AN AMERICAN BORGIA.
Since the terrible revelation in the case t of the child murderer and torturer Jesse t Pomeroy n< thing more revolting has con i £ to light than the charges made against a Mrs Sarah J. Robinson,‘of Somerviilo. a a city ad j scent to Boston. The woman her« self is reported to ha a mild-lookirg ] person, somewhat prominent in socie'.y, . who has had an exemplary reputation. Until recently no susp'cionl has attached to her ; on the other hand, she was regarde i as a pleasant lady, and was even j the obj ct of public sympathy, aroused by the inroads of death in her family. Tis now charged against tlria woman upon strong testimony that aha has successive y poisoned her husband, her ten-year old daughter, her sister, sister’s husband and two children, another daughter, and recently her last remaining child, a young man of twenty four, was lying in-a critical condition. It is even believed by some that she lately poisoned a whole picnic party of 100 people by mixing arsenic with their ice cream, but this does not rest upon proof, nor it is likely to have been the case, as there is an entire absenc n of motive urging her to destroy the pleasure-seekers. In her household murders, however, the mo Ive is very apparent, and is clearly traceable to her overweening greed for money. Each one of the victims of her poisoning operations was insured for £4OO in a mutual benefit life insurance company known as the United Order of Pilgrim Fathers : and it is alleged to be siuceptible of proof that la each case, by the aid of a male accomplice, she succeeded in having the insurance so adjusted that the money came to her. This Somerville woman deliberately killed her victims for money ; and nearly all were children, either her own or those of relatives wrho were dead, and towards whom s v o stood in the position of gu rdian, It was deliberately followed as a money-msking business, and all her arrangements were carried out vfith
coolness and croft. She does not even seem to ha~e been actuated by a homicidal mania, as was the case wi‘h JVsee Pomeroy, who was undoubtedly as irresponsible for his brutalities as a wild animat. Her crimes were planned with, the almost coolness and deliberation, and w<ra committed at long intervals of time, so as not to rouse suspicion, m wb'ch she was aided by the fact that so m:tny of her victims were children, whose deaths do not attract so much attention as those cf elderly persona. The Albany Evening Journal, In discussing the case, calls attention to another startling fact in this connection. It says that •‘graveyard insurance has given place to child insurance among prevalent insurance crimes,” and that daring the present summer several instances have been reported in Pennsylvania, the Ohio, and some of the Southern States. —Chicago Tribune.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18861013.2.27
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1369, 13 October 1886, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
489AN AMERICAN BORGIA. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1369, 13 October 1886, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.