A Negro Mother Poisons Her Two Children with Strychnine

Item

Title
A Negro Mother Poisons Her Two Children with Strychnine
Publisher
Faran & Robinson
Enquirer Media
Place
Cincinnati, OH
Date
19 May 1865
Language
English
Temporal coverage
1841-PRESENT
Description
Text from the article, "About a week ago last Sunday, two colored children, named Greenville Graves aged two years and four months and William Henry Graves, aged one year and two months, died suddenly at the residence of Mr. Simpson, near Cheviot, in this county. The death of the children, and the action of their mother, Frances Graves, who was in the employment of Mr. S., led to the conviction that the children had died an unnatural death. Coroner Carey was notified, the mother was put under arrest, and an inquest was held. A post mortem examination was held and the manifest presence of poison was discovered. The jury returned their verdict yesterday, via: 'That Grenville and William Henry Graves came to their deaths from the effects of strychnine, administered by their mother, willfully and intentionally, and thereby procuring their death.' This unfortunate woman was about nine months ago a slave, and belonged to Ex-Senator Graves, a resident of Boone County, Kentucky. Since her liberation she has wandered around from place to place, and was at Mrs. Simpson's when she administered the strychnine to her only two children for the purpose of getting them out of her way, and under the pretense, as she alleges, that they would be better off. She is now confined in the County Jail, awaiting trial."
Accessed via microfilm at Boone County Public Library, Burlington, KY

Linked resources

Items with "Source: A Negro Mother Poisons Her Two Children with Strychnine"
Title Class
1865--Desperate Mother Event
Items with "Source(s): A Negro Mother Poisons Her Two Children with Strychnine"
Title Class
Graves, Frances Person
unknown, Greenville Person
unknown, William Henry [2] Person