El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-11
The Story of the Death of
Ocye Snuead and Arrest
of Members Of Her
Family.

Newark, N J., Jan 11.-When two
feeble old women, thin and emaciated
from their long period of imprison-
ment. were led, tottering and shackled,
into the court room here yesterday to
he placed on trial for their lives. it
marked the beginning of the final
chapter of one OF the most mysterious
and uncanny tragedies in the criminal
annals Of the east.
The two aged prisoners, Mrs. Caroline
e. Martin. aged So. and Mrs. Mary
Sneed, aged 60. are sisters, and are
charged with completely in the murder
e Mrs Ocey ". Snead, their daughter
and daughterfnlaw. who was found
drowned in a bath tub in house in
Fast Orange. y. J.. over year ago.
The heavy veil of mystery which has
shrouded tie tragedy and its principal
actors since the beginning, remains as
uncomfortable as ever, and Il is believed
that the trial viii go far towards
clearing it up.
The only person believed to have
been fully cognizant with the tragic
end Of Ocey Snead was Miss Virginia
Wardlow, spinster aunt of the victim
and sister Of the two prisoners, who
starved herself to death in the Newark
prison last summer. She was the only
the poor girl met her death, and was
the first to be placed under arrest. The
authorities alleged that she exercised
an hynctic influence over the girl, and
compelled her to end her own life.
They hoped to prove that the three old
women had planned the death OF the
young girl IN order to secure the $780,
600 life insurance money, and relieve
their straitened financial circum-
stances.
Miss Wardlow's death greatly weak
ems the prosecution. Unless the unex-
pected happens. at the trial. Ocey
Enead's death viii remain as much a
mystery as ever.
The prosecution, however, bases it's
hopes on the suicide notes, which were
found among Mrs. Martins effects
when she was placed under arrest two
weeks after the murder. These notes
are almost identical with the one found
pinned to the young girls night dress.
The unusual amount of insurance taken
out on the victims life, and the fact
that the three old women were named
IS beneficiaries IN the policies, is an
ether link In the chain OF circumstan-
tial evidence.
truth Indeed Strange.
The history Of the famous bath tub"
mystery bears out the old adage that
No more mysterious story was ever
revealed within the covers Of a novel
than was brought TO light after the
finding Of Ocey Snead's body IN the
hath tub OF her home in East Orange,
\. J., on November %, 1909.
The three aged sisters were members
Of a poor but aristocratic southern
family, their father being an eminent
Methodist preacher in Georgia All
r-era veil adj /
years experience at teaching, Miss
Virginia Wardlaw. the youngest Of the
three. opened a fashionable school in
Murfreesbcro Tennessee. All went well
until the arrival of Mrs Caroline b
Martin, the eldest sister, with her
daughter, Ocey. Then strange rumors
got into circulation regarding the
Grew their daughters. which finally re-
suited in the bankruptcy of the institu-
tuition
Ocey's Marriage.
A few years later, when Ocey had |
grown to womanhood. she was married /
TO Fletcher Snead. her first cousin, who |
had already been divorced from his
first wife. The match was arranged |
by the old women, who exercised a /
great influence over their children
With no prospects OF making their I
living in the south, the family moved |
10 New York in 1907, bringing their 80 /
year old mother with them, where the /
women hoped to obtain money from /
Mrs. Russell Sage or Mrs. Andrew Car
negie for the purpose of starting q /
Girls school They were unsuccessful l
and were compelled to move from the /
Manhattan hotel where they had taken |
uP their residence. TO more meager
quarters.
Things went from bad to worse. The
heavy insurance premiums were con-
tinually falling due and there was no |
money with which to meet them In
the spring Of 1909. the family moved to
house in the F'latlsnds. which played /
an important part in the tragedy. Here
many mysterious events occurred, and |
on account Of its dark and forbidding