FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4):: Stafford Springs, Conn., April 4 – Mrs. George Johnson was arrested here yesterday [Apr. 3, 1888] charged with shooting her husband while he was asleep during the night. It is stated that domestic trouble has existed between the two for some time, owing, it is said, to Johnson paying attention to other women. The couple retired early on the night of the tragedy. About midnight Johnson was awakened by a sudden shock, suffering intense pain. His wife was not beside him, but his cries for assistance brought her from the adjoining room, and also aroused some neighbors who procured medical assistance. The doctors upon examination found that Johnson had been shot, the bullet having entered just below the last rib. They probed for the ball, but were unable to extricate it. Johnson is in a very critical condition, and there is no hope for his recovery.
The authorities were notified, and Deputy Sheriff Fisk, accompanied by an excited crowd of villagers, went to the house, where Mrs. Johnson was arrested. She at first resisted all attempts to search her, but finally a twenty-two calibre revolver was found tied securely to one of her ankles. One chamber was empty. She accounted for the possession of the pistol by saying that she had recently been pursued by an unknown man and that she had obtained it to protect herself. She denied all knowledge of the shooting of her husband. She was taken to jail and arraigned in court to-day.
[“Shot Her Husband,” The Atchison Weekly Champion (Ka.),
Apr. 12, 1888, p. 1]
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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): Hartford. Dec. 11. – One of the
most mysterious of the murder trials for which Connecticut has recently become
noted opened yesterday afternoon at Tolland, a little country court house town
about twenty miles from here.
Mrs. Martha Johnson, a tall, gaunt, haggard woman of 50, is
on trial for the murder of her husband, George E. Johnson, in April last at Stafford Springs.
The affair was most peculiar. Johnson retired early, and
awoke about 11 o’clock with severe pains in his back. He called his wife, who
had not yet retired, and sent for a doctor, who found a bullet wound on the
right side of the spine. Johnson did not previously know that he was shot, and
had heard no report of a pistol.
His wife was suspected, and when arrested and searched the
following day, a revolver with one barrel discharged was found in a flannel bag
strapped to her right leg. She claimed to have bought the weapon months before
as a protector when out at night. Johnson lingered in great pain until July,
when he died, and his wife, who had been at liberty under $1000 bonds, was
placed in Tolland jail. Last week she was arraigned and pleaded not guilty, and
the trial was postponed until yesterday.
Friends have raised $500 for her defense, the larger part
being contributed by Dwight Webster, foreman of the Underwood Belting company
at Tolland, who is her son by a previous husband, John Webster.
It is alleged that she was responsible for the death of
Webster by slow poisoning, and here are intimations that Johnson was a victim
of the same kind of treatment for weeks before she shot him.
The defense will be insanity. She is a woman of strong
passions, of a nagging dis position, and made Johnson’s life a burden to him by
her furious temper and insane jealousy, although he was a man advanced in years
and of good morals and highly respected in the community. She claims to be
wholly ignorant of the shooting. But it
is understood that her temperament is such that her counsel will not
risk letting her go upon the witness stand in her own defense, which is
permitted under the Connecticut criminal law.
Ex-Governor Andrews, now of the superior court bench, is the
trial judge.
An average jury was secured, the defense exercising all its
rights to prevent men from getting into the box who would not be inclined to
give the insanity plea at least a fair consideration. The local feeling is so
strong, however, against Mrs. Johnson that counsel for the defense have good
reason to fear that they will go into the trial heavily handicapped. When the
jury was completed, an adjournment was taken until to-day.
[“Mania Pleaded. - A Connecticut Woman On Trial For Husband-Killing. - The Insanity Plea Made for Mrs. Martha Johnson. – Accused of Shooting Her Husband – A Former Charge.” United Opinion (Bradford, Vt.), Dec. 5, 1888, p. 1]
[“Mania Pleaded. - A Connecticut Woman On Trial For Husband-Killing. - The Insanity Plea Made for Mrs. Martha Johnson. – Accused of Shooting Her Husband – A Former Charge.” United Opinion (Bradford, Vt.), Dec. 5, 1888, p. 1]
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EXCERPT (Article 3 of 4) (from very long article): Stafford
Springs, Conn., Dec. 9. – The trial of Mrs. George E. Johnson for the killing
of her husband is set down for to-morrow and the Judge of the Superior Court
says he will not postpone it on any account. It has excited the greatest in
Tolland County, which is not accustomed to murders, and this interest is
heightened by the promised production of testimony proving that the prisoner
was a confirmed user of poison, and that she not only gave her second husband,
Johnson, a good many doses of poison, but that she killed her first husband,
John Webster, with poison. The defense has promised to make out a case of
insanity, and take it all in all the trial promises to be very interesting.
[“Tolland’s Mystery. – What Sort of Woman Is Martha Johnson,
of Stafford, Conn.? – She Is Charged With Murder. – Her Two Husbands Died, and
It Is Said She Poisoned Both. – The Last Was Shot While Asleep. – Her Trial
Will Begin To-Day in Stafford Springs, Tolland County, Conn. – Her Counsel Will
Try To Prove Her Insane – Only One Hanging Has Taken Place in the County and
That Was Away Back in 1816 – Martha Sees a Gallows in the Stare – She
Apparently Has But One Friend in the World, Her Son.” The World (New York,
N.Y.), Dec. 10, 1888, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 4): Rockville,
Conn.. Dec. 24. – Martha
Johnson, who was sentenced to State prison for life on Saturday, was taken this
after noon from Tolland jail to the State prison by Deputy Sheriff Fisk of
Stafford.
[“Taken to the State Prison.” The Boston
Daily Globe (Ma.), Dec. 24, 1888, p. 5]
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For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.
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