Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-06
IMPRISONED
FOR HUSBAND
GIRL BRIDE KILLED BECAUSE
BRUTE BABE HER
lnstlgator, Overcome by Remorse,
Kills Himself, and Child Victim
Is Forgotten in Prison.
Life Is Broken

| MADISON, wis, Oct. 5-After serv.
ing sixteen years In states prison-one-
half of her life-Mrs Wilhelmina Baehr
was set at liberty by the pardon of the
governor. She entered prison girl wife
! ignorant of the law. unable to speak Eng
lish. She left it broken, faded woman.
| Half of her life had been sacrificed to the
greed of husband old enough to have
been her grandfather.
In 1891 Wilhelmina came to Wisconsin
from Germany. She was then scarce 10
years old Her parents took farm In
the woods in Shawnee county, and a few
months afterward she married a widower
named Baehr because her parents told
her to.
Baehr was twenty-five or thirty years
her senior and had children older than
she. He was known as a grasping man,
willing to do anything to get money. Will
helmina became his household drulge.
Kills at Husbands Command
One night traveller, Michael Sells,
stopped at the Baehr home for the night
Apparently he had money The greed of
old man Baehr was excited and he re-
solved to put Sells out of the way. Ac-
cordingly he told Wilhelmina to put
poison in the food she gave Sells for sup
per- She did so and Sells died next day.
Confronted with arrest Baehr put the
whole blame on his child wife and she
was accused of the crime and put in jail
When her trial was called her husband
advised her to plead guilty, telling her
that If she did so she would escape with
light sentence in Jail
The girl did as she was told. Instead of
giving her light Jail sentence the judge
sentenced her to states prison for life.
Even then she did not realize how great
her punishment was to be, and on the day
that she was taken to prison she told
her friends she would be back IN seven
months.
Forgotten In Prison
Soon after she entered the state peni-
tentiary her husband committed suicide,
driven to 1t, 1t is claimed by remorse for
his act in compelling his wife to poison
Sells. After Baehr's death the case of
the girl wife in the state penitentiary was
forgotten and she was left without
friends.
Two weeks ago several wealthy and In
fiuential citizens of Oconto county inter-
ested themselves in her behalf and a pc
tition for her pardon. reciting the facts
in the case, was laid before Governor
Davidson. He investigated for himself
and became convinced that Justice had
been satisfied.
Facts in Her Favor
While it was proven that Wilhelmina
actually put poison in the food of a guest
the fact that her husband commanded her
to commit the crime, that she was al
most a child, ignorant and afraid of her
husband, weighed in her favor 1t is be-
lieved she would never have been con-
victed, or at least would never have re-
ceived 80 severe sentence, had all the
facts been brought out at the trial. Her
plea of guilty, however, made the trial
only formality.
Mrs Baehr will return to- Shawano
county, where those of her people who
are still alive reside, and begin anew
life SO sadly interrupted. She was
model prisoner, and learned to speak,
read and write English during the six
teen years she was in prison.