Eastern Carolina
News, Kenansville, N.C., August 17, 1910
Woman Dies In
Prison…Higher Court Will Declare Miss Wardlaw’s Guilt or Innocence
Newark, N.J.—Miss Virginia Wardlaw, who, with her two
sisters is indicted for the murder of Mrs. Ocev Wardlaw Martin Snead, died here
in the house of detention. Her death, it is said, will materially affect the
prosecution of her two sisters. General decline is given as the cause of death.
Miss Wardlaw was at one time a resident of Tennessee.
The fate of the aged woman in this respect paralleled that
of her alleged victim, for doctors who examined Ocey Snead before her death
said her ailments were all due to lack of nourishment.
In the opinion of jail attendants, Miss Wardlaw deliberately
starved herself to death. This has revived rumors circulated at the time of
Ocey Snead’s death when the history of the mysterious household was under
investigation that a suicide pact existed between Miss Wardlaw and her niece.
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When she was removed from jail there was found in the cell
she occupied a quantity of stale food which the prisoner had concealed.
At the aged woman’s bedside when she died were her sister,
Mrs. Richard Pringle, and her brother, the Rev. Albert Wardlaw, both of
Christianburg, Va. But her other sisters, Miss Carolina B. Martin and Mrs. Mary
W. Snead, jointly indicted with her, were in their cell as she expired.
What effect the death of Virginia Wardlaw will have on the
fate of her sisters is still to be determined. She was the dominating influence
of the strange household, and predictions are made that Mrs. Martin and Mrs.
Snead may never be brought to trial.
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