Green Velvet Cake is just like Red Velvet only GREEN! It is super easy to make because you use a cake mix! It is so moist and velvety just like a good velvet cake should be.
What is Green Velvet Cake without Cream Cheese Frosting which you can find the recipe for by clicking on it, or go to cake recipes and find Aunt Norma’s Carrot Cake.
In the early 1920s an almost pandemic of anonymous cake murders happened across the country. Way before people tampered with Tylenol or sprayed ricin they put arsenic in cakes and either mailed them anonymously to people or distracted busy bakers and poisoned restaurant and bakery cakes and pastries.
Imagine going to the Post Office to pick up a package, finding a neatly wrapped round package with no return address. What a surprise! Imagine taking it home opening it up and finding a beautiful lacquered Japanese box. When you open the box are two pieces of cake, Devil’s Food with white icing, that looks like a wedding cake.
This happened to Martha Sterrritt on a Thursday. Her husband had a notorious sweet tooth and everyone they knew, knew his biggest weakness was cake. So, Martha put it on the sideboard in the dining room thinking they would have it for dessert.
Will, W.W. Sterrett her husband came home from work at 5:00 pm. He was an under-manager at Price Waterhouse and the head accountant in the Philadelphia office. Dinner was going to be at 6:30, but Martha tells him about the cake they received in the mail. Will talked her into eating it before dinner.
Fifteen minutes later Will began to feel poorly and half an hour later he is throwing up violently. Martha who was a nurse before they married thinks that Will has been poisoned and calls their family doctor, Dr. John Stangley. Dr. Stangley isn’t home so she calls another doctor, Dr. Della Williams. She tells Dr. Williams of her concerns and suggests she brings a stomach pump with her.
By the time Dr. Williams got to the Sterrett’s home Martha was sick as well. Although, not as violently as Will. Dr. Williams called the Red Cross and got a nurse to come help. Sarah Zorris came right away and spent the night as well as Dr. Williams did.
Throughout the night they both got worse so Dr. Stangle and Dr. Williams moved them to the hospital in Bryn Mawr. Both went into a coma as the hospital doctors tried to find out what poison they had ingested. They assumed since the symptoms were similar but different, that two different poisons had been used. The main differences were the time it took for Will to get sick and the violence of it. Martha took longer to get sick and was not violently ill like Will.
On Saturday Will died. Martha was conscious enough that she was told of his death. She cried and was hysterical, so they had to sedate her.
The police were brought in on Sunday, the hospital thought that the private practice physicians had notified them and vice versa. The police brought in the postal inspector as well. The investigators on the case were Postal Inspector A.M. Simpson, District Attorney Major Butler Windle, Assistant District Attorney H.R. McCowan, and county detective William Mullen.
The first thing they did was to search the Sterrett’s home. They were surprised to find it in disarray, and even more surprised to find no personal photographs or letters.
They interviewed the neighbors and found that they thought Martha to be aloof. She appeared o be all engrossed in her husband and maintaining their home. Most of them didn’t even know her first name and called her Mrs. Sterrett. They said she stayed in the house or took the car on errands. She didn’t participate in any of the “over the fence” gossip that the other housewives in the neighborhood did.
Will on the other hand was well liked and popular. He played golf and was a member of the local golf club. No one could remember Martha ever going to the club.
One of the neighbors did mention a run-in the Sterretts had with some “foreigners”. Their dog had bitten these people and they vowed revenge. The police never found them, with so little information to go on.
Dr. Herbert Bostwick of Norristown complete the autopsy on Will and found that the poison was arsenic. Also, the poison was in the icing and there was enough from what they found in Will’s stomach to kill a dozen people. Apparently, they must have tested the contents of the stomach pump since will had been throwing up violently.
The postal inspector took possession of the wrappings to try to track down where it was mailed. One clue is that there was no sender’s name or address just Philadelphia, PA. As it was against postal laws to omit this information from a package, it was assumed that it was dropped off in a mailbox, and not taken to a counter in a post office. The postal worker would not have accepted the package without it. The label was neatly typed, and it was said the typing was distinctive.
Mrs. Sterrett
At this point believed that the poisoner was a jealous woman. None of Will’s family or friends believed this theory as Will was devoted to Martha, came home every night and was not a “lady’s man.” The police received a type written post card accusing a blonde woman of the poisoning. The typing on the card was different than the label so the police believed it to be a hoax. Another typed card was sent to the city pharmacist, Charles Lehman, a good friend of Will, and was turned over to the police.
The card said, “A blonde woman sent the cake. She was in love with Mr. Sterrett and desperately jealous of his wife. She wanted Mrs. Sterrett out of the way so she could have Will Sterrett for herself. The woman lives in Philadelphia. Get on the job.”
When D.A. Windle went to Price Waterhouse he came up with a new theory. Will had audited some company and found that someone was cooking the books and embezzling funds. Will’s assistant took it as a personal mission to go through all the audits that Will had done in the last few years and report back to the police with any discrepancies. There were none.
sterrett pomona bulletin
Then, two weeks later, which was the day after Martha was released from the hospital, a friend of Will’s, P. Stewart Clarke received a package in the mail. The label was typed with a P.O. Box in Lansdowne. Inside the wrapping was a box from a sporting goods store, and inside the box was a piece of Devil’s Food cake with green icing. At first Stewart thought that someone was playing a joke, but no one would admit to it. Stewart turned it all over to the police. He told them he knew no one in Lansdowne and had no idea who would send it to him.
The cake was sent to the county chemist and tested for poison. The icing again had more than enough arsenic in it to kill several people.
The police investigated they tested hundreds of typewriters, they went to Youngstown, OH on a tip that a young woman there knew the Sterretts and had a grudge. They tried to find where the wrapping paper, string and label came from. When asked by the press whether they had found the same paper and string in the Sterrett home, D.A. Windle hesitated before answering, “I can’t answer that.”
Martha recovers and decides to move in with her mother. They were renting the house, but she sold all the furniture. The press tried to question her about it, but she wouldn’t answer.
On December 26, 1922, the crime was officially marked “Unsolved” and put into the cold case file. The poisoner was never found.
Did Martha kill her husband? Or was it someone else?
Skull and Crossbones Pie
This isn’t the only case of Cake Poisoning. In 1927, in Indianapolis, the wife of undertaker, J.H. Barr, left him taking his insurance policies with her. She left behind a cake with arsenic in the icing. Luckily Mr. Barr didn’t eat it.
In 1930, The Parker family were all poisoned by a cake purchased at the grocery store.
In August of 1922, at the Shelbourne restaurant in New York, six people were killed and 100 made ill from eating pastries made from dough tainted with arsenic. The pie crust especially was full of arsenic. The Chief Medical Examiner was convinced that the dough was poisoned with malice intent. The attorneys for the owners of the restaurant agreed.
All the ingredients for the pie crust were examined and they were free from arsenic, so the arsenic had to have been added separately.
The Board of Health revoked the permit for the restaurant to operate and the baker, Charles Abramson was arrested. Abramson had given a week’s notice and quit working at the restaurant the previous Saturday and told investigators that the baker’s helper Louis normally prepared the dough. Abramson was earning $85 per week in his new job as opposed to $80 working for Drexel. He had no motive. The D.A. released Abramson.
Louis was supposed to report to the restaurant at midnight the previous night but didn’t show up.
The doctors did not expect any more deaths because of the great amount of arsenic used. It made the eaters so violently ill they rid their bodies of the poison.
It turns out that Mr. Drexel the owner of the restaurant had started his own investigation earlier in the day. Several diners complained to him that the blackberry and huckleberry pies were burning their throats. He asked his brother-in-law Frank Rosenthal to taste the pies. He said they were fine and proceeded to eat more. Less than a half an hour later Frank was struck with sever pains in the throat and stomach. A physician was called, and he was saved by pumping his stomach.
At that point Mr. Drexel took the blackberry and huckleberry pies off the menu and sent them to a local chemist for testing. It turns out that all of the dough used in all of the pastries had arsenic, with the highest concentration being in the Danish.
This is another unsolved case which did result in something positive. Because of this incident and the people that sued the restaurant for huge amounts of money, Insurance companies began offering insurance to restaurants, hotels, bakeries and caterers.
January 1920, Eight people died from eating a crumb cake from a Chicago bakery. The police never arrested anyone.
In New York in November, 1922 four people were hospitalized from eating a poisoned cake they bought at a bakery. No arrests were ever made.
April 1923, 22 families are poisoned from a cream cake bought in a New York bakery. No one died, thankfully but many were very sick.
So, I guess the moral of these stories is do not eat a cake sent through the mail, unless you are expecting it. And bake your cakes at home!
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Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Mmmm… Devil’s Food Cupcakes! Always a family favorite and particularly mine on my birthday!
Devil’s food cake goes back to the turn of the century, that’s the turn of the 20th century. If you want to read about the origin of the name, click the link below the recipe.
This recipe for Devil’s Food Cake is from my grandmother, of course! It is a rich chocolate cake with coffee to give it depth. It uses cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor, my grandmother insists on the Dutch Process. I use Ghiradelli, it’s easy to find not too expense and lasts a while.
Also, the coffee needs to be hot, just brewed hot coffee. This makes the chocolate “Bloom” according to my Grandma!
Grandma Lillian with my mother and grandfather
The frosting for these goes back and forth between buttercream and a rich fudge frosting. I used the buttercream this time because it ties into a story about Cake Murderers!
As always I hope that you enjoy our families recipe for Devil’s Food Cupcakes as much as we do!
This is a rich chocolate cake with coffee to give it a depth of flavor, and a silky delicious buttercream frosting!
Author:cwisdom@scandalsandsweets.com
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:20 minutes
Total Time:30 minutes
Yield:24 cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cake:
2 1/4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup of Cocoa Powder – Dutch Processed
2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons Butter, 1 stick, softened
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, I’ve used both light and dark, both are good
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup HOT coffee
For the Frosting:
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Cup – 2 sticks Butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 – 2 Tablespoons Milk
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350
Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan
Beat the butter with a hand or stand mixer until smooth about 1 minute.
Add the sugars, granulated and brown alternately until they are well mixed into the butter.
Add the vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
Add the sour cream and the vegetable oil.
In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients beating on a slow speed in two or three batches. Mix just until incorporated.
Pour the hot coffee into the batter and let sit for about a minute. Then gently fold the coffee into the batter.
Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let sit about 10-15 minutes before removing them from the pan.
For the frosting:
With a hand or stand mixer, combine butter, vanilla and salt until completely incorporated.
Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until all thoroughly mixed. When all the powdered sugar is mixed in adjust speed to Medium High – High beat until fluffy adding milk a tablespoon at a time if it appears too dry.
When cupcakes are completely cooled, frost them with either a spatula or a large piping tip.
Enjoy!
Notes
The frosting can be very sweet! If I’m using sea salt or pink Himalayan salt I use two teaspoons as these aren’t as “salty” as kosher salt.
You can use food coloring in the frosting if you want, use the mixer for a solid color and do it by hand if you want a marbleized effect.
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Catherine Rosier
Day 14 – November 3, 1922
The jurors had a smoke break, discussed the case, had another smoke break, and returned to the courtroom at 4:41 pm, this all took one hour and forty-eight minutes.
Catherine Rosier was ordered to stand and face the jury. She had to be supported by Mr. Collins.
“How do you say Mr. Foreman, guilty or not guilty?”
Mr. Robinson whose face was expressionless, said, “Not guilty.”
The courtroom went silent.
Then Catherine screamed and fainted. She was carried from the courtroom.
As she left the full weight of the verdict descended on the 1,500 people gathered in the courtroom. Chaos erupted! Women began screaming and crying and cheered themselves hoarse. Men threw their hats in the air and cheered. Many women began dancing for joy. Men and women overwhelmed Scott and Collins in their congratulations! Speiser was the first to congratulate them.
Judge Barratt called the attorneys to a side bar. Chief District Attorney Rotan accompanied them. A few minutes of discussion and the attorney’s returned to their seats. Speiser moved that the charges of manslaughter of Oscar Rosier be submitted for a verdict of “Not Guilty”.
Catherine Rosier returned to the courtroom and shook the hands of the jurors who had acquitted her, saying “Thank God”.
She then asked for her baby who was brought to her. Women in the courtroom fought to be able to kiss little Richard.
When the jurors were asked, they said that it only took one vote to acquit Catherine.
Catherine left with her attorneys and returned to their offices. There she met with her mother, brothers, and friends. She left to go home with her mother. They intended to keep her in seclusion so that she could regain her health after nine months in prison and the stress of a two-week trial.
She was met by reporters. “Did I expect an acquittal?
“Well, I can only say I feel it was an answer to prayer. I have prayed day and night that I would be set free, and now I know that God heard and answered me. With the help of God, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Connor I have been acquitted.
“I haven’t had a chance to make any definite plans as to what I am going to do. But I know I want to get away and get a good rest first of all. I am really exhausted.
“I want to get away from the crowds, but not from my friends that have stuck to me so loyally and been so kind to me. I think I will spend my time just visiting my friends in the country for a while, for I know it is going to take a long time for me to regain my health.”
And so, the story ends…
Catherine Rosier’s Jury
After Catherine is Acquitted
Not really Catherine had more in front of her.
First, Catherine Rosier was offered $2,500.00 per week to go into Vaudeville which she refused.
Then there was the matter of the will that Oscar dictated from his death bed. Oscar handwrote a new will on his death bed leaving everything to Arthur and Oscar Jr. The will was finally admitted to probate on July 20, 1923. Catherine protested it but her petition was thrown out.
Arthur testified that he had helped Oscar sign the will. Richard and Frank Clegg testified next.
Richard testified that he and his father met Arthur at a police station. Arthur then produced a small book with the will written in it, Arthur told them that he was forced to help his dying brother write his signature on the will.
Mrs. Clegg testified next. She told the court that Arthur had come home with Richard. The first thing Arthur did was ask for a drink. Mrs. Clegg told Arthur he could have a drink of water, as he had the appearance of having been drinking.
Arthur told her, “Catherine was not as smart as she thought she was.” He then told her how he had assisted his brother write the new will.
Even though Catherine Rosier was not named in the will, as the widow, in the state of Pennsylvania she received a third of the estate. Richard her son, also received a third of the $54,000 estate. That left the final third for Arthur and Oscar, Jr. to split.
Next, in April 1924 Catherine sold the house in Stonehurst.
Catherine’s custody battle for Oscar Jr.
June 1924, Catherine is in a custody battle for Oscar, Jr. , 11 years old. During the hearing, the judge asked Mrs. Fischer who Oscar was staying with in a home and school for motherless children, whether he wanted to live with her or with Catherine.
Before she could answer Oscar answered, “You see, I hated her ever since she killed my daddy, for my daddy was good to me. Well while she was in jail, I told people at Stonehurst that I hoped she would be electrocuted and when she found it out, she fussed so much I was afraid to say anything.
“When I got to Mrs. Fischer’s, I asked Mrs. Fischer not to call that creature ‘mother’ to me but of course Mrs. Fischer did not obey me. Mrs. Rosier sent for me to visit her last summer in Pottstown. Mrs. Fischer persuaded me to go. When I went to retire, I found I did not have a nice room to myself as I do at Mrs. Fischer’s, but I was told to get in bed with her.
“I was afraid of her and I tried to stay awake. When I returned, I said to Mrs. Fischer ‘never again’. But after that she asked Mrs. Fischer to send me to her for a day just before Christmas.
“Mrs. Fischer said I had to go and greet her with respect. On the way home Mrs. Rosier asked how I would like her to get married. This showed me that she intended to make her home and take me with her to witness more fighting. It will all happen again if she marries for, she has a jealous disposition and a terrible temper.”
In a surprise decision Vice Chancellor Leaming allows Oscar, Jr. to choose where he wants to live. When Oscar chooses to stay with Mrs. Fischer, she is instructed by the court that it would be her “duty to use every means within her power to induce the boy to respect and love Catherine Rosier.”
Mrs. Fischer’s response was “I am no hypocrite. I never promised to teach this boy to love the woman who shot his father, and I don’t propose to do it. I can’t instruct this boy to love that woman. I won’t do it.”
Arthur Rosier
Battle with Insurance Companies
Then there were the Insurance Companies. For the first time Catherine and Arthur were allies.
The Insurance Companies had no problem paying out the policy value, however the policies were accident indemnity policies, which meant they paid double if the death was the result of an accident. In Pennsylvania, if the shooter, in this case, is acquitted for insanity it is considered an accidental death.
However, there was a clause in the policy that said that if the policy holder was killed during an illegal act, the indemnity portion of the policy was null and void. Adultery was illegal in the state of Pennsylvania, so the Insurance companies claimed that the indemnity portion was null and void.
The court found in favor of Catherine and Arthur.
In December 1924. the insurance companies with the Accident policies appeal the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The point of the appeal is that Oscar and Jerry were breaking the law at the time of their deaths. This testimony was barred by Judge Thompson in the original trial. The three judges, Buffington, Wooley and Davis heard the arguments but reserved a decision.
The Missouri State Life Insurance company and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States lost their appeal and had to pay Oscar’s estate an additional $35,888.00 per the ruling of Judge J. Whitaker Thomas. Catherine Rosier received 1/3 of it or almost $12,000 which would be about $180,000 in today’s currency.
John R.K. Scott – Catherine’s Attorney
I could find nothing more about Catherine Rosier after this, except in an interview that John R.K. Scott gave, when asked about Catherine, he said that she was working in a department store for $18 a week.
John R.K. Scott died at the age of 71, December 10, 1945. Scott was said to have gotten more acquittals for murder for his clients than any other attorney in the history of Pennsylvania. His defense of Catherine Rosier brought him national attention and boosted his career.
Some say the saying get off “Scott Free” was inspired by him and all of the acquittals he won for his clients.
This was a really long story that lasted over two weeks. Did you like the longer format broken up like that or would you rather have shorter stories that you can read all at once? Please let me know in the comments section!
We continue the Catherine Rosier story with the Rebuttals and Closing Statements.
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Day 11 – October 31, 1922
Mrs. Margaret Nace was the next witness to be called to the stand. Mrs. Nace was unable to be located and a battle between Scott and Speiser was going on as to whether her testimony at the Inquest could be read in the record as evidence.
Sixty-year-old Mrs. Nace was a former servant in the Rosier household. She testified that she heard Oscar say to Arthur, “he was getting a divorce from Catherine. You might as well use her as anyone else.” The women in the audience gasped!
Mrs. Nace continued, “Almost every day Arthur made advances on her. On more than one occasion he tried to force her. It might have been 10 times. The last time that I know of was Thursday night (two nights before the shooting), I was in the kitchen when he tried to drag her upstairs.”
Next two alienists (psychiatrists) took the stand. Dr. Charles K. Mills and Dr. George Wilson both testified that Catherine Rosier was unable to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of the shooting. Speiser could get neither one to back down from their original testimony.
Dr. Wilson further testified that even though Catherine acted normal when she called her attorney and refused to lend her coat to Jerry that she was insane at the time she fired the pistol and remained that way for a while.
With this defense rested their case.
Maurice Speiser
Day 12 – November 1, 1922
Rebuttal day. Speiser goes first.
The first witness was a prison matron, Camille Day, that was booed and hissed by the women sitting in the gallery. The matron testified that Catherine never acted insane in the prison.
Sally Johnson, the other prison matron was called next. Sally testified that Catherine Rosier was very nervous and depressed when she first came in. She complained that she couldn’t eat or sleep. Catherine did make a bag for Sally to keep car tickets in. When Sally asked her about it later, she didn’t recall making it. When Speiser re-examined Sally, he asked why she had never mentioned Catherine forgetting about the purse. Sally replied, “I didn’t think it worthwhile; you didn’t ask me.”
Speiser then asked Sally to describe the spells that Catherine would have. Sally responded that Catherine would faint.
Speiser responded, “So that is what you mean by a spell?”
“What would you mean by a spell?” Sally replied and was dismissed from the stand.
Dr. Margaret Nelson, the prison physician, stated that in her opinion Catherine Rosier was sane, however when Scott cross-examined her, she did admit to writing a report that stated Catherine was subnormal and mentally deficient.
Next Frances W. Jones, an agent from the Girls’ Aid Society that Sue Reid had contacted when she thought Catherine was going to elope at 15. Miss Jones testified that Catherine had been infatuated with a wagon driver, Richard Bent and wanted to marry him but Sue and Frances dissuaded her.
Speiser asked such ugly insidious questions that he was booed and hissed by the women in the gallery. They also made angry exclamations to an extent that Judge Barratt threatened to clear the courtroom.
Franz Koenig an agent for the apartment building where Oscar lived prior to marrying Catherine, testified that Catherine went to the apartment once.
Dr. Horace Phillips of the U.S. Public Health Service testified that he had called on Catherine Rosier in prison to examine her for her state of sanity. She refused to answer his questions on the advice of Scott, but he thought that she was sane.
Nicholas Bruno was called next. He was the deputy sheriff in charge of watching Catherine during the trial. He refused to answer the questions Speiser asked him.
Frances Jones was recalled to the stand. She testified this time that Catherine had told her that she was doing things she should not have done, and it was worrying her mother.
Court recessed for lunch.
The first witnesses after lunch were the nurses that attended her in the hospital when she gave birth. Miss Freda Golden was the first one called to the stand. She testified that Catherine’s case was normal, and she didn’t talk about her husband or homelife.
Dr. Walter J. Daly was called next he was the physician that had attended Catherine Rosier at the police station. He testified that he had observed her condition, she was in a highly nervous condition and he had to administer sedatives. In his opinion she was insane.
Arthur Rosier was called to the stand. Arthur testified that several days before the shooting, Catherine had rushed her husband with a milk bottle screaming, “I’ll kill you!”.
He further testified that Catherine was unduly jealous of the girls in Oscar’s office and said, “She constantly said she supposed her husband was running around with Jerry Reckitt.” Uh-huh, poor innocent Arthur.
The next witness was Joseph McClain, the county detective that accompanied Catherine to Oscar’s funeral. After the funeral Connor, the second defense attorney, suggested they go to lunch. After lunch they stopped at a drug store to buy some toiletries for Catherine to take back to the prison. He felt that she acted in a quiet rational manner.
Then comes Scott on the cross-examination.
“Did you hear anything unusual at the luncheon?”
“There was something said about beads, and she said, ‘I wonder if they found all mine. I lost them in the office.’”
“Isn’t it true, Mr. McClain,” continued Scott’s cross examination, “that she was so nervous and crying all the time that you pulled down the blinds?”
“I can answer that question in two ways,” replied McClain.
“You did pull down the blinds?” questioned Scott.
“Yes.”
“She was crying?”
“Yes, she cried. Shall I tell you why I pulled down the blinds?”
“Yes, tell us why,” interrupted Speiser.
“To keep the newspaper men and photographers away.”
“She was crying all the time, “asked Scott.
“I had other things to watch so she wouldn’t be annoyed, so I couldn’t say she was crying the whole time.”
McClain was dismissed and John McCarry an attaché of the coroner’s office was the next witness called by Speiser.
McCarry testified that Catherine Rosier seemed a little depressed and excitable when he picked her up from the county jail to attend the Coroner’s Inquiry.
He also testified that he took Catherine to a hotel after the Inquiry. This started another battle between the attorneys.
McCarry could not testify whether Catherine had eaten lunch or not. Mr. Paul his supervisor was at the table with them. Speiser tried to get Mr. Paul in court to testify, but he was in Baltimore. They telegraphed him to be in court the next day.
Dr. Daniel McCarthy was called next, he was a professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of Pennsylvania. As his credentials were being qualified, Catherine had a heart attack and was carried from the courtroom.
Court adjourned at 3:00. When it did a group of women descended on the Defense table. They were trying to embrace Mr. Scott for his defense of Catherine. One fell to her knees and kissed his hand.
John R.K. Scott – Catherine’s Attorney
Day 13 – November 2, 1922
Dr. McCarthy was recalled to the stand.
Catherine entered the courtroom looking pale and wan.
Dr. McCarthy testified that Catherine was sane at the time of the murder.
John R. K. Scott waived his sur-rebuttal. Feeling that the prosecutions rebuttal was weak and needed no more witnesses.
Speiser then summed up his case. He then declared that it was a cold-blooded murder and deserved the death penalty. “It can’t be heralded throughout the land, one can take human lives two at a time, if you please, because one happens to be an emaciated woman. Nothing has been shown in this case to prove that Mildred Reckitt, her victim was anything but a pure sweet girl. The correct name for this defendant should be a jealous little fool – just what her husband called her.”
He then went on to say that Oscar Rosier was a good and thoughtful husband. He said aside from Catherine’s testimony that there was no evidence there had been a love affair. I guess he forgot about Oscar telling his neighbors about Jerry’s gorgeous underwear…
His address to the court was halted by the noon recess of the court, due to the funeral of a judge who had died recently.
Catherine Rosier and son Richard
Day 14 – November 3, 1922
Catherine the day before had received a note from Anna K. Jarvis, originator of the Mother’s Day movement.
If the courtroom had been packed before today it was more than usual. Fifty women were waiting outside at 7:00 am. Those that arrived late didn’t even make it to the courtroom doors. As soon as the doors opened there was a mad dash for seats. Almost every chair had two women sharing it, and for the first time there were men present too!
John R. K. Scott gives his closing.
Before he speaks, Judge Barratt warned the jury in his most severe voice, “I want to warn everyone that any expressions of approval or disapproval that might influence the jury in coming to a just decision will impel me to clear the court of all spectators.”
John R.K. Scott began, “Gentlemen of the jury, we have now happily for this young woman, reached the conclusion of this case. It has come after two weeks and you receive it as you sit in judgement, to weigh the information that has been offered.
“I take it that this is not a hard case for you to come to some conclusion in. You have heard the case presented by the District Attorney, who has acted with great fairness, but he has presents in this case evidence which was not evidence of the entire transaction.”
Scott said that the shots fired, “were not controlled by the hand of this young woman but controlled by an unseen power in the mind of a young woman, over which she had no power.”
He paced the floor, flung out his hands and called down Heaven’s pity on “this innocent child.” He was dramatic! The women in the courtroom loved it! He thanked God for little Nick Bruno who dared Speiser’s wrath for testifying for Catherine.
He then reviewed the testimony of the reports that were immediately at the scene and their descriptions that Catherine Rosier was irrational and unstrung.
Scott then called Speiser “terribly unfair”. This was because he had suppressed witnesses that would testify that Catherine was emotionally insane.
He then took on the police officer’s that testified about the holes in Jerry’s dress. About how the fact that they took the dress to the basement and fired more holes into it, didn’t come into play until the cross-examination. He doubted that Speiser didn’t already know about that.
Scott next took on Arthur Rosier. “What have we against the character of that brother Arthur? We know that he is a married man. We have heard the District Attorney refer to him as a boy. We did not hear that he left a wife and children in Australia on a bare floor, starving.”
Speiser jumped up in outrage at this. “This is not in the evidence, Your Honor.” And Judge Barratt agreed.
He described Arthur as “taunting, slimy, crawling, lustful, despicable creature.” He also called him a snake and blamed him for driving Catherine insane by his barrage of taunts about Oscar and Jerry.
Scott continued to list a slew of witnesses who had nothing bad to say about Catherine, all of it came from Arthur.
“This child was crushed, beaten down. She had no hope all hands were turned against her; there was none to help her or her baby. And the madness borne in her from her ancestors started to take it’s ascendency in her mind, and started to manifest itself.”
When Catherine Rosier was called to the stand there was an instant hush in the courtroom. The spectators leaned forward so not to miss anything. When Catherine took the stand there were no melodramatics, she spoke softly, earnestly and simply.
Catherine took the stand at 10:48 on the 11th day of the trial. Ten minutes later, she fainted for the first time.
Scott asked her, “Mrs. Rosier, when did you first meet Arthur Rosier?”
She responded, “October 8 of last year.”
“Mrs. Rosier, from the time you met Arthur Rosier at the time of the birth of your baby, did anything extraordinary happen?”
“While I was in the hospital having my baby, Arthur came to see me. Oscar, my husband, never did. And I thought my husband was to busy to come there. After my arrival home, I was told by Arthur Rosier that my husband wasn’t true to me, and Arthur Rosier told me that if he were me, he wouldn’t do anything, because it might ‘blow over.’”
“About a week after I was home from the hospital”, Catherine said weeping. “I was introduced to Miss Reckitt at a Halloween party at my Stonehurst home. At that time, I knew nothing about her and my husband running around.
“Another night, after dinner, while I was preparing to clear the dishes off the table, Arthur tried to force me to do something for him, but I refused and repulsed him. I said to Arthur, ‘If you don’t watch your step, I will have to tell Mr. Rosier of your actions.’ And he said, ‘Oh that’s all-right Oscar’s downtown tonight with Miss Reckitt.’”
“That night, I waited for my husband to come home, and I asked him if it were true what Arthur had said. He told me that it was true. And I asked him if at the time I was in the hospital with my baby, he was out with other women. He told me yes. He said he wanted a divorce. He told me that he didn’t love me any longer, and even though I pleaded with him and told him of my love, he said:
‘” If you don’t give me a divorce, I will use Arthur as a co-respondent.”’
The next day she asked Arthur to go to Oscar’s office and try to do something. Arthur said he wouldn’t interfere. Catherine then asked him to do it for the baby, at which point she fainted.
Court Officer Adamson stood directly behind Catherine to repeat her words if they weren’t heard or to catch her if she fainted again or had a heart attack. And he gave her smelling salts to bring her around.
She then told of arranging to meet with Jerry and pleading with her to give Oscar up. Sobbing loudly, she said, “Oh I begged her so hard. And finally, she agreed to give him up.”
When she told Arthur about her meeting with Jerry, he said it would never happen. Arthur then told her about the couch in Oscar’s office and what he used it for.
The courtroom as Catherine testifies
She then called her doctor, Dr. Harris and asked him to come out. Catherine took him upstairs to see the baby and handed him a note that talked about her unhappiness and Oscar’s infidelity.
The entire courtroom was in tears at this point. Catherine was talking so fast and so quietly that Officer Adamson had to repeat her words so the jury could hear her. She went on to explain all the abusive incidents with Oscar and Arthur’s trying to poison the marriage. She did say that Oscar had given her pearls for Christmas, “I was so glad, and I went over to Oscar and put my arms around him and kissed him. He pushed me away.”
She spoke of another time when she and Oscar had gone out to dinner. Catherine asked Oscar to let Jerry go and make Arthur move out. He responded, “No, Arthur will stay. And if you don’t stop bothering Jerry, I will choke you.”
Catherine went on to tell how she and Oscar had come home late from a Poor Richard banquet. Oscar had to get up early to catch a train to New York. Catherine got up with him and made breakfast. When he left, she went back to bed. Arthur walked into the bedroom. She threatened to scream to wake up the entire household and he left. Catherine told Oscar and he replied, “He may as well have you than some other man, I’m through.”
The next day Catherine was preparing to go shopping, Arthur asked where she was going and invited her to lunch. At first, she refused and then agreed. While they were at lunch Arthur told her what Oscar had planned with Jerry that afternoon. Catherine left and went to the office. In the restroom she found Jerry’s purse and in the purse was a diary with love notes written in Oscar’s handwriting. She left the office and went and bought the pistol and had the clerk load it.
“When I entered my husband’s office, as I opened the door, there they were on the lounge. Oscar had his coat off. Their heads were together, toward me. They jumped up, I screamed, and that’s the last I remember.”
As Catherine spoke her chest heaved, her eyes filled with horror as though she was seeing the scene all over again. She started to stand up and then slumped back into her chair her head on her chest. She was given smelling salts and revived for a minute and began sobbing. Then she fainted again.
The women spectators began weeping as well as some of the jurors. Judge Barratt was visibly affected.
Scott then asked Catherine if she was afraid of Arthur. She answered that when Oscar made the trip to New York, she had asked an older friend to come over and stay with her because she was afraid of what Arthur would do.
Scott then produced the note that she had written to Dr. Harris, she identified it.
Attorney Scott then produced a bottle of poison and asked Catherine if she had intended to commit suicide with it.
Judge Barratt was afraid that she would take her own life on the stand.
It was the same bottle of poison that she had taken with her the day of the shootings, the bottle of poison that was still in her pocket when she was arrested.
Catherine’s intention on going to Oscar’s office was to kill herself. Catherine held the bottle up, looked at it and opened it. At that point Judge Barratt shot a quick glance to Court Officer Adamson who stood behind Catherine.
Adamson gently put his hand over Catherine’s and her palm was empty, she had put the poison back into the bottle. Adamson shook his head no at the judge.
Scott then asked Catherine, “When Arthur Rosier told you about the hopelessness of your efforts to get your husband back and told you that your husband and Mildred Reckitt were alone, why did you go to his office?”
“I went up to make a final appeal, thinking that perhaps I could bring about some type of reconciliation.”
“Before Arthur Rosier came into your life, what was the condition as to health and mind and happiness?”
“I was very happy; I loved my husband and he seemed to love me.”
“Why did you purchase the revolver on January 21?”
“To go back to my husband’s office and kill myself in their presence, so they could see what they had driven me to.”
“Did you go back with the intention of killing Miss Reckitt or your husband?”
“Oh no! I loved him too well to kill him!” At this point she dropped her head in her hands and began sobbing loudly.
Judge Barratt called a 10-minute recess before the cross examination began.
Every woman in the courtroom was using her handkerchief, most sobbing audibly and so were most of the men.
To say the cross examination was brutal would be an understatement. Speiser questioned her about meeting Oscar. She told about it and that Oscar had asked him to marry him shortly after they met, and she agreed. When she found out he was married already, she called it off.
Speiser asked, “When did you become intimate with him again?”
Scott objected and Judge Barnatt agreed and Speiser re-worded the question, “When did you affect a reconciliation?”
Speiser then asked a barrage of questions as to what she and Oscar had done before his former wife died. Catherine repeatedly answered they did nothing as she had broken it off when she found out he was married.
He then badgered her about expenses, charge accounts, how often she got her hair done, how much did it cost? Did they go to the theater, the movies? How often? Did they socialize with neighbors, how often? Who was invited to their home? Did she invite Miss Reckitt? No! Were there any other stenographers there? Not to my knowledge.
Then he barraged her with questions about Oscar’s company. Were there other girls employed there? While Miss Reckitt was employed? What were their names? Did they give you anything for the baby? Did you ever complain to Mr. Rosier about any of them besides Miss Reckitt? Did you ever go to lunch with Miss Reckitt? Did you ever go to lunch with another girl? Did you know your husband’s firm was insolvent? Did you know that it lacked funds?
Alfred L. Fisher was the next witness to take the stand. Alfred was an orderly at Jefferson Hospital where Jerry and Oscar had been taken after they were shot. He testified that as he was wheeling Jerry to the operating room, he asked Jerry if Oscar had shot her.
“No, we were caught by his wife,” Jerry told him.
Alfred also testified that Catherine had leaned over Jerry’s bed and asked if she hadn’t told her to stay away from her husband, and Jerry answered yes.
Sue Reid suffered a minor heart attack during the testimony and was taken to the hospital.
Court was adjourned and Catherine fell to her knees in prayer, whether for her mother or herself, or both was unknown.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie is one of my Aunt Frieda’s recipes! Aunt Frieda is one of the six sisters, my grandmother’s sisters. This pie is really delicious with the great flavor of whole strawberries and a fluffy no bake cream cheese base! So so Yummy!
Aunt Frieda
This is my Aunt Frieda! She was the perfect Aunt! When she babysat we had Spaghetti and Mashed Potatoes for dinner, with a quick walk to Dairy Queen for dipped cones! My sister and I loved spending the night with her, we would play cards and board games and before bed sometimes we would get a piece of her Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie! I miss her a lot!
As you know I hate making pie crust, so I buy the rolls in the refrigerator section. Sometimes I get a ready made graham cracker crust, depending on my mood. If you want to make scratch crusts, there are tons of recipes on the Internet! Good luck! I hope they work out better for you than they do for me!
This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and buy, I may receive a small commission (at zero cost to you!) Please see my full Disclosure Policy for details.
Catherine Rosier
Catherine Rosier’s Trial – Day 8 – October 26, 1922
On the cross examination of one of the police detectives Scott found that the black skirt worn by Jerry Reckitt was taken to the basement of the police headquarters and shot repeatedly with the pistol that Catherine had used to shoot both Jerry and Oscar. This was significant in that previously witnesses had testified that there was just one hole in Jerry’s skirt. Judge Barratt ordered that the clothing be removed from evidence as it had been tampered with.
Jerry’s mother was the final witness for the prosecution. She testified that Jerry’s final words were asking her mother to pray for her.
Prosecution rested their case.
John R. K. Scott begins his opening address to the court. He blames the killings on a “Momentary madness the sudden rush of blood in which heritage had placed the taints of insanity.”
“We will show you that when she reproached her husband, he told her it was true, that he intended to cast Mrs. Rosier off. Arthur Rosier, the husbands brother said to her ‘You might as well have me’. When the defendant again attempted to regain her husband’s love, he threw her to the floor. Then, Mrs. Rosier attempted to kill herself. Mrs. Rosier appealed to Miss Reckitt to give up Oscar Rosier. First, the stenographer promised, but later said to Mrs. Rosier, ‘No use of making yourself pretty; he’ll have nothing to do with you.’ We will show that she opened the door she saw a scene that drove her to madness.
“After we have shown you the weak source of this young woman’s blood, and all the surrounding circumstances that caused her to be driven mad we will show you by men eminent in their profession that when the shots were fired, she was mad, bereft of all reason, incapable of knowing the difference between right and wrong.”
Attorney Scott contends that Catherine went to Oscar’s office with the intent to plead with him to give up Jerry and if that didn’t work, kill herself. However, what she saw in Oscar’s office was so horrific to her that she killed them instead in a fit of momentary insanity.
John R.K. Scott – Catherine’s Attorney
Catherine Rosier’s Defense – Day 9 – October 27, 1922
Catherine today had discarded the mourning veil that she had been wearing throughout the trial. Without it the jurors and spectators could see how worn and haggard she is. According to the Courier-Post of Camden, NJ, “The pathos of her face, however, has a haunting quality which cannot fail to move all who behold it. The jurors have not been impervious to it.”
Susan Reid, the star witness for the defense took the stand and began a very dramatic testimony that had the spectators and the jurors in tears.
Susan Reid testified that Oscar beat Catherine when she was pregnant. As she was testifying one of the women spectators fainted and some of the jurors wiped their eyes. Susan herself cried off and on during her testimony.
She also told of Arthur Rosier, Oscar’s brother constant tormenting Catherine about Oscar’s infidelity with his stenographer, Jerry Reckitt. “I warned my daughter against Arthur Rosier and told her he would try to trap her in a compromising position.” Maurice Speiser, of course objected, but Judge Barret ruled that the testimony was material to the case. Susan further testified that Catherine told her that Arthur had said that Oscar was in love with Jerry and would frame Catherine with Arthur as a co-respondent so he could divorce her.
Mrs. Reid further testified that Catherine grew up as a sickly child. Once she fell down the stairs and had suffered intermittent headaches since. After Catherine’s baby was born, she went to Philadelphia to stay with her mother. Susan found her daughter completely changed.
“Mother I’m sick. I can’t stand what Arthur is telling me about Oscar and Jerry Reckitt. Mother, it’s killing me!’
She also testified that her father was crazy several months before he died, and that her husband, Catherine’s father, was a drunkard and abused both Susan and Catherine. Susan also testified that she had an eight-year-old son who was an “imbecile” and had the mental capacity of a three-year-old.
Susan’s final testimony was that Catherine had tried to kill herself, but the pistol misfired, and she shot the floor. Oscar was heard saying, “Too bad!”
Speiser in the cross examination of Susan made the women spectators, all hundred plus of them indignant when he tried to impugn Catherine’s character. He asked Susan if Catherine “had given her any trouble and had to be looked after between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.” Scott objected and Judge Barratt made Speiser withdraw the question.
Speiser was fairly brutal in his cross exam of Sue about Catherine that he called “boy crazy”.
Scott the defense attorney objected numerous times to both the questions and the tone of the questions, and the judge agreed with him.
The only time he let Speiser continue was when the line of questioning went to Susan Reid going to a girls’ aid society for help in keeping Catherine on the straight and narrow. Susan wept when she talked about it.
The spectators gasped at some of the questions that Speiser asked Susan. Most of which she vehemently denied.
Catherine wept all during her mother’s testimony and once needed to leave the courtroom to get some air.
When the court adjourned for lunch, Catherine, her mother, and baby Richard went to the Sherriff’s cell room. Catherine was sitting in a chair feeding Richard a bottle when she fainted, and Richard and the bottle slid to the floor. Dr. Charles Bricker the police surgeon was summoned, and it took him 20 minutes to bring Catherine back to consciousness. The physicians that examined her diagnosed her as suffering from a valvular heart problem, shattered nerves, and anemia. They fear that she could suffer a heart attack.
Christy Mathewson
Mrs. Minerva Matthewson, mother of Christy Matthewson, and Catherine’s aunt next took the stand.
Christy Matthewson was a major league baseball pitcher who spent 17 seasons with the New York Giants. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball history and is still in the top 10 of several pitching statistics, one hundred years later.
Minerva testified that Catherine’s maternal grandfather, George Capwell, her brother, died a “maniac”. She further testified that Christy’s brother committed suicide while he was insane.
Several women took the stand next including Catherine’s neighbors and friends. One of them testified to Oscar’s scheme to get a divorce, another testified that Catherine had confided that she was “going out of my mind”.
A third, a neighbor testified how Catherine had gone from a “happy care-free girl to a nervous, pale, twitchy woman who bit her fingernails and let her house and person go untidy.”
This same neighbor also testified that she had overheard Arthur and Oscar talking about Catherine’s attempted suicide. Catherine’s cheek was bruised and swollen the day before the shooting. She told the woman that Oscar had hit her.
Catherine, Susan Reid and Baby Richard
Catherine Rosier’s Defense – Day 10 – October 28, 1922
Catherine has already fainted in the waiting room, so she has been given a narcotic to keep her going.
Mrs. Clegg, one of Catherine’s friends testified that Catherine had come to her home with her arm bandaged. When she asked what had happened Catherine told her that she had complained about him taking Jerry to the theatre and he had slapped her in the face and knocked her down and she had hurt her arm.
She also testified that when she and her husband and Catherine and Oscar were out to dinner how Oscar told them all that Jerry had beautiful underwear. He then went on to say Catherine was a bad shot shooting the floor or up in the air.
Mrs. Clegg asked him why Catherine had a pistol and Oscar told them that he was teaching her to shoot. She then testified that on the day of the shooting Catherine had asked her to keep Richard and Junior while she went to town. Catherine brought Richard over but not Junior as he had gone to the dentist with Arthur.
Mrs. Clegg said that Catherine had been crying. She further testified that she had only seen Catherine drink once and that was a glass of wine in her own home.
William Clegg her husband was called next. He testified that when Catherine came home from the hospital, he asked Oscar if he was happy that Catherine was home, he said that Oscar said, “My wife’s being home is alright, but my own good times are over.” William said this statement was made in front of Catherine and she started crying. He saw her crying another time and asked Arthur what was going on and he answered that Oscar wasn’t coming home at night anymore.
“For God’s sake, don’t tell my mother what happened.” this was one of the last sentences Jerry Reckitt spoke from her death bed. Catherine’s attorney, John R. K. Scott, is using this statement along with other evidence to prove that the “Unwritten Law” was in force and that Jerry was having an adulterous affair with Oscar.
The prosecution argued that the statement meant that she didn’t want her mother to know about her death. Magistrate Carney was called to the hospital after the shooting gave this testimony.
Prosecutor Speiser didn’t believe that Carney’s testimony was true.
Carney responded, “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you call Arthur Rosier!”
“I will take care of the Commonwealth’s case,” snapped Speiser.
Dr. Harris, the Rosier family doctor was next called to the stand. Dr. Harris testified that Catherine had slipped him a note two months before the killing that her husband was being unfaithful.
The court adjourned at 12:30 because it was Saturday.
