WHO KILLED GEORGE? The Ordeal of Olive Sternaman

Softcover. When Ezra Chipman brought fellow Canadian George Sternaman to board at his Buffalo home, he set in motion a nightmarish chain of events. Within months, Ezra was dead of a mysterious ailment. Then, shortly after marrying Ezra's widow Olive, George developed similar symptons. Impoverished by George's long illness, the family moved to his mother's farm in Haldimand County, Ontario. There, in August 1896, 24yr. old George Sternaman died. After his funeral, Olive returned to Buffalow to try to pick up the pieces of her life. Meanwhile, a Canadian investigation into George's death had begun. Medical examinations and evidence uncovered by Ontario's "great detective", John Wilson Murray, pointed to one conclusion: George Sternaman had died of arsenic poisoning. Olive was arrested and charged with his murder. Sensational legal battles followed, involving the highest courts in both Canada and the United States. When Olive finally went to trial at the Haldimand County Courthouse in Cayuga, her lawyer, Welland politician William Manley German, was up against the most brilliant legal mind of the day, Britton Bath Osler. Drawing on newspaper accounts and legal documents, the author has recreated a true-to-life Victorian melodrama and offers an insight into the legal system, social sentiments, and status of women in the 1890s. Illus., Glossary of Medical Terms, Appendices,, Bibliog., Endnotes and Index. 239pp. 8vo. softcover. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F.