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Free From the II ife II ho Tried lo Kill Him Tie it(PetersDivorcesMurderess/HasCause foThanksBv FKFD J. CIRRAXJohn Peters, 41, a relief client, could eat his Thanksgiving dinner in peace today, giving thanks that he finally was forever free from thewife who tried to kill him twice after she murdered her first husband nine years ago.For late Wednesday he eas-ilv won a divorce from Mrs. Florence Peters. 38, poison murderess, who is serving a life sentence at Taycheedah for the poison murder of Henry Kessenich. Waunakee. and concurrently one to 10 yearsfor trying to kill Peters.Still bewildered by the swift-moving events which came when Mrs. Peters was caught in a confession last month, he stammered out his s‘ory of why he wanted ther voree. and pathetically told hC'v she had written him. telling him she v anted him to help her get out.His story was needed onlyfor the record, for Judge RoyIOHN PETERS. . . Proctor kncu' more . . .”# # * mProctor, who granted the divorce. knew much more thanPeters about the case, and was the one who had sent her to prison “for the rest of her natural life.Although he didn’t say it,Peters seemed to show what bothered him most was his wife’s confession of unfaithfulness, her admission rtf intimacy with Elmer Johnston, whose smartness got him dragged into Green Bay reformatory for aiding the woman in an attempt on Peters’ life. %Asked what he had heard from Mrs. Peters, he mumbled:“Well, she wrote me to help her get out. That’s all, she didn't say anything aboutthis.After lie heard the formal testimony, Judge Proctor summarily granted the divorce — on the grounds of adultery, cruel and inhuman treatment,and on the statutory grounds that she was sent to prison for three years or more.Herman W. Sachtjen, divorce counsel, recommending the divorce, pointed out that any one of ♦he ground? was sufficient.Judge Proctor granted Peters custody of the two children born to him and Mrs. Peters. Peters now is living at 1335 Rutledge st . whereMrs. Peters admittedly lived for a while with Johnston, alias Ed Harvey, and#with him he has Mrs. Peters’ daughter born to her and Kessenich.“I’ve taken her. rather than have her taken out and put in some school, Peters said of Mrs. Peters’ child.The other child of Mrs. Peters’ first marriage is living with an uncle near Waunakee. Without further legal action he cannot have custody of Mrs. Peters' other child.Peters, dressed in a neat, well-pressed blue cheviot suit, wearing a red plaid tie, with a flimsy blue handkerchief flopping out of his coat pocket, was slow, hesitant in telling about the poison, and tjie other man.“She started running around with this other man. She made home life as uncomfortable as sl»e could. I couldn’t prove anything, because I couldn't catch her.Then he told about the poisoning. and how lie learned more of his wife*.' infidelity, and. haltingly, how she tried to murder him.Sachtjen described his experience in the case, how Peters wanted her to come back after the first poison attempt, how even her own relatives sided with Peters.When Peters was poisoned he was working on the state farm at Mendota, but since his sessions in the hospital hehas not worked and has been on relief. His job has been held open, and he's going back as soon as he is able.“I expect to go back next month,'* he said quietly, asthough nothing had happened.
Newspaper Details
Madison Wisconsin State Journal
Madison, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Nov 24, 1938
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
WI, USA 10 Aug 2020
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