Unknown Gender History: Jane (Hannah) Dorsey, Suspected Serial Killer: Indiana

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Jane (Hannah) Dorsey, Suspected Serial Killer: Indiana - 1891

Note: Some sources give the name as “Hannah” and others “Jane.”

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FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 3): Indianapolis, June 23. – Intense interest is felt here in the charges which have been made against Mrs. John Dorsey who is believed to have poisoned some six or eight persons, her victims being four husbands, two stepchildren and her mother and sister the alleged incentive being to get the money for which the lives of her victims were insured Mrs. Dorsey is a woman of attractive appearance and before she entered upon her matrimonial career was Miss Taylor and lived in this city.

For two weeks the Coroner has been pursuing a quiet investigation and the result ot this was a determination to exhume the remains of Mrs Taylor mother of Mrs. Dorsey. To-day this was done the stomach being delivered to an expert German chemist for analysis in the course of his examination of Mrs. Dorsey the Coroner told her that she was suspected of the murder of her mother and said that he proposed to have the body of Mrs. Taylor exhumed.

“You won’t find anything there said Mrs. Dorsey for it has been too long.”

When John Dorsey was on his way to get a license to marry the woman he met his brother on the street and told him where he was going. “You might as well go on and order your coffin too,” said the brother. It will be three or four days before the chemist can complete the analysis of Mrs. Taylor’s stomach.

[“A Modern Borgia. – She Is Said To Have Poisoned Six People. – Four Husbands Thought to Have Been Among Her Victims.” San Francisco (Ca.), Jun. 24, 1891, p. 2]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 3): Indianapolis, Ind., July 16. – The case of Mrs. Hannah Dorsey, who has been suspected of poisoning six or eight persons, including four husbands, has not been particularly noticed by the Indianapolis papers, because the suspicion was largely the outcome of the heedless gossip of people who lived in the Dorsey neighborhood. The examination of the remains of Mrs. Taylor, the mother of Mrs. Dorsey, has not been completed yet by the chemist. She was the last one to die in the same house with Mrs. Dorsey. The chemist found some arsenic but he says it may have been that used by the undertaker who embalmed the remains. He is testing the embalming fluid, and will report more fully next week.

Mrs. Dorsey, who has been referred to in many papers as “the Indianapolis Borgia” is now in failing health, and her physician fears a serious result unless a marked change occurs soon. She was seen at her home by Coroner Manker today. She stated that she was a victim of circumstances sufficient to have wrecked others completely, but her sense of innocense alone has sustained her during a trying ordeal.

Public attention was attracted to this peculiar case when Coroner Manker began as investigation of the death of Mrs. Nancy Jane Wright several weeks ago. After a chemical analysis disclosed evidence of poison in the stomach. Coroner Manker told Mrs. Dorsey that he was suspected of administering poison not only to Mrs. Wright, who is her sister, but to her mother, Mrs. Mary Taylor, who died a couple of weeks previous. Mrs. Dorsey strenuously denied any knowledge of the poison, and said she could throw no light upon the matter. Afterward Dr. Manker had Mrs. Taylor’s remains exhumed and arsenic was found in the stomach. This discovery occurred last week, but today was the first opportunity the coroner found to secure another statement from Mrs. Dorsey. The coroner told her of the discovery of poison in Mrs. Taylor’s stomach and asked for an explanation.

“As God is my judge, and realizing that it is probable that I have but a short time to live, I want to say, Doctor, that I am a innocent of any act leading to the death of either my sister or mother as you are. There is only one thing that I do know that night assist your investigation, and that is that my sister frequently threatened to kill herself and my mother, too. She was an extremely high tempered woman, and on one occasion when she and mother quarreled I heard her say that she would kill herself and get mother out of the way too. Her little girl, Lizzie, heard her make the same threats, and so did my sister-in-law, Mrs. Taylor, though at different times.”

“Do you suppose,” asked Coroner Manker, “that your dead sister then carried out her threat by poisoning her mother?”

“Yes that is my opinion, since it is shown that their stomachs contained poison.”

Continuing Mrs. Dorsey told her marital history. Her first husband was Dan Sanley, who died of sunstroke two years after his marriage, she says. The second was John Temple, who, after living six years with her, went from bronchitis to consumption and died. Her third, Albert Conklin, died in Illinois of congestion of the brain, she says, after living three years with her. Her fourth was Joseph Stenett, who died in the spring of 1890. Mrs. Dorsey was married to her present husband last February.

Coroner Manker says: “Clippings from papers at the time show that Conklin worked where he was employed the day before his death, and, instead of dying from congestion of the brain, died of a violent stomach trouble.”

[“Did She Poison Them? – Mrs. Hannah Dorsey Accused of Killing Six Persons,” The Laurens Advertiser (N. C.), Jul. 21, 1891, p. 4; " innocense" old spelling in original]

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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 3): Strange indeed, are the circumstances which seem to weave a terrible chain of evidence against Jane Dorsey, of Indianapolis, who is accused of a long list of murders, before which the crimes of Lucia Borgia seem to pale into insignificance. In the criminal annals of this country there have been but few cases that attract more attention than this one. Jane Dorsey, the accused, is the wife of an industrious mechanic, living in the lower districts of Indianapolis. John Dorsey is her fifth husband. They were married a few months ago. The marriage followed shortly after the death of her fourth husband. All the preceding marriages were attended by like circumstances.

Mrs. Dorsey is now about 40 years old. Traces of former beauty are plainly visible. Her life has been one of continual romance with a succession of ghostly climaxes. She was only 15 when she met Daniel Sanley, an honest working man. After their marriage he insured his life for $2,000.

He lived but two years, and a year after she married a fireman on the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad. He survived but a short time, and his widow was united to Albert Conkling, a tinner, and with him moved to Camargo, Douglas county, Ill., where he died. She then returned to Indianapolis, and in a short tune married Joseph Sterret, a widower with two children, and he shortly followed her other husbands to the grave, but not till both of his children had died. Three months ago she was married to John Dorsey, and they now occupy a modest little cottage in the southern part of the city which is the residence portion of hundreds of the working classes. All of her husbands were poor men, worked for their living and found in her a helpmate till a few months ago when her health failed, and she is now little better than an invalid. She is said to have broken rapidly within the past few weeks owing to the sensational rumors which connect her name with the death of her mother and sister. In height she is above the average of her sex, has piercing brown eyes, dark brown hair and speaks rapidly in ordinary conversation. When the subject of her trouble is broached, her countenance changes quickly, tears fill her eyes and she protests with the most earnest vehemence that she is the victim of circumstances and that she is innocent of crime.

Less than two months ago the Dorsey household consisted of Dorsey and his wife, the latter’s mother, Mrs. Taylor, her sister, Mrs. Nancy Wright, and a child of the latter, a girl about 10 years of age. Two months ago Mrs. Taylor was taken suddenly ill and soon after died, and the physician confessed that he had never been able to diagnose her disease satisfactorily. Some ten days after her death Mrs. Wright also fell sick, being taken with vomiting, which continued at short intervals till she also died.

Her sister, Mrs. Wright, also had a life insurance policy. So did all the alleged victims of this modern Borgia’s hand, except the two step-children. All the circumstances point to murder in each case, but the defendant claims that she is the victim of the strange kind of circumstances. The preliminary investigation will tell, as at it will be presented all the evidence secured.

[“Links In The Chain. Which Tighten A Modern Borgia In Its Coils. - Indianapolis’ Sensational Murder Case. – Mrs. John Dorsey Charged With Poisoning Four Husbands, Her mother and Sister and Two Children –The Adults Had Their Lives Insured.” The Waterloo Courier (Io.), Jul. 22, 1891, p. 8; same article: The Goshen Times (In.), Jul. 16, 1891, p. 2]

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One source gives the suspects name as “Mrs. Hannah Dorsey.”

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VICTIMS

Daniel Sanely (“Stahey”) – husband #1, died 1891

John Temple - husband #2

Albert Conking - husband #3

Joseph Sterret - husband #4, died 1891

2 children of Joseph Sterret

Mrs. Taylor – Mrs. Dorsey’s mother

Mrs. Nancy Jane Wright – Mrs. Dorsey’s aunt

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