FULL TEXT: Selma,
Ala. – A 36-year-old woman, accused of seeking wealth through arsenic and
insurance, was given a life term in prison, Wednesday, for the poison death of
a neighbor’s 10-month-old child.
At the end of a two-day trial, a Circuit Court jury found
Mrs. Mary Perkins guilty in connection with the death of an infant, Gloria Jean
Montgomery.
The child was one of 84 persons upon whom Mrs. Perkins is
said to have carried life insurance policies.
The Selma housewife’s elaborate scheme of insurance and
murder for profit was brought to light by an investigation which followed the
death of her own seven-year-old son, Charley Perkins, Jr.
The previous day she had increased insurance on his life
from $250 to $1,000.
Ironically, no traces of poison nor evidence of foul play
were uncovered in the death of the boy.
A Dallas County grand jury, however, later indicted on three
counts of murder.
Exhumation and autopsy revealed traces of arsenic in the
remains of her husband, Charley Perkins, Sr.; Mrs. Della Davis, a 70-year-old
friend, and little Gloria Jean.
At the start of the probe, Mrs. Perkins shot herself in the
chest in a suicide attempt, but was hospitalized and recovered.
Circuit solicitor Blanch McLeod stated that 10 bodies of
persons insured by Mrs. Perkins were exhumed in the course of the
investigation.
He stated also that Mrs. Perkins admitted that she poisoned
Mrs. Davis and Gloria Jean because she needed the money from their policies to
keep up the payments on other policies which were due.
The other two indictments against Mrs. Perkins remained on
the court docket for possible future trial.
[“It’s End of the line for Mary Perkins,” Washington
Afro-American (Washington, D.C.), Mar 4, 1958, p. 14]
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