Mo. Supreme Court ruling saves woman from gallows
This image of Alice McLain Nesenhener was published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on Feb. 3, 1901. She is holding her son, Howard Milton Nesenhener, who was with her throughout a trial charging her with poisoning her husband, Frank Nesenhener, with morphine. A Missouri Supreme Court ruling reversed her conviction. The child died on May 10, 1903, of carbolic acid poisoning, while he was in his mother’s care.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
In late January 1901, a new courthouse, which would feature electric lighting, indoor plumbing and a grand staircase, was under construction at Tenth and Broadway in Hannibal.
At the same time, a trial of unusual circumstance was under way in Judge David Eby’s cramped courtroom, some eight blocks away, at 310 N. Fourth Street. This courtroom was located in a former Presbyterian church building of the era of Sam Clemens’ youth, and reclaimed long prior for judicial purposes.
Inside the courtroom, an interested array of spectators and reporters gathered in order to hear salacious details presented as evidence in a capital murder trial: the case of the State of Missouri versus Alice McLain Nesenhener, in the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas.
Nesenhener stood charged with the murder - by morphine - of her husband, Frank Nesenhener, on July, 17, 1900.
While awaiting trial, Mrs. Nesenhener was confined in the Marion County Jail at Palmyra. Within view were the wooden planked gallows, where, if sentenced, her ultimate fate could be administered.
Two of the five children born to Alice McLain Nesenhener were on hand to witness the trial proceedings:
Lillie McLain Lomax, born in 1881, prior to Mrs. Nesenhener’s marriage to Frank Nesenhener, was married to William Lomax; and Howard Milton Nesenhener, born in 1899, who sat upon the lap of either his mother or grandmother, Elizabeth McLain, during the trial proceedings.
The Hannibal Courier-Post, which closely covered the trial, reported, on Feb. 22, 1901: “At times the little fellow would laugh in tones which could be heard several feet away. Being only a little over a year old he was too young to realize the situation.”
According to Mrs. Nesenhener’s testimony, her other three children were deceased:
Ida May died at the age of 11;
Mary Ellen died at the age of 3; and
Emma Bertha died at the age of 7.
Her children are buried beside their father at Riverside Cemetery.
While Mrs. Nesenhener maintained that her husband died from a lingering stomach ailment, testimony from witnesses suggested that Mrs. Nesenhener administered morphine in order to kill her husband, so that she could collect on his insurance policy.
The St. Louis Republic, on Jan. 31, 1901, reported:
Robert O. Cranston, a clerk of the drug store of J.B. Brown, testified that he sold an eighth of an ounce bottle of morphine to Mrs. Nesenhener one day prior to her husband’s death.
Frank K. Green, constable, testified to finding a powder of white substance in the outdoor privy, which had later been tested by a druggist and pronounced morphine.
Dr. Henry L. Banks testified that he found an empty eighth of an ounce bottle in the family’s privy.
(The Hannibal Weekly Journal on Feb. 2, 1901, reported that while Dr. Banks was making a further examination of the vault, he discovered a bottle which was almost covered. “Witness said Dr. Banks secured the bottle by the use of sicks, wiped it off and found it labeled morphine.”)
McLain legacy
Alice Nesenhener had deep Hannibal roots. Her grandfather, William C. McLain, moved his family to Hannibal from Maryland, prior to 1850, and early settled on Union Street, South Hannibal. Mr. McLane was described in the 1850 census as a common laborer, and owner of some taxable property.
Just two years later, the family patriarch died.
The Hannibal Daily Messenger of July 27, 1852, reported: “Mr. Wm. C. M’Clain (stet), died on Sunday last, while his family were at church. Mr. C. was a very intemperate man, and to this cause may be attributed his unexpected decease.”
His death in 1852 left his wife, Rebecca, 44, as the sole parent to their four children:
Lambert F., 20;
Edward J., 16 (died in 1904);
Charlotte, 12; and
William, 7.
Lambert, the oldest, with a temperament mirroring his father’s, was mentioned in the Aug. 10, 1858 edition of the Hannibal Daily Messenger: “A young man, named Lambert McLain, was up before the Recorder yesterday morning, charged with drunkenness and disturbing the peace. He was fined $7 including costs.”
Married to Elizabeth (Lizzie) McLain, (born 1828) Lambert and Lizzie were parents to James Hay McLain, William E. McLain and Alice Adelia McLain, the subject of this article, who was born circa 1862.
They made their home at 640 Union St. (This was on the west side of Union, prior the intersection with O’Fallon Street.)
Lambert McLain died prior to 1870.
Alice McLain was married to John D. Green in January 1882. She was married to Frank Nesenhener on May 6, 1884. As previously mentioned, they had four children together.
The trial
Twelve jurors listened intently to the evidence in order to decide Mrs. Nesenhener’s fate.
Jurors were:
Lemuel L. Baskett, a member of Mount Zion Christian Church;
John Gelvin, who along with his brother, Jerry, operated a seed and feed store on Market Street;
H.B. Kreigbaum, a carpenter who lived at 410 Hope;
William Nerlich;
Frank Ravenscraft, a prescription clerk for Hofbauer Bros., drugstore.
James W. Green, laborer;
John Pratt, who would be hired as the first janitor for the newly completed Court House in June 1901;
Henry Cameron, an ice dealer;
Daniel Welch;
Preston P. Winn, who worked at the Star Shoe Factory;
John Settle operated a saw mill, 327-335 Market, with his brother, George T.; and
Charles Bramblett.
After weighing the evidence during a three-day trial, the jury rendered the verdict of murder in the first degree.
The Feb. 22, 1901 edition of the Hannibal Morning Journal reported: “For her sentencing, she wore a little black sailor hat and a dark calico dress. Over her shoulders hung a light plush cape, black in color. The woman was calm and self possessed and seemed little interested in the dramatic scene in which she was the prominent figure.”
Mrs. Nesenhener was sentenced to hang.
Reversal
The Missouri Supreme Court determined, as published in the St. Louis Globe Democrat on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1901, that “there was not sufficient substantial evidence to support the theory of morphine poisoning and affixing the guilt on the defendant, and in the absence of this positive evidence holds that the verdict of the lower court can not be permitted to stand. The court is inclined to the idea that the poison discovered at the post mortem may have come from the embalming fluids used in preparing the body for burial. The case is therefore reversed and the defendant discharged.”
Attorneys George M. Harrison and J.W. Northcutt served as counsel for the defendant.
Irony?
Howard Milton Nesenhener, age 4, died Sunday morning, May 10, 1903. Alice Nesenhener told officials that she had purchased 5 cents’ worth of acid with which to cleanse her bed clothing; that the acid was left on a chair and the child, noticing the bottle, grasped it and drank its contents. (Lovington Reporter, May 22, 1903)
The St. Louis Globe Democrat reported on May 27, 1903, “A jury investigating the death of the baby returned a verdict to the effect that the boy died from the effect of carbolic acid poisoning, through the negligence and carelessness of his mother, Mrs. Alice Nesenhener.
“The insurance policies amounting to $36, which were carried on the life of the child, were paid to Mrs. Nesenhener this afternoon.”
Mrs. Nesenhener continued to live in Hannibal until moving to the Marion County Infirmary in Palmyra, where she died June 15, 1939.
In 1914, she lived at 316 1/2 North Main, over Oney Hartley’s grocery store. That storefront was the long-time location for Ole Planter’s Restaurant, and is currently the location for Ole Wolfhound Pub.
Note: Newspaper and Ancestry.com files reveal numerous spellings for “Nesenhener" and “McLain”. For consistency, these spellings were used throughout the story.
Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com
