1938: Anna Marie Hahn, serial poisoner
December 7th, 2015 Headsman
On this date in 1938, serial poisoner Anna Marie Hahn was electrocuted in Ohio.
The Bavarian-born immigrant had arrived to Cincinnati espoused to a young telegraph operator. Hahn herself tried her hand at a bakery but soon tired of the tedium of honest work and set herself up better in the lucrative business of elder abuse.
Using an ancient ploy still effective to this day, the “plump and pretty” young woman flitted about the German emigre circles of Cincinnati advertising herself as a live-in caretaker for senior citizens. Once retained, she was in a position to price-gouge for her “services”, pilfer from the estate, and even to so insiniuate herself into her clients’ good graces as to enter their wills. Her first victim, Ernest Kohler, actually left her a boarding house: pretty good work compared to rolling out dough before the sun came up.
Using a variety of poisons,** Hahn killed off five known victims during the Great Depression, making off with tens of thousands of dollars in the process that she largely squandered on gambling.*
The first woman to die in Ohio’s electric chair, Hahn was reportedly stoic until her last hours. Then, overcome by desperation, she slid into a state of collapse and even at the last moments of life bawled “incoherent” pleas to a warden who of course had no authority to help her. Robert Elder of Last Words of the Executed (both blog and book) — quotes her frightful last words thus:
Good-bye all of you and God bless you … Mr. Woodard [the warden], don’t do this to me. Think of my boy. Can’t you think of my baby? Isn’t there anybody who will help me? Is nobody going to help me?
* One clever fellow, George Heiss, escaped her clutches when he grew suspicious of a mug of beer she presented him; when Hahn refused to sample it herself, he sacked her — but he did not report her.
** Her husband tipped police off by reporting that she had a bottle in the house literally labeled “poison”. (It was croton oil.)
On this day..
- 1900: A day in the death penalty around the world - 2019
- 1982: Charles Brooks, Jr., the first by lethal injection - 2018
- 1799: Francesco Conforti, regalist and republican - 2017
- 1683: Algernon Sidney, republican philosopher - 2016
- 1323: Jean Persant, a black cat, and the body of Jean Prévost - 2014
- 1982: Dos Erres massacre - 2013
- 1989: Carlos DeLuna, "I didn't do it. But I know who did." - 2012
- 1869: Nicholas Melady, the last public hanging in Canada - 2011
- 2008: One man pardoned during hanging - 2010
- 1549: Robert Kett, rebelling against enclosures - 2009
- 1815: Michel Ney, the bravest of the brave - 2008
- 43 B.C.E.: Cicero - 2007
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Electrocuted,Execution,Murder,Ohio,Pelf,USA,Women
Tags: 1930s, 1938, anna hahn, cincinnati, december 7, fear, poison, poisoner
Mrs. Hahn’s husband lived across the street from me for many years. He was a very kind and generous man. He never discussed his late wife. He was a loving, caring father and a very good man.
He kept to himself very much. I don’t think he ever overcame a sense of shame for his wife’s actions for which he was blameless.
I heard Anna Marie was caught when her target saw a fly drink from his glass of beer and instantly drop dead. He wasn’t thirsty anymore.
There’s a book about this case. “The Good-Bye Door” by Diana Franklin.