FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 6): El Paso, Tex.. Feb. 20. – Mrs. Agnes Orner was placed under arrest this afternoon following her return from the funeral of her little daughter who died Saturday afternoon under suspicious circumstances. Arsenic was found in the child’s stomach.
The
woman's husband died here two years ago under what are said to have been
suspicious circumstances, and one other child, and a trained nurse also died
under the same roof with suspicious
symptoms.
Mrs.
Orner was arrested in Globe, Arizona about three years ago on a charge of
poisoning her children, but the case was dismissed mi account of insufficient
evidence.
The woman is in the county jail.
[“A
Female Poisoner In The El Paso Jail - Believed to Have Caused Death of Four
Persons.” The Arizona Republican (Phoenix, Az.), Feb. 21, 1911, p. 8]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 2 of 6): El Paso, Tex., May 27.—Mrs. Agnes Orner, accused of
causing the death of her 11-year-old daughter, Lillie, by poison, on February
18, was found guilty of murder in the first degree in the Fourth district court
today and her punishment was assessed at life imprisonment. The jury was out
four hours.
Mrs.
Orner fainted when the verdict was announced and was removed from the court
room to the jail on a stretcher.
~
Argued Her Own Case. ~
An
unprecedented occurrence in local court annals took place today when Mrs.
Orner, ignoring the protest of her attorney, went forward just before the
charge was given to the jury by Judge Harper, and in an impassioned statement
declared her innocence. She gave her version of the child’s death and declared
“This is a most heinous crime which has been laid at my door and there is not
punishment too strong for such a crime. You do not know if I am guilty but
there is an Almighty Power in whom I place my trust and who knows I am
innocent.”
~ Arsenic in Girl’s Stomach. ~
Lillie Orner died on February 18 after an illness of less
than a day. Suspicion was directed to the mother and an analysis of the child’s
stomach showed thirty-six grains of arsenic in it. The child had said before
becoming unconscious. “If mamma had not put that stuff in my coffee I would be
all right.”
Mrs.
Orner’s husband, who was a Pullman conductor, died ago after a short illness
two and years Mrs. Orner was tried shortly after on an insanity charge but was
discharged after she had recited an original poem.
[“Mrs.
Agnes Orner Convicted of Poisoning
Daughter By Giving Arsenic. - Makes A Plea To The Jury - Calls God to Witness Innocence But Jury
Assesses Imprisonment for Life.” San Antonio Light (Tx.), May 28, 1911, p. 1]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 3 of 6): Pecos, Tex., Nov. 25. — The third trial of Mrs. Agnes
Orner, charged with the murder of her daughter, Lillie, was begun here today.
Mrs. Orner was convicted and given a life sentence at El Paso, but the supreme
court reversed the case on the ground that the verdict of the jury failed to
state in which degree she was found guilty. She was tried at Marfa and the jury
failed to agree.
The
defendant declared today she is confident of being acquitted. She is in better
spirits, her acquaintances say, looks better physically than ever before,
although she has been confined in jail for over two years.
Mrs.
Orner’s daughter died suddenly on Feb. 18, 1911. Her husband died suddenly
about a year previous, and another child died suddenly at Globe, Arizona, prior
to that.
[“Woman
Charged With Murder.” The Abilene Semi-Weekly Reporter (Tx.), Nov. 29, 1912, p.
5]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 4 of 6): Van Horn, Tex., Oct. 8. – Mrs. Sadie Irwin, the first
witness to be called Wednesday morning la the trial of Mrs. Agnes Orner,
charged with the murder of her daughter Lillie, testified that she was introduced
to Mrs. Orner by Tom Delany in 1910. Delany is one of the witnesses for the
defence. Mrs. Irwin testified that on Monday afternoon after the death of
Lillie Orner on Saturday, she was at the Orner home and that Mrs. Orner put her
hands on Mrs. Irwin’s shoulders and said to her: “My God must I confess.”
The
witness said she asked her “confess to what” but received no answer. The
witness further testified that on the way home from the funeral J. D. Lea was
taken violently ill from
something he had eaten. She said she was not a friend of J. D. Lea and that she
considered him just a “spunky little man.” The Witness’s ready answers and
parries in wit furnished the only moments so far where intense seriousness was
not apparent in the trial.
~
Neighbor of Mrs. Orner Testifies. ~
Mrs.
A. J. Tyra was the next witness. She testified that she lived next door to Mrs.
Orner at the time of the death of Lillie and that she had seen Lillie in the
yard the morning of the day she died and had also seen her in the window the
afternoon she died, and that she seemed then to be a well and healthy child.
~ Dr.
C. P. Brown Recalled. ~
Dr. C P. Brown was recalled by the state to
testify as to the contents of the prescription which he left when he called at
the Orner home the day of the child’s death. He said it contained serum of
oxlate and cocaine and that there was no arsenic in it.
~
Says Meat Killed Her Dog. ~
Mrs.
N. B. Larock testified that she lived at the same house as Mrs. Tyra at the
time of Lilly’s death. She said that she went over to the Orner home shortly
after the death of the child, and Mrs. Orner told her that Lillie had been
taken suddenly sick and had died from some cause unknown to Mrs. Orner. She
testified that J. D. Lea threw away some meat that had been on the table in the
Orner home, and that her dog ate the meat and a few minutes thereafter the dog
went into convulsions and died. She also testified that she had offered on
Sunday to prepare a meal for Mrs. Orner and asked Mrs. Orner if she would like
to have some of the meat which was on the table warmed over and served and Mrs.
Orner said she did not care to eat any of it.
~
Mrs. Orner Talked of Poisons. ~
Lee
Newman testified that he had been to Mrs. Orner’s house about two years before
Lillie’s death and that while there Mrs. Orner told him that she knew of a
deadly poison which could be administered to a person with fatal results, and
no doctor could discover what the poison was.
Mrs.
F. A. Pope then testified that she had known the defendant for about two years
before the child’s death, Mrs. Pope had Lillie stay at her home for a few weeks
while Mrs. Orner was sick, and that during a conversation about that time, Mrs.
Orner mentioned that she was a trained nurse and that Mrs. Orner went and got a
medicine case full of vials and picked out one of the vials and said: “That is
a deadly poison and after it has been administered no doctor on earth can
detect it.” J. W. Brown’s testimony, given at the first trial in El Paso, was
then read. Brown is the deputy constable who arrested the defendant immediately
after the funeral of Lillie Orner. He testified that as soon as he met Mrs.
Orner she said to him: “Have you got a warrant for me.”
~
State to Finish Its Case. ~
Court
adjourned at noon till two o’clock to await the arrival of Dr. W. L. Brown, of
El Paso. Joseph N. Nealon who is conducting the state’s case, announced to the
court that the state would finish its case Wednesday afternoon.
~
Tells of Arsenic In Child Stomach. ~
Dr.
L. B. Rogers, the first witness Tuesday afternoon, testified at length as to
the tests made on the Internal organs of Lillie Orner the day after her death,
which showed the presence of arsenic in large quantity. He further testified
that arsenic was one of the most common poisons and was very easily obtainable
at any drug store. He also testified that “rough on rats” and other proprietary
compounds were composed largely of arsenic and were commonly used.
~
Rule Is Suspended. ~
During
Dr. Rogers’s testimony, judge Jackson acceded to the request of the numerous
witnesses in the case and suspended the rule which requires all witnesses to
remain out of the court room while the evidence is being heard, and permitted
the witnesses to come In and hear Dr. Rogers’s evidence.
Dr.
Rogers was followed by Robert Brooks, now an apprentice printer on the El Paso
Herald. Brooks was the messenger who had testified on former trials that on the
day of Lillie Orner’s death he carried medicine prescribed by Dr C P Brown from
Ryan’s drug store to the Orner home and tint Mrs. Orner declined to pay for it,
so the medicine was not delivered. On examination here, he could not state when
it was that he delivered the
medicine
to the Orner home, nor could he identify Mrs. Orner as the woman whom he saw
there and who declined to pay for the medicine. His failure to be able to be as
specific as heretofore amused the defendant, who was much more composed during
Brooks’s testimony.
~
Coffee Testimony Read. ~
The
state then read portions of the testimony of Mrs. Edith Evans, the witness who
was at the Orner home just before Lillie Orner died. Mrs. Evans is now in
California. The state did not offer the portion of Mrs. Evans’s testimony
wherein she testified that Lillie Orner had said to her shortly before the
child’s death that “I would have been all right if mama had not put ‘that’ in
the coffee.” This latter statement, alleged to have been made by Lillie Orner,
has heretofore been admitted
In
evidence over the objection of defendant. It was this statement by Mrs. Evans
which at the first trial caused the defendant Mrs. Orner, to make an argument
to the jury over the protest of her attorneys, to the effect that it was castor
oil which had made Lillie sick.
[“Witness In Mrs. Orner’s Case Says Woman Cried ‘My God, I
Mist Confess,’” El Paso Herald (Tx.), Oct. 8, 1913, p. 2]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 6): Austin, Texas, Jan. 5. – The
court of criminal appeals today affirmed the case of Mrs. Agnes Orner from El
Paso county, appellant today affirmed
the case of Mrs. Agnes Orner from El; Paso county, appellant having been
given a life term in the penitentiary on conviction of the murder of Lillie
Orner, her daughter, by poisoning.
In appealing the case many assignments of error are made but
none of them were sustained.
After discussing the various points assigned as error, the
court today said: “However, the testimony as a whole and that of the state
without doubt was amply sufficient to show that appellant was guilty of the
crime for which she was convicted and that no other person than she killed the
deceased.”
Judge Davidson dissented, but has not yet filed his
dissenting opinion.
• ~ • ~ • ~ •
Mrs. Agnes Orner, convicted and given a life sentence in the
penitentiary on the charge of murdering her daughter, Lillie, aged 11 years,
will have to serve out the sentence. The court of criminal appeals, to which
the case was carried by her attorneys following her conviction in the 34th
district court, today affirmed the case and ended Mrs. Orner’s five year fight
for liberty.
Mrs. Orner has 20 days in which to file a motion for the
rehearing before the court of appeals. If this is denied, the sentence will
then be executed. The court of criminal appeals is the court of last resort in
a criminal case.
Mrs. Orner’s little daughter died on February 19, 1911,
surrounded by mysterious circumstances, following a few months after the sudden
death of Mrs. Orner’s husband. After investigation, Mrs. Orner was arrested and
indicted. It was brought out at the trial that neighbors had heard Lillie say:
“Marma, you know you killed papa.” [note: “Marma” in the original text]
~ First Trial Held Here. ~
Mrs. Orner’s first trial was held in El Paso and she was
convicted and given a life sentence. The court of criminal appeals reversed the
case because the jury found her “guilty of murder as charged in the
indictment,” when it should have read verdict “guilty of murder in the first
degree, as charged in the indictment.”
The defendant was then allowed a change of venue to Midland
for a new trial, which resulted in a hung jury. From Midland the case went to
Marfa for a third trial, with the same result. Pecos witnessed the fourth
trial, and Van Horn the fifth, each in turn resulting in a hung jury. The sixth
trial of the case came to El Paso and conviction resulted in a life sentence.
It is this sentence which the court of criminal appeals today affirmed at
Austin.
Mrs. Orner has been defended by funds raised by a Swedish
society of Minneapolis, where she formerly lived. She was a trained nurse and a
widow before coming to El Paso.
~ Married Third Time. ~
Following the death of Order, it developed at one of her
trials, Mrs. Orner went to Los Angeles and was married in that city. She
declared in her trial that she was not in her right mind at the time of the
wedding and was inveigled into it under the influence of drugs.
Mrs. Orner in now in El Paso county jail, where she spends
her time writing poetry and songs and doing fancy work. She has always stoutly
protested the charge of poisoning her child and has several times fainted in
court when details of the death of the child were being recounted. She was
asserted that she was the victim of enemies in the prosecution.
The remains of her child and of her husband were both
exhumed for examination of the viscera following her arrest, and poison was
found in both bodies, according to the chemists who made the examinations.
Orner was a Pullman conductor between El Paso and Los
Angeles at the time of his death, and carried insurance in the Maccabees.
[“Mrs. Orner Must Spend Life In Prison – Guilty Says
Appelate Court – In Passing On Her Appeal, Judges Assert There Is No Doubt Of
Her Guilt. – Tried Six Times, Convicted Twice – Was Accused Of Poisoning
Daughter, Following Sudden Death of Husband.” El Paso Herald (Tx.), Jan. 5,
1916, p. 1]
***
FULL
TEXT (Article 6 of 6): Austin, Texas. Dec. 7. – A conditional pardon was
granted today by acting governor Johnson to Mrs. Agnes Orner, of El Paso,
convicted at El Paso in 1915 on the charge of murder by poison of her little
daughter, Lillian, and given a life term in the penitentiary.
Conditions
under which the pardon was granted are that Mrs. Orner leaves El Paso and does
not go back there.
This
is quite a noted case in that it had been tried six times. In the first trial,
at El Paso. Mrs. Orner was given 99 years in the penitentiary, while four of
the trials which were held at other places than El Paso, all resulted in hung
juries.
~ Ten
Years In Prison. ~
The
last time the case was tried, in 1915, a life sentence was imposed. The crime
for which Mrs. Orner was convicted occurred at El Paso In 1911 and before she
reached the penitentiary she had served 5 years in jail and has also served
virtually five years in the state penitentiary. In recommending the pardon, the
board of pardons was divided. Judge William Knight dissented, while chairman
Frita R. Smith, the other member, made a favorable recommendation on the ground
that the woman was convicted on circumstantial evidence.
~ Has
Tuberculosis. ~
Mrs.
Orner was pardoned on the ground that she is suffering from tuberculosis.
The
woman was tried first at El Paso in 1911, when J. M. Neslon was district
attorney. When her conviction was reversed, she was granted a change of venue
and was tried successively at Midland, Marfa, Pecos and Van Horn and then the
case was brought back to El Paso, after the juries had failed to convict her in
each of the other trials. W. W. Bridgers was district attorney the last time
she was tried, and secured her conviction.
~ The
Alleged Crimes. ~
On
February 13[?], 1911, Lillie Cordovia Orner died suddenly. The mother, who
lived at 608 North Ochoa street, was arrested on a charge of murder and after a
preliminary hearing before Justice E. B. McClintock, remanded to jail without
bond to await action of the grand jury.
On
July 27, 1910, after an illness of six hours, the child’s father. Alfred F.
Orner, Pullman conductor, died in the same manner. On August 9. 1910, Mrs.
Orner was arrested on a charge of lunacy, but was acquitted three days later
before a jury in probate court.
[“Mrs. Agnes Orner Pardoned After Serving Five Years For The
Death Of Her Daughter,” El Paso Herald (Tx.), Dec. 7, 1920, p. 1]
***
5
VICTIMS:
Mrs. John Hughes, died circa Mar. 1908
Mrs. John Hughes, died circa Mar. 1908
Baby;
Globe, Arizona
Baby;
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Lillie
Cordovia Orner (11), died Feb. 18, 1911
Mr.
Orner, husband, died Jul. 27, 1910
CHRONOLOGY
1908 – circa Mar., death of Mrs. John Hughes
1908
– Arrested for poisoning children; not tried; lack of evidence.
1909
– Jul. 27 – death of Mr. Orner, husband
1910
– Aug. 9 – arrested charge of lunacy, acquitted Aug. 12
1911
– Feb. 18 – death of daughter, Lillie Cordovia Orner (11)
1911
– Feb. 20 – arrested at cemetery during funeral for murder of Lillie
1911
– May 24 – 1st trial begins; El Paso, 25th District Court
1911
– May 27 – convicted, sentenced to 99 years (some sources say “life” sentence)
1911-12?
(date?) – New trial awarded on appeal on error of not establishing degree of murder
1912
– Aug. 21; Sep. 19 – 2nd trial, Marfa, Texas
1912
– Dec. 4 – 3rd trial, Pecos, hung jury on Dec. 4
1913
– date? – 4th trial, Pecos
1913
– Oct. 6 – 5th trial starts, Van Horn
1913
– Oct. 12 – 5th trial ends, Van Horn; hung jury (8 acquit; 4
convict)
1915
– date? – 6th trial, El Paso, 25th District Court,
begins.
1915
– Mar. 12 – 6th trial, El Paso, 25th District Court;
convicted, sentenced to life
1916
– Jan. 5 – court of criminal appeals affirms sentence
1920
– conditional pardon; she is required to leave El Paso and never return
***
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[1385-1/3/2021]
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