manner, WHO, under the
name OF Mrs. Bryant, lived only few
doors away from the Perkins home,
hao brunghJ about the death OF her
children and tried to ALLEVIATE her bus
bands affections, ringing through the
city, the police and the Coroner alike
are brought to the end OF their resour-
ces in the following facts:
THAT both children clearly died
of PHOSPHORUS poisoning, the stomach
OF Tire bog, according to DR.. Taylor,
the Coroner, who made the post-nor-
TIN examination, giving forth IN dark.
ness, lurid flame the unnistake'
able evidence Of phosphorus poison,
ing.
2.-That from tie Gays Of her first
marriage Mrs. Perkins lad been Ghe
object Of bitter enniry On the part Of
woman once her closest friend.
3-Tnat the symptoms displayed oy
three OF the eight children CT her hrs'
marriage before their deaths CORES
porded with these shown oy the
cnndren whose deaths are now unoel
Investigation. The earlier deaths
were, however, officially stated to be
Que TO natural causes.
4-Tnat in May last Mr.. aud Mrs
Pe.kins were jointly the recipients Il
q series OF letters threating d:ath
two icing signed friend OF Mrs. Per
kins, who, however, has denied 81
knowledge Of these letters and ha'
submitted specimens Of her handWrit
ting for comparison with the hand
writing in the anonymous conmunl
cations, Mrs. Mitchell has been tull!
exonersted.
5-Thas tie poison was administer
ed by q womaD.
6-that both children had been nur
sed by Mrs. Mamie Mcdowell 1nmeo
lately before their death.
Behind the curtain that shlelcs ID
uur6esess lies the story OF deep, un
fathomable well Of passion 1uhmni
through the dull lives OF these simple
1D-,o+rv ca0Nle vH0S