This story comes from part 4 of “The Higbees Still Here.” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
We begin after the arrest of Julia Higbee. Once again The Courier-Journal “When the husband was informed that his suspicions were corroboration his grief was pitiable. He then told that he and his wife had not live happily together for the past six months, and feared that her death was the outcome of her unhappiness. Dr. Pusey, who is regarded as an expert on the subject of insanity, had a careful review of the case and examined the condition of the mother. He pronounced it an unmistakable case of puerperal insanity. Her mental condition was aggravated by loneliness and remorse. From the first she showed an insane jealousy of her husband and upbraided him for faithlessness.
Mr. Higbee left last evening for his home in Meade county in order not to be present at his wife’s arrest, which was decided upon as soon as it was conclusively proven that she was the cause of her children’s death.
When taken into custody, Mrs Higbee showed the same indifference which had characterized her actions from first to last. She walked into her cell composed, and quiet. When asked the names of her three youngest children, she said she has forgotten them and preferred not to speak of them.”
The trail of Julia Higbee began in January of 1981. Here are the exerts about the trial in three parts. “Louisville. Jan. 1. – The inquest in the case of the death of the four children of Jesse Higbee, at Muldraugh, near this city was concluded Tuesday [Dec. 30, 1890]. The verdict is that the mother, Mrs. Julia Higbee, poisoned the children and is insane. Alfred Higbee, a relative, testified that he believed the mother poisoned the children; he did not believe her insane, and he thought she intended to kill the rest of the family.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Higbee did not go to Meade county after Mrs. Higbee’s dismissal in the Circuit Court last Monday, but they say they will make their home in Louisville. They are living with Mr. Higbee’s mother, at Seventh and Oak streets, and Mr. Higbee will go into some kind of business here. He still maintains his wife’s innocence of the charges against her, and declares that she is any thing but an insane woman”
“Mrs. Higbee, the Meade county woman who poisoned her five children, has been declared insane and taken to the anchorage asylum.”
jessie Higbee returned to his plantation near muldarugh with his REMAINING child, while julia higbee never set foot in meade county again.
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