A Mother, a Revolver, and Nux Vomica: Spokane’s Poisoning Trial
Helen Grier stands trial for her sixth husband’s murder, while her daughter testifies that Grier first handed her a gun and then bought the poison herself.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
SPOKANE, Sept. 6.—Helen Grier was put on trial in the superior court today for poisoning her husband in this city last March. The prosecution created a sensation by announcing that it held a letter written by her to her son, directing him what to testify to in her defense. Florence Shirley, a daughter of the accused, who is the prosecuting witness, testified that her mother gave her a revolver and asked her to kill the old man, who was her sixth husband. She refused, whereupon her mother bought some nux vomica and administered the fatal dose.
““She refused, whereupon her mother bought some nux vomica and administered the fatal dose.””
Sensational poisoning trials were a staple of 1890s newspapers, but the details here—a mother enlisting her child and a sixth marriage—still land with force. Modern true-crime coverage faces the same uncomfortable question: how much family testimony should the public hear?
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