She Devils Around the World

by Sylvia Perrini

  On August 23, 1928, the jury returned an indictment charging Bertha Gifford with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Edward Brinley and Elmer Schamel.

  On August 25th, 1928, Police Detective Andrew McDonnell arrested Bertha in Eureka. Chief McDonnell drove Bertha to the station in Union and gently questioned her. Over a cup of tea, they talked about a range of things. Bertha began talking about all the gossip about her and the story that she had killed the little girl Beulah with arsenic. She thoroughly denied giving arsenic to Beulah but said she had given it to Elmer and Lloyd Schamel and also Edward Brinley, just to help ease their pain. Later on in the conversation, she admitted to Andrew McDonnell that she may have given arsenic to one or two others. Chief Andrew McDonnell wrote out her confession. Bertha was then driven to jail in Union.

  The following day the newspapers printed her confession, and Bertha was mortified. She hysterically denied the confession and said the statement was a pack of lies. Eugene gave statements to the reporters saying that his wife was frightened and agitated, and that is why she had confessed.

  Eugene hired a top lawyer, James Booth, who pleaded not guilty to the court on Bertha Gifford’s behalf.

  In September of 1928, the corpses of Edward Brinley and Elmer and Lloyd Schamel were exhumed. In their bodies, significant amounts of arsenic were found.

  The health commissioner of the state made a statement criticizing the doctor in Catawissa. In the statement, he declared that,

  Bertha’s trial began in the courthouse of Union on November 19th of 1928. It was a prominent newspaper story and made headlines around the country. A murder trial was a significant event: something to look forward to, and something worth gossip and speculation.

  NEWSPAPERS HAD A FIELD DAY

  Reporters and crowds of people filled the courtroom and corridors, and those who could not fit in the courtroom lined the steps outside waiting to hear details. Bertha’s name was on everyone’s lips. Surprise was registered as a story of her beauty in her younger days was revealed, for the Bertha that appeared in the courtroom on that cold November day was anything but beautiful. The newspapers described Bertha as thick and heavyset, with a weather-beaten, furrowed face and eyes that were dead.

  Rumors as to her behavior in jail wove through the crowd like Chinese whispers. There were tales of Bertha hiding under a blanket in her jail cell in the day and at night, wearing a blood red robe as she paced up and down howling like a werewolf or clutching the bars at the window and hurling curses out the window. The whispers continued with tales of how Bertha would only eat ice cream and that she refused to talk to anyone except Eugene and would do so only if dressed in a pristine white nurse's uniform.

  During the four-day trial, both the prosecution and defense agreed on one thing: that Bertha Gifford was insane. The prosecution argued for her to be locked up for life, while the defense wanted the possibility of release if she recovered.

  The jury took just three hours to reach their decision that Bertha Gifford had murdered Edward Brinley and the Schamel brothers while insane and remained insane. The judge sentenced her to a life of confinement in the mentally insane unit of the State Hospital in Farmington, Missouri.

  Although Bertha was only tried and convicted for three murders, the true number during 1909-1927 is believed to be at least seventeen.

  Bertha Gifford died on August 20, 1951. She had spent close to twenty-three years in Farmington. After her death, Eugene had her body taken to Pacific for a private funeral at the cemetery in Morse Mill. The grave is unmarked.

  The trial, in the end, revealed very little; just a great many unanswered questions. How had Bertha walked free among her neighbors for so many years and killed so many? Why, after so many deaths, had the doctor just signed every certificate without a post-mortem with the same woman present at every death? What about Eugene? What did he know?

  Eugene remained living in Eureka. He died in 1957 and any answers to any questions he took with him.

  MADAME EVA COO

  Madame Eva Coo was a colorful Canadian character who ran a Bordello in New York State. One of her employees was Harry Wright, a dim- witted handyman Eva had taken under her wing when his mother died.

  Eva had taken out several life insurance policies on Harry’s life. In need of some finances on the 14th June in 1934, Eva, with the help of another employee Martha Clift, drove the dim witted Harry to an isolated spot outside Oneonta city, New York.

  Here, after coaxing Harry out of the car, Eva hit him unconscious on the head with a hammer. Martha then drove the car over his body. The two women dragged his lifeless body and dumped it next to a busy highway, attempting to make it look like a hit and run accident.

  The police, upon finding the body, were suspicious and pulled in Martha and Eva for questioning. On searching Eva’s property, numerous life insurance policies on Eva's acquaintances, friends, and employees all naming her as the beneficiary were found. How many she had deliberately killed is unknown. She was only charged with the murder of Harry.

  Martha finally broke down and confessed to the wicked deed and agreed to testify at trial against Eva. In the meantime, Eva protested her innocence.

  At their trial, Martha was convicted of second degree murder and Eva of first-degree murder. Martha was sentenced to life in prison where she served thirteen years. Eva received the death penalty.

  Eva had a last meal of ice cream, toast, and tea on July 27th, 1935 and in the evening at 11:00 p.m. she was taken to the execution chamber at New York's Sing Sing Prison, dressed neatly in a blue dress patterned with red and white flowers.

  Thirty-four witnesses watched on as Eva was electrocuted in the electric chair. Her last words were addressed to the weeping prison matrons,

  “Goodbye darlings!"

  ANNA MARIE HAHN

  "the beautiful blonde killer"

  Anna Marie Hahn, née Filser, was born on July 7th, 1906 in Fussen, Bavaria, Germany. Her father, George Filser, was a cabinet-maker and furniture manufacturer. Anna was the youngest of twelve children, nine of whom were boys. As the youngest she was spoiled, which led to disciplinary problems in her teen years. She would constantly sneak out of the parental home and go to parties and miss school. For a short time, Anna was sent to live with her older sister Katti in Holland, her parents hoping this might curb her ways. When she returned to Bavaria, she became pregnant by an Italian doctor. Her parents were scandalized and shortly after, a baby boy named Oscar, was born. Her parents, while keeping their grandson, sent Anna to stay with an aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States of America.

  Anna arrived in Cincinnati in 1929 at the age of twenty-three. In 1930, she met and married a telegraph operator, Philip Hahn, another German immigrant. Anna and Philip returned briefly to Bavaria to collect Oscar before returning to Cincinnati as a family. Anna and Philip opened two delicatessen stores, but Anna disliked running the stores as she found the work to be too much of a drudge. Anna insured the businesses and, shortly afterwards, one of the stores burned down, and Anna collected the insurance money.

  Two fires in their home, both of which were covered by an insurance company, followed. The insurance payouts may well have been the turning point in Anna’s life. Anna began to pester her husband Philip to take out a life insurance policy. He refused for what reason we do not know. Shortly after his refusal, Philip became ill, and Anna refused to take him to the hospital. Philip’s mother, against Anna’s protestations, had Philip removed to the hospital where he survived his inexplicable illness. Upon his release, Philip and Anna separated.

  With Philip gone, Anna, despite having no experience, set herself up as a nurse for elderly German patients. Ernst Kohler became Anna’s first client in the autumn of 1932. He became exceedingly fond of Anna and made out a new will in her favor. Once he had done this, he rapidly became ill and died on May 6, 1933. Anna quickly cremated his body and, for reasons unknown, kept his ashes on her mantelpiece.

  Anna, in F
ebruary of 1936, began caring for 72-year-old Albert Parker. She persuaded him to lend her $4,000, a large amount of money in the 1930’s. For this, she wrote him an I.O.U. Albert died on March 27, 1936. The I.O.U was never honored.

  In 1937, Anna began visiting a seventy-eight-year-old Jacob Wagner, a retired gardener. Anna told him that she was a long lost niece of his. Jacob wasn’t convinced but enjoyed her company to such an extent that he went along with it. He died suddenly on June 3, 1937. His friends and neighbors were shocked by his sudden death. The coroner’s report listed his cause of death as heart disease. In his will, he left $17,000 to his "beloved niece" Anna Hahn. After the funeral, a concerned and suspicious friend asked the police to investigate the death and exhume Jacob’s body. This, after later events that unfolded, the police eventually did.

  From Jacob, Anna moved on to care for a Mr. George Gsellman. He died on July 6 1937, shortly after Anna had begun visiting him. Anna received $15,000 from George for her service before his death. Friends and neighbors were extremely concerned about George’s death, informed the police of their suspicions, and asked for George’s body to be exhumed. Again, this was not done until much later.

  At the same time that she was caring for George Gsellman, Anna had started a relationship with a 67-year-old George Obendoerfer. Anna, George Obendoerfer, and Anna’s son Oscar, all travelled to Colorado Springs for a vacation and booked into the Park Hotel. This was to be Anna’s undoing. On the train traveling to Colorado Springs, George had begun to feel unwell. On arrival at the hotel, Anna put George to bed and made off with all his valuables. George, at some point, alerted the hotel staff of his illness and the theft of his valuables. He was transferred to the local hospital. Meanwhile, the hotel made a report to the police about the theft.

  When George died in agony in the hospital on August 1, 1937, the doctors, during the autopsy, discovered high levels of arsenic in his body. They immediately alerted the police. It did not take the police long to link the murder and robbery together. Anna had signed the hotel registry in her name, and the hotel staff gave a clear description of Anna and her son. The police then visited the local pawnshops, and a woman and a boy fitting the description of Anna and her son, were reported to have visited several shops attempting to pawn a considerable amount of diamonds.

  The police gathered from the hotel staff that Anna was from Cincinnati. The hospital confirmed that George Obendoerfer was also from Cincinnati. The Colorado police contacted the Cincinnati police for assistance.

  The Cincinnati police checked their files and only then began to take more seriously the reports they had about the deaths of the elderly gentlemen and Anna Hahn. They found that Anna Hahn had returned from Colorado. Following a request from the Colorado authorities for Anna’s extradition to Colorado Springs for theft, the Cincinnati police arrested Anna. Upon questioning, she denied knowing George Obendoerfer; however, when confronted with her signing of the hotel registry, she claimed that they had just met on the train. The police were skeptical and began an intense investigation. The bodies of Jacob Wagner and George Gsellman were exhumed.

  Jacob Wagner’s autopsy showed death from a large quantity of arsenic and George Gsellman from a large dose of Croton oil. Croton oil was a general remedy used at the beginning of the 20th century to treat bowel problems and other illnesses. Taken in large doses, it causes extreme burning pain in the abdomen, throat, and mouth, along with diarrhea and vomiting, eventually causing an intensely painful death. In East of Eden, a novel by John Steinbeck, Kate uses Croton oil to slowly kill Faye so she can inherit Faye’s whorehouse.

  The press soon latched onto the story of the “32-year-old buxom Bavarian woman who fed a number of her elderly lovers an ‘aphrodisiac’ that turned out to be arsenic”.. They labeled her as “the beautiful blonde killer". Although most of the stories were highly exaggerated and sensational, they attracted the attention of a George Heis.

  Sixty-two-year-old George Heis contacted the police and told them of his near escape with Anna. He told investigators that he had met Anna a year earlier and that they had got along well. George said that he had become suspicious of Anna when he became violently sick after drinking a glass of beer she had poured for him and that he’d never felt in good health since.

  The investigators then heard from Philip Hahn, Anna’s husband. He handed to the investigator’s a bottle of Croton oil he had taken away from Anna when the two were together. Philip had suspected that the cause of his mysterious illness that had caused him to be hospitalized was Anna trying to poison him. “I kept meaning to take it to the police,” he said in an interview with the press in September of 1937.

  On August 10, 1937, the Cincinnati police charged Anna with the murder of Jacob Wagner. Anna Hahn’s trial began on October 11, 1937, at the Hamilton County Courthouse in front of Judge Bell and lasted four weeks.

  Hamilton County Courthouse

  The jury consisted of eleven women and one man. Anna pleaded not guilty. The prosecution claimed that Anna had murdered Jacob Wagner for his money and estate and that greed was her motive. The prosecution paraded through the court a large number of witnesses, which included hospital staff who described in graphic detail Jacob Wagner’s last torturous days. A pathologist testified that Jacob Wagner had easily enough arsenic in his body to kill at least four men.

  In addition, a handwriting specialist testified that Jacob’s will was a forgery. He also testified that the handwriting belonged to Anna. Judge Bell allowed the prosecution to introduce evidence connected to other poisoning cases of Anna’s. This was allowed to illustrate Anna’s homicidal personality. George Heis was called to give his account of Anna and his ensuing illness. Anna sat throughout all the testimony supremely composed, always dressing neatly, and wearing only a discrete amount of make-up.

  The defense had little to offer beyond Anna’s claims of innocence. On October 29, 1937, the jury took just two hours to return with their verdict. Anna sat calmly, as she had throughout the trial, as the jury foreman read out the jury’s decision. The jury found Anna guilty of the murder of Jacob Wagner and recommended that no mercy be shown towards her.

  Anna was led away to the cells to await sentencing on November 10th. Anna was confident she would escape the electric chair as no woman had ever been executed in the state of Ohio. What Anna failed to realize was that when the jury recommended no mercy, it meant that the judge had no choice but to sentence her to death.

  Anna Marie Hahn prison photo

  On November 10th Anna was brought back to court, and Judge Bell asked Anna if she had anything she wished to say to the court. Anna simply replied, “I’m innocent, Your Honor”.. After a moment of silence, Judge Bell sentenced her.

  Anna, on December 1, 1937, was taken to the Ohio State Penitentiary. Her lawyers made appeal after appeal against the death penalty. On March 10th, Anna was still alive and firmly believed that the appeals would eventually spare her. The appeal finally reached the US Supreme Court, which refused to stop her execution.

  Anna then appealed directly to the Governor of Ohio, Martin Davey, but he refused to intervene in the court's decision. Anna’s execution was scheduled for December 7, 1938.

  The day before the execution took place, Anna wrote four letters which she gave to her lawyers.

  On the day of the execution, Anna dressed in a tan colored flowered silk robe, blue cotton pajamas, black shoes, and tan silk stockings rolled down to her ankles. The right leg of her pajamas was cut, and a small patch of hair on the back of her head was shaved off, so electrodes could be attached to her skin. Anna was in such an emotional state, she barely noticed what the prison officials were doing to her. When the prison authorities arrived to escort her to the death chamber, she could barely walk. On entering the execution room and seeing the electric chair, Anna fainted. Officials revived her with ammonia and carried her to the chair, to which they strapped her. All the time she was crying and pleading for help.

  Ohio State Penitentiary e
lectric chair

  No one replied to Anna; the officials just hastily fastened the electrodes to her skin and then placed a black mask over her head. Anna continued to cry and haltingly recited the Lord's Prayer. Then Anna abruptly stopped praying; her hands clenched and her body arched straining against the straps that held her. Her body began jerking and convulsing while the electric current raced through her body. Anna Hahn was pronounced dead at 8:13:30 pm on December 7th, 1938.

  One of the letters Anna wrote the day before her execution was her confession to the murders of the four men. This she sold to a newspaper in exchange for her son to receive a quality education.

  Anna’s son, twelve-year-old Oscar, was placed with a foster family somewhere in the Midwest. The newspaper kept its promise to Anna and never revealed Oscar’s whereabouts and paid for his education.

  LOUISE PEETE

  Not Always a Lady

  Lofie Louise Peete née Preslar was born on September 20, 1880 in Louisiana in the little town of Bienville. Louise’s family was wealthy, and she received a good education until her expulsion from school for ‘inappropriate behavior.’ Jewelry, which belonged to several of the other schoolgirls, was discovered in her bedside locker. Louise had developed a taste for expensive jewelry at a young age. Shortly after the expulsion from school, her mother died and her father’s newspaper publishing business went into decline.