Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1901 — NURSE HELD FOR CRIME. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NURSE HELD FOR CRIME.

In the big, red jail at Barnstable, Mass., Jane Tappan sits all day in her cell, as calm and placid and ap-

parently unmoved as If she were spending pleasure holidays at the quaint old town by the sea instead of being a prisoner accused of a crime so deep and black it has few. parallels in history. The only thing that breaks the monotony is visits from her lawyer. Cataumet, which was the scene ol the crime of which Miss Tappan is accused, is one of the most picturesque little summer villages on the coast of Buzzard’s Bay. Talking of her the other day, one of her neighbors said: Under a charge of murdering Mrs. Mary Gibbs by poisoning she was arrested at Amherst, N. H., and after appearing in the police court at Nashua, N. H., where she protested her innocence, she decided to return to Massachusetts without requisition papers. Miss Tappan nursed four members of the Davis family at Cataumit, Mass., last summer, and all four died. Her arrest followed a report made by Prof. Wood, an analytical chemist, who examined the stomachß of two of the supposed victims, that he found traces of poison. The persons nursed by Miss Tappan whose illness proved fatal were Mr. and Mrs. Alden P. Davis, of Cataumet, and their daughters, Mrs. Henry Gordon of Chicago and Mrs. Gibbs of Cataumet. The forma] charge against Miss Tappan is based on the last named case.

JANE TAPPAN.