FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): New Orleans, Feb.
27 – Is Mrs. Rennette Cure Bussey – wedded at 16, mother at 22, a widow bereft
of husband and entire brood at 23 years of age – guilty of unbelievable Borgian
cruelties, or is she the victim of a chain of unfortunate circumstances that
have resulted in the charge of poisoning her five-year-old daughter Verdia?
She claims the allegations, and friends
declare, she is a victim of circumstance.
Mrs. Bussey is under arrest, charged with
murder. Little Verdia died after a lingering, wasting illness. Physicians said
it was mercurial poisoning. Police accuse the mother of administering the
poison. But as little Verdia lay dying, and at the funeral, Mrs. Bussey, taken
from her jail cell under guard, sobbed and wept convulsively over the passing
of the last of her brood.
Though there is but the one charge against
her, police accuse her of causing the deaths of her husband and two other
children.
Lawrence Bussey, the father and husband, a
city fireman, died April 3, 1925.
Clarence, 3, died on Dec. 5, 1925, at 3 years
of age.
Esther, a baby [of] 16 months, died Jan. 1,
1926.
Verdia, 5 years old, died Feb. 21, 1926.
Physicians attributed the deaths at the time
to various maladies – peritonitis, acute indigestion, liver and kidney
maladies.
The three bodies were exhumed by order of
court after Mrs. Bussey’s arrest on the charge of giving poison to Verdia. Chemists declare
traces of mercurial poison were found in badly decomposed organs of all three.
Verdia told court attaches just before her
death: “Mamma gave me something to eat on a piece of bread and told me to eat
it. In a little while I was spitting up blood. She said she’d whip me if I told
anybody.”
Dr. George Roeling, coroner; Henry Mooney,
district attorney; and Edward Smith, chief of detectives, declare that
sufficient evidence to warrant a charge of poisoning all four members of her
family being placed against the wife and mother, was in hand.
Frail and delicate, only 4 feet 6 inches
tall, and weighing less than 99 pounds, Mrs. Bussey is probably the most
remarkable crime suspect New Orleans detectives ever have to deal with. She is
calm when questioned about the deaths of the four members of her family, and is
firm in her denials of guilt.
Mrs. Bussey’s attorneys refuse to allow her
to be photographed in close-up.
Newspapermen, seeking other photos,
discovered that in the ten days preceding Verdia’s death, and before she was
arrested, Mrs. Bussey went to all relatives of herself and husband, gathered up
photos of both of them, and saying she was borrowing them somewhere.
New Orleans’ detectives and prosecutors admit
it is the most astounding – and probably baffling – criminal case the courts
here have known in a score of years.
[“Mother
of Three at 22 Accused of Slaying Husband and Babes,” The Mansfield News (Oh.),
Feb. 27, 1926, p. 1]
***
FULL
TEXT: (Article 2 of 4): New Orleans, La., May 3. – Attracted by the crime with
which she is charged, criminologists and psychologists in New Orleans are
centering their attention upon Mrs. Renette Cure Bussey, 23-year-old mother of
three infants who, within eleven months, have died. They see in the calm,
tolerant exterior of this alleged unnatural mother, something that might open
to them u new avenue of thought and study. Mrs. Bussey has been brought to
trial for the murder of her five-year-old daughter Verdia. through
administration of mercury poison.
Two
other children, aged 16 months and three years, also succumbed to poison. With
the exception of her husband, who also died under suspicious circumstances,
poison was found in the organs of the deceased. Now she calmly – almost,
indifferently – faces trial for her life. And the district attorney is
demanding the death penalty.
[“Mother Tried For Daughter’s Death Loss Of Other Children
Probed,” syndicated (Central Press), New Castle Press (Pa.), May 4, 1926, p. 7]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 3 of 4): New Orleans. May 1. – Attorneys for Mrs. Bennett Bussey,
found guilty of manslaughter by a jury in criminal court here last night, today
began preparing a motion for a new trial. Pending action on this petition, the
23-year-old defendant will not be sentenced. Twenty years imprisonment in the
state penitentiary is the maximum penalty under the law.
Mrs.
Bussey originally was charged with administering poison to her year-old
daughter. Verdia Bussey.
However,
during the course of the trial, winch began Monday, she was held responsible
for the deaths by poisoning of two other children, Esther Bussey, 16 months
old, and Clarence Bussey, 3 years old.
The
jury deliberated six hours before determining upon the verdict, which was
termed as "cowardly" by Hugh Wilkinson, of counsel for the defense.
He claimed Mrs. Bussey should have been found either guilty of first-degree
murder or acquitted.
Underworld
characters and socially prominent persons were among the throngs which
frequented the courtroom during the hearing's progress.
Women
were in a majority among regular attendants.
[“Mrs. Bussey's Plea for New Trial Holds Up Court's
Sentence,” syndicated (AP), The Biloxi Gulf Coast Daily Herald (Mississippi),
May 1, 1926, p. 1]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 3 of 4): New Orleans, Dec. 7. – Mrs. Renette C. Bussey, after
being held in the parish prison for nearly nine months in connection with the
death of her infant daughter in February, will be allowed to sign her own bond
and will be released from custody today.
The
release came as the result of the result decision of the state supreme court,
which refused to reconsider its earlier decision that testimony introduced at
the trial of Mr. Bussey could not be admitted. Mrs. Bussey had been tried and
convicted on a charge of manslaughter and had appealed the decision to the
higher courts.
[“Woman Held For Killing Her Baby Will Be
Bonded,” syndicated (INS), The Bee (Danville, Va.), Dec. 7, 1926, p 5]
***
No comments:
Post a Comment