Strychnine is a bitter poison that is commonly used to kill pests, such as rats, birds, and rabbits. At one time, all one had to do to get the poison was to visit the local chemist and sign for it. Because it was so easy to get a hold of, many people chose strychnine as their poison of choice when it came to murder.
The strychnine crystals were often hidden in the sugar bowl or added to food and drinks. The only problem was that it had such a bitter taste that some people were capable of detecting it before fully consuming enough to kill them.
Tried to Feed Him Poisoned Flies
Mrs. Elizabeth Slocum visited some friends of hers in Los Angeles around 1906. When she returned to her parents’ home afterwards, she told her sister, Bertha Wiobking, that she learned that if you kill flies with strychnine and then feed the dead flies to someone, it would kill them and the medical examiner would not be able to detect the poison.
The story must have made quite an impression on the younger sister because some time later she confided to Elizabeth that the “story about the poisoned flies is all bosh. I gave father enough of them to kill twelve persons and it didn’t work.”
Of course, none of this came to light until 1909 when their parents were undergoing a particularly ugly divorce. Elizabeth had taken her father’s side in the proceedings and told the court that her sister had ground up the poisoned flies and put them in her father’s food in the hopes of killing him.
The attempted murder was unsuccessful and it appears that Bertha Wiobking got away with her criminal actions. [Source 1]
The Man With Three Names
Sydney Hubert of Auburn, N.S.W. was only thirty-nine in 1920 when he got himself into a world of trouble. You see, he was married to Frances and by all outward accounts it was a happy union.
However, Sydney had a little something extra going on the side. This other woman was single and younger than dear Frances, but Sydney thought he could play the lover’s triangle well enough and he courted the younger woman under the name of Stewart.
Eventually, he must have decided that it was time to get rid of Frances so he could fully court the young thing in the city. He went and cleverly bought some strychnine in Lithgow under the name of F. Lane.
A week after his purchase, Sydney bought a few bottles of stout and brought them home for his wife. They each had a bottle and shortly afterwards, Sydney got up and left for work.
Within the hour, a neighbor heard Francis screaming and rushed to her side. The woman was lying on the back veranda and was quickly taken to the hospital where she perished.
Medical examiners checked the contents of her stomach and found grains of strychnine. Strychnine was also found in one of the bottles of stout and Sydney was soon arrested.
At trial, Sydney maintained his innocence, but he was nevertheless found guilty of murder and sentenced to die. He appealed the death sentence and, for his effort, was given a sentence of life imprisonment. Twenty years later, in 1940, Sydney Hubert was set free. [Sources 2, 3]
Tainted Headache Powders
Before she became married, Mrs. Mary Childers was known as quite the local beauty in Americus, Georgia. She attracted the attention of many men, but two in particular were to play major roles in her short life.
Mary was fiercely wooed by R.C. Kennedy and Mr. Childers. Being such passionate rivals, it was only natural that the losing suitor would feel bitter after Mary had made her choice for a husband, but Kennedy took his hurt a step further.
For months after Mary and Childers were married, Kennedy openly expressed his hatred towards the couple and refused to speak to them directly.
Then, rather suddenly, Kennedy appeared to have overcome his disappointment and he began to visit the couple at their apartment. While on one of his visits, it was alleged that Kennedy slipped some strychnine into a bottle of Mary’s headache powders and she passed away shortly thereafter. [Source 4]
She Made Him Special Sandwiches
Emily Elizabeth Hicks of Wellington, N.S.W. thought she had her husband’s suicide well planned out. She wrote out his suicide note before she went into the kitchen to prepare him some very special strychnine sandwiches.
She packed his sandwiches for him and sent him off to work. Unfortunately for Emily, Robert Henry was a picky eater with a strong stomach. He ate one of the sandwiches and found it to be too bitter for his liking.
He brought the rest of the sandwiches home and threw them to his dog. Sadly, his dog did not survive the deadly meal.
Emily’s misdeed was realized and she was arrested. At trial she was given five years in jail for attempted murder. [Source 5]
Too Cowardly to End It
John Staff of North Dakota planned to kill his family and then end his own life. On the day of the tragedy, John returned home with some bullets and a bottle of strychnine. He told his son, “The bullets are for you and your sister and your mother, and the poison is for papa.”
After shooting his wife, however, John must have had a change of heart and, instead of putting bullets in his young children, he bade them goodbye and told them that they would probably never see him again.
He left their home and went to a neighbor’s house where he sat down with the bottle of strychnine and told the neighbor what he had done.
The neighbor sat with John, listened to his story, and proceeded to convince John to hand over the poison. As John claimed, “She deserved it, but the barrel didn’t.” The neighbor asked him, “What’s the use of killing yourself now? Wait until after the trial and maybe you will not want to end your life?”
Sure enough, John Staff was arrested and put on trial. He hired the best legal defense he could get and received ten years in the pen for manslaughter. [Sources 6, 7, 8]
Jealousy Kills
Charles Grove worked as a farm laborer and had an ongoing relationship with Mary Walkington who worked as a cook at the hospital for the insane in Toorak, Victoria.
Charles sent numerous letters to Mary during their relationship, but nothing within the letters gave any clue as to what was really going on between Charles and Mary.
It was not until after their deaths that the police uncovered reports of Charles’ jealous rages. For instance, Mary had, at one time, smiled at another man on a train and it caused a severe argument between the couple. Other times, Charles had threatened to throw Mary into the river if she ever started seeing another man.
Perhaps the most sinister threat was the threat of poison. He had told her that he would poison her and then himself if ever he felt their relationship was threatened.
Then, in 1908, Charles pulled through on his threat. Mary, a mere twenty-five years old, was discovered moaning and convulsing on the grounds of the hospital. She was quickly taken into the hospital, but passed on before her stomach could be pumped.
When the police made a search of the grounds, they found Charles, also moaning on the ground. He was taken to the hospital and his stomach was pumped, but it was too late for him, as well, and he passed away.
The police searched the man’s belongings and discovered chocolate creams sprinkled with strychnine crystals. [Source 9]
The Michigan Borgia
“I didn’t intend harm to any of them,” said Mrs. Mary McKnight of Michigan back in 1903. Her only thought was to soothe the baby left in her care while her brother and his wife were away. She mixed some strychnine in water and spoon fed it to the infant.
When her sister-in-law returned home, she was distraught to discover that her baby had died and, according to Mary, asked for something to help her settle down. Mary had just the thing for the mother: a capsule full of strychnine.
The mother spasmed and passed away. Mary went on to say that, “John seemed to feel badly about it, so broken up, that I often thought after Gertie died that it would be better if he were to go, too.” Sure enough, Mary said that after a few weeks her brother came to her and asked if she had something to make him feel better.
Mary told her brother where to find the strychnine capsules. “I did not mean to hurt him,” she said, “but I thought that it would soothe him and then I thought that it would be for the best if he were to go, anyway.” Her brother passed away that night.
Mary might have gotten away with murder had she not filed a mortgage on her brother’s property. It was then that the brother’s body, his wife, and baby were exhumed and strychnine was found in their stomachs.
After her arrest and during her trial, eight other suspicious deaths were uncovered within her family, her friends, and neighbors over the previous fifteen years. Given the manner of their deaths, it was believed that Mary McKnight killed all of them using strychnine.
Mary McKnight was sentenced to life in prison and was paroled after a mere eighteen years. [Sources 10, 11, 12]
Three’s the Charm
In June of 1919, Mrs. Florence Elliott of South Gundagai, N.S.W. asked Frederick Smith to run out and get her a bit of strychnine. She never said what she wanted the poison for, but he went and got her the package, as requested.
About a month passed, and on July 6th Florence baked and packed some meat pies for her husband’s work lunch. After Mr. Elliott ate the pies, he became very ill and died shortly thereafter.
Florence was immediately taken into custody and during the inquest, she was given a verdict of murder, but the fun was just beginning.
At trial, the Crown prosecutor claimed that the meat pie had enough strychnine in it to kill a dozen men, but Florence claimed she was innocent of murder. Instead, she said her husband was suffering from depression and was worried over money matters.
The jury could not agree on Florence’s guilt or innocence, and a second trial was scheduled.
During her second trial in 1920, the jury could once again not make up its mind. The judge had the jury locked up over night, but no decision was reached and a third trial was set for Florence.
Almost a full year after the death of her husband, Florence returned for her third trial on charges of murder. This time the jury all agreed and Florence was acquitted. [Sources 13, 14, 15, 16]
A Very Bitter Coffee
Love triangles never end well and all too often they can end in the death of one or more people.
That was the case back in 1909 when Minnie Tracey’s lover, William Brown of York, Pennsylvania, bought a packet of strychnine. The goal was to get rid of Minnie’s husband.
In a written statement, Minnie confessed that her lover waited in the woods with the strychnine. As soon as he was able, he snuck into the kitchen and emptied the poison into the coffee pot as Minnie watched. William snuck back out and Minnie poured her husband a cup of coffee and mixed it with his usual whiskey.
The strychnine dose was exceptionally strong, and the poor husband fell into violent convulsions. He tore the flesh from his chest and died in extreme agony.
After the lovers were arrested, the police soon expected that the couple may have committed an earlier murder.
William was married to Minnie’s sister, making him her brother-in-law, and the sister had died of unknown causes a year before they did away with Minnie’s husband. [Source 17]
Get Rid of the Baby
Margaret Rees lived in Terang, Victoria back in 1908. She was the mother of an illegitimate child and one who was fathered by a dairy farmer, David Chard.
Margaret was smart enough to get an order for the maintenance of the baby, but the day after she was paid the first installment for the child’s care, she received a mysterious letter in the mail.
The letter claimed to be from a person who was concerned about her care and future. According to the author of the letter, David Chard was in love with Margaret, but could not marry her as long as their illegitimate child was alive.
Margaret was promised a happy life in a new home with Chard. If she would refuse the offer, she would face terrible hardship having to raise the baby all on her own.
A small packet was enclosed with the letter, along with instructions on how to feed the baby the poison so that it could die peacefully in its sleep.
Margaret took the letter and the poison to the police and it was discovered to be a packet of strychnine.
David Chard was immediately arrested for writing the letter and for suggesting murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment with hard labor. [Sources 18, 19]
