Michigan's Strychnine Saint: The Curious Case of Mrs. Mary McKnight

by Tobin T. Buhk

Overview

The spring of 1903 proved disastrous for the Murphy family. On April 22, the infant Ruth Murphy died in her crib. Within an hour, her mother, Gertrude, experienced a violent spasm before she, too, died. Ten days later, John Murphy followed his wife and child to the grave after suffering from a crippling convulsion. While neighbors whispered about a curse and physicians feared a contagious disease, Kalkaska County sheriff John W. Creighton and prosecuting attorney Ernest C. Smith searched for answers. As they probed deeper into the suspicious deaths, they uncovered a wicked web of intrigue. And at the center stood a widow in a black taffeta dress.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626192577
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/04/2014
Series:	True Crime
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tobin T. Buhk is a teacher by day and a crime writer by night, a unique moonlighting that began when Buhk did a brief stint as a morgue volunteer, which led to his first two books, Cause of Death and its sequel, Skeletons in the Closet. Buhk is also the author of True Crime Michigan, True Crime in the Civil War and The Shocking Story of Helmuth Schmidt.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction 9

Part 1 Death Suits Her

1 The Wake 15

2 "It's No Good Joe, I Am Dying" 25

3 All in the Family 31

4 "Don't You Ever Let Them Dig Me Up" 39

Part 2 Rumor Has It

5 The Birdcage 49

6 Skeletons in Her Closet 53

7 Confession 63

8 The Michigan Borgia 69

9 Examination 77

Part 3 The People V. Mary McKnight

10 The Trial of the Century 105

11 The Case for the Defense 119

12 "They Imitated Lucretia Borgia" 127

13 Verdict 131

Part 4 Epilogue

14 The Fates of the Players 137

15 There's Something about Mary 157

Timeline 169

Notes 171

Bibliography 185

About the Author 189