FULL TEXT: Sheriff Clarke and Under-sheriff B. R. Stearns
arrested Mrs. Elizabeth Vanderhoof and John
Chapman of Gulion, this county upon a warrant charging them
with murdering Wm. Vanderhoof husband of the first named Vanderhoof died under
suspicious circumstances December 1, 1883. January 8th his body was disinterred
his stomach removed and sent to Ann Arbor for examination and arsenic was found
in considerable quantities Chapman was the hired hand of Vanderhoof and
suspicious relations have been noticed between him and Mrs. Vanderhoof Several
years ago Mrs. Vanderhoof lost a former husband one Salisbury under somewhat
similar circumstances that although there was considerable talk in regard to
his death no arrests were made Vanderhoof was at that time Salisbury’s hired
man and shortly afterward took the widow to wife Up to the time of the arrest
of Vanderhoof and Chapman it was understood they had been married but they now
deny that.
[“And Still Another. – The Michigan Woman Now Accused of
Killing Two Husbands.” The Dayton Daily Herald (Oh.), Jan. 18, 1884, p. 4]
***
FULL TEXT: Berlin Springs, Mich., November 26. – Elizabeth
Vanderhoof of Dayton, this county, was to-day convicted of murder in the first
degree in the circuit court. Sentence has been deferred to allow time to file a
bill of exceptions. If a new trial is denied the case will be carried to the
supreme court. The case has been on trial for ten days and the court room has
been packed every day. The accused has been the most composed of all, and did
not wince a bit as the foreman of the jury announced the result of their deliberations.
Members or the jury refused to talk upon the matter. Mrs. Vanderhoof s husband
was the victim, and an analyzation of portions of his stomach made at the
university of Ann Arbor showed that he had suspected that his wife had poisoned
him during an illness, and had the body exhumes, and the outcome was Mrs.
Vanderhoof’s conviction to-day. Opinion is divided as to her guilt, and her
physical condition has created a great deal of sympathy in her favor. She is
thought to be enceinte. She was ably defended, but the jury were out only a
little over an hour. How the ballot stood when they first went out can not be
ascertained. She is now in jail here, and court has adjourned to December 15.
She is allowed six months to settle upon a bill of exceptions, owing to her
condition, and can be let out on bail during that time and also during the
pendency of the case in the upper court. Her husband died over a year ago.
[“Mrs. Vanderhoof Guilty.” St. Joseph Daily Gazette (St.
Joseph, Mo.), Nov. 27, 1884, p. 1]
***
For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.
***
[71-1/2/21]
***
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