The life story of Sarah M. Victor, for sixty years. Convicted of murdering her brother...

Dedication

TO ALL WORKERS IN THE CAUSE OF

HUMANITY,

HOWEVER HIGH OR HOWEVER LOW THEIR STATION,

Preface

SOON after Mrs. Sarah M. Victor, the lady by whose dictation this book has been written, arrived in this city from Columbus, I was called on by a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and asked if I would meet the former, as she was in need of some assistance in my line of work. I consented to do so, and accordingly went to the lady's house, where I met Mrs. Victor.

Upon talking with her and asking what her prospects for the future were, after her long imprisonment, she told me that she had that day put the matter of the recovery of some property into the hands of an attorney, but was as 3 r et without money, and all work for her would have to be gratuitous. I remarked that such had been my understanding of the matter, and assured her that if she would tell me how I could assist her, she need feel under no obligation to me. She then spoke of needing some assistance in regard to some newspaper notices, and incidentally men-

6 PREFACE.

tioned the fact that she had already commenced to write her life. I at once told her that she had mentioned something in which I saw a way to assist her, and that if, upon further acquaintance with each other, she should think best to accept my assistance, and I should conclude to undertake her work, I thought the public would freely give her aid, for which she would be rendering an equivalent in the experience of her many years of imprisonment.

At first I had no knowledge and no well-defined idea of whether Mrs. Victor was guilty or innocent of the crime she had been convicted of, but I felt certain, from her appearance, that, if guilty, the " sackcloth and ashes" of nineteen years had done their work well, leaving no sin unatoned, and no guile in the heart they chastened.

But after I undertook the work and had been given a portion of the matter to be written out, I began to see signs of innocence that seemed unmistakable. No matter what piece of writing I took up, whether some triangular scrap of brown paper upon which the words seemed traced by a hand with but a thread of life to guide it, a full page of foolscap more legibly written, yet by the

PREFACE. 7

same hand, or a letter from some person of known responsibility, I was sure to find it but another chapter in a story that was not of guilt.

I looked for contradictions, and found none; I fancied evasions, and had them explained in a moment, without time for thought; and as the days went on, a sense of the awfulness — I can use no other word — of the wrong that had been suffered grew into fullness in my mind. Before the book was half written my work became a pleasure, from the fact that I felt certain beyond the possibility of doubt that I was telling the true experience of a kind, truthful woman, who had suffered from a form and degree of inhumanity that ought never again to disgrace the annals of a city or state.

I am aware that in giving words to this story of another it has been impossible to avoid leaving many traces of the personality of the writer, but I wish to assure the public that not an assertion or statement made*by Mrs. Victor has been changed in meaning, and nothing been given false coloring by me. The story is emphatically that of Mrs. Victor, while the wording alone is mine. All matter accredited to others will speak for itself.

8 PREFACE.

With a hope that the public will respond to this ^effort of Mrs. Victor to pass in comfort the few years that may remain to her now that her fearful ordeal is over, and may lose sight of the imperfections of the writer's work in the interest of the story, this book is respectfully submitted.

Harriet L. Adams.

Cleveland, Ohio.

J

Contents

PAGE

Chapter 1 25

In Southern Ohio — Death of the Baby— Falling in the River — A Great Calamity — Lost his Reason — My Recollections — A Long Journey — Slept in the Wagon — Lonely Watches — My Father Found — Selling Fruit — My Mother Sick — Put Out — Some Whippings — Neighbor Families— My Playmates— When in Prison— Father in Canada— Go Back Home.

Chapter II 38

Losing the Way — Among the Shakers — Where's Ma— Joining the Church— The Faith that Solaces— " Taken "— Queen of the May— My Dear Mother— The Baby May Need You— A Costly Charge— Some Thoughts— First Letter — Dead — Apprenticeship — To My Own Resources — Homesickness — Going to the Lake — A Brother in Christ— My Father's Return.

Chapter III 51

.First Ride on Lake Erie — M} r Mother's Grave — Liquor and Fate— Fifty Cents per Week— Theft of a Candle— Trying to Restore It— Going to Kirtland— Tell Me All About It— Much Disappointed — Dr. Ackley — Illness of My Sister — Goes to the Asylum — A Letter from Friends — Go West— On the Steamer — Very Seasick— Kind Passengers—Finding a Bottle — Fort Mackinaw — In Port.

PAGE:

Chapter IV , 62

On the Wharf at Milwaukee — Hunting for Farmers — Fifty Miles— For a Dollar— An Ox Team— Old Connecticut— Too Much— A Kind Lady— It Won't Hurt It— Old Urn —A Log Church— My Future Husband— Honey Parties — Engaged— Wolves — Letter Postage — The Wedding — Chivarari — Married — A Cap for a Hen — Diligent Biddy — Never a Brood Hen.

Chapter V 78

Heavy Work — Disappointed — Going to Housekeeping — Outfit — A Shadow — Pleasant and Lively — A Treacherous Friend — Violence — No News from the East — Birth of First Boy — Go to Cleveland— Had Run Away — Tricks of Students — Husband's Arrival — A Quilting Party — Chicken-pox — Baby Very Sick — Thought in No Danger — My Baby Dead.

Chapter VI 92

A Second Son— Move to Cleveland— Not Sick, But Drunk— A- Lady Boarder— Joking of a Trick — Visit to Father Smith's — Return Home — Away All W T inter — Neither Money nor Food — A Minister's Call — Work — Some Hot Buns— Sewing— Go to Toledo— Not Sick, But Destitute — Would not Work — A Letter-box — "He" — A Young Girl— Fear for My Life.

Chapter VII ; 10$

Visit from Father Smith — Takes His Son Home— Child Born — Another Wife — Go to Chicago — Finding the Certificate — Renewed Promises — Reconciliation — Return to Cleveland — Hard Beginning — Looking for Help — Getting Out of Debt — Letter from My Husband — Go to Janesville — Excitement- -Comes Home — In Fear — With, a Hackman — Comments.

PAGE

Chapter VIII 119

Acquaintance with C. C. Carlton — Insult — Paying a Bill — The Rock and the Whirlpool — Divorce — Break Up Housekeeping — Some Business Matters — Is He Not Too Old — Drifted On — Buying a Stove — Change of Name— A Door-plate — House Caught Fire — Suffocated — Mystery of the Fire — How it Caught— My Child's Confession — Intimations.

Chapter IX 132

My Daughter— Seeing the Absurdity — A Sensational Report—Daughter's Marriage — My Boy's Last Illness- Measles — Predicting His Own Death — Prediction Fulfilled—Six o'Clock— A Negative Taken — An Epitaph— A Picture — Three Years Ago — An Act of Kindness — There, In a Prison — Sixteen Years— Fertility of Brains —A Bitterness— Before He Calls Me.

Chapter X 144

A Determination — Going to See Mr. Smith — The Interview — Foreboded No Good — A Regret — Return to Cleveland — Meeting with Mr. Carlton— A Question — Utterly False — Sent a Man to Chicago — " Read This at Your Leisure" — Resolution Put Away — A Trip Through the East— West Point— St. Catherines— Montreal— Why I Lay Bare the Incidents.

Chapter XI 156

More at Ease — An Error Corrected — Working in the Church — Buying Lots— My Sister Libbie — Marries Dr. Gray— Working for the Soldiers— My Brother's Enlistment— "The Boys"— A Will Made— Getting the Life Insurance — The War Closes— Pawned His Watch- Going to Mr. Fenner's — A Fall in the Barn — Accident Insurance — Paying the Physician — Remarks.

PAGE

Chapter XII 170

A Young Lady Dies — Loaning Some Money — A Newspaper's Work — A Genuine Artist — Same Fiendish Woman — A Warning— A Matron's Work — What Can be Believed — Dr. Dellenbaugh's Statement — All Supposition — No Grounds for Suspicion — Conclusive Evidence —The "Mills of the Gods "—Wedding Clothes— Will She Come Back — Not Safe Alone — Arsenic as a Tonic.

■Chapter XIII 181

About Mr. Newel — Startling Tales — Becoming Disgusted — Mrs. Sigsby — Mrs. Baker's Confession — Saw the Murder — A Certain Powder — Slipped on the Door-step — Ate Some Pie — Taken 111 — Died — Very Despondent — Requests While 111 — A Class of Students — Anonymous Letters — By Whom Written — In Whose Interests — A Request — Seeming Craftiness.

Chapter XIV 194

My Arrest — The Inquest — First Night in Jail — Friendly Mice — Morning — Personal Property — Mr. Castle — Engaging an Attorney — Do As I Tell You — Torturing Doubts — Know Him? I Guess I Do — Mr. Palmer — Strength Fails— Dr. D. H. Beckwith— Thanks— An Explanation — Strange Counsel — Too Weak to Walk— The Indictment — Was Amazed — Faint and Confused.

Chapter XV 207

Testimony and Answers— Loren Myers— Some Confusion- George Ridgeway — The Coffin-plate — W. B. Stedman — Remains — Proctor Thayer — The Undertaker Not Called — Annie Miller — Pie — Arsenic for Rats — Called Her His Friend — About the Poison — Remarks of Counsel — J. W. Towner— A Verbatim Report — Felix Nicola — That Turnover— R. H. Strobridge— Jay Odell.

PAGE

Chapter XVI 222

A Place at Euclid— Three Hundred Dollars— On Thanksgiving—James W. Lee — E. W. Fenner — About Changing Doctors— Mary Davis— Eliza Welch — Ida Weily— Heart Disease — Lyman D. Hunt— A Ring — "Take It and Kill Yourself "—Hannah Newel— Fainting at the Grave — Jared P. Newel— See Files— See Register— J. G. Black Paid — All Expenses. 4

Chapter XVII 237

Libbie Gray — Could not Read or Write — Morphine on Friday — Cry and Hollo — Would Have Two Doctors— On Sunday p. m. — On Tuesday — Reply — Whisky and Water — At the Funeral — Never Mind— Taking a Boy- Selling a Lot — Went to Newel's — ''Sailed My Last Trip" — Edwin Tolson— In Great Agony — "A Kind of Sleep" — Insinuations — Chloroform — A Sinking Spell.

Chapter XVIII 252

Dr. Sapp— A Mistake in His Papers— Threw Chloroform Away — Answer — Veratrum — In No Danger — Went to Doctor's Office — Annie Fenner— Gave Back a Ring— Dr. S. R. Beckwith— Examined William Parquet— A Certificate—Of Date of Policy— C. C. Carlton— About Insurance—The House on Webster Street— Can Now Thank God— William A. King— J. W. Thomas— N. Merrill.

Chapter XIX 265

J. L. Cassels — Something of His Analysis — Quoted Testimony — Answer — See All the Features — Called by the Defense— Frcm the Record— Results of the Analysis — Summing It Up — Regarding a Motive — Lose Consciousness— A Verdict Given— A Fitting Climax— The Sentence of Death — Different Ideas— My Own Views— For Eternity to Solve — Copy of Asylum Record.

PAGE

Chapter XX 281

Judge Ranney's Letter — Hon. Joseph Perkins — Queer Chemistry—A Deputy Sheriff — A Bank-book— J. Gaskill— Not Guilty — From Mrs. Gaskill— Always Thought He Would— Mrs. L. E. French— Some Crime Committed— An Offset — ' ' Justice ' ' — Remarks — ' ' Diabolical Efforts ' ' — Eminent Counsel — A She Devil — Weighed Sixty Pounds — Passing Sentence — An Omission.

Chapter XXI 294

No 111 Feeling— Stubborn Wills— Hard Life of Prison Officials — First Thoughts that Came— Looking in a Mirror — Hallucination — The Soul of Kindness — Breaking a Knife — Crept Under the Bed — General Walcutt — Colonel Burr — Colonel Innis — Paralysis — Near Death — Buckwheat Cakes — Would Never Die There — Penitentiary Wedding — Annie McFarland — A Fire in the Prison — A Nurse's Devotion.

Chapter XXII 309 Preferred Hanging — Examining a Bed — Such is Prison Life

— Habeas Corpus — Hon. George L. Converse — Judge Bingham — Decision Reversed — Captain Groves — Governor Allen—" Loose Talk"— Woman at Fremont— Mrs. Hayes— "A Wicked Lie"— Mrs. Groves— The Rule of Silence — How it was Broken — A Matron Beaten — At the Hands of a Man— Warden McWhorter — Some Threats.

Chapter XXIII 323

Warden Dyer— The " Humming-bird "—By the Order of a Woman— Roughly Handled— Facts, No Fiction — Solitary Confinement — "Suckers" — A Note — Investigation

— Released — One Just Woman — Governor Bishop — Some Ladies — Teller Letter — "In Confidence" — For Twenty Years — Blood-curdling — Lacked Courage — The Pardoning Governor— Only Regret — When it is too Late.

PAGE

Chapter XXIV 336

A Reign of Kindness — Humming-bird Banished— Few Punishments—St. Paul's Words— A Card of Thanks— Restricting the Diet — Washing — Demanding Bread — Fever and Thirst— The "Cup of Cold Water"— The Matron Dies— "I Thought So"— Governor Foster- Bad Messenger — Starting a Liberty Fund — Remarks — He Cried — Thanks for Help— Elections — Warden Peetry — Holidays — First Arrests — A Governor's Promise.

Chapter XXV 354

"On New Year's Day" — Kindness Appreciated — Thoughts of a Prisoner — Gems — Seeing a Ghost— James A. Dean — Prison Letter Head — Liberties Granted — Rules of the Female Department — The Parole Law — Rules Adopted — Form of Parole— Form of Guaranty — Degrees of Murder — A Seeming Absurdity — Why Not Give All a Chance — A Woman's Reasoning — From a Prisoner's Letter — Remarks — "God Pity the Wretched Prisoners."

Chapter XXVI 372

An Eventful Change— A Good Warden and Wife— A Wise Matron— The Ladies Take Courage— Not Elated— Of Newel — Fears of Defeat — All Before the Governor — Night Before Pardon — Great Mental Strain — Free ! — Packing Up— A Christmas Tree— Last Farewells — Outside the Walls — Some Unreality — At the House — Eating at a Table — A Reporter — Rest — About Governor Foraker — Messages— First Going Out.

Chapter XXVII 385

Mrs. DeSellem Speaks— Helpless as a Babe— Traces of Suffering—For Christ's Sake— Listening at the Cell— Waiting for the Verdict — Divine Assurance — Holding a Lecture—Simeon's Works Repeated — What Mrs. Taylor

PAGE

Says— Doubts of Guilt— General Characteristics— Newspaper Opposition — "We Knew Better" — Mrs. Pettit's Experience— R. B. Hayes— Mrs. Griffith's Work— Hoadly —With Tearful Eyes.

Chapter XXVIII 402

Rev. I. H. DeBruin's Statement— Observations— " Tell Them I am Innocent" — Charge not Sustained — Statement of G. S. Innis — "I am not Guilty" — Grave Doubts of Guilt — Miss Houk's Statement — Good and True — Newspaper View — Mrs. Jones' Statement — Kind and Upright — Belief in Innocence — Home yet Open — Casting the First Stone — Cincinnati Enquirer — Ohio State Journal — Columbus Sunday Herald.

Chapter XXIX 42&

Letter from Warden Coffin — Worthy of Kindness — He who Tempers the Wind — Letter from the Matron — Not An Easy Task — Insurance Company Unpaid — The Life Lease — Letters Unanswered — Compelled to Go to Cleveland — Kindness of Friends — A Merciful Hand — Going to Cleveland — Sad Memories — This is the Place — Mr. Carlton Refuses — Engage an Attorney — Engage a Writer— Last Words to Friends.

Introduction

ALTHOUGH my recollections date back to the time when I was four or five years of age, a considerable part of my life is almost an entire blank to me; and of that time of mental oblivion I shall attempt to give no full account. I was, also, never accurate in regard to dates, and except those that have been burned into my memory by the torture of false accusation and judgment, and that on which, through the persistent efforts of friends toward whom the gratitude I feel cannot be expressed by words, and the justice of that grand, clear-sighted, Christian man, Governor Joseph B. Foraker, I walked out from behind prison walls a free woman, I find it difficult to recall them. But facts — that is, those that occurred in my years of sanity — I can remember. The God who mercifully took from me the power of connected thought when the unspeakable horror of a probable death upon the gallows, in the full consciousness of my entire innocence of the crime of which I was convicted, was before me,

18 INTRODUCTION.

has as kindly restored my reason, and has granted me power to look back over that dreadful time; and many of the events of even my early childhood I can recall minutely and distinctly.

I have been told that among the various judgments of the many different persons to whom some knowledge of my case has come, it has often beensaid that my insanity was feigned. When such information first came to me I was in a prison cell, an invalid and partially helpless ; and as I gazed in weakness and utter, desolation on the massive walls that enclosed me, I remember of thinking, in a dazed and hopeless way, that they could not be more merciless than hearts that could prompt the utterance of such thoughts. Then came anguish of mind that I will not weary the reader by attempting to describe further than to say that I felt, as I was many times brought to feel, like doubting the goodness of the Father. But at last I found relief in tears and comfort in prayer, which, together, were my only solace when alone through all the years of my imprisonment, and I said then, as I say now, "God forgive them, for they know not what they do." Since I regained my freedom I have often had cause to realize the fact that the

INTRODUCTION.

outside world is not yet free from selfishness and injustice, and that it is far from being the realm of happiness and good cheer that it is in the imagination of those who have been long in imprisonment, by contrast with the dull misery of the daily round of prison life, with its gazing at blank walls and ponderous doors ; its sense of constant semitwilight and lack of pure air; its thoughts of punishments and the sufferings of others; and its occasional awakening of the mind to a consciousness of the insidious yet sure and deadly prison blight that is undermining the physical strength and creeping over the mental faculties. Yet, I have found so many kind and earnest friends — so much of unselfishness and justice among thoughtful people, that I feel that none but the unthinking could have given expression to conjectures so unfounded, to say nothing of the unkindness of adding to the stigma already borne by any so unfortunate as to have lost their freedom.

Through the uniform kindness of all the different prison officials and others in whose care I was during my long incarceration, which kindness was, I trust, quickened by the faith that I would not abuse any privilege given, I was granted greater

20 INTRODUCTION.

liberty than is accorded to convicts in general, and, consequently, had many opportunities to observe the effect of prison life on those around me, as well as note the causes that had led to their imprisonment ; and it may not be out of place for me to let the public know what conclusions were arrived at by one who "was there and saw." While the effect of prison life is different to a certain extent on each individual, there is one fact so apparent as to be worthy of the consideration of all w T ho may read this book — and that is, that long terms of imprisonment do not conduce to the reformation of any. No matter how guilty a person may be, each mind has been given its own limit of endurance, and, according to what I have seen, after that limit has been reached, no amount of chastening has any other effect than to dull the senses and crush the soul of the one receiving it. To the innocent person convicted and thrown into a prison, I know by my own experience that every hour is felt to be a flagrant outrage; but among the guilty — and the majority of those into whose society I was thrown as a fellow convict, though in some cases not guilty of the particular crime for which they were imprisoned, were far from

INTRODUCTION.

innocent — I found that under all bravado and denial there was a sense of the justice of a certain amount of punishment. But I found, also, that penitence came sooner or later to nearly all ; and it seems to me to be the duty of the public to first determine whether or not any official should have the power to blight a human soul, and if decided in the negative, which I feel sure would be the case in an enlightened country, then appoint commissions to look into the matter of the length of term of prisoners, with a view to its proper adjustment.

In regard to the causes that had led to the imprisonment of those around me, I can say that had it not have been for the evil of intemperance, I firmly believe that fully nine-tenths of all those, of both sexes, who were in the Columbus penitentiary when I recovered my reason ; all those who came and went during the long years of my conscious confinement, and all those there at the time of my release would never have seen the inside of any place of punishment. When intemperance is not known to have been the cause directly, as it is in the greater number of cases, it takes but a very

22 INTRODUCTION.

short time to find that it has been the cause indirectly.

The above leads me to thoughts of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and its dear workers, of which and whom I wish to say afew words here. It would be impossible for me to recount the deeds of kindness of all the many members of the union who came to me at different times, but of many I can say not only, "I was sick and in prison and they visited me," but they ministered to my physical needs; they upheld my faith in Divine justice when it faltered ; they again and again revived my dying hopes of freedom, and w T ith unwearying faith and patience they stood by me till I at last saw the sunlight unobscured by prison bars.' Although I owe a special debt of gratitude to those immediately interested in my welfare, I feel that to that union as a whole, with its far-reaching power in the reformation of the management of public institutions, I owe my life. When I awoke to the consciousness that I was a life convict in a prison, the same state of affairs did not exist in the Ohio penitentiary that existed at my release. With each succeeding administration I found the burdens of prison life lessened somewhat. For a long time

INTRODUCTION.

I could not understand what force there could be in the outside world that could have the power to continue and constantly increase the improvement, regardless of what political party chanced to hold sway ; and not until after my release did I begin to fully realize the extent of the work in the cause of humanity that has been done by the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

In giving this, the full story of my life, to the public, I feel that much will be found dull and uninteresting to the reader, and I fear that much will call forth condemnation. But as I feel that much has been too long left to conjecture, for the good of others as well as myself, I give the whole, with the hope that while the public sees and censures my errors, it will remember that I have suffered as few women have done. That the reader may understand at the outset that there will be no evasions of the question of my guilt or innocence in the following pages, I here and now say that I am as guiltless of the crime of murder, either in thought or deed, as any child who may chance to glance over these words.

In concluding these introductory remarks, I wish to say that every statement and assertion

24 INTRODUCTION.

contained in this book and not otherwise accredited has been dictated by me, either in writing or verbally, and has been written out in exact accordance with such dictation. Nothing has been added to nor taken from the substance or meaning of any statement or assertion by the lady writing it, and all has been submitted to me for change or correction from time to time as it was being written and as a whole finally.

Sarah M. Victor.

Chapter I

In Southern Ohio — Death of the Baby— Falling in the River— A Great Calamity— Lost His Reason— My Recollections—A Long Journey— Slept in the Wagon- Lonely Watches— My Father Found— Selling Fruit— My Mother Sick— Put Out— Some Whippings— Neighbor Families— My Playmates— When in Prison— Father in Canada — Go Back Home.

I WAS born in southern Ohio, on the fifth of May, 1827, and was one of a family of nine children. My father was French, being born in Paris, France, and my mother was of German parentage, but born in this country. My father was, at the time of my birth, a man of considerable wealth, for those days, and my first general recollections are of living with my parents and one brother and two sisters in Pickaway, Pickaway county, Ohio, where my father kept a store and owned real estate. Five children had been born to my parents at that time, but one had died before my birth. Our house was near the river (Miami), and I remember how I used to sit on its bank and watch the people as they fished from little boats or along the shore. My father and mother were kind parents to their children, and, although the country was new, and over fifty years ago lacked the comforts of later times, ours was a happy home. In the after years, as I looked out between the bars of a prison, but a few miles, comparatively, away from the scenes of my early life, and thought, of that home, it may well be imagined that it seemed to my mental sight as might some highly colored picture of Eden.

The first incident in my life, that I can recall, was the death of a little sister, the baby, which occurred when I was four or Hyq years of age. I can see my dear mother now, as she bent over the little baby face, so white in death, and kissed it and cried over it; and I can remember my own grief and awe when some of the many people who came to the house told me that my little sister would be put in a box and buried in the ground, where I would never see her again. When they all went to the cemetery, which was but a short distance from our house, I was left behind as being: too young to understand the ceremony of burial ;. but I followed after them, and when I saw all the

SARAH M. VICTOR.

people standing around the grave and saw the men putting the coffin in, my grief overcame me and I began to cry. But a lady came to me and helped me gather my apron full of flowers, which comforted my childish mind, and I soon forgot my sorrow and thought it was nice to have so many people notice and be kind to me. When we returned from the cemetery, I remember how my mother took me up and cried over and petted me and called me her baby, and afterwards, how my father would take me when he came into the house and " trot " me on his foot as he used to the baby.

The next thing that I remember distinctly is coming very near being drowned by falling in the river. There was a foot-board secured b}' one end to the bank of the river at its nearest point to our house, on which the people used to walk out to dip up water for various uses, and upon which the children used to play by "jumping up and down " to watch the waves made by the commotion. One day a neighbor's little girl and I were amusing ourselves in that way, when we both lost our balance and fell into the water. Fortunately, my father was not far away, and he succeeded in rescuing us just before it was too late. We were both insensible, and everybody supposed we were dead. When I came to, I was lying on my father and mother's bed— " ma's bed," we children always called it — the house was full of people and my father and mother were crying and begging the doctor to save my life. Oh, how many times during my lonely prison existence did I think that it would have been better had the river ended the life that had been brought to such wretchedness ! But God knew best, and He has brought me through it all, enabling me to tell this little story in sanity and freedom and with a fair measure of liopefulness for the future.