HEARTLESS MURDERESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 4 February 1907, Page 4

HEARTLESS MURDERESS.

if l.ho allegations of the Philadelphia police can be substantiated, a ' woman in their custody is one of the ! most heartless murderesses whrnu i sums of insurance money nave ever ; excited to crime. She is a widow of ; 32 named Bridget Carey, and is ch:irg- i edj her husband Patiiek, j her two children, -Mary, aged eigli.. , and Annie, aged six. besides Patrick j and- Cecilia Cook, a brother and sis- j ter in whose h"u<e she lodged. A); ! live murders, the police siy, were i committed for tae sake of Prudential insurance policies amonting to C2.H). The two little girls died suddenly, and the mother applied for the insurance money, amounting io Co<). The •'eaths were ascribed to eating impure . eets, and much eommineralion wn, felt for the poor widow, now left ahv.v r in the 1 world. Charitable peup'e ,busied Uhomselve* in providing her with employment in comfortable surrounding's, where she might forget her great grief. But an autopsy of the children's bodies disclosed traces of arsenic, en I investigation revealed the oilier mysterious deaths. Mrs Carey's husband died suddenly in a Pennsylvania village at\er which his widow, with Ihe children came to Philadelphia, wlth- | out any means, except for C.",u of | her husband's insurance. When, this was gone, her sad case was brong't t to the notice of the congregation of the church she attended, and two benevo'ent people, a brother and sister, generously offered her food and shelter. Some time after Mi-$ Cook suddenly died, hut as she had long suffered ;from heart trouble no suspicion fell on Mrs Carey, who easily recovered the money on an insurance policy nta'de out in her favour by .'the' dead woman. Mrs Carey then assumed the conduct of the brother's household, per-uadiug him to transfer the tenancy of the house to her. A month later Cook died, and again Mrs Carey collected tiny insurance money. She took possession of all the contents of the house, vf which she and the children were the only occupants Then came the d-'Mli- ol the children, and ihe woman, now completely alone in the worl i. was preparing to leave 'the city when siie eon. The first of these purchases was to her purchases of arsenical rat poiask, Will the world's supply of copper about the time of the death of her benefactors, and a further quantity was bought just before her children