“THE WORST WOMAN.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3737, 29 December 1906, Page 4

“THE WORST WOMAN.”

Murders Proved and Others Suspected. A real case of “The Worst Woman on Earth ” (as she is described in the American Press) is at present engaging the attention of criminologists in America. Eizzie Halliday is the name of the problem, and some extremists are solving her by suggesting the lethal chamber.

She is a homicidal maniac, who thinks no more of killing than of eating—it is a sort of function with her. She is at present at Matteawan, an asylum for insane criminals, but she is as crafty as a wild beast, and as ferocious, when she gets an easy chance ; so the work of constantly watching her to prevent murder tends, in the words of the superintendant of the asylum, Dr Eamb, to “amental condition which is nerve wearing.” Recently she killed a nurse, Miss Wickes, with whom she had been very friendly. Miss Wickes was leaving the asylum, having obtained another appointment. This she told the mad woman, who threatened the girl she would kill her sooner than let her leave the place. This she actually did, later, by seeming the nurse’s keys, locking the door, and stabbing the unfortunate girl in the throat with a pair of scissors. That made her fifth murder. She had killed a husband, her stepson, and two women friends. These murdeis are proven. She is suspected of others also.

This uncanny woman is 45 years of age, and was born in Ireland, emigrating to America in 1867, She has been married six times. Her last husband was Paul Halliday. She set fire to his house and burned his son. Eater, Halliday disappeared, and when neighbours searched for him, they found the bodies of two women, Mrs and Miss McQuillan. The daughter had been a servant with the Hallidays, and the mother, it appears, had gone to the Hallidays to see why her daughter did not come home.

Subsequently, Mrs Halliday, attempted suicide three times, and was so violent at the Coroner’s inquest that she had to be chained.