X is for Ten -a Page from the Murders of Polly Frisch

I was hard pressed for X, like most people, and I had nothing in my crime files. So... X is roman numeral ten, IX is for nine. We often see these pages in non-fiction for an introduction, forward etc. So I am giving page IX of Bread & Butter the Murders of  Polly Frisch. It shows how with one paragraph from an old book, and a lot of research you can get to the truth.

Hoag/e family plot - Alabama Center Cemetery.

Foreword

Bread & Butter, a true story of the murders committed by Polly Franklin Hoag Frisch, is the result of extensive research. It began from one paragraph in a book entitled Gazetteer and Biographical Record and Directory of Genesee County New York 1788-1890, by F.W. Beers; and the prompting of the Genesee County Historian, Sue Conklin.

Sue felt that Polly’s story would be great for the history section of the local monthly paper we published at the time, The Basom Post. (Basom is a hamlet of Alabama, NY; Alabama being the scene of where the murders occurred.)

We began researching the story in January of 1995, and quickly came to the conclusion that there was far too much information to put into a news article. It would have to be told in a book.

After reading the story of Polly Frisch, refer back to the following paragraphs taken from the Gazetteer mentioned above. It is a fine example of how, after time elapses, the public forgets the facts, details are lost, and the truth becomes folklore.

Cindy Amrhein & Ellen Lea Bachorski

About the year 1848-1856 Alabama Center was the scene of a crime committed by a woman, Polly Franklin, who married Henry Hoag about 1844. Their children Rosa and Viola, died suddenly, and soon the father died, another child Frances, followed him.  After the death of Mr. Hoag his widow married Otto Frisch, but soon was deserted by him.

About this time suspicion was aroused and S.E. Filkins (counselor) caused an investigation to be made, which revealed the fact that some of her family had died from the effects of poison, large quantities of arsenic having been administered to them. She was arrested and tried three times, and being finally found guilty was sentenced to be hung, but was eventually imprisoned for life.

IX

It would turn out that only about half of what was printed above in 1890 was true. They confused the children, miscounted the trials, and unknown to them at the time of their printing in 1890---Polly's story didn't end there.

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Bread and Butter The Murders of Polly Frisch is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

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