Missouri's Murderous Matrons is a book describing the livesand criminal misdeeds of two notorious woman from Missouri's
history.
Emma Hepperman was married seven times and murdered at
least five of her husbands with arsenic. She was quite blatant in
in her nagging of these men to change the insurance policies to
make her the beneficiary--and then she would poison them. How
did it take so long for her to get caught???
Bertha Gifford had a "gift" for nursing. She also used arsenic in
quantities that were not beneficial. In one case, a family let her
take care of a child who promptly died. A short time later a
sibling came down ill and they let the same woman take care of her--and she died! (What were they thinking?) In some cases the people really weren't sick when they moved in with Bertha yet they all died of horrible stomach pains, violent headaches, dizziness--and ARSENIC POISONING!
I am a fan of anything to do with forensic investigation and I sought this book out thinking there would be clues that the investigators would follow to finally bring them to justice. Instead, it really was more like the authorities hadn't a clue until both neighborhoods were talking about the strange number of deaths that occur near both of these woman.
Interesting look into local life at the turn of the century.
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