The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-04-05
POISON TN MATTRESS KILLED
WOMAN FREED PROM CHARGE
or NUMBERING FAMILY.

PrOsocutsr reIls Court mat An q sRe
Peassa vIetlms at One rune o. Aasshsr
Slept 90 sems Asastrsss and mat
Arscase N % Caused TNsR Deaths.
BoSroS. April THAT the arsenic
found In the bodies Of the three children
q Mrs Mary KsIlshsr Of sO1srville.
and In thoso % her sister. Bridgst Knowles.
her husband. stephen Ksllshsr. and her
husband's sister. Ammo 7. Ksllshsr.
soc there from q hair mattress on which
they all slept &C one time or another and
was not wilfally administered by Mrs.
Kelleher 90 charged In tho indictment.
resulted In her aoouittAl by jury in the
Superior Court Of MiddIeeex county At
Eass Cambridge thls afternoon
The jury returned verdict % Not
guissy' without leaving their ssats. by
order Of Judges Stevens and Dana at the
request Of District Attorney HiGgins.
and q few minutes later Mss. Kellshsr
LEFT tho court hOuse FREQ after remaining
fiftssa months in jail awaiting trial.
AZ shown by the statements Of the Die
'trsct Attorney and Hugh Bancroft. Of
council for Mira. Kelleher the cAse fur
nishss . remarkable instance Of circum-
stances tending 90 make an innocent
person appear guilty. Judge Stevens
In ordering the verdict for the defendant
made mention u this peculiar feature
Mrs Kelleh er was brought into the
court room and the indictment was read
70 her. 10 charged that Mrs. Kelleher
poisoned her relatives by administering
% them arscnic In some form and manner
alleged % have killed and the dates were
a. follows: Bridget Knowles a sister. |
June %. ie0s: Annie J. KelIeher. q dAugh- !
ter. March I. isos; stephen Kelleher. her |
husband. May 10. 1904; Mary Kelleher. !
. daughter. November u. lsOa. william
Kelleher. . son. January L. IsOs. and |
Catherine NJ. Kelleher. . daughter. July !
"a. 1909.
When the reading had been finished /
District Attorney Higgins addressed the
Court. moving that the trial be protested
with. and the jury was soon drawn. Then
District Attorney Higgins arose and after
referring TO the charges enumerated the
persons whom the defendant was charged
with ha wing poisoned. giving the amounts
Of life insurance carried by each and show
ing that some Of them had their policies
made out 70 Others than the defendant
About q year and a half ago. he said
Suspicion attached 20 the defendant be-
cause of % many deaths occurring among
I
The body OF the last one who died Cath
srins NJ. KeAIsher. was thsrenpnn exhunaea
and the viscera we're examined by Prof
Whitney Of Hs rvard. who found traces Of
arsenio The other bodies also were ex-
humed and parts 81 them examined with
similar results although the amounts
u poison found were much. smaller In
the body Of Bridget Knowles the amount
was 30 small that the expert suggested
that 10 might have come from food or
medicine
Mr. Higgins said he found 4, JUST fiable
~ indict the defendant In order % a~cer- ,
ain IL the arsenic got into the bodies ,
through means over which she had con-
'rol. There we're signs Of arsenicaI
but not sufficient 20 warrant !.
request for conviction on that ground J,
lADAt9 AnNt1 N8s " NO0Eh1 Nue AhA- -
POSITION of q motive on account 81 in
'nrance. but the real bject Of the govern
nent was 20 find out how tho arsenic =,
anne in the bodies. In no case did a =.
witness say that he or she believed that :
Mrs. kellsher wilfIlly caused the srsenic !,
o be taken. Another dihiculty for the :,
90 meet was the small amount :,
4 arsenic found The usual quantity 4
a. a 4. 4
he largest amount found In any Of the =
'odiss. that Of Catherine. was only about a
ne fiftieth 81 grain. But the fact that :.
he amount was small was not conclusive :,
ecause IL might have been thrown OF. -
Mr.. Higgins said that he had agreed. -
Vhen counsel for the defendant had said :.
hat there was . good explanation for the
Tssnic in the bodies. To drop the case 10 =.
uffictent proof u probable Innocence a,
'as shown him. :,
net Attorney. we have Dome to the con- o.
fusion that Mary Kelleher 10 not guilty N
the offence charged in this Indictment. ~
think hat the jury would agree to this
lev ~ II heard the evidence therefore u q
sens needless 20 60 TO the expense Of
nal q
Mrs. KeIIeher had IN hsr possession . q
heap hair mattress on which an the
icttms bad slept at one time or another. p,
hat mAttre0s was taken apart and ana q
rcd by expert chemists. and arssnic was ~
,und In considerable aulanateioa Nov a
rp~nic h an elsmsnt 10 h all about. and ~
turns out that arsenic. nsiMht Be found
! all bodies on careful chemical sxAminA- v
on On these facts Ask you to render -
H. II