Warren C. Gibbs
| Warren C. Gibbs | |
|---|---|
| File:Gravestone marker of Warren Gibbs, Pelham Hill Cemetery, Pelham, Mass., ca. 1938 - DPLA - 9d3710c95e68dd77a0d67ed8e29315a1.jpgGravestone marker of Warren Gibbs, Pelham Hill Cemetery, Pelham, Mass., ca. 1938 - DPLA - 9d3710c95e68dd77a0d67ed8e29315a1.jpg | |
| Born | November 7, 1823 Prescott, Massachusetts |
| 💀Died | March 23, 1860 Pelham, MassachusettsMarch 23, 1860 |
| Cause of death | Either rotten oysters or arsenic poisoning |
| Burial place | Knights Corner Burial Ground |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Mary Felton (m. 1848) |
Warren C. Gibbs (November 7, 1823 - March 23, 1860) was an American man who, on March 23, 1860, died of arsenic poisoning. Following his death, Warren's older brother, William Gibbs, erected a gravestone which directly accused Warren's wife Mary Felton of poisoning her husband over a family feud.[1] The gravestone was removed and taken for 116 years.[1][2][3][4][5]
Biography
Warren was born in 1823, In Prescott, Massachusetts, to Solomon Gibbs Jr. (1794-1877) and Olive Stebbins Cutter (1800-1874). The Gibbs family had been engaged in a Hatfield-McCoy esque feud with the Felton family. However, despite their feud, on December 18, 1845, Warren married Mary Felton (1827-1902) and had five children with her between 1849 and 1858 in Pelham.[1]
Sickness and Death
Shortly before Warren's death, he has suffered from an extreme fever and was nursed back to health by a neighbor. Following his recovery, he asked his wife for some food, and Mary gave Warren some oysters. After Warren consumed the oysters, he fell ill once again and died two days later on March 23, 1860.[1][6][7]
Gravestone
Following Warren's death, his older brother, William Gibbs (1821-1908), erected a gravestone which had the following inscription:
Warren Gibbs
died by arsenic poisoning
March 23, 1860
Age 30 years 5 mos.
23 days.
Think my friends when this you see
How my wife hath dealt by me.
She in some oysters did prepare
Some poison for my lot and share.
The of the same I did partake,
And nature yielded to its fate.
Before she my wife became,
Mary Felton was her name.
Erected by his brother
Wm. Gibbs
— William Gibbs, Warren Gibbs's gravestone inscription, 1860
Following the gravestone's erection in March of 1860, members of the Felton family would sneak into the cemetery and destroy the headstone. For several days the headstone was replaced and destroyed and at one point, William hired armed guards to watch over the headstone.[6][7][8][9] The destruction of the headstone continued even into the 20th Century. In 1913, students from Amherst College would steal the headstone in a hazing ritual.[10] In 1940 the headstone would disappear for seven years until it was recovered on Veterans' Day of 1947 by Albert Valentine during a renovation on a basement.[11] In the 1950s, a soldier stole the gravestone as part of a prank and it was returned shortly thereafter.[12][13] In 1976, the Pelham Historical Society bought the tombstone and hired Joseph Krutika to create a replicate which still stands as of 2026.[2]
Felton's Innocence
Mary Felton was never formally charged with Warren's death and most of the residents of Pelham believed in Felton's innocence and pinned Warren's death on the fact that the oysters may have been rotten.[14][15] Most people also sided with Mary because Warren was unpopular because he was unsocial, unemployed, addicted to intoxicants and didn't care for his family.[16] One priest, Rev. Walter O. Terry even called the entire Gibbs family "malevolent" in a letter and called Solomon Gibbs "the meanest man in the country" and that his children were of "the same cloth."[17] On December 16, 1906, The Boston Sunday Herald interviewed John Knights, who lived in Pelham in 1860 and knew Warren Gibbs and said that Warren himself was convinced that Mary poisoned him. However, Knights revealed that the doctor who examined Warren before his death revealed that he had not been poisoned and that the oysters were rotten.[16][18]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "[Article]". The New Haven union. 1906-08-13. p. 7. ISSN 2997-5425. OCLC 25169044. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Daily Hampshire Gazette - July 17, 1976
- ↑ "Cemetery club keeps gravestone stories alive". AP News. 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
- ↑ "William Gibbs". www.digitalcommonwealth.org. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
- ↑ D'Agostino, Thomas; Nicholson, Arlene (2021-05-31). Strange New England. History Press. ISBN 978-1-4396-7286-0. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Buffalo Commercial - August 11, 1906
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 D'Agostino, Thomas (2009-09-30). A Guide to Haunted New England: Tales from Mount Washington to the Newport Cliffs. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61423-010-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Belanger, Jeff (2008). Weird Massachusetts: Your Travel Guide to Massachusetts's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4027-5437-1. Search this book on
- ↑ Hollis Times, Hollis, New Hampshire, Friday, October 2, 1891
- ↑ The Springfield Evening Union - June 26, 1913
- ↑ Holyoke Transcirpt-Telegram, November 11, 1947
- ↑ Daily Hampshire Gazette - January 3rd, 1997
- ↑ East Liverpool Review - March 16th, 1968
- ↑ Springfield Republican - February 17, 1935
- ↑ Reading Times - September 17, 1935
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Boston Sunday Herald - December 16, 1906
- ↑ Springfield Weekly Republican - March 14, 1935
- ↑ The Evansville Journal - August 3, 1906
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