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

In tho stately, staid old city Of
Richmond Virginia-laden with his
toric memorios-there Is to-day acted
o story Of secret murder, of love and
jealousy, Of plot and counter plot,
such 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 Perkins?
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, q two.
year old baby, the only child of his
mothers secol d marriage, and Octav
la Biakey, Whv, until the afternoon
OF Tuesday, O tCbtr ID, bad been the
youngest Of Mrs. ferkins's five suIviv
Ing children by her irst marriage to
William Blakey--tIat the whole city
asks tue questions "L.ca has driven
every mother in Richmond, from tne
woman Of society in her MANSION to
the Monan Of the cottage, into q fren.
zy OF lear.
For w>man, as she thinks Of the
haplcss inhULti : dying in the agontes
OF plos pho1uu y lSuning, instructive
ly gathers her CLl.o, IN around her as
II to prOttc ct them from the yelled as
BaSsin whose hand even now may strike
at their Ives.
From the moment Of that Tuesday
afternoon, now nearly three week,
agore, that Octavia, the pretty gold
en-haiIed little girl whom every one
sroInd Ter home in North S XVI
street, Richmond, knew and loved,
staggered iUto the house to fall into
her mothers arms and die there, has
tile. whole detective force Of the City
ard the State been concentrated OH
tho work or solving the problem anr
reaching tic author Of d scheme OF
murder which in nicely OF detail, colo
calculation Of lances and eXaotitude
Of results is worthy OF the haSt efforts
SCI the Borgias. TAo death or OcGavis
1T was tnat opened the path to disc0Y
cry In tie Case or her little step, bro.
ther, Willie, two years old, who on the
night CT september 81 bad died IN
c)rfesrondD & aROnieH, and With the
same / ido Us symptoms. And now
! do the Inni04 OF Mrs Perkins, In the
days wi Ell She vas MS Blakoy, recall
h weird O.. imStancGS ~ rounding
the death CT tacl Cf three Of the eight
children OF Ter first marriage. In these
deaths were present. The characteristic
smoke from the mouth, the oder Of
garlic, the leathlg fainincSp, followed
nv cGnnlntQ ngfr.I f..nnA IN Iho cor.
OF Ottawa aid the baby, Willie.
AS Though in nideCus gibe at the
police, at Vie parents, al al those who
would drag the q Sas,in TO the light,
II fLlt Land again strokes the Per
klns hora4. And JWo Of the four cAil-
dfen itlJ 60 Tie mother by the destroy.
or lie at ihe point OF death, for again
IN tie same ~ay, Giic poison has been
placed IN their f~od.
Yet at tie md 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 a soft voice
and hubdutd manner, who, under the
name or Mrs. Bryant, lived only q few
doors away from the Perkins home,
had brcnght about the death OF her
children and tried to ALLEVIATE her hus
bands affections, ringing through the
City, tho police and Tie Coroner alike
are brought to the end Of their resour.
Cos ia the following facts:
THAT both children clearly died
Of phosphorus poisoning, the stomach
OF the boy, according TO DR.. Taylor,
the Coroner, who made the post. NOR.
ttm examination, giving forth in dark
ness, a lurid "hime' the unmistake.
able evidence Of phosphorus poison.
ing.
2.-That from tho days Of her first
marriage Mrs. Perkins mad beon the
object or bittcr onmity on the part OF
a woman once her closest friend.
3-That tie symptoms displayed by
three Of the eight children OF her first
marriage b3fore their deaths cores
ponded with those shown by the
children whose deaths are now under
investigat alton. The earlier deaths
were, however, officially stated to bt
due to patufal causes.
4-That in May last Mr.. and Mrs
Perkins were jointly the recipients {
O. series Of letters threading death
two being signed a friend OF Mrs. Per
kins, VINO, however, has denied al
knowledge OF these letters and hat
submitted specimens Of her handwrit.
ting for comparison with the hand
whiting In the anonymous Communi
cations, Mrs. Mitchell has been fully
cyOnerated.
5-That the poison was administer
ed by q woman.
g. that both children had boen nur
sod by Mrs Mamie Mcdowell imme1
lately before their death.
Behind tho curtain that shields thC
murderess lies the story Of O deep, un
fatfomablc we'll Of passion running
through the dull lives OF these simple
commonplace country people, whose
only hope in this world Is to carr
bread, and work until they die; q story
Of bs fled love tu ned to hate; OF VIC
man transformed 20 d furry 10y the in
difference OF the mar she sought, ant
Striking 20 the heart OF the mother
when she hated, through her innocent
children.
"Woman's worst and coolest crime
arc committed for the sake of love
those Of mGtSf for money" says LON
broso.
And eloquent oE>tts testimony o
the working OF a womaHS,s heat undo