FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 5): Pekin, Ill., Nov. 18 – Coroner A. E. Allen has ordered the arrest of Mrs. Alice Mason, 50, of Delavan, Ill., on charges of poisoning her 12-year-old daughter, Mildred.
The girl died last August. Coroner Allen said chemical
examination of the child’s viscera disclosed the presence of poison.
The coroner said he also planned to investigate the death, a
year ago, of Mrs. Mason’s husband, who is buried in Devalan, and an illness, a
month ago, of her son, Harry, 15.
A coroner’s jury investigating the death of the 12-year-old
daughter recommended that Mrs. Mason be held to the grand jury without bail.
[“Arrest Mother In Poisoning Of Girl,” Jefferson-City
Post-Tribune (Mo.), Nov. 18, 1931, p. 2]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 5): Pekin, Ill., Nov. 19 – A
middle-aged widow who told authorities she “had a hand” in poisoning her
husband and daughter with arsenic to obtain insurance money was questioned
further today in an effort to reveal full details of the death plot.
Mrs. Alice Mason’s confession of the poisoning at their home
at Delavan, Ill., nearby, of her husband a year ago and her daughter, Mildred,
12, last August, named three accomplices, Sheriff James J. Crosby announced.
He said the alleged accomplices would be questioned but that
he had little faith in the woman’s statement.
“Mrs. Mason has made three confessions,” the sheriff said,
“since being taken into custody. In each case those on who she has thrown the
blame have easily exonerated themselves when questioned.”
The woman revealed she had planned to poison her son,
Robert, 22.
[“Illinois Woman Held For Poisoning Plot – Mrs. Alice Mason,
of Pekin, Has Made Three Confessions to Killing Husband, Daughter.” The
News-Herald (Franklin and Oil City, Pa.), Nov. 19, 1931, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 5): Pekin, Ill., Nov. 19. – Mrs.
Alice Mason, 50-year-old widow of Devlan, Illinois, was held today on charges
that she killed her husband, John, a year ago, and her daughter, Mildred, 12,
last August, with poison.
State’s attorney Louis Dunkelberg, who said she signed a
statement last night admitting the slayings, announced the cause [sic] would be
presented to the grand jury today.
Dunkelberg quoted Mrs. Mason as charging the poison was
given her by Dr. M. B. Barringer. He expressed doubt, however, if the physician
took a part in the alleged crime.
~ Held to Grand Jury ~
The announcement of Mrs. Mason’s confession was made several
hours after the coroner’s jury ordered her held to the grand jury on a charge
of murdering her daughter.
The widow was arrested early yesterday after Dr. Willard D.
McNally, Chicago toxicologist, reported that he had found sufficient poison in
the girl’s viscera to kill several persons. She died Aug. 9, ostensibly from
peritonitis. Not many days later, Harold, Mrs. Mason’s 18-year-old son, became
ill. He is now recovering, Mrs. Mason carried $1,000 insurance on Mildred, her
husband, and Harold, officials said.
[“Widow Held On Murder Charge – Allege Illinois Woman Killed
Husband and Daughter,” The Evening Independent (Massillon, Oh.), Nov. 19, 1931,
p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 5): Pekin, Ill., Nov. 20 – The
investigation into the poisoning of Mrs. Alice Mason’s husband and daughter
turned today to Clinton Armstrong, her neighbor at Delavan, Ill.
Although Mrs. Moran, who confessed she administered the
poison which was fatal to her husband, John, a year ago, and her daughter,
Mildred, 12, last August, insisted on keeping Armstrong “out of this,”
authorities took him in “technical custody,” late yesterday.
“But I haven’t talked to Armstrong yet,” said State’s
Attorney Louis P. Denkelberg, who likewise refused to explain why the gray
haired, heavy set neighbor of Mrs. Mason was held.
The case against the widow, charging that she poisoned her
husband and daughter to collect $1,000 insurance on each, will not be presented
to the grand jury until next Wendesday, Dunkelberg said.
Dr. B. M. Barringer, who was accused by Mrs. Mason of aiding
her in the poisoning, was released under $10,000 bond late yesterday.
Dunkleberg indicated he was still doubtful whether the woman’s charges were
true.
R. L. McCormick, Emden banker, said he often saw Mrs. Mason
in Armstrong company.
“He generally brought her to the bank in his automobile,”
said McCormick, “and would stay in his car parked at the curb while she came
inside and withdrew three or four dollars. Then they would motor away.”
McCormick, Mayor T. U. Rademaker, and many other townspeople
of Emden came to the support of Dr. Barringer yesterday.
The doctor asserted the woman’s charges that he had
furnished her with capsules of poison to feed her husband and daughter were unfounded. He said he attended Mason and
accompanied him to a Peoria clinic where Dr. W. W. Cutter prescribed small
doses of the drug which, taken greater quantities, caused Mason’s death. The
treatments, Barringer said, were for a tubercular ailment.
He recounted how, during last August, he was called to see
Mildred, and that he was called to see Mildred, and that he advised Dr. E. F.
Kelchner prescribed after the mother told him the girl had “fallen against a
table.”
Officials last night questioned Mrs. Edith Reese, Mrs.
Mason’s daughter, and Robert and Harry Mason, 23 and 15 years old respectively,
her sons. They were released.
[“Neighbor Quizzed With Widow in Poison Deaths,” Alton
Evening Telegraph (Il.), Nov. 20, 1931, p., 2]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 5): Pekin – Mrs. Alice and Mason, a 50 years old widow, pleaded guilty to a charge of murdering her 12 years old daughter, Mildred, with poison in circuit court Monday [Feb. 8].
FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 5): Pekin – Mrs. Alice and Mason, a 50 years old widow, pleaded guilty to a charge of murdering her 12 years old daughter, Mildred, with poison in circuit court Monday [Feb. 8].
She was sentenced to spend the remainder of her life in the
woman’s reformatory at Dwight. No attempt was made to prosecute her on a charge
of killing her husband, who died several years ago.
Mrs. Mason was said by authorities to have confessed killing
her daughter in order to collect a $1,000 insurance policy on the girl’s life.
Neighbors caused the mother’s arrest on last Nov. 17, nearly five months after
Mildred’s death.
[“Mother Admits Poison Murder – Pekin Woman Sentenced to
Life in Dwight Reformatory,” Decatur Herald (Il.), Feb. 9, 1932, p. 1]
***
Victims:
John Mason, husband, died circa Nov. 1930
Mildred Mason, daughter, died Aug. 9, 1931
Harry, 15, ill in Oct. 1931, recovered (one sources,
apparently in error, gives age as “18”)
Robert, 22, son, planned to murder
***
***
***
***
***
***
[2419-12/31/20]
***
No comments:
Post a Comment