CONFESSION OF
ANN WALTERS,
A FEMALE MURDERESS!
It has probably never fallen to the lot of man to record a list of more cruel, heart-rending, atrocious, cold-blooded and horrible crimes and murders, than have been perpetrated by the subject of this narrative, and that too in the midst of a highly civilized and Christian community; and deeds, too, which for the depravity of every human feeling seems scarcely to have found a parallel in the annals of crime.
And it seems doubly shocking and atrocious, when we find them committed by one of the Female sex, which sex have always been esteemed as having a higher regard for virtue and a far greater aversion to acts of barbarity, even in the most abandoned of their sex, than is generally found in men of the same class, and we may truly say that we have never seen recorded a greater instance of moral depravity, or one so perfectly regardless of every virtuous feeling which should inhabit the human breast, as the one it becomes our painful lot to lay before our readers, in the account of Ann Walters, the subject of this thrilling and interesting narrative. And we will now endeavor to state the facts as they have actually transpired; and our readers may rely upon the account here given of her parentage, as they have been selected from the most authentic sources, which no pains were spared to obtain.
S. P. Smith the father of the subject of this narrative was the son of a wealthy nobleman residing in Yorkshire county, in the northern part of England. He had in the early part of his life received a liberal education, as we learn from the pen of one of his youthful companions, from which we principally quote so far as regards his career, but was regardless of the endeavors of his kind parents to plant in him that youthful impression of morality and obedience, for in vain did they labor to bend his stiff neck. As we learn, by his father’s refusal to comply with his request in marrying the object of his first love, he fell a prey to that soul-destroying monster, intemperance. He then secretly married a woman, who, by her intrigue and artfulness, had succeeded in drawing his affections towards her, and was also very remarkable for the influence she exercised over the minds of men as will be seen by referring to circumstances which occurred subsequently; for by her great artfulness she succeeded in marrying her daughters, four in number, to persons of respectability, although they were every one of them prostitutes of the most common character. On this and many other similar accounts, she was considered by many superstitious persons a witch.
Soon after his father heard of his marriage, whose indignation and anger become so great, that he determined to cut him off with a shilling, and forbid his ever entering his house.
Matters had now come to such a pass that he had determined to leave his native country, and his wife concurred in the plan; she soon scraped up her effects, for she had a small estate of her own, and turned them into money. They then embarked on board of one of his Majesty’s ships bound for Montreal, where he settled down, and for several years gained a comfortable livelihood for his family by industry, but as his family increased, and the means of living began to grow rather scanty, his evil habits of intemperance also gained upon him. He forsook all honest courses of getting a living and joined a band of smugglers, moving from Montreal to the village of St. Johns, situated on the St. John’s River, about thirty miles from Montreal, and here carried on a regular course of smuggling between Montreal, Plattsburg New York, Burlington in Vermont, sometimes going as far as Quebec, to obtain articles which they could not readily get in Montreal, and as his house was situated at a convenient distance from those places, they made it a receptacle for their goods until such times as they should find an opportunity to run them in and dispose of them.
While things were going on in this style, it so happened that an old acquaintance whose name was Alexander Paine moved from Montreal and settled in the neighborhood in which Smith resided, and as they had formerly been on intimate terms, the acquaintance was soon renewed, though not much to the satisfaction of Smith, as he knew Paine to be a man of very sober, honest habits, and not likely to be easily persuaded to forsake the path of virtue, and it was on this ground, and the fear of detection and exposure, that Smith dreaded again becoming on intimate terms with an old acquaintance; for Paine was as yet entirely ignorant of the business Smith was following, for he, Smith, had always managed, through the influence of his wife, to keep up the appearance of honesty and respectability during his stay in Montreal.
As Paine frequently happened at the house of Smith, he soon began to suspect that all was not right. However he said nothing on the subject, until one evening he happened to be passing by Smith’s house rather late, and seeing, as he thought, an uncommon stir going on at that late hour, he determined to go in and satisfy his doubts as to what he before suspected, and there he found Smith and two or three more of his gang secreting goods, which he knew must have been either smuggled or stolen. He therefore at once threatened to expose them immediately. Smith then tried every means of persuasion in his power to induce Paine to join in his unlawful pursuits, but all in vain, as Paine said that his duty to his God and his country would be the instant exposure of their misdoings.—Smith finding that he could not induce him to join at any rate, then had recourse to stratagem.
He begged of Paine to allow but three days to settle up his affairs and leave the country, swearing in the most solemn manner, and calling upon his God to witness that if he would grant him this request he would immediately leave off his dishonest course of living, and forever after become an honest man. All this he said in such an earnest manner, that Paine, seeing that it would be the utter ruin of Smith’s whole family, as well as himself, at length yielded to his request, after the most solemn assurance that Smith would do as he swore.
But we will see how well he regarded his promise; for no sooner than Paine had left the house, he called in his companions, and held a consultation as to what should be done. Meanwhile the bottle was circulated freely so as to steel their hearts, and fit them for any fiendish purpose that should suggest itself to their maddened brain; and they determined, before they separated, as the only chance of escaping and avoiding the law, to murder Paine. They then separated for the night, resolving to meet early the next day and lay the plan for their diabolical and fiendish purpose, which was as follows:—