Bertha

Bear with me for a minute or two, this is sort of a roundabout story but it does eventually come to a head. 

A few weeks back I started reading a series of crime novels by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo. I don’t recall exactly how I came across this author other than one of those ‘if you like xxx xxxx , then you might also like ’  Google searches I am prone to run when I exhaust one author’s books.  This series has been translated quite well from Viking to English. In the early parts of the first book, the protagonist, Harry Hole (I’m not making that up) is discussing serial murderers. He talks about how rare it is that women are guilty of such heinous crimes. He does mention a name, an American in the early 1800’s, Lavinia Fisher.

At an idle opportunity I looked up the case to see if it was a real reference. It was. The list I first came across also made mention of one Bertha Gifford, of Missouri.

Interesting, So I looked that up. “Bertha Alice Williams Graham Gifford was born in Grubville, Missouri"
Even more interesting since I almost bought a house in Grubville, and it’s not many miles from where I currently live. So I dug deeper.

Bertha actually lived in Morse Mill, about seven miles from Grubville, and about five miles from my current residence. I knew Morse Mill, it’s on the same road as one of the glades I used to hike, as well as just five miles from the poor farm I’ve mentioned here a few times. The cemetery where poor ol’ Bertha is buried is right on that road, and you know I’ve got a thing for old cemeteries.

(L-R) Bertha Gifford, Eugene Gifford
(Front) Henry Graham

Oddly enough she is buried alongside her first husband, Henry Graham. Also near her headstone are those for her second husband, Eugene Gifford, Eugene's mother Emilie Gifford, his thirteen year old brother James, as well as his uncle, Sherman Pounds. Henry, Emilie, James and Sherman are by some accounts, among Bertha’s earlier victims. Shortly after marrying Gifford, the couple moved to Catawasa, in neighboring Franklin County.

There the deaths continued. The exact count will likely to never be known for sure, though historians put the total at around seventeen, many of them children.

Bertha was considered quite attractive in her youth, and grew into a matronly, nurturing soul. She was considered a first-rate cook, and would rush to the side of anyone in need of medical assistance. Though never formerly trained as a nurse, she went so far as to wear starched white dresses as she went from place to place to tend to the sick. She often took in the very sick, staying at their bedside with them, often up to their last breath.

This was the early 1900’s Medical care was still rather primitive and child mortality quite high, especially in remote, rural areas. At the same time dubious potions, tonics and 'snake oil' cure-alls were quite the rage. Bertha made her own home remedies.

She also bought a lot of arsenic, telling the seller she was having rat problems.

For several years if there were any suspicions at all, they were few and reserved. It was only upon the deaths of two young brothers,(Lloyd and Elmer Schamel) within six weeks of each other, and subsequent to the death of one of the Giffords' farm hands (Ed Brinley),  that an investigation took place at all. The local doctor who had signed the death certificates of many of her victims had never bothered with autopsies as the deaths seemed to fit common serious ailments, gastritis, for example.

But  investigators got a letter of concern from one of the victim's family and looked into it. Brinley and the Schamel boys were exhumed, and large quantities of arsenic were found. The Schamel boys had been nursed and fed by Bertha.

These were the three victims that set an arrest and trial in motion. This trial, attended by 'thousands' in Franklin County was quite the media frenzy, not unlike those we still see today. The killing of these three victims were the only cases in the matter that were ever adjudicated. At the trial, Bertha Gifford was found to be insane and sentenced to live out her life in the mental hospital in Farmington. She died in 1951, without ever revealing much more about the whole affair.

Based on times and types of deaths it is generally assumed that there were many more than these three victims. A more thorough list can be found here.
I paid a visit to the cemetery in Morse Mill. It is on the grounds of the Church of God Faith of Abraham Cemetery (AKA Soul Sleepers Cemetery) on Highway B, a church that  Eugene Gifford, Bertha's second husband, himself helped build.
I also stopped by the big, old hotel in Morse Mill.

Morse Mill Bridge

Morse Mill is just off Highway B, above the Big River. Yes, the 'Big River', that's the actual name of the meandering Meramec River tributary. There's an old iron bridge, long ago closed off to vehicles, and the remains of the eponymous old mill just outside of town. The mill and the bridge were built by John H. Morse as was the hotel, originally the large, New Orleans style Morse homestead.  Morse also built the Sandy Creek Covered Bridge north of Hillsboro. The old Hotel, now in pretty bad shape and in constant state of repair, stands out in this sleepy little bedroom community. Bertha and Eugene lived there before moving to Franklin County and later the place became quite famous/notorious. It is said that Morse was in certain cahoots with the legendary James Gang and that they stopped by occasionally, other accounts list Charles Lindbergh, Clara Bow, and even Charlie Chaplin as hotel guests. Legend also has it that Al Capone had an investment in the place during the wild 'roaring' twenties. This is also believed to be the site of the death of Bertha's alleged first victim, her first husband, Henry Graham.
Thus the hotel is frequented by  ghost hunters and fans of the paranormal. Why wouldn't it be haunted? The former home of a notorious serial killer?

Morse Mill Hotel

Well, I'll let you be the judge of that sort of thing. The interwebs is full of reports from paranormal investigators struggling to find spirits or ghosts there. The current owner even invites investigators, and offers tours.
Notice please my frequent use of phrases such as 'believed to be', 'by some accounts', etc. I'm simply covering my ass here. I have seen discrepancies between the various sources I've cited, I can't be exactly sure which are accurate and which are not. All local historical documents, the ones that still exist, list only statistical data, like census and birth/death records which do not speak of the stories surrounding these people. There are even some discrepancies in newspaper accounts of the times, places and events. Since the Bertha Gifford story was quite the big news item at the time, it received national attention, I'm sure that there were more than a few rumors, legends and embellishments that were printed and later remembered as fact.
Bertha's great-granddaughter S. Kay Murphy researched her infamous ancestor and wrote a book 'Tainted Legacy' Which is available from Amazon. I've ordered a copy.
"So what does this have to do with you?" You smugly ask.
Well it hits on several notes. First, I already have photos of the Morse Mill Bridge, the Sandy Creek covered bridge and the mill. There's a park on the river between the mill and the iron bridge, I visited there a few years ago while discovering my new home county's history.  Then of course, there's the cemeteries and graves, as well as my old hiking place, Valley View Glades in the same area.
So it's like discovering that there was once a serial killer in your own neighborhood, how could a person NOT be curious.

Bertha's  stone was put in place in 2008-2009.
I'm not sure why there wasn't one there before, or who placed it.

To this day there are those that believe Bertha was at worst, a misguided angel of mercy, that she had no mens rea (guilty mind) about her. Others, of course, think of her as pure evil and quite mad. I don't know for sure, but even the little we do know is quite compelling.

___________________________

This whole thing is not intended to glamorize tragedy. And there was certainly a boatload of tragedy surrounding Bertha Gifford's life. However, we are foolish to ignore the story or sweep it under the rug. Part of the reason the whole affair lasted so long, and the death toll was allegedly so high, was precisely that people chose to ignore, or at least not look on the situation in a bad light. People wanted to believe the best, wanted to believe there was no evil afoot. Thus it went unreported and in most cases, not even suspicious for nearly two decades.