Frieda had to pay five francs a week to the Foundling Hospital and also thirty-four francs to her married sister. In 1901 her father died, and in 1903 her mother. Frieda inherited 2,471 francs from her father, but this sum was tied up in her brother's business and he never sent her the interest. It is characteristic of her mentality that she never attempted to exact it.
Then began for this unfortunate young girl a life of struggle and despair. She was possessed of two ideas. On the one hand she could no longer maintain her child, and on the other hand would not admit anything from shame. They would not keep the child in the hospital after Easter, 1904, when it would reach the maximum age of five years. What was she to do?
Frieda Keller was then evidently in a pathological state of mind, which was upheld by her defender, Doctor Janggen. She wished to keep her secret and provide for the maintenance of the child; but she took no steps in this direction. She did not seek for cheap lodgings, not for a rise of salary, nor even for the money illegally detained by her brother for his own profit. She never spoke to her married sister, nor to any one, of her desperate position. The father of her child had disappeared and she never gave information against him for fear of divulging her secret. Moreover, the law at St. Gall only admitted the charge of paternity against unmarried men! She found no practical way of disposing of her child. After Easter, 1904, when the child was discharged from the hospital, she was haunted by a single idea—to get rid of the child. She struggled for a long time against this obsession, but in vain, and it finally became a resolution.
Although she was fond of her sister's children, she did not love her own. She rarely visited her child and appeared to take no notice of it. This woman who was well-disposed toward every other creature, who was of exemplary conduct and would not hurt a fly, never even spoke of her own child. On April 9th she wrote to the hospital that she would come and fetch the child.
A few days before this she took a long walk in the woods; the next day she wept at home, while looking for some string. Alone with her despair, she had definitely made her terrible resolution. She said afterwards, at the assizes:
"I could not free myself from the feeling that I must get rid of the child."
She then went to the hospital, after having bought new clothes for the child, and told the authorities that an aunt of hers at Munich would take care of the child. She then took the child to the woods. Having found a lonely spot she sat down for a long time while the child played in the wood. For some time she had not the courage to do the deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home restraining her tears with difficulty.
On the 1st of June she wrote to the hospital that the child had arrived at Munich. On the 7th of June the body was exposed by rain and was discovered by some Italians. On the 14th of June she was arrested. During the trial she declared that her action had been the result of her inability to maintain the child, and the necessity of keeping her secret. This secret was the shame and dishonor of involuntary maternity and illegitimate birth.
All the witnesses spoke in favor of Frieda Keller and gave evidence that she was well-mannered, intelligent, hard-working, economical, of exemplary conduct and loving her sister's children. She did not deny the premeditation of her crime, and in no way sought to diminish her responsibility.
According to the law of St. Gall, such cases are punishable with death; but Frieda Keller's sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.