FULL TEXT: Oswego, N.Y., November 14. – The police here have placed under arrest Fanny Scofield, thirteen years old, on suspicion of having poisoned two-year-old Fern Field, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Field, who own a farm in the neighborhood of the village of Mexico, ten miles from Oswego. The arrested girl is the daughter of a farmer who lives some miles away from the Fields house, and has been in their employ for a year as serving maid. She stoutly denies her guilt.
When Mr. ad Mrs. Field returned home and found their child screaming with pain and writhing in convulsions, they dispatched the helpers on the farm in all directions for medical help. The parents partially relieved the sufferings of the little one by hot baths, and managed to obtain a possible clue. The child said that she had asked Fanny Scofield for something to eat. Fanny gave her some milk, she said, and soon afterward he felt a pain in her stomach. The information was laid before Coroner Vowinkel, who sent for Dr. W. Maulins Smith, of Syracuse, to make an autopsy. Dr. Smith discovered traces of arsenic in the stomach, and it is believed that “Rough on Rats” was administered in the milk. The coroner issued a warrant for Fanny’s arrest, and she was taken to the county jail in Oswego last night.
There is a grave suspicion that the prisoner was guilty of poisoning another daughter of the Fields, who died, under similar circumstances, in July last. At that time no one thought anything but that death was due to natural causes, and no autopsy was made. The family now recall that the circumstances of the first death was identical with that of the last, and it has been determined to exhume the body and have an autopsy performed. There is great indignation manifested by the villagers and farmer folk at the suspicious deaths, and it is only due to the extreme youth and apparent ignorance of the prisoner that saves her from their wrath.
[“Arsenic In Their Milk. – A Thirteen-year-old Girl Charged With Poisoning Her Two Charges.” Baltimore American (Md.), Nov. 15, 1896, p. 11]
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NOTE: Two murders, on separate occasions, are attributed to Fanny Scofield. In our collection of female serial killer case, we ordinarily keep to victim count of three or more (including failed attempts), but in cases where the killer is so young it seems reasonable to make an exception. Cases of children who murder on more than one occasion are, it goes without saying, important sources worthy of study for those who wish to understand the crime of serial killing and the mentality, methods and motives of such killers.
