Smyrna times., 1911-01-18
TELLS STORY OF
POISONING SON
Mother Adds Details to Her
Former Confession.
GAVE THIRSTY BOY ACID

late Until He Asked For Water, and
Then Gave Him Poison to Drink.
The funeral of five-year-old George
Melber, who was poisoned by his
mother, Mrs. Edith Melber, in a swamp
near Albany, N. Y, took place from
the residence of his grandparents in
Schenectady.
The confession which Mrs. MelbeT
made was confirmed and added to in
minor details in her semi-hysterical
conversation with Detective Reed, who
brought her from Rochester to AL
bany.
A ruse of the Albany police disap-
pointed several thousand persons who
crowded the Union station and the
streets outside to catch a glimpse OF
the woman on her arrival. They had
the express stopped at West Albany,
three miles from the center of the
city, and Mrs. Melber and the detec
tives who brought her from Rochester
got out there. Thus when Mrs. Melber
reached police headquarters in an au-
tomobile the crowd there was COM
paratively small.
Though pale and trembling, the wo-
man maintained her cOmpOsure until
she got inside her cell, and then she
tainted. 1t was several minutes be-
fore she recovered sufficiently to be
arraigned before the coroner, who has
charge of the case at present.
Sanford xuac rroc.
ent, but asked the woman no ques-
tions. Without being asked, Mrs. Mel
Der identified the drug clerk who sold
her the carbolic acid at local phar-
macy. Aside from this she had moth
ing to say and made no attempt to
deny any of the admissions ascribed
to her by the police of Rochester
The police are investigating a story
that Mrs. Melber intended to marry a
young Schenectady man as a possible
motive for the crime. In answer to
her plea that she was unable to give
the boy proper care because she had
no money to keep him in an institu-
tion, they present the decla alton of
the relatives of the child's dead father
These say that since the fathers death
they have made several efforts to have
the boy placed in their care, but that
the mother would not consent. The
reason Mrs. Melber gave for this re-
fusal was that her husbands relatives
declined to take the child unless she
would agree to resign all claims on
him.
In her confession to the police after
her hysterical outburst on being for
mally charged with the murder, when
she first denied, then admitted the
crime, Mrs. Melaer gave as an ex
planation that she could not place the
boy in any institution because she
could not pay for his support there
She had been told to remove him from
the Children's home at Schenectady
since she was failing to contribute any
thing to his maintenance.
"They told me-" she said, that
might take him to the Albany home
But there was no one there but a grl
and she said I'd have to get permission
of the officers"
Mrs. Melber candidly admitted tha
she told the Rochester police she hat
planned the murder of her boy; tina
she brought him from Schenectady t
Albany. bought him a bag of choco
lates and then got 10 cents worth O
carbolic acid and put the bottle in he
skirt pocket
The boy slept with her that night
and on the following day she took hin
to the country, fed him with the chocC
lates. and upon reaching the lionel
swamp on the Banker farm, on tn
Schenectady turnpike, gave the la
the carbolic acid when he asked fo
water
Mrs. Melber said that she forced tn
bottle to the child's mouth, and it wa
during his struggles to get away frol
the fluid that the boys face and hand
were burned. Then Mrs Melber tol
how she knelt down, kissed the dyin
boy. waited until life was extinct an
laid the body amid the bushes in tE
swamp.
BOY FAILS an FEET. 1--WE