| Show gave poison to ease suffer suffering i ng missouri nurse added t long list of wholesale slayers chicago the latest addition to tile lie ranks of wholesale murderers to la 1 mrs Y ra bertha gifford a flaty six year old motherly woman of mo alo she was indicted recently for the mur tier of two persona and Is suspect yi of having murdered 17 others unlike roost most of tier kind slie she stems seems st ems not to have murdered for prout profit mrs airs git forda method of killing hitting was hackneyed a big dose of arsenic tier her moaner of ripp was waa unique the rood good samaritan ns as sho she was called by her neighbors loved to tend the sick As soon aishe oa she got wind of no she ehe was off to the bedside ot of tho the sick one although a good nurse competent sympathetic and cheerful her patients strangely enough usually died after a sev few years the deaths that followed her appearance caused suspicion but she spiked all rumors by righteous indignation at such ev evil 11 thoughts the families of the dead refused to permit post mortems inor and mrs gifford continued to bo be a solace and comfort to tho the sick finally a doctor tor insisted that an autopsy be per Jg law jetor ormed on one of her patients the verdict was death by poisoning when she ehe was arrested she abe confessed frealy she said bald that tier her victims were given arsenic their pains 11 unfortunately tuna tely the quieting was permanent one Ona woman killed 2500 A woman with 17 victims Is entitled to some consideration na as a wholesale murderess but mrs gifford to Is out ranked by such expert and prodigious killers as the ancient Alu danie la who accounted for 2600 vie vic thins the houg haughty lity s de who restricted herself to poisoning tier her ronny lovers mrs airs hella bella gunness ante bender and fa family tully george joseph smith fritz Harn iann bluebeard landru and J P watson the reign of mrs rella bella gunness oa as queen of american murderesses murde ex tended from about to wa during this period she performed about IRU all of bf thern them committed on tier her form farm at ln la porte ind tier her victims were of f both sexes age was no ier to mrs gunness tier her anin objective was the speedy death of her numerous husbands whom slie she murdered for their money tills this rather large middle aged worn wom on she weighed pounds and was forty live five years old when she first attracted attention had a i peculiar attraction for men winy many of her husbands married tier her solely for love tile the rest came agthe result of advertisements placed in the norwegian and swedish newspapers she would offer herself no as a bride promising to matel matali tiny any surn sum that fl a prospective husband would bring when slie she received a reply she would send a certain roy lamphere Laro phere who would pose as aa her brother to the intended victim it if the marked ninn man flat enough money the dent deal was eloped and the hopeful bridegroom returned with lamphere to the farni tit at ln ia porte ills career as mrs airs relta bella gunness nun Gunn ness esal band might last ast dst as iong as is week ills bride having by this time got hold of hla his money would give him chloro form if lie he did not succumb Imin lail liedl ertl attly bitely mrs hirs gunness used her ax to complete the job the kumher of times she went through this procedure oure will never lie ile definitely known tim hill it it ishad had not been for uny hoy Lom lamphire lamph phere pre the slaughter might have hae gone on much lenger anger lamphere wits was tile the only boarder at la borte it la Is said bilat he exerted a fascination over tile the ludi lad and she could never biln bring ti kill him flint tie ile evidently knew tier anro airo and to have hp pretty avaree belaus she poti him large sums sum tit of money from owe to time it was a fight over enni resulted in the shipping of tier tl tic M andrew gave gaves buim fur pl the privilege lego of IH tile the last lilly of mrs airs sR after hla his delith in the floy eimil dipre demanded a bare of nf the money it ii was refused refus pd to stion ills his alast r Is tin file tion he set lire fire to tile fm with mrs birs gunness and tier lier three chilia vik it the house turned burned to tile ground and it if Is bell believed eved thal mra mr k gunness gunne ss perl perished in the flip glatties fl atties vitel the charred ruins ruin were 11 secret room was as found in tile lie velar cell at that mrs mra bunness had hn 1 l 11 used no 9 trl anaf burial gmund amund for her vivi victims luls bender famely killed gleven cleven bitoy wits hii well tt urson bursak and tho of mrs airs bunne s aind her tl ne children ren lio flat the lie wit volf unable to lu pr olove tile lie cipu air p love ve mill nii iu alks ir IIA ni 11 tile sie time thile tit ot tho tire lire on aeilt VW the luy found the de liy of oraan he goi two to lo twenty henrs death in prison followed quickly illicitly und lie la Is said to havo have confessed to tile lie murder of airs gunness them i Is much doubt about this confession and tho the mystery of what happened to mrs airs gunnels still remains unsolved late in 1870 thero there appeared in labette county ran the lie four benders inte tier brother john fits bis wife e and son BOO etite was the leader of lie turn lly ily both in looks and action S she ae no doubt was tile lie instigator of the crimes tile family committed kate cate bender was an attractive girl of twenty four she had laming flaming red hair a buxom figure nad and was consid ered the belle of tile county kato was ilso intelligent she had bad a flair for public speaking and traveled around the country giving lectures on spiritualism anil and hypnotism for a time elie was a waitress in a hotel and was well liked by the travelers in 1871 she fitio prevailed upon bet brother to open up dp an inn on the post root road between parsons and Cherr cherryville kan ian there wits nothing pala palatial ti at about this hostelry it consisted of but two robins one of 0 which was wait divided by a heavy curtain business was plow and tho the benders lived there tn in perfect harmony with their neighbors gradually rumors started to circulate to tile the effect that strange things wore were happening at the inn there was no real ground for or this suspicious tall talk and nothing was done until march 1873 when dr william 0 york who nho had visited hla his brother colonel york disappeared find bodies in orchard the last time line the doctor was acen lie he remarked that he was going to stop off and have dinner at the bender inn lie ho was known to have a large sum of 0 money in hla his after three weeks had passed and doctor york was still missing tits ills brother tile tho col onel began to search for him the doctors movements were traced anti anil hla his troll trail led to the bender inn there it was lost this fact together with the growing suspicions of the neighbors was v as sufficient to gather a posa to go and call on tile the benders the visit brought nothing to light find and the posse loft left after mulling malting some ted remarks A week later inter it was discovered that the bender inn was deserted colonel york returned anti anil again fin made a search of tile premises As lie he was standing out in the or chard he noticed that the ground hart had many ridges which looked unnatural tills this started the colonel digging klevin bodies were found the search for doctor york was wag over and the hunt for tho the bender family began they were never found george joseph smith of england killed but three or four women hut but he invented a new way to do it IL lie be used a bathtub mr smith was na as ordinary as his name tie he was a man of little intelligence arid spent most of his life in jail because of his larcenous habits ue started ills his murder career in 1808 1898 when lie he was twenty seven and alced it until 1015 smith had find but one principle lib he would never murder a woman if he could get tier her money in any other way tic lie robbed hundreds of women U tip first arb find out their status and then marry them it if his hi bride lind rendy cash smith would simply take it and abscond if she hud had money leY lint flint was tied up a will would ile he drawn in tit hi e favor and tier her murder followed always tried to libre a room with a linth if f no bath was vis he purchased a collapsible tub the first day he would discover that his wife alte looked fit A doctor would be consulted mr air smith would do most of the talking and created the impression that tits wife was suffering from opi epilepsy lepsy or heart attacks after the visit to the doctor his wife would anke 0 bath A few later inter a report would reach the police that a woman had been found lead in a bath tub mr smith would call the doctor who treated his wife find and the verdict would be death hy by accidental drowning due to on in epileptic qt fit or heart failure once too often the bathtub method was waa used once too often the police became sus BUS and on searching their records found similar cases smith was arrested and subsequently hanged the exact manner in which enill smith th caused the deaths of his wives went to the gallows with the murder it Is thought that he lifted up tile the legs of his bis victims suddenly while they were in the tub and towered lowered their heads under the water landru the bluebeard of gambala franco france did awny with 11 of tits his mistresses distresses mi stresses it Is 11 years while smith was so BO parsimonious that he haggled over the price of tile the deadly bathtub landria was generous charming ami brilliant Eland some in a dashing way with sparkling penetrating eyes and bushy beard wolfen liked him like 1 lih landru was interested Interest oo malel mal nl in n money ills scheme was 40 0 o ingratiate himself with her conj then invite tho lady to his villa at gambala Gam Gani bals after staying with him she would be seen no tn more re suspicion pointed tit at landru for ninny many years hut but nothing could he proven ile he was finally tir arrested rested end and although the pollee police searched hla his villa and the surrounding ground nathl nothing ng was found but botn a queer tove stove and a lot of bones landru clat claimed nidd they were chicken bon esthe police said that they were tho bones of tits his victims A jury thought likewise andee and he lost his head bead at the guillotine february 20 1022 landru killed women by drugging them cut ting up the bodies ond and burning the pieces I 1 an fn n a store the united states has had its bluebeard in J P watson a mild looking little man who married 21 women within a space of three years and Is said to have elain nine of them watson was apprehended by chance and seemed glad that his career na as a wife killer was over nver was money fritz Haar haarmann marin of Un hanover nover ger was culled called the vampire pire murderer and perform cj hla his do in revolting find nd brut 11 r at started mi N and n when caught in wy 1017 he hod had murdered 27 hoys boys an and young men would lure lire the vict victim line io ti lils ills room hark them to lleces and ills 1118 imse pose or of their hodl hailles es hy by selling tile the llesh to ile he butr butchers hers of lian ns nome mirse ment Wf caught CHii glit lion hen tie he tried to sell clothes of one of tits his vict victims lins lie ile was be headed after hia hi capture |
