Bertha Alice Williams Gifford

Serial Killer

Bertha Alice Williams Gifford: The Catawissa Poisoning Case

Early Life and Reputation

Bertha Alice Williams Gifford was born on October 30, 1871, near Morse Mill, Missouri. She became a farmwife in the rural communities of eastern Missouri and was known locally for an outwardly generous habit that would later become central to one of the state's most disturbing criminal cases: she volunteered to care for sick relatives, neighbors, and children. Gifford was considered a capable cook and an experienced home caregiver. Families trusted her enough to leave vulnerable patients in her care, sometimes for long periods and sometimes overnight. She first married Henry Graham in 1894 and had a daughter, Lila. After Graham's death, she married Eugene "Gene" Gifford in 1907. The couple eventually lived near Catawissa in Franklin County, Missouri. In an era when rural families commonly depended on neighbors rather than hospitals for nursing care, Bertha's willingness to sit with the sick gave her unusual access to people at their most vulnerable.

A Disturbing Pattern Around Her Patients

Over the years, an alarming pattern began to surround people whom Gifford nursed. Patients who were already ill, or in some cases suffering from seemingly minor ailments, developed severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Historical descriptions repeatedly mention stomach pain, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, and sudden deterioration. Such symptoms could resemble acute gastritis or other illnesses familiar to doctors of the period, and several deaths were initially accepted as natural. The substance eventually associated with the case was arsenic. Arsenic compounds were much easier to obtain in the early twentieth century than they are today and could be found in pesticides and other household or agricultural products. Gifford reportedly purchased arsenic and maintained that it was needed to control rats around the farm. Investigators, however, became convinced that arsenic was also being administered to people she nursed. ...

Confirmed Victims: (3)

Lloyd George Schamel Age: (7), Date of Death: 1925-08-11

Suspected Victims:

Henry A. Graham Age: (34), Date of Death: 1906-11-30

Emilie Claire Gifford Age: (55), Date of Death: 1912-01-24

James Arthur Gifford Age: (12), Date of Death: 1913-05-08

Bernard Stuhlfelder Age: (1), Date of Death: 1915-02-26

Sherman J. Pounds Age: (48), Date of Death: 1917-02-20

James L. "Jim" Ogle Age: (66), Date of Death: 1917-11-20

Beulah Ardella Pounds Age: (2), Date of Death: 1921-02-28

Beulah Pounds Age: (3), Date of Death: 1922-12-27

Irene Stuhlfelder Age: (7), Date of Death: 1923-03-10

Leona L. Schamel Slocum Age: (37), Date of Death: 1925-10-13

Mary Catherine Stuhlfelder Age: (73), Date of Death: 1926-01-10

Bertha "Birdie" Unnerstall Age: (72), Date of Death: 1926-02-09

Bertha Gifford - Wikipedia