One of the most unusual cases of alleged murder in Milford occurred in 1828 when Mary Peterkin Webb died suddenly. Mary was the sister of a prominent and wealthy Milford landowner, Thomas Peterkin.
Thomas Peterkin died around August 5, 1826, without a will. As a prominent landowner, his estate was left to his only heirs, sisters Elizabeth Peterkin Jester and Mary Peterkin. The estate included two large farms, one with 250 acres and the other 300 acres along with four houses with Milford. He also owned two lots near Milford and one in Concord, located in Sussex County.
Elizabeth and Mary divided the estate between them. At the time, Mary was 53 and had never been married. Her own sister described her as “homely in her person and unlovely in her manners; that for a long time previously had been a woman of non-sane mind and memory.” Upon receiving her inheritance, however, two young men began courting Mary. One of those young men was James D. Webb.
Webb was described as “without property and any settled business or livelihood” and a “reckless adventurer from Maryland.” He was half Mary’s age as well, which led Elizabeth to deter the marriage. Despite Elizabeths’ protests, Mary and James married in September 1827.
It did not take long for James’ true purposes to make themselves evident. Immediately after the wedding, he began pressuring Mary to sell her inherited property to Edmund Potter for $2,000. Mary resisted, leading James to use threats and violence against her in an effort to force the sale. When that did not work, he used deceitful and fraudulent promises. Finally, Mary agreed to sell the property, deeding it to Potter on December 8, 1827, only three months after the marriage. The same day the land was transferred, Edmund Potter deeded it back to James.
On Saturday, May 17, 1828, James left home on the pretext of going to Georgetown on business. The next morning, Mary sat down to breakfast and, after drinking her coffee felt burning in her throat and stomach. She called for her serving maid, a slave named Sarah Ann Hays, and asked what she put in the coffee. Sarah replied she had not put anything in the drink.
Mary did not believe the maid and poured some of the coffee into another cup, forcing Sarah to drink it. Sarah protested but drank about half of it. She immediately began to vomit. Mary sent for Dr. James P. Lofland, telling him that she had been poisoned.
Dr. Lofland arrived at the home and found Mary had been vomiting, complaining of great sickness and burning from her throat to her stomach. He administered an emetic, a substance used to induce vomiting and often used in emergency situations to remove toxins. The doctor believed Mary had ingested arsenic.
Sarah Sudler, a neighbor, who had been notified by one of her boarders that Mary was very ill went to the house immediately. When she arrived, she found Mary alone and very ill. Mary told her about the serving maid and the coffee. Within six hours of drinking the coffee, Mary died.
Thomas Coursey, the coroner, conducted an inquiry with a jury of 17 men, most of them prominent citizens. Sarah Ann confessed that “before D. Goodwin J.P. that James D. Webb on Saturday the 17th instant came down the cellar and handed her a piece of paper, with some white powder wrapped in it and directed her to put said powder in the coffee on the next morning which she did, and that Mary Webb did drink some of said coffee.” According to the report, it was about a teaspoonful.
Under oath, Jacob Biddle confessed that “on Friday morning, the 16th or Saturday, the 17th, James D. Webb called on him to purchase six cents worth of arsenic, that the clerk Mr. J. Burton asked who it was for and that Jacob refused to tell.” At that point, Burton refused to sell him the arsenic. Jacob met James Webb near the chop of W.C. Maran and told him he was unable to get the arsenic. James then told Jacob to go to “Mr. Wallace’s where he got six cents worth of arsenic and delivered it to James D. Webb.”
James had not gone to Georgetown on business as he told his wife that morning, but was apprehended at Fleatown, north of Ellendale. He was brought back to Milford to face the Court of Oyer & Terminer during its June term. Attorney General James Rogers declared that James D. Webb “did feloniously, willfully and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder against the Peace and Dignity of the State.”
James and the maid, Sarah Ann, were tried in the Supreme Court of Delaware. James was defended by John M. Clayton and M.W. Bates, Esquire. Questions arose about testimony by Elijah Thorn, a tenant in a home owned by the mother of John Clayton. The questions led to Clayton’s mother and sister called to testify during the trial about statements made to them by Thorn.
As a result, the jury found James Webb not guilty of murdering his wife. Charges were also dismissed against Sarah Ann Hays.
