Well, in the first reading, Strang and Mrs. Whipple poisoned Mr. Whipple. They put arsenic in his tea. However, this didn’t kill him right away. I was strongly confused when I read this because I figured he would’ve died right away from the arsenic poisoning, but he didn’t. I was surprised when Mrs. Whipple gave her son some of the sulfur, the other poison! Well she didn’t technically give him it directly, but Mr. Whipple gave him the rest of his portion. Mrs. Whipple gave her son the anecdote, salt. Se even told Strang to kill him while Mr Whipple was on his way to Vermont I thought it was funny that she told him specifically told him where to kill him. I found it interesting that after Strang was caught, he was put in a cell near Mrs. Whipple. She was acquitted from the trial and Strang was still tried! I found it even funnier that she remarried as well.
Swaringen was born in Frederick, VA, that is literally right in our backyard. He started working at 21. After a while, married, and had a daughter. He became very protective of her. He whipped a black woman for even talking to his daughter. He then found a mistress. He helped her write a letter to the father of her child. But he mistakenly signed his name on after it was written. This later burned him in his trial. When Swaringen went to pick up his wife at he mother’s house, he attempted to drown her in the river. After she died, not from the drowning, Swaringen mentioned that she could’ve died from and “accidental” fall from a horse.
I just found this reading very interesting because it all seem very sketchy. Like there was a seeming sneakiness going on through both readings for that matter. Strang, and Mrs. Whipple were sneaking around to try to kill Mr. Whipple. And Swaringen also snuck around to try hide that he killed his wife.