Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 301, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1914 — 36 YEARS IN CELL; WOMAN PARDONED [ARTICLE]

36 YEARS IN CELL; WOMAN PARDONED

Sentenced for Life in 1879 for Husband’s Murder—Retains Traces of Her Former Beauty. Hartford, Conn., Dec. 18.—Mrs. Kate Oobb, of Norwich, who has been confined in the state prison at Wethersfield for nearly thirtysix years tor the murder of her husband, was today granted a pardon by the state board of pardons. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1879.The pardoning of (Mrs. Oobb, who is now 66 years old, recalls one of the most sensational crimes in the annals of Connecticut courts. Her husband, Charles Oobb, was found dead in January, 1879. Soon afterwards, Mrs. Wesley Bishop, a member of another prominent Norwich family, also died suddenly. Both families were intimate. The Coroner’s inquest Showed that both Cobb and Mrs. Bishop had died of poisoning under suspicious circumstances. Mrs. Cobb and Bishop were arrested and it developed in the evidence after a remarkable trial that the ttwo had planned separate murders in order that they might be free to marry. The evidence, however, was mostly circumstantial and' it was not until Bishop had turnd states evidence that the motive and details were brought out. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Bishop died in prison two years ago. Although they were confined in ceils not many hundred feet apart, the two never saw each other from the day they were sentenced. It is said Bishop had requested that he might see Mrs Cobb before he died, but she declined to see him. Mrs. Oobb has —petitioned the board of pardons six different times to i clemency. Her last petition said she did not ask for release for herself alone, as she had lost all that life held dear But for the sake of her children and their offspring, she wished to pass the remainder of her life with them 'and spare them the disgarce of dying in prison.* Mrs. Oobb, although in prison more than half her life, retains many traces of the beauty for which she was noted when. she lived in Norwich. iShe has twO dhiJdren living.