An excerpt from Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch. An 1850s true crime.
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Polly was not your typical woman of the
1850s. The Progressive Batavian, the Republican Advocate, Genesee Democrat and the Genesee County Herald & Spirit of the
Times, all Genesee County’s newspapers, had described Polly as “not living
in a manner that becomes a woman. Her language was imprudent. She possessed an
impassive countenance, and was a woman of great self-control and
determination.” It was said that Polly was, “...youthful and unprepossessing in
appearance. She was five foot tall, small and delicate in stature, with black
eyes, a Jewish nose, and a thin and compressed lip.”
During her arraignment in November of 1857 the Genesee Democrat newspaper stated that, “She exhibited no anxiety,
fear or terror, and was apparently as calm in her feelings as a summer morning.
She does not appear to realize her awful position, and shows no symptoms of
remorse or guilt; but seems to take the proceedings as a trifle matter, and
only seemed a little annoyed at the gaze of the multitude.”
During Polly’s trials, “Her manner was
composed and eminently well calculated to impress a casual observer favorably,”
wrote the Genesee County Herald &
Spirit of the Times. “She maintained a placidity of demeanor unusual to
those on trial for murder, and her exhibition of nerve is almost unparalleled
in criminal history,” cited the Genesee
Democrat.
In
1856, in the rural town of Alabama, NY one woman's family suffered from
multiple unexplained deaths. The town folk grew suspicious of the now
remarried Polly Frisch. An investigation commenced, bodies were exhumed,
an affair—exposed. Polly would be arrested for the murders of her first
husband and daughters. Her fourteen-year-old son would testify against
her. If found guilty, the punishment for such a crime was the gallows.
Bread & Butter is the true story of Polly Frisch who poisoned her
family with arsenic and the five trials it took to convict her.
(Just waiting on verification from Amazon and Polly Frisch should be live on Kindle.)
(Just waiting on verification from Amazon and Polly Frisch should be live on Kindle.)
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This is very interesting. I love to read about women who live outside expectations.
ReplyDeleteMakes me think of that old movie, Arsenic & Lace.
ReplyDeleteOoh sounds interesting. true life offers the equal it seems of any novel.
ReplyDelete