The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1905-11-17
CRUEL REVENGE
Oi a Mysterious Rival or a Des'
pcrate Lunatic,
WHO Is NUMBERING
The Little Children of Mrs. Perkins
One by One. Only Four Now Sur.
vlve of a Family of Nine.
The Murderer. Unknown.
to Mrs. Perkins.


toric memories there Is to. day acted d
a story Of secret murder, of love and
jealousy, Of plot and counter plot,
buch as Il la or Gaboriau would relish.
On the lips Of every man and wo
man In the city to-day rises the one
question what hidden hand poisoned
the children Of Mrs. Emma Perkinsp
And this question, agitating the pop
ulation Of the whole city, remains un
answered. One by one five of the nine
children Of Mrs. Perkins dropped ana
died like flowers stricken by an icy
wind But it Is as to the deaths CT
the last two children Willie, two.
year old baby, the only child Of his
mothers secoI marriage, and Octav
Ia Biakey, WIN, until the afternoon
OF Tuesday, O ,Cbtr ID, had been The
youngest Cf Mrs. ryrkins's five suIviv
Ing children by hcr hrst marriage to
William Blakey- I'll ai the whole city
asks the questions wL.cl has driven
every mother in Richmond, from tne
woman OF society in her mansion tC
the man OF the cottage, into fren
zy Of fear.
For ", man, as she thinks Of the
haplcss inhCttl dying in the agontes
OF phOs phO1Cu iAoning, instructive
ly gathers her Ci,.u,tn around her as
AZ to prOtt CT them from the yelled as
BaSsln whose hand even now may strike
at their Ii yes.
From the moment Of that Tuesday
afternoon, now nearly three weeks
agore, that Octavia, the pretty, gold,
en-hai1ed little girl Wht m every one
8rGInd ler home in North S xsh
street, Richmond, knew and loved,
staggered into the house to fall into
her mothers arms and die there, has
the. whole detective force Of the Cit,
and the State been concentrated OH
tho work Of solving the problem anf
reaching tie author Of d scheme Of
murder which IN nicely OF detail, cold
calculation Of lances and eXaotitude
OF results is worthy Of the baSt efforts
&scf the BOrsiaS. Tlc death or OCGay
1t was tnat opened the path to discOy
= cry In tie c.tBc Cf her little step. bro.
ther, Willie, TWO years old, WHO on the
night of september q bad died in
c)rresrondli & aRoniea, and with the
same idc No symptoms. And now
!. do the fiD i.oo ol Mrs. Perkins, Ia the
Z" days wi en She vas MIS- Blakoy, recall
the weird cl. cImntancos u rounding
the death CT tacl Cf three Of the eight
children OF her first marriage. In these
deaths were pr, sent lhe characteristic
smoke from the mouth, the odor Of
garlic, the ieathly tainl ncSa, followed
by complete cuma, found in The case
OF OotaVla AID the baby, Willie.
AS though in hideUus gibe at the
police, at the parcn. s, al all those who
would drag the a Sas,in TO the light,
the flli Land again StrickeS the Per
klnS homf. And JWO OF the four cAil-
dfen ltfJ to the mother by the deNt roy.
or lie al hrs point OF death, for again
In tne Saine nay, Gi4C poison has been
placed In Their f-od
Yet at Tie Cnd OF three weeks, with
the accusations Of The mother on hel
cath at the Inquest that Mrs. Mamie
Mcdowell, the pretty, dark. haired
.smilling little woman with soft voice
and subdutd manner, who, under the
name OF Mrs. Bryant, lived only few
doors away from the Perkins home,
had brCnght about the death OF her
children and tried to ALLEVIATE her hus
band's affections, raging through the
city, the police and Tie Coroner alike
Cos In the following facts:
THAT both children clearly died
OF phosphorous poisoning, the stomach
OF the boy, according 70 Or. Taylor,
the Coroner, who made the post. NOR
tim examination, giving forth In dark
ness, q lurid ''llame the unmistake
able evidence OF phosphorus poison
ing.
2.-That from tho days Of her first
marriage MfB Perkins had been the
object Of bittCr enmity on the part Of
woman once her closest friend.
3-That the symptoms displayed by
three Of the eight children OF her first
marriage b5fore their deaths cores
pOnd3d with those shown by tbs
children whose deaths are now under
investig .tion. The earlier deaths
were, however, oiicially stated to be
due to Datural causes.
4 THAT in May last Mr.. aud Mrs.
Perkins welo jointly the recipients If
O. series Of letters threatiDg death,
two being signed friend Of Mrs. Per
kins, VINO, however, has denied all
knowledge OF these letters and has
submitted specimens OF her handwrit
UlDR lOT COIN pdllS lSOIi Will UuC Ilauu
wrlttlng In tho anony communi.
GATORS, Mrs. Mitchell has been iuily
exonerated.
5--ThaL the poison was administer
ed by woman.
that both children had boen nur
sod by Mrs Mamie Mcdowell immed
lately before their death.
Behind the curtain that shields tile
murdeIess lies the story OF o deep, un
fathomGole we'll Of passion running
through the dull lives OF these simple,
commonplace country people, whose
only hope in this world ls to carr
bread aud work until they die; a story
Of bt fled love III ned to hate; OF VIC
man transformed TO furry by the In.
difference of tile man she sought, and
striking "a the heart Of the mother,
when she hated, through her Innocent
children.
NNWoman's worst and coldest crimes
are coffmibtcd for the sake OF love:
those OF mch> for money" says Lom-
broso.
And eloquent or It's testimony Of
the working Of womafRe,s heat under