Black Widows
Early on, people noticed the similarities between the black widow spider and the behavior of some murderesses. The term “Black Widow” was originally used to describe a murderess that killed her romantic interests. The idea was to liken the behavior of certain multiple murderesses to that of the infamous black widow spider. As most people are aware the black widow spider, after being impregnated by her male counterpart, kills her impregnator. Black Widow murderesses behave similarly, killing their suitor after they have passed some arbitrary point that seemed appropriate to the killer. To some degree, this categorization does fit a small group of serial murderesses. Below I have listed the stories of some of the well documented cases of Black Widows. All women sought out prospective mates. All women killed their mates once they had outlived their usefulness to the women to whom they were married, or romantically interested in. The two lovable sisters, in Arsenic and Old Lace, were a7 worthy of such monikers. Black Widows, however, in their truest form work alone.
In many ways the label is deceiving, suggesting that Black Widows only kill their romantic interests. In many more cases, however, the “widow” may also kill other family members such as children. Mary Ann Cotton, one of the most notorious English murderers killed men she was interested in, or who were romantically interested in her. She also killed her own children, her step-children, and her own mother. Belle Gunness, although principally targeting men with financial means, occasionally would also dispatch one of her children and/or burn down a house for some extra cash. Vera Renczi is the only real “black widow” murderess in the truest sense of the term, killing two husbands and thirty-two lovers. She killed her son only out of necessity in that he was starting to become suspicious of her activities. The deaths of these close relatives often provided a financial reward, by way of insurance monies, that continued to sustain the murderess until she could find another source of income, or another victim. Such is the case with many of the case studies documented below.
Mary Ann Cotton (1832 - 1873)
According to Seagrave (1992), Mary Ann Cotton holds the title of one of Britain's greatest mass murderers of all time, regardless of gender consideration. Born Mary Ann Robson, in 1832 (Alleged Wholesale Poisoning, 1872), she was brought up a strict Methodist in the village of Low Moorsley, England. Her parents, Michael and Mary, were still in their teens. When Mary Ann was fourteen her father, a coal miner, died in an accident. Although the sources conflict on the age of her first marriage, it is known that between the ages of sixteen and twenty, she married William Mowbray. They moved to Devon and had five children, three of whom died. The second to die, a daughter named Mary Ann, was four years old. She was diagnosed as having “gastric fever”. They returned to the North East of England where Mary Ann had three more children. She insured all three, and her husband, with the British and Prudential Insurance Co. They soon died.
In 1865, Mary Ann married a second time to George Ward, of Sunderland. She met him at the Sunderland Infirmary, where Mr. Ward was a patient. George also succumbed to “gastric fever” on October 21, 1866 at the age of 33 (Alleged Wholesale Poisoning, 1872). After his death, she began work as a housekeeper for John Robinson, a widower with five children. They were soon married. In 1867 Mr.
Robinson's son, John, died. Within twelve days of young John's death, Mr. Robinson lost his two other children. Shortly after the deaths of the Robinson children, Mary Ann went to visit her mother. Once there, she expressed concern over her mother’s health. This was confusing as many believed her to be a healthy fifty-four year old woman. Her mother died almost immediately after Mary Ann expressed her concerns.
According to Newton (1993), she was then introduced to Frederick Cotton by his sister, and friend, Margaret Cotton. Margaret Cotton died suddenly, under Mary Ann’s care, shortly after they had met. In 1870 the pregnant Mary Ann married Frederick even though she was still married to John Robinson. She bore a son. Soon after, farmer’s pigs started dying at an alarming rate, forcing the newlyweds to move to West Auckland, County Durham. It was here she met the recently widowed Joe Natrass. At age 39, on September, 19, 1871, Frederick died of “gastric fever”. Her newly born son, Robert, died a short time after. Joseph Natrass moved in to her home within three months of Fred Cotton’s death. She told the community he was a “lodger.” In March and April of 1872 Natrass and Cotton’s ten-year-old son died. This was followed by the death of Cotton’s other son Charles, age seven, in July. Before the death of this last child she was reported to have said “I’ll not be troubled long. He’ll go like the rest of the Cotton family.” (Haines, 1989, p. 234)
It was this string of deaths that aroused suspicion. The doctor, having seen too many deaths in one family, refused to sign a death certificate for the death of Cotton’s second son. The authorities were brought in and the child was examined. Arsenic was found in his stomach. Another child's body, and the body of Nattrass, was exhumed. Arsenic was found in both.
While awaiting trial, Mary Ann gave birth to yet another child in January, 1873. This one was adopted out to another family. The defense tried to argue that Mr. Cotton’s seven-year-old boy may have licked the arsenic off the wallpaper in her home. The prosecution brought forth evidence that Mary Ann had purchased arsenic and soft soap, supposedly for killing bedbugs shortly before the child’s death.
She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. She was hanged on March 24, 1873. The execution was botched and it took her three minutes to die. It is known that she killed fifteen people, although it is estimated that she may have killed as may as twenty-one.
Belle Gunness (1859 - 1908?)
According to Seagrave (1992) Belle was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859 in Selbu, Norway. By age 14, she was already working as a dairy maid. At the age of twenty-three Belle Paulson immigrated from Selbu, Norway in 1883 to the United States; her passage was paid for by her sister. When she arrived she anglicized her name in effort to settle herself more quickly. She moved in with her older sister, Olina (Nellie) Larson, and brother-in-law in Chicago. There she did sewing and laundry work until she married Mads Sorrenson in 1884. After several years of marriage without children, they adopted Jenny Olson in 1890. Six years later, in 1896, Belle had her first child, Caroline, who died five months after her birth. A second child, Myrtle was born in 1897. Her first son Axel, her third child, soon followed in 1898, but he too died in infancy. A fourth child, Lucy, was born the following year. Both Caroline and Axel were insured. Both children died of inflammation of the lower intestine which could have resulted from acute colitis or poisoning.
For the next ten years the family lived simply. They lived primarily off the insurance money. It also appeared that the family was struck with bad luck. In 1896, a year after Belle and Mads bought a confectionary, the building burned to the ground. They moved to the suburb of Austin where, two years later, their house also burned to the ground. Both buildings were insured. On July 30, 1900 Mads Sorrenson died, rather suddenly. Before he died he went into strong convulsions. Apparently, Belle had given her husband a “powder” for a cold. The death certificate cited cause of death as an enlarged heart. Both of these symptoms are characteristic of strychnine poisoning. Another interesting coincidence about Belle's husband's sudden death was that it fell on the only day that two life insurance policies, filled out in her husband's name, overlapped.
Belle invested the eight thousand, five hundred dollar insurance claims in a farm, fifty miles away, near La Porte, Indiana. In 1902 Belle married a recently widowed, younger man, Peter Gunness. Nine months later he died, in a rather bizarre manner. According to Jones (1980, p.138) Belle testified under oath:
“Peter, sitting next to the stove, had bent down to pick up his shoe and jarred the stove in such a way that a large stone crock of hot water overturned, scalding him, and a sausage grinder that had been drying on the top on the top shelf of the stove fell down and struck him right between the eyes.”
Jenny Olson, her adopted daughter, confirmed this story. Belle collected a $2,500 insurance policy, gave birth to a posthumous child named Phillip and hired a man to help her around the house. He would be the first of many. Three of the hired men ended their relationship with Belle rather abruptly, and were reported to have left suddenly, one without finishing the plowing. Only one hired man, Ray Lamphere, stayed around the farm even after he was fired. She gave up looking for men to hire and took out an advertisement in a Norwegian paper:
“WANTED - A WOMAN WHO OWNS A BEAUtifully located and valuable farm in first class condition, wants a good and reliable man as partner in the same. Some little cash is required for which will be furnished first-class security” (Jones, 1980, p.139) 4]
And another:
“A rich and good-looking woman, the owner of a pig farm, desires to correspond with a gentleman of wealth and refinement. Object matrimony, Scandinavian preferred.” (4 more, 1908, p. 2)
Men began coming to La Porte to marry the rich widow.
Each would also disappear suddenly, usually after making a substantial withdrawal from the bank.
On April 27, 1908, Belle’s house burned to the ground. The bodies of three children, Myrtle, Lucy and Phillip were found in the basement. Apparently they had been poisoned before the fire. They also found the charred, headless body of a woman lying in Belle’s bed. Ray Lamphere was charged with the murder of all four.
Ten days later, while still looking for the head of Belle Gunness they dug up a rubbish pit in the chicken yard. On May 5 they found the body of Andrew Helgelein who was known to have responded to Belle’s advertisement. He had been drugged, strangled, cut up and packaged in old grain sacks. A few feet away they found the body of Jenny Olson, her foster child, who had supposedly gone off to school in California rather suddenly. Another man was found underneath her skeleton. The next day, while searching an old privy vault, they found the body of what could have been a woman. In another garbage pit they found the remains of three more men.
The bodies had been treated with quicklime, and sectioned, which made positive identification difficult. It is estimated that she killed between thirteen and twenty-three, people. Eventually the head of the woman in the bed was found.
However it was missing a jawbone, which held the lower denture. This jawbone was crucial for identification purposes. Ray Lamphere, after twenty-six hours of deliberation, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of arson. He died in jail in 1909. He, as well as many others, believed Belle Gunness to be alive and not living far from La Porte. At the trial, it was thought that the body found in the burnt house was too small to be Belle Gunness, who was a rather large woman.
In fact, there were several sightings of Belle, one which may have helped her get away. A woman was spotted on a train in Syracuse, a few days after the first body was found. This woman, who turned out to be the sister-in-law of Mrs.
Charles Rockefeller, was detained for several hours in the middle of the night until she could prove that she was not Belle Gunness. She sued the Syracuse police and the railroad for false arrest. After that, there were several sightings of Mrs. Gunness but the woman was rarely arrested. If Belle Gunness was alive at this point, she was free to travel wherever she wanted.
As to motive, it is assumed that she killed all of these people for their money through insurance payouts or directly taking the dowry money men brought with them. Her own sister, living in Chicago, remarked:
“My sister was crazy for money.... That was her greatest weakness. As a young woman, she never seemed to care for a man for his own self, only for the money or luxury he was able to give her.... When living with her first husband in Austin she used to say ‘I would never remain with this man if it was not for the nice home he has.’” (4 more, 1908, p. 2)
A Dr. Jones in Austin, who treated Mads Sorensen before he died noted that Mrs. Gunness, then Mrs. Sorensen, was a “religious fanatic.” He also suggested that when her first husband died, leaving her a veritable fortune in insurance monies, she became tempted by the prospect of making more money (4 more, 1908).
Anna Marie Hahn (1906-1938)
According to Newton (1993) Anna immigrated to Cincinnati at age two. She was married in 1929 to a telephone operator Philip Hahn and managed a bakery. She twice tried to ensure her husband for $25,000 but was resisted each time. He became suddenly ill and was rushed to the hospital by his mother. Anna resisted the hospital trip. He lived, but the marriage failed. Anna began to offer her services as a live in nurse, despite lack of training. Her first client Emmst Koch was a man of seventy plus years. He died May 6, 1932, leaving Anna the house in his will.
The house had a doctor’s office on the ground floor and she would frequently steal blank prescription sheets for medicines for her nursing business. Another retiree, Albert Parker was next to die under her care. She borrowed his money before killing him, and then disposing of the I.0.U. after he died. Following the death of Parker, Jacob Wagner died, willing $17,000 to his “niece” Anna. Next, George Gsellman willed her $15,000 before he died under her care. Newton (1993) states that a man named George Heiss survived one of her attacks after he stopped drinking his beer when he noticed flies who tasted his mug of beer immediately died. He did not report the incident.
George Obendoerfer died last in 1937. He was lured to Denver Colorado to see her ranch. He died in a hotel room and she withdrew $5000 from his account. She refused to pay for his funeral. It was then that authorities noted the bank withdrawals. They performed an autopsy and found arsenic in his body. She returned to Cincinnati, where she was arrested and bodies exhumed. All had been poisoned with something different. There was enough poison in her house “‘to kill half of Cincinnati.” (Newton, 19935 p792):
The New York Times reported that chemists stated at her trial that there was enough poison in the remnants of a supper found in Gsellman’s room to kill seventeen people. After being denied several attempts at a new trial, she went into history as the first woman to be executed in Ohio’s electric chair. She died on December 7, 1938. After inviting the press and swooning before being placed in the electric chair, she pleaded for her life to the warden and the spectators in the viewing room. She proclaimed “Isn’t there anyone who will help me? Is nobody going to help me?” (Anna Hahn dies in electric chair, 1938, p. 3).
The New York Times also reported that a priest was saying the Lord’s Prayer with her when the current was applied. She was noted to have warned the priest to step back from the chair as “Be careful Father! You’ll be killed” (p. 3).
Vera Renczi (Twentieth Century)
Vera Renczi was born into a wealthy family in Bucharest, Rumania. However, sources cannot confirm when she was born or the actual dates that these events took place. It is known that at the age of ten, her mother died. Her family then moved to Berkerekul, Yugoslavia. Even at this age she was reported to be showing signs of “nymphomania” and intense possessiveness toward men. She also had a violent temper. At the age of fifteen, she was discovered in a boy’s dormitory, at midnight. She had many lovers with whom she would run away. She would, however, return when she was bored or when her father discovered her and dragged her back home. She eventually fell in love with a wealthy businessman, several years her senior. They were married. They spent their honeymoon in Germany. Soon, Vera was pregnant. Fifteen months after her marriage, she gave birth to a son, Karl. Shortly after his birth, Vera announced that her husband had abandoned her.
After a year of living quietly, she began to frequent local cafes. She finally announced that she had heard that her husband had been killed in a car accident, and then proceeded to marry again. Her new husband, Josef Renczi, was younger and apparently very handsome. Early in the marriage, her husband was unfaithful. Shortly after Vera noticed what her husband was doing, he disappeared. She claimed that he had gone on a long voyage. She later announced to people that she had received a letter from him telling her that he had left her forever.
After her two unsuccessful marriages, she began to entertain a series of lovers. All of whom would disappear. All disappearances were explained by Vera or not noticed. Her thirty second lover, however, was missed by his wife. Vera attempted to explain the disappearance:
“Yes he was my lover. I had no idea he was married, but as he lay in my arms one night he told me he was married to a girl he hated. I threw him out and I haven't seen him since.” (Haines, 1991, A4)
Through his wife’s insistence Vera’s house was searched. Thirty-five zinc boxes, containing the bodies of her two husbands, thirty-two lovers and her only son, were found in the basement. Her son had been killed because he began to get suspicious and threatened to expose her. They were all arranged in a semi-circle with her two husbands situated in the centre. On each, Vera had inscribed the name of the victim.
She admitted poisoning them with arsenic; sometimes over a “last supper”. The reason she gave for killing her husband was that she was bored. She also admitted becoming bored with the other lovers and, rather than seeing them with another woman, she murdered them. She further confessed that she used to sit in an armchair, during the evenings, in the midst of the coffins. During this time she said she would remember their lovemaking and their suffering before they died. She was sentenced to life, in prison, where she died only two years after being sentenced.
Angels of Death
Like Black Widows, Angels of Death have a similar history. In this case, the group moniker comes from a play on words. Caregivers, and in particular nurses, were often called “Angels of Mercy” because of their kind and caring service over the course of healing, or they brought mercy and relief in times of suffering. Angels of mercy are those who are exceptional at their caring ability.
They are tireless and selfless to help those who are sick, disabled, or in need of comfort. An Angel of Death, alternatively, is one who brings the opposite: pain and suffering to the healthy. These women inflict pain, often through long and enduring poisonings, often pretending to nurse their victims back to health. As with the Black Widow moniker, the Angel of Death label is also misleading. Not all are nurses, some are merely caregivers. Some stated that they were nurses but, in fact, were not. I have summarized a few of the most well known cases of this type of killer below.
Lucy de Berk killed infants in her care. Beverley Allitt and Genene Jones killed their very young patients. Jane Toppan never graduated from nursing school, but killed her “private nursing” clients. Catherine Wilson never became a nurse, but opted instead for household work where she cared for her employers. She would kill clients after befriending them and encouraging them to list her as sole heir to their small fortunes. Other times she would kill those who had large sums of money on their person which she would steal, or she would kill those she owed money to. All have in common that they were administering care in some fashion.
Beverly Allitt (1968 — present)
According to Kelleher and Kelleher (1998) Beverly Allitt operated out of the United Kingdom. She killed children who attended the Grantham and Kesteven Hospital. Allitt had pronounced personality problems identified as early as age thirteen. By her late teens she had a history of medical appearances for injuries that where either self inflicted, or appeared to be invented. Doctors commented that many of her illnesses appeared to be psychosomatic (Doctor suspected illness syndrome, 1993). It was eventually concluded that she suffered from Munchausen’s Syndrome. Patients with this disorder present at hospitals faking symptoms of serious illnesses in order to get much desired attention. She eventually decided to get her nursing certificate after she finished high school. She missed 130 days of nurses training, and had difficulty finding placement after she was certified because of her persistent personality problems. She eventually settled in Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, a remote facility that was terribly short staffed.
Many children became sick under her watch. Four eventually died under her care. She was employed at the hospital for only 58 days. Her first victim, seven-week-old Liam Taylor, died while receiving treatment for a common cold. The second victim, 11-year-old Tim Hardwick came in suffering from severe bouts of epileptic shock, and passed away under Beverly’s care. It was assumed a prolonged attack was the cause. Three-month-old Becky Philips suddenly stopped breathing while being treated at the hospital and died. Becky was a twin, and therefore her sister was brought in for testing. She was found to be perfectly healthy and normal, but then suddenly experienced bouts of not being able to breathe while Beverley was watching her. The last bout arrested her heart and, although doctors were able to bring her back to life, she suffered irreparable brain damage.
Beverly’s last victim was fifteen-month-old Clare Peck, an asthmatic (Jenkins, 1993a). She stopped breathing April 22, 1991, two hours after being placed under Allitt’s care but her death was blamed on Asthma. Her blood analysis revealed high levels of potassium. All deaths had in common Allitt’s presence on the ward. It was found that the children who had been attacked, 26 in all, had been injected with either insulin or potasstum.
According to the Jenkins (1993a) Allitt went to live with Tracey Jobson, of Peterborough while awaiting trial. Although they were considered to be friends, Tracy’s son Jonathan began suffering dizzy spells shortly after her arrival. These spells were accompanied with cravings for chocolate. Beverly offered this teenager a drink, and at the bottom of the glass Jonathan found a chalky substance. He later collapsed, stating that he was unable to see, had stomach pains, and head pains. Ms. Jobson recalls that Allitt did nothing to help. He survived the attack. It was discovered later that Jonathan’s blood sugar was very low, and he had received diabetic tablets intended for his grandmother.
Before her trial, when questioned about her nursing skills she stated “My nursing means more to me than living.” (Jenkins, 1993b, p. A2) When reporters further asked about her competence given the accusations she replied “I am not competent, far from it. I know I am not competent. I am one of the bloody crappiest nurses out. I am the lowest of the low.” She then stayed quiet for the remainder of the trial process.
It was established that she committed these assaults to receive attention and appreciation from staff. In essence, she had graduated from faking her symptoms, to injuring others and then attempting to save her victims. She could also get attention while offering comfort to bereaved family members. Although similar, this syndrome is called Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy, as the offender desists in mocking symptoms of severe illness in their own bodies, and begins to create symptoms in another to gain personal attention.
She was charged with four counts of murder, eight counts of assault and ten counts of grievous bodily harm with intent to kill. By October, 1993, while beginning to serve 13 life sentences, Beverly admitted to committing nine of the murders (Jenkins, 1993c). She also admitted to smothering some infants when the injection did not produce desired results. Ironically, her trial was repeatedly delayed because of a series of illnesses, including severe anorexia (Trial delayed, 1993).
Lucy De Berk (circa 1962 — present)
Sage (2003) noted that Lucy worked as a nurse in the Dutch health system. It was later uncovered that she had falsified documents and lied about her past in order to become a.nurse. De Berk had stolen a great many items from around the country, including a book on serial murderers. She had also spent time in Canada working as a prostitute. Lucy also had a history of depression and suicide attempts.
In 2003, Lucy, age 41, was found guilty of murdering three infants, and an elderly woman, and attempting to murder three others in her care. All of her child victims were born with serious physical abnormalities and originally were thought to have died from natural causes. Suspicions became aroused when a five-month old baby died within an hour of a diagnosis by doctors that the child’s health was improving. Autopsy revealed the child had been poisoned, leading to the exhumation of some of her other patients who had died suddenly on her shift. Also of interest is the fact that she is responsible for the death of Judge Haopei Li, who sat on the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Li was treated in hospital shortly before he was scheduled to retire from the bench.
Sage states that prosecutors suggested that she killed out of compulsion, quoting directly from a partially burned diary. “I gave in to my compulsions... I don’t even know why I am doing it... I will take this secret with me to the grave... Still I hope I am helping people by this” (p. A18). She also had written a number of undecipherable notes on the day that her victims died. De Berk stated in her defense that she used to give secret Tarot readings to her patients.
Genene Jones (1950 - present)
According to Elkind (1983) Genene Jones, one of four adopted children of Dick and Gladys Jones, grew up on a rather large San Antonio estate. She was born July 13, 1950. From the very beginning of her life she had felt unwanted and unloved. Although this was not a wealthy family, they were certainly comfortable. Genene's first encounter with death was at the age of sixteen. Travis, Genene's younger learning disabled brother, was alone in his father's sign shop when it exploded. Although Genene cried at the funeral her appearance at her school the next day confused many of her peers. She appeared to be "milking sympathy" from everyone who had heard the news of her brother's death.
All through high school people recall her telling wild stories about events that had occurred in her life. Eventually many people found these tales to be false and eventually steered away from Genene. By the beginning of her senior year at high school Dick Jones, her father, had died of cancer. Although only seventeen, she had lost the two most precious people in her life. Very shortly after this death she decided that it was time that she got married.
She married Jimmy DeLany, a high school drop out, only six weeks after she buried her father. It is here that she embarked on various careers, eventually deciding to be a nurse’s aid. Although she was fired from the first few of her nursing jobs, because of a harsh attitude, she eventually ended up at Baxar County Hospital, a hospital for San Antonio's poor. It is here, on the pediatric intensive care unit that an alarming number of children began to die under Genene's care.
The children in the pediatrics ICU were going into unexpected cardiac arrests on Genene's shift. Although the evidence kept mounting, many people who had the ability to stop Genene Jones, such as the hospital administrators, head nurses and doctors, had chosen to discount the evidence. Finally, it could no longer be ignored. But even when the abnormal deaths were acknowledged as a serious problem, it still took months for people to act. Meanwhile small children were dying from, what would later be found to be, overdoses of heparin. This drug is an anti-coagulant which effectively caused these children to bleed to death.
Eventually the pressure from the hospital became too strong and Genene was asked to leave. Dr. Kathy Holland, an intern in the Baxar County Hospital, who believed in Genene's innocence, hired Genene as her assistant in her private practice after completing her residency. Together they went to Kerrville, a small town outside of San Antonio, to set up a practice. On the second day after this practice opened, Dr. Holland's office had its first serious trauma case, something that was considered rare in a private practice. A small fourteen month old child, Chelsea McClelland, had mysteriously stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated and taken to emergency at a hospital a few miles away. Fortunately this child lived. But others, who also mysteriously stopped breathing, did not.
Although Kathy Holland originally dismissed the first few incidents, she too began to see a deadly pattern. Eventually she found empty bottles of succinylcholine, a strong drug used by anesthesiologists. The drug is used to temporarily paralyze the entire musculatory system and once injected breathing is not possible independently but must be aided by a respirator. Ironically, Chelsea McClelland's parents continued to trust the doctor and her nurse and brought their daughter for a second check-up. She did not live. Her mother remembers Genene boi Jones injecting a clear liquid into her daughters arm and watching her go limp. She tried to stop her but by then it was too late.
Genene was eventually charged with the death of Chelsea McClelland and Rolando Santos. She received a 99-year and a 60-year prison sentence to be served concurrently (Nurse gets 60, 1984). However, she was suspected of killing at least fifteen children in the pediatric ICU at Baxar County Hospital. Genene was found guilty of little Chelsea's murder. She was never charged with the killings at the hospital, even after the Chelsea McClelland trial “...because no useful purpose would be served by prosecuting additional charges against her.” (Elkind, 1989. p. 370).
Jane Toppan (1854 - 1938)
According to Seagrave (1992) Jane Toppan was born Honora A. Kelly in 1854, to a poor Irish couple, probably in Massachusetts. Her mother died when Jane was still an infant. Her father, who attempted to raise Jane and her three sisters, went mad shortly after. All four children were then taken care of by their grandmother. When the grandmother found it financially impossible to raise the children, they were sent to the Boston Female Asylum for Destitute Girls. Jane was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Abner Toppan in 1859 and moved to Lowell, Massachusetts. Now renamed Jane, she was given a strict but fair upbringing where her Irish heritage was a source of embarrassment. Her new parents told people she was Italian, and that her parents died in a boat coming to America. It is interesting to note that the terms of her adoption stated that she could be sent back to the Asylum any time before age 18, and that when her adoptive mother died, she left her entire estate to her two older daughters. Jane was left penniless.
In her twenties, Jane became engaged. Her new fiancé gave her a ring with a bird on it, as a symbol of his love for her. He then went off to the nearby town of Holyoke to find a job. A few weeks later Jane received a letter from this man apologizing for not returning. He also mentioned that he had found a job, as well as a wife. It was the landlady's daughter in Holyoke. She smashed the ring to pieces. From that day on, she never looked at birds and she never talked about them. Jane became very reclusive. She refused to see friends and stayed at home. She bought a book on dreams and convinced herself that she could tell the future by paying attention to her dreams. It has also been reported that she attempted suicide twice during this time.
At age twenty-six, she suddenly announced she was going to be a nurse. She went to school and soon became one of the most popular nurses at the hospital. Other nurses began to notice that Jane had a preoccupation with autopsies and operations. She became fascinated with the anatomical experiments. Eventually a male patient died under her watch. This was unusual as he was recuperating rather quickly. A second patient soon followed. She was called to the chief surgeon's office. Although there is no formal record of their dialogue, she was dismissed from the hospital and was not allowed to graduate. She later admitted to committing “practice killings” during this time. It was also believed that she had taken money from the hospital while in training.
From there she applied for a job as a head nurse and was hired. She was soon fired as it was discovered that she had forged papers stating that she was a graduate nurse. By that time she had decided to attend to the needs of the elderly and the sick as a private nurse. It is assumed that she committed murder earlier in her career. Circa 1899, however, her murderous activity increased which aroused suspicion within her community. She killed using a deadly cocktail of morphine and atropine. While morphine dilates the pupils of the eyes and may have aroused suspicion, atropine constricts the pupils. She perfected the cocktail to make the eyes appear normal upon post mortem examination.
Shortly before her arrest in 1901, she was visited by an old friend, Mattie Davis. Mattie soon grew ill and died July 4, 1901. Jane brought the body home to Cataumet. Captain Alden Davis, head of the Davis household, insisted that Jane stay on and attend to his two married daughters who were sick. She eventually a agreed. Despite constant attention from Jane, Mrs. Annie Gorden, one of Captain Davis’s daughters, died July 29, 1901. She had a high fever and was writhing in her bed before she died. She had already expired by the time the doctor had arrived, but Jane said to the doctor, “I am afraid she is sinking.” Captain Davis, once again, insisted that she stay on. The two deaths had drained Captain Davis. He lost his appetite and his ability to sleep. Jane Toppan came to him with some medicine. It was a colorless, odorless liquid. She insisted he take it and said that he would be fine in the morning. The next morning he was found dead. He was survived by Mrs. Mary Gibbs, his only living daughter.
Mrs. Mary Gibbs became very distraught and depressed over the sudden deaths of the family. She asked her cousin Beulah to come and stay with her. She would stare out the window toward Cemetery Hill. Jane Toppan came to her with a liquid in a glass and said that the doctor had prescribed it. A few hours later she was feeling awful. She was put to bed and soon she too began to writhe. She was dead by the following morning.
When Captain Gibbs, Mary’s husband, arrived home he was surprised to find out that his family had died in the space of forty-five days. Beulah took him aside and mentioned to him how scared Mary had been around nurse Toppan. She also mentioned to him that she had overheard a conversation, between Mary and Jane, in the sewing room. Apparently Jane had owed five hundred dollars to the estate. She had asked Mary, since Captain Davis had died, if the debt could be cancelled. Mary refused. Beulah also related how Jane had stopped Dr. Walters from performing an autopsy, stating that it was against the religious beliefs of the Davis family. She then left for Lowell.
Captain Gibbs went directly to the authorities. He then had his wife exhumed. It was found that she had been overdosed with morphine. Although Dr. Walters had agreed that he saw the signs of the morphine overdose the eyes of the victim were dilated and not constricted. He, therefore, had dismissed the idea. A detective was sent to Lowell. However, Jane Toppan had already poisoned her foster sister, Edna Bannister. She had left the household and had taken up employment with Mr. George Nichols in Amherst. It was there she was arrested.
She denied any wrongdoing. She was put in jail. Her defense was heavily supported by friends and family. Police began to exhume the bodies, of former patients, all over New England. All were found to have died from an overdose of morphine and atropine. Police linked the morphine to a druggist named Benjamin Walters in Wareham. He said that he had a prescription for every one. Indeed he had. All had been forged by Toppan. During her imprisonment, a psychiatrist by the name of Stedman began to visit her in her cell. In one of their conversation he took a chance and asked,
“Did you kill them Jane?” Her response was given with a smile: “Yes I killed them! I might have killed George Nichols and his sister that night if the detective hadn’t taken me away! ... I fooled them all - I fooled the stupid doctors and the ignorant relatives. I've been fooling them for years and years.” (Nash, 1981, p. 366)
After recounting the names of her victims, thirty-one in all, it was estimated that there were as many as seventy by her own speculation, but she couldn't remember them all. She recounted how she used to inject morphine into her patients and wait for the pupils to constrict:
“Then came the wait. I would have to watch and watch and watch as the pupils contracted, and, at the right moment inject them with atropine and watch and watch until the pupils were again wide and vacant. It was hard, precise work, all of it. I had to dose the patients slowly, a little at a time. It took days, and sometimes even weeks to kill them.” (Nash, 1981, p. 367)
She also recounted how, sometimes, she would bring patients to the brink of death and then work feverishly to bring them back to health, only to kill them later.
There have been many motives suggested as to why this woman killed so many. Some think that it was her desire to be married, as she entertained ideas of marrying relatives of some victims. Others thought that it was her love of children that may have prompted her to murder as she murdered some mothers whose children she expressed interest in adopting. Still others think that it was a dreadful feeling of rejection she experienced. She eventually stated (Sifakis, 1982, p. 716):
“It wasn’t my fault. I had to do it. They hadn’t done anything to me and I gained nothing from their deaths except the excitement of watching them die. I couldn’t resist doing it...
Everybody trusted me. It was too easy. I felt strange when I watched them die. I was all excited and my blood seemed to sweep madly through my veins. It was the only pleasure I had.”
However Seagrave (1992, p. 288) states that she did offer this possible explanation to Dr. Stedman:
“Do you know what I want to be? ... I want to go on and on... I want to be known as the greatest criminal that ever lived. That is my ambition.”
On June 25, 1902, she went to trial. Dr. Stedman, the psychiatrist, stated for tne record that, “Jane Toppan was suffering from a form of insanity that could not be cured” (Nash, 1981, p. 367).
Jane strongly contested this statement in court, calling Dr. Stedman a liar. “I am not crazy!” she shouted. “And all of you know it! I know that I have done wrong! I understand right from wrong! That proves that I am not crazy!” (Nash, 1981, p. 367)
Regardless of her statement, she was placed in the Taunton State Asylum for the Criminally Insane. She eventually passed the time writing love stories. Although she came near death once, she lived out her life there. She died at the age of eighty-four, August 17, 1938.
Catherine Wilson (1822 - 1862)
This woman initially worked for people as household help, but later befriended her potential victims. She poisoned them for cash or insurance holdings. According to Seagrave (1992) Catherine started killing at about 32 years of age, in 1854 in Boston, England. She made friends with a man, stating that she, herself, was a widow. She also began caring for his gout. He eventually named her as sole heir to his estate in his will. A short time later, after experiencing diarrhea and vomiting for ten days, Mawer died. Mawer’s nurse commented that Mawer’s health would decline every time she would come over and serve him tea. Despite these observances, the doctor did not note that Mawer had been poisoned.
She moved into a rooming house, in London, operated by Maria Soames. She was accompanied by a man named James Dixon who, Wilson claimed, was her brother. He was noted as a heavy drinker. She eventually poisoned him with colchicum, an old remedy for treating gout, which she took after inheriting the Mawer estate. Although she stated that his death was due to Consumption, the doctor insisted on an autopsy. No evidence of consumption was found, but his death was ruled the result of natural causes. In October, 1956, she poisoned her landlady, Maria Soames, after she had received a number of loans from her. Maria was 50 years of age. Ironically, she told a number of people that Maria had committed suicide by taking poison because she had been jilted by an unknown man. The doctors ruled that she had died from peritonitis and heart disease. She billed the estate ten pounds before returning to Boston.
In early 1859 Wilson began to accept loans from a Mrs. Jackson. Mrs. Jackson died 4 days after withdrawing 120 pounds from her bank. The money was never recovered, and Wilson was not suspected of foul play. Later that year she moved back to London and met and befriended a women named Ann Atkinson; an aunt of James Dixon. It is reported that Ann Atkinson made a trip to London to see Catherine and to do some shopping, bringing with her 51 pounds. This money went missing suddenly and Ann had to return home early. The next year, Ann visited Catherine again, only this time with 120 pounds. Ann was reported ill to her husband four days after her arrival, but was dead by the time he reached London. Catherine was found in bed, overcome with grief. She explained the missing money to Ann’s husband by stating that Ann had been robbed on the train to London, but was too ashamed to mention the event as she was embarrassed. After his departure with his wife’s body, Catherine was seen wearing a diamond ring supposedly given to her from Ann as a “token of gratitude” (Newton, 1993, p. 181)
In 1862 Catherine met and befriended a Mrs. Carnell. Sarah Carnell had recently left her husband and Catherine volunteered to be a liaison between the couple who were seeking reconciliation. Catherine began nursing Sarah’s health. Wilson eventually served Sarah a tea which burned Sarah’s lips. Sarah dropped the concoction on the bed. Within minutes it was clear that the tea was eating through the sheets. Catherine fled, escaping apprehension for six weeks. She was eventually caught and brought to trial on the attempted murder of Sarah Carnell. The defense successfully argued that the chemist had mixed up the prescription and Catherine was acquitted of all charges. She was arrested a few days later for the death of Maria Soames with evidence gathered from Soames’ exhumation. Further exhumations of her late clients were ordered after she had initially fled London. She was hanged in Horsemonger’s Goal, in London, on October 20, 1962.
Summary
This chapter has examined some specific case studies of two of the most popular forms of female serial murderesses: The Black Widow and the Angel of Death. These particular forms of serial murder have demonstrated a steady presence in the media, being documented because of the unusualness of the case.
Women as criminals, much less serial murderers, have become the source of great interest when their acts are discovered. Although the stories of their acts have been published and retold over the centuries, their acts have only recently been identified as “serial” in nature. Even though we recognized that these were dangerous women, who were capable of much harm, we could not see them in the light of serial murderess until the early part of the 1990’s. Since that time, these women have come to be included in many of the encyclonedic collections now available, and have begun to emerge more and more as a subject of interest in written and electronic media. As we shall learn in the next chapter, these are not the only forms of serial murderess that have been identified.
The Female Serial Murderer
A Sociological Study of Homicide and the “Gentler Sex”
Hannah Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment