The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1905-03-27

Mrs. Mary BrockwcII, Of Ashbrook
avenue, Merchandising, whose three
little daughters were poisoned Sat
urday morning, confessed this after
noon about 3 o'clock to Detectives
Moore and Baker, that she killed the
children.
The confession was made ut the
home Of Constable A. &. shelton and
she had been questioned repeatedly
by the officers until she finally broke
down and admitted she committed
the deed.
She stated that she bought dimes
worth Of morphine at Vices drug
store. in fredericksburg. and gave
them that with coal oil, administer
ing II directly after supper. She gave
IL tn them. she said, because II was
an easy death. She killed them be-
cause she could not support them.
The confession was reduced To
writing, and the woman was taken
10 the city hall in n carriage, and
locked up To await trial.
Up To the time she made the con-
fession, the officers were inclined to
believe that she was innocent.
The bodies have been embalmed
at the Paducah undertaking parlors,
and yesterday and today have been
viewed by perhaps two thousand peo-
pie.
The poor little victims lay close
together as II asleep, and the sight
of their pale, innocent faces caused
more than one to leave the parlors
with suspicious dampness in their
eyes.
The bodies will be kept until the
inquest is over. Coroner Crow ex-
poets to hold the inquest tomorrow
II DR.. Pendley returns in time. 1t
may be later, however, before he can
make the investigation.
The death of the three little chill
dren was one of those deplorable
tragedies that call the attention OF
half of the world to how the other
half lives.
The picture is not a pleasant one.
The family of five lived in two little
rooms. The mother, her husband in
the asylum, took in washing. to pro-
vide the family with food and shelter
Through the coolest weather, 1t is
said, she worked at the tub for a
mere pittance with which to feed five
hungry mouths. She obtained some
outside help, but the condition OF
the house and children indicates she
did not get much. She cannot be a
very bad woman to have endured II
all She worked for her children,
and gave them the best she had. She
spent her last nickle for a head of
cabbage. The hungry little mouths
devoured IL eagerly, never detecting
the fatal poison IL contained. They
were hungry. and must eat. After
lhc pdhbo VI hunboi N'lt oa'ioh''i
came the pangs of death.
IL is claimed that some of her hus-
bands people wanted to take the
children. but perhaps this is mis-
take. II is known that she attempted
to place them in the Home of the
Friendless. and II she did this, there
must have been some reason for her
refusal to give them to her relatives,
II she really refused,
There would have been no neees-
sity for sending the stomaehs OF the
children to Louisville for analysis
had Il been known in time that II
could have be done here. There are
several persons In Paducah who
could have done il, among them
Prof. Sullivan, of chemistry, at the
High school. Prof, Sullivan says he
is always willing to analyze anything
that is brought TO him, He has
complete outfit, and by this time
could have determined exactly what
Kind of poison caused the children's
death