Year: 1873

A WOMAN CoNFEssEs TO THE POISONING OF


THREE HUSBANDS AND FOUR CHILDREN.


Mrs. Lydia Sherman, the Derby
Conn, husband poisoner, has made full
confession of her crimes to the jaler at
New Haven, and the Hartford Courant
gives her story as published below. Mrs.
Sherman is a very ignorant woman, and
cannot write at all, so the confession Is
given in the words of the reporters. The
story is as follows


Mrs. Sherman was born in New Bruins
wick, n. j., in 1925, and was early left
an orphan. At the age of II she joined
the Methodist Church, and at love feast
there met Edward s. Struck, whom she
subsequently married. Struck in time be-
came policeman at Yorkyille, one of the
suburbs of New York city One night
there was a row in a saloon on his beat,
and detective was killed. Struck was of
without leave. He was reprimanded and
disgraeed. 1t troubled him very much,
and finally it weighed SO on his mind that
he became crazy aud had soltening Of the
brain. He then was discharged. When
he recovered it was only to be very feeble
physically and unable to get any work, so
that he was only a burden to his wife.
One day a male lrieud Of hors suggested
to her that she should get rid of the man
by poison. She took kindly to the idea
and gave him arsenic in his food, and she
also with the sauna poison killed their two
youngest children, so that they should not
be burdens to her, and should not have, as
she says, to grow up to hfe's cares. She
was not suspected of this murder. and soon
after it went to Litchfield, CT, to live
Here she met one Dennis Hurlburt and
married him, but she did not get along par.
ticularly satisfactory TO herself with him
and so she poisoned him.


Soon after his death she was told by a
friend that there was a man in Derby
named Horatio n. Sherman, who had
plenty of money and had lost his wife
and that by skilful management, if she
wanted a third husband she could proba.
bly, get him. Accordingly she went there
and applied to him for the place Of
housekeeper in his family and he en- aged
her, and subsequently she succeeded IL
marrying hiu. He had two small chill.
dren, Ada and frankie, and these she de.
termired to poison and did poison, but she
did not plan to poison Sherman. She In
tended to employ the arsenic upon the rat;
in her house as wel.as to kill the children
and she purchased it in New Haven al
Peck's drug store with the first mentioned
object. She took the package home and
put it on the shelf beside a similar pack
| age of saleratus. MIR. Sherman used tC
drink great deal of cider, into which he
would pit saleratus, to make 1t foam
This was his favorite drink. The salera
tus and the arsenic on the shelf became
mixed in some way; she did not mix them
but she saw they were so. She thinks thai
his death was due to the arsenic that had
been mixed with the saleratus. In ne
other way did she know of his obtaining
poison. This was not, therefore such a
clear case of murder as the others. In
fact, she merely neglected to warn him Of
his danger, and that she did not always re
member it herself is shown in the fact O.
her having taken some of the cider, caus
ing sudden and alarming illness. 1t i:
curious that the only death for which she
could not be held accountable, according
to her story, should be that for which she
has been convicted. 1t is said that the
states attorney, Judge Foster, will not
use the confession against Mrs. Sherman
and her sentence will merely be to prison
| for life.