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Non-Fiction: THE WIFE POISONER
Published in 1876
The trial of Dr. George J. St Louis, of Fremont, Nebraska,
upon the charge of poisoning his wife Mary St.
Louis, occupied the attention of courts for two years,
and became a case of state interest. There was a woman
in the case, and this added to its attractiveness.
The Doctor, in one of his letters to Mrs. Bloomer, a
grass widow, and the source of his great sorrow says:
u Our intimacy brought us here and I dont want it to
hang me."
The case was carried to the Court of last resort, and
decided against him. The last ray of hope for the
doomed man was dispelled when Governor Nance declined
to interfere. On the night of the 17th day of
April, the day before he was to pay the penalty of his
crime with his life, a pistol in some mysterious manner
got into his hands, and the gallows was cheated,
by sending a ball through his brain. He lingered unconsciously
for two days, and then passed away to stand
before his Maker, who alone knows whether his protests
of innocency were founded on truth or were but
the stubborn perjuries of a convicted villain. The story
of this remarkable case is given from official sources
on the succeeding pages.
HISTORY OF THE CKIME.
St. Louis was married in 1869 to his last wife, Mary
Hoffmeyer, who was an old schoolmate of his first wife.
In 1874 he moved to Fremont, and began the practice
of medicine. It soon transpired that he was doing
business on a forged diploma. Beside this, the intimacy
which he carried on with Mrs. Bloomer was a
fruitful source of trouble.
The visits of Dr. St. Louis to Mrs. Bloomer were so
frequent as to attract general attention. Friends of
the Doctor in Fremont exerted themselves to induce
him to drop the intimacy. Dr. Orabbs remonstrated
with him, and finally dissolved the partnership existing.
At last he grew neglectful of his wife and children.
His earnings, instead of being used to support
his own family, were lavished upon his paramour.
Several days often passed, during which he would not
visit his home. He was, however, never apparently
positively cruel to his wife. She was a small, blackeyed,
thin-faced woman, of positive temper and vivacious
manners, and it is known that she often upbraided
him for his faithlessness; aud yet during all
the searching of a trial and the cross-examination of
witnesses, it was not deduced that he had ever been
heard to speak a harsh word to her. His abuse was
simply neglect.
Mrs. St. Louis was taken sick about the middle of
the month of May, in the year 1877. Concerning her
first symptoms, the statement of her husband is all
that can be given. He says that she was habitually
troubled Jwith indigestion and costiveness, and that
the sickness which immediately preceded her death
began as had many other illnesses to which she had
been subject. For two or three days she continued to
improve slightly, but on the third night of her illness
she awoke him with the crv that she was dying. He •J O CD
found her in a terrible state of nervous exhaustion,
and her heart was so visibly affected that she could
hardly draw her breath. Her sister and other friends
were called in : but the shock passed off, and the sick
woman afterward rallied considerably. On the Sunday
preceding her death (which was on Friday), she
suffered a serious relapse.
Had it not been for the very shameful and eminently
injudicious conduct of Dr. St. Louis during his
wife's sickness, it is probable that no suspicion of poisoning
would have attached to him. But his reason,
at other times clear enough, seems to have been affected
by the woman for whom he committed the terrible
crime of wife-murder. With her he spent the
greater portion of his time. Leaving his wife to the
care of relatives and friends, he devoted his time and
attention to the interests of Mrs. Bloomer; and even
on the morning after the death of his wife, he was
seen at an early hour going up the steps which led to
the room of his paramour. For such a course, public
opinion could have but suspicion and condemnation;
and because of it, an autopsy was held on the body of
Mrs. St. Louis, on Saturday, June 2d, 1877.
The third week after the autopsy the report of Walter
S. Haines, professor of chemistry and toxicology
of Bush College, Chicago was received. A coroner's
the jury was immediately summoned, and a report was
produced that left no doubt as to the presence of arsenic
in the stomach and St. Louis was arrested.
The trial began at Fremont, January 22d, 1878.
Drs. Borglum & Elwood, local physicians, who attended Mrs. St. Louis during her sickness, were put
upon the stand and they testified that she had undeniable
symptoms of poisoning and that she was undoubtedly
suffering from its effects. The viscera were
sent to Chicago for examination, and the damning testimony
in this celebrated trial was that of Walter S.
Haines, the Chicago chemist, who testified to finding
over nine grains of arsenic therein.
The jury, in the trial of January, disagreed. A
change of venue was obtained and a second trial had
at Wahoo, Saunders county, in the following April,
and he was there found guilty of murder in the first
degree.
There are many people in Nebraska who believe
him to be an innocent man.
The End