NOTE: A genealogical study shows that the proper spelling is “Clement.” The name is spelled variously in different news reports: “Clemen,” “Kleman, "Klemann," or “Klemens,” as well as a supposed alias, “Clementine.”
Marie “Mary” Clement (Feb 16 1863- Jul 9 1944)
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Aug. 1, 1880 – Annie Clement (Sep. 21, 1874 Iowa - Aug. 1, 1880), almost 6, died in Dubuque.
Aug. 9, 1884 – Sister, Anne Marie Madelène “Lena” Clement, 13, (Jan. 22, 1871- Aug. 9, 1884), died in Dubuque.
Mar. 28, 1885 – Father, Michel Clement, 49, (born Harlange, Luxembourg, Jun. 26 1835; died Dubuque, Iowa, Mar. 28, 1885).
Jul. 24, 1884 – Mother, Margarite Deville Clement, 54, (born Harlange, Luxembourg, Feb. 24, 1830; died Dubuque, Iowa, Jul. 24, 1884)
Jun. 8, 1885 – Catherine (“Katie”) Clement Freres & Michael Freres, (born Jan 1 1861- May 2, 1929) poisoned, survived. Evanston, Il.
Jun. 21?, 1885 – Mary Clement arrested for the Freres poisonings.
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FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 6): Chicago, June 23 – Mary Kleman, who is said to have confessed to poisoning her father, mother and sister at Dubuque, Iowa, and to have attempted to poison her sister’s family at Rosa Hill, declared in the presence of Dr. Blutharrit, the county physician, that she had never poisoned or attempted to poison any of her relatives. And further, that she did not remember making such a confession, and if she did, she remembered nothing of it, and did not know what she was talking about.
The
doctor is of the opinion that the girl is perfectly sane, but is suffering from
a complication of disorders, which makes her extremely nervous and sensitive.
He says she is afflicted with hysterical paralysis, and after the excitement, increased
by constant talking, was likely to say anything, just like a person in
delirium.
[“The Female Poisoner. - Mary Kleman Now
Denies That She Ever Poisoned Anybody.” The Piqua Daily Call (Oh.), Jun. 23,
1885, p. 1]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 2 of 6): CHICAGO, June 21.—Mary Kleman, the girl confined in jail
who has heretofore persistently asserted her innocence of the crime with which
she Is charged, that of administering poison to the family of Mrs.
Michael Freres, her sister, with whom she has made her home for a short time,
at Rose Hill, confessed Friday night that she was guilty, not only of the
attempt upon their lives, but of causing the deaths of her mother, father and
another sister in Dubuque, Ia. Her mother died in July of last year, her sister
Lena in August and her father Michael in March of this year. She assigns no
motive for her crimes other than that she was impelled to commit them and is
evidently insane.
Mary
Kleman is less than twenty-three years old, slender, rather pretty, prepossessing in
manner, and an invalid, having but partial use of her lower limbs and feet. She
has an innocent expression, and looks even more youthful than she is. Her eyes
have the strange, bright, fixed look so often seen with a diseased mind. For the past two months she has lived
with her sister at Rose Hill, to whom she came after the burial of her father
in Dubuque.
Several
times since she has lived with her sister she has prepared the meals, and on
nearly every occasion when she has done so the family, consisting of Michael
Freies, his wife and two small children have been taken ill with vomiting
immediately afterward. Michael Freres found a package of greyish-colored powder
in the yard a week ago last Tuesday morning. When he ate his soup at noon he
was seized with vomiting and observed a sediment in his soup-plate
corresponding to it in appearance. Upon further examination more of the same
substance was found in his wife's and the children's plates.
He
carried both the powder found in the yard and that in the plates to Evanston
for analysis, and called in a physician to attend to the family. The result
showed that the powder was poison. Mary Kleman was accordingly arrested, and
after a preliminary hearing before Justice Chapman in Evanston, brought here and
lodged in the Cook County Jail.
There
is little doubt that the girl is insane. There has always been a disposition on
the part of the jail officials and attendants to believe the girl guilty, the
facts were
so strong against her, but many of those about the jail that evening thought
the alleged
confession went for but little. The girl is weakly, sick and predisposed to
hysterics, and if she is insane, as her relatives believe, she was even more
irrational than usual Friday evening. Therefore not much reliance can be placed
on the confession, which was simply a verbal one made in a rambling, incoherent
manner.
[“A
Modern Borgia. - The Awful Story of Mary Kleman at Chicago. – Arrested on a
Charge of Attempting to Poison Her Sister’s Family - She confessed to Killing Her Father, Mother
and Sister In a Like
Manner. - Too Horrible Fob Belief.” Semi-Weekly Jackson Sentinel (Maquoketa,
Io.), Jun. 27, 1885, p. 4]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 6): Chicago, July
20. – Mary Kleman, the girl under Indictment on a charge of poisoning with
intent to kill the family of her sister, Mrs. Michael Freres, at Rose Hill, and
who is said to have confessed to having poisoned her sister and father a year
ago, was placed on trial in Judge Anthony’s court. But little time was spent in
securing a jury. Miss Kleman was dressed in deep mourning, and watched the
proceedings closely. She seemed slightly nervous at times, but quickly
controlled herself. Mrs. Freres, sister of the prisoner, took the stand and
showed no sympathy for the prisoner, and seemed decidedly on the aggressive.
She said that on Thursday night prior to the poisoning the defendant proposed
that they have soup.
Witness
acquiesced and soup was accordingly served. Miss Kleman refused to eat any herself, saying she did not care for it. Shortly after eating it they were
all taken sick, and continued so
until Thursday, when they were
much better. On that day Mary proposed to have more soup, and again refused to
eat any. They wore all taken
sick again, and then became suspicious. She saw a gray substance in the soup, and a paper was
found in the yard which also contained a similar powder. Isaac Poole, M. D , Bald he was called in to attend
the sick persons and found undoubted evidence of arsenical poisoning. Henry S.
Carhart, professor at the Northwestern University, was then called. He made a
test of the powder in the cup and found unmistakable evidence of arsenic. Nathan P. Williams,
druggist, testified to the examination of the powder, and said he found
unmistakable evidence of arsenic. Other testimony of similar character was
made, and the case was given to the jury at 8 o’clock. Shortly before 6 p.m., the jury returned with a
verdict of guilty, the penalty named being one year in the Penitentiary.
[“Mary Kleman, the Self-Confessed Poison
Fiend, Convicted and Sentenced.” The Evening Sentinel (Le Mars, Io.), Jul. 20, 1885, p. 2]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 6): The case
of the young girl, Mary Klemen, who is under arrest at Chicago for
administering poison to her sister’s family, and who has confessed that she
previously poisoned her father, mother, and another sister, is (says THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE) interesting from a scientific
point of view. The girl is 22, pretty, apparently intelligent, and
innocent-looking. The account she gives is of a character so strange that a
couple centuries ago it would, no doubt, have
been believed to be a case of witchcraft, while even now, in some parts of
Europe, the theory of obsession would probably be called in to explain it.
She says that something outside of
herself, “it” is the expression she uses, came to her and kept urging her to
poison her family. “It,” she says, “kept at my side and whispered in my ears
day and night” suggesting that she should kill her mother, and the same thing
occurred in all the other cases. Of course in these days the theory of insanity
is that which flint suggests itself, and the books record many cases closely
resembling this one in the central peculiarity of an imagined external tempter.
Dr. Hammond, in a pamphlet on
“Insanity and Crime,” some years ago related one of these strange instances,
the case of a French lad who murdered a little girl,
and who insisted that he was compelled to do the deed by something outside of
himself. In epileptiform [sic] insanity and hallucination referred is found
most frequently. A remarkable ease in point is that of a gentleman who imagined
that every day when the clock pointed to a certain hour the door opened an old
woman with a magnificent expression entered and struck him a blow on the head
with her crutched stick, whereupon he fell into a fit. A correct diagnosis
revealed epilepsy. The most important consideration in cases of this kind
involving homicide is, however, the question of responsibility, and upon this
alienists are not yet agreed. Admitting the reality of Mary Kleman’s
hallucination, it remains to determine whether or not she is accountable for
her actions.
Of course the yielding loan impulse
or hallucination does not prove that it could not be resisted, in many cases of
homicidal insanity there is proof that resistance to the impulse was made on
other occasions, nod successfully. No doubt this is a delicate point to decide,
since it must to a considerable extent be determined upon conjecture. But since
every human being is subject to sinister imaginings at this time and since in
the majority of instances these are successfully
resisted, it is nil important question whether the shield of insanity should be thrown over criminals whose mildness in plainly
monomaniacal, and in whom its most marked manifestation is an abnormal
feebleness of resistance, it is to be hoped that the case of Mary Kiernan will
be carefully and fully investigated by alienists, for it is evidently one of
far more than ordinary interest and importance in its bearing upon the disputed
relations between insanity, crime, and law.
[“A Young Female Poisoner.” From New York Tribune, Clarence
and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton, NSW, Australia), Aug. 25, 1885, p. 2]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 5 of 6): The cloud of mystery hanging over Mary Klemen as a
murderess has been cleared up by her own confession, admitting the crime for
which she is an inmate, of the Joliet (Ill.) Penitentiary. She wrote a letter
recently to a friend in Dubuque, making the startling confession that she
poisoned her father, mother, brother and sister, causing their deaths, while
the family lived at Dubuque.
[Untitled
(Iowa Items), Williamsburgh Journal (Io.), Nov. 13, 1885, p. 4]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 6 of 6):: Dubuque, Ia., October 21. Mrs. K. J. Schrup, wife of
the secretary of the Dubuque Fire and Marine Insurance Company, who is visiting
friends in Rose Hill, near Chicago, wrote home for funds. Her husband signed a
blank check, and humorously wrote her not to draw for more than $10,000. While
riding in a Chicago street car her pocket was picked of the letter and check.
Yesterday
the Dubuque bank received an order to stop payment on a check for $3,000,
signed Mary Clementine, as it had been stolen. It is believed that Mary
Clementine is Mary Klemens, formerly of this city, who poisoned her sister at
Rose Hill, and confessed to having poisoned and killed her father, mother and
brother in this city. She was adjudged insane by the Chicago authorities and
was put in a hospital, from which she was afterward released. She is supposed
to have taken the blank check, and after filling it up for $3,000 had it stolen
from her.
[“A
Dangerous Woman. - Another Escapade of a Female Poisoner, Released From an
Insane Asylum.” The Pittsburg Dispatch (Pa.), Oct. 25, 1890, p. 12]
[1499-12/28/20]
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Thanks so much for such a thorough account of Mary Clement's life and times.
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