A Little History In and Around Buffalo, NY

  as published in the Jamestown Evening Jornal STELLA HODGE IS ARRESTED Woman Involved in Andrews Murder Trial a Prisoner.  ON EXCTORTION CHARGE She is accused of Using the Malls To Obtain Money of E.L. Silcox of Philadelphia. Formerly a Private Detective - The Arrest Was Made At Erie Saturday Afternoon By Federal Officers.  Erie, Oct 20 - Charged with using the United States malls to extort and defraud, Stella Hodge, notorious in connection with the case of the murder of Emill Amann in Warren, was arrested here Saturday by Postoffice Inspecter Robert Lewis. It is charged that the woman wrote a threating letter to H.L. Silcox, of Philadelphia, in which she threatened him with death unless he gave her $500. Mrs. Hodge was arraigned before United States Commissioner Harry L. Moore and held under $5,000 bail for a hearing Tuesday afternoon. In default of the bond she was committed to jail. Mrs. Hodge expressed her willingness to waive a hearing and go directly to Philadelphi...

  as published in the New York Times BUFFALO, Sept. 2.- John Kalf, forty-five years old, a patient at the Buffalo State Hospital, died today of strangulation. Kalf became violent, and was placed in a strait-jacket. His struggles in the jacket worked one of the straps tightly about his neck. With his hands strapped to his sides, he as unable to help himself, and strangled.  

  from Buffalo Evening News  HANGED HERSELF FROM TRANSOM OF HER DOOR.  Katie Klotz, Patient in Insane Asylum, Takes Her Life While the Attendant is Absent.  Katie Klotz, 32 years old, patient at the Buffalo State Hospital, committed suicided at 3:30 o'clock yesterday after noon by hanging herself on the transom of the door of her room. Her attendant had been away from her only 10 minutes and four physicians worked over her more than an hour to restore her, but without avail. The suicide was most deliberate.  All the circumstances indicated that the woman, who was unmarried and who had been living with her sister, Mrs. L. Morton at 68 East Huron Street until June 16 last, when she was admitted to the hospital, had placed the deed with the cunning often displayed by insane people. She suffered from acute melancholia and often tore her clothing from her body and scratched herself on the face and arms.  To avoid this the physicians place a muff on her hands whi...

as published in the New York Herald Mrs. Stella Hodge Admits Killing Man in Warren, PA., in January.  ACCIDENT, SHE SAYS.  Pretty Widow Tells of Night Drive and Fear the Allowed Innocent Man's Conviction.  {Special Dispatch to the Herald.} PHILADELPHIA, PA, Thursday. - At the expense of the own good name Mrs. Stella Hodge, a pretty widow, whose home is in Warren, PA, has by her confession placed herself in the shadow of the gallows to save an innocent man already convicted of murder in connection with a crime for which she declares she alone is responsible.  The death of Emil Amann, at Warren, on the night of January 27, the conviction of John M. Andrews, Superintendent of the Water Works of the city, for the crime, and the confession of Mrs./ Hodge today furnish one of the strongest examples of the fallacy of circumstantial evidence in the history of criminal jurisprudence.  Mrs. Hodge was arrested yesterday in Atlantic City, admitted the shooting to a detectiv...

As published in the Buffalo Evening News:  FEARING ASYLUM, WOMAN KILLS SELF.  Mrs. Susan Schroeder Drinks Carbolic Acid When She Sees Buffalo Hospital Attendant.  Mrs. Susan Schroeder, 43 years old, of 432 Hickory street, died at the German hospital late yesterday afternoon after draining a bottle of carbolic acid in the parlor of her home when she caught sight of an attendant from the Buffalo State Hospital who had been summoned to take her to the institution, Medical Examiner Earl G Danser immediately turned her body over to the family after issuing a certificate of death by suicide. A husband and daughter survive. Some years ago Mrs. Schroeder was a patient at the asylum, but after two years' treatment she was released as cured and has lived with her husband and family ever since. Three weeks ago it was found that Mrs. Schroeder was acting strangely and her condition became so alarming yesterday that it was decided to send her to the hospital again.