FULL TEXT: From the Chicago Journal of the 20th, we extract
the following particulars of a fearful tragedy, information of which we have
already published in our telegraphic columns:
Residing at No. 340 Church street is a family named Stang.
The head of the family, Andrew Stang, is an industrious, well-to-do German
gardener, and has by hard work and economy amassed a considerable sum of money.
His family consists of a wife and five children. Of the latter, Elizabeth, who
bears her mother’s name, and whose age is 10, the eldest. It is Elizabeth who,
dead to all impulses of affection, is charged with having attempted to consign
her dearest relatives to premature death. It appears that she has always been a
source of ceaseless anxiety to her parents. From her earliest infancy she has
displayed an an irresistible inclination to steal anything of the slightest
value which came within her reach. As she grew older; this evil propensity more
fully developed, until at last she reached a point entirely beyond restraint,
and it became necessary to have her arrested, which was done, and for a year
she was confined in an asylum, in hopes that that course might work a reform.
But this step failed in accomplishing the desired purpose,
for after her release she persisted in her course of depravity, and on every
opportunity which presented would steal from anybody with whom she came in
contact. Her mother was a constant victim to her rapacity, and only two weeks
ago Elizabeth robbed her of $20, and more recently still of various other sums
of money. With the fruits of her dishonesty she would leave the house and not
return until it had all been spent. Each time that she came back her parents received
her with open arms, hoping over and over again to reform, by their counsel, the
child who to them was all the world, in spite of the dreadful trouble and
anxiety she caused them continually.
Matters went on thus up to Saturday, when the deed which has
shocked the community at large was perpetrated. She happened to be at home. On
that day it devolved upon her to cook the dinner. While preparing the coffee, a
younger sister, named Kathrina, noticed a white substance floating on its sur
face, and asked what it was, and was told that it was only some flour, the meal
was at last ready, and the whole family, excepting Kathrina, consisting of Mr.
and Mrs. Stang, Rosa, aged twelve years, and Andrew, four years, sat down to
partake of it. Several of them noticed that the coffee had a peculiarly bitter
taste, but all drank of it, the father drinking the whole of a large cup full,
the mother and Rosa taking about half a cup each, and the little boy drinking
quite freely of it. It soon began to do its work, and the mother remarked that
she feared they were poisoned, but Mr. Stang only laughed at the idea. He was,
however, speedily undeceived, for soon the whole family were taken with the
most violent vomiting and retching, and now, thoroughly alarmed, medical assistance
was called, Dr. J. Milton bowers being summoned.
He arrived at the house at a few minutes past two o’clock,
about half an hour after the meal was eaten. A most horrible scene presented
itself. Father and mother, daughter and son, were writhing in intense agony;
the little boy was apparently in the last agonies of dissolution, the
extremities cold and pulseless. Little Kathrina, who alone had not partaken of
the deadly mixture, witnessed the awful scene. She was stricken with terror.
The doctor expressed his opinion, from
statements made in regard to the peculiar taste of the coffee that strychnine
had been administered to tho sufferers. He employed the usual antidotes, and,
after hours of labor, finally saved the poisoned patients.
Elizabeth, in the meantime, had thrown away the coffee that
had not been used, and escaped. The doctor found it necessary to procure a
sample of the death-bearing mixture, and learning where the would be murderess
had thrown what had been left, succeeded in collecting sufficient for purposes
of analysis.
Detectives were employed to ferret out the fiendish
daughter, and subsequently, succeeded in arresting her.
It is a difficult matter to form any conclusion as to the
motives which induced Elizabeth to commit the horrid crime. She asserts that
her parents treated her in a harsh and cruel manner; that her father made her
work very hard, compelled her to peddle vegetables for years past; that her
mother used to swear at her in a horrible manner, call her bad names and constantly
threaten to send her to the Reform School; also that her mother used to beat
and abuse her so that owing to the noise the neighbors would gather round the
house. On Saturday morning she says her mother beat her in a brutal manner. She
denies having put any poison in the coffee and says she believes that her
mother did it. The strychnine had been bought by her at her mother’s request
that morning, to be used in killing rats.
This morning the victims are in a comparatively
comparatively condition, and are undoubtedly past all danger. The girl will be
arraigned at the Armory this afternoon. As those poisoned are not able to
appear against her, she will be formally remanded to jail to await their
recovery.
[“Terrible Crime In Chicago. Young Girl Attempts To Murder
Her Giving Them Strychnine.” Harrison Daily Telegraph (Pa.), Jan. 25, 1868, p.
1]
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