MARY KLEMAN CONVICTED

On July 17 1885, Marie KLEMAN, age 22, was found guilty by the court in Chicago, of trying to kill the family of her sister Mrs Michael Freres in Rose Hill by serving them soup laced with arsenic from a box of rat poison that she had been using as a foot-remedy. This took place on June 8, 1885. The victims got sick but survived. Mary then served soup again, refusing any herself, and the family took sick again. At the trial, evidence was produced that convinced the jury of her guilt. Mary was sent to Joliet prison for one year. The newspaper stated that the jury considered her sickly and a "weak-headed person," hence the light prison sentence.

MARY KLEMAN -The Murderess on Trial in the Chicago Courts Yesterday.

The article tells the same story, but adds a few details (she killed her father and sister the year before.)

MARY KLEMAN CONFESSED

A friend in Dubuque reported that Mary had written her and confessed to killing her parents and other family members earlier in Dubuque. She also told her friend that she was glad to be in the penitentiary, but also glad to have a light sentence. She had frequently denied poisoning her family members in Dubuque, but finally admitted it in the letter.

Thanks Julie Ann Trenkamp, for looking up these records in Dubuque

Thanks again Julie

The "Illinois Staats-Zeitung" was a German language paper published in Chicago from 1862-1922.

I'm reproducing the Gazette story here but the Tribune and Herald stories are copyrighted. They tell substantially the same story but with less detail.

Harlange is also known as Harlingen. Like most place names in Luxembourg, it has both French and German versions of its name.

Thanks to René Daubenfeld for uncovering this story in the first place. It took a long time to research the rest.

The Luxemburg Gazette Aug 19, 1915 Mary Clement Convicted

In Chicago, on Friday, the trial of the unfortunate Mary Clement, not Kleman as most papers write it, was the top story in the "Illinois Staats-Zeitung"

Yesterday morning, the lawsuit against Mary Clement, the accused, came before Judge Anthony. She is accused of attempting to poison the family of her sister, Mrs Michael Freres in Rosehill, using arsenic, and is also suspected of poisoning her father, mother and one (two) sister(s) in Dubuque, Iowa. The young lady came dressed in mourning black, and according to the report, showed no peculiar outward nervousness and appeared serious and calm. She was defended by a young lawyer named N. Freeman, while the state attorney Longnecker represented the accuser. The jury selection for the state went quickly.

The first witness was Mrs. Freres, the sister of the accused, who did not seem to have the least compassion for the latter and made her statements clear and certain. She said that on Tuesday, June 8, Mary offered to cook a soup, and the witness agreed. At the table Mary refused to eat the soup. Because of the soup, according to the witness, her husband and children became ill, but they had recovered by Thursday. Then Mary cooked soup again and again ate none of it, and all who ate it became ill the next day. They found a grey substance in the remnants of the soup, which was handed over to a chemist for investigation.

Dr. Isaac Poole, Professor S. Carhart of Northwestern University, and Nathan B Williams, a chemist, made identical statements about the finding of poison in the substance, which had remained in the soup bowls, and over the poisoning symptoms of the patients.

Constable Samuel Harrison, who arrested Mary Clement, stated that the girl admitted to him in the station at Evanston, that she had bought a box of rat poison, which she used for her feet. She threw the box in the Water-Closet. This box was found later in the designated place. Police chief Carney of Evanston heard this discussion between the Constable and the accused, and the latter had also asked Mr. Carney whether he knew if they had disenterred the corpses of her parents.

Thus ended the testimony in support of the defense. The accused was then brought to the witness stand. She said she was 22 years old and after her parents had died, she came to her sister, Mrs. Freres. She was very ill, and had an episode of "apoplexy" ["a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain," in other words, a stroke] and because of that she had problems with her feet and hands. Once she spent five months ill in bed, with only herself to help herself. She brought $208 to Rose Hill, she gave $50 her sister, she spent $50 on Doctor bills and still had $100 in her suit-case, when she was arrested. She did not deny preparing the soups in her sister\rquote s house but she also denied not eating it, and placing poison into the soup. She bought the box of rat poison to use for her feet, because she had read once that it was good for that by placing it in the bedding. When she was asked whether she had poisoned the soup, she explained in an excited way and with tears that she had no reason to add it.

Mrs. Freres presented her will, into which she arranged that the $50 with interest should be returned to her sister. In the will, which was made before the arrest of Mary Clement, she bequeathed their father’s entire fortune to her sister. The will became certified as a piece of evidence.

In the afternoon Maggie Donohue of No. 516 W. Indiana St. was cross-examined and stated that Mary Clement, before the death of their parents, was healthy and strong, but had, however, been continually sickly since then. Both lawyers ended without responding to the jurors, and after the judge had given his instructions, the case was transferred to the jury at 3 o'clock.

At 5 o'clock the jury brought in their verdict, which was guilty of attempted murder by poisoning and a 1 year jail sentence. The accused broke into tears at the reading of the verdict, but was otherwise calm. A request for a new trial was rejected immediately by judge Anthony and the judgement was confirmed. The next week she was brought to Joliet. The jurors were divided from the beginning only over the amount of punishment, and this was set so low, because one juror assumed that the girl was not wholly responsible for her action.

So stated the report. After Clement serves her punishment, she is surely to be brought to Dubuque to stand trial for the four counts of murder.

The family Clement comes from Harlingen, in the canton Wilz [Wiltz]. Grandparents and parents of the girl were industrious, good, God-fearing people. The parents of the unfortunate one were respected in Dubuque because of their good character. It is nearly incomprehensible, how this child could strike in such a way at her kin.