At two o'clock in the afternoon, after Polly picked up Frances and Rosalie, they returned to the farm. While Albert turned out the horses, Polly went into the kitchen to make the children some bread and butter.

Albert was not present while the food was being prepared. In Rosalie's own testimony she said, "After we got home, mother gave us some bread and butter. He was not there when she gave it to us, he was outdoors."

Above: Hoag children's tombstones (left to right) Francs, Roselphe & Leonard, Viola. Below: Enlarged detail: Frances' stone.

Albert came into the kitchen to where his two sisters were eating at the table. In reference to the bread and butter Albert said, "They were not small pieces. Frances ate hers all up. Rosalie ate part of hers and laid the rest on the table. Frances ate that afterwards. Mother did not give me any bread and butter; never did that I know of.

Rosalie had agreed with this saying, "She ate hers, I ate part of mine, Franky [Frances' nickname] took what I had left and ate it. We went out to play after eating the bread and butter."

A short time later, while the children were outside playing, the girls suddenly became ill and began vomiting. Seven year old Rosalie, who had only eaten part of her bread, was sick for only a short time. Frances, on the other had become violently ill. . . .

Schubel Franklin agreed that Polly had given the child Frances the sage tea. Frances had vomited once or twice during the evening. Polly and Mrs. Shepard were up tending to the girl when Schubel went to bed. . . .

We feel confident that Polly was poisoning her children with the arsenic in the bread and butter, and also the tea. . . .

We feel she expected Frances to linger as long as Henry had. According to the indictments, Polly had given Frances almost the same amount of arsenic as she had given Henry. She was a small child however, not quite six years old. The effect of the poison would occur much quicker. Frances would die sooner than Polly expected, but it would not change her plans. . . .

Polly waited for this sickly child to be breathing her last choking breath. She let her daughter suffer for hours on end before finally sending someone to Alabama Center to request medical help. The only quench for the girl's thirst was tea that was laced with arsenic and salt water.

Frances died on August 11, 1856. Based on the time element indicated in the trial testimony, we can approximate Frances' time of death to be about 9:15 a.m. The child dying sooner than expected would only temporarily pose a problem in the timing of Polly's plans.

Modified detail of Batavia mid-1850s map. Color added to legend letters: A = jail south side of Main St. E = old county courthouse, Main & Court Sts. In above map, north is to the right.

We know by records from Surrogate Court that Polly and Schubel had arrived at the court building in Batavia sometime in the afternoon. At that point Polly entered her petition for guardianship of her children. The court set a time of 4:00 p.m. that same day for the hearing of the application. . . .

Mrs. Abigail Filkins, Henry's aunt, came immediately upon hearing of Frances' death. Mrs. Filkins recalled, "Polly told me the children were not well on Sunday, and that she had to go to Batavia on Monday [the day Frances died]. . . .

However, we believe Abigail did not know the reason for the journey. If Abigail had known of Polly preparing to sign for guardianship of a dead child, as if she were still alive, surely questions would have been raised a lot sooner than they ultimately were. . . . .

Polly went before the Judge of Surrogate Court, in the same court building that still stands today, requesting her appointment as general guardian of her children. To take time to consider her request, the Court ordered that at 4:00 p.m. the same day, Polly was to return with her father for the hearing of her application. The following is taken directly from Surrogate Court records:

August 11, 1856
In the matter of the Guardianship
of Albert Burden Hoage, Rosalie
Imogene Hoage, Frances Alma
Hoage, and Eliza Jane Hoage of
Alabama minors under the
age of 14 years.

On reading the petition of . . . the mother of said minors praying her appointment as the general guardian of the said minors. It is ordered that this day at 4 o'clock P.M. be assigned for the hearing of the application and that notice thereof be given to Shubel Franklin of Alabama the grandfather of said minors and there upon afterwards at the hour appointed the said Shubel Franklin comes into Court and consents that [she] be appointed guardian of the said minors respectively and the said [mother] now in Court together with the said Shubel Franklin as her surety having executed a Bond to each of the said minors . . . . . and she hereby is appointed the general guardian of each of said minors respectively until they shall respectively arrive at the age of 14 years . . . .

Old Genesee County Court building that in the 1850s also housed the Surrogate's Court, Sheriff, County Treasurer and Clerk's offices. Photo by C. Amrhein

. . . . It should be noted that even though Frances was dead, there is no indication that it was ever mentioned. Nothing is different in the guardianship papers of Frances compared to the other children. There is no mention of her death in the above petition documents to the Court either. As far as the Court knew, Frances was still alive.

On Monday the 12th or the day following, Frances body was laid in the ground near her father, and other brothers and sisters. With two deaths so close together and so many children already dead, the town's people began to wonder, but wonder is all they did. . . .

On September 8 Polly went to see Lucinda Farley, also from Alabama Center, to have a wedding dress made. . . . Why was Polly in such a hurry to marry again? Henry had only been dead for two months. Usually there was a period of mourning. So why the big rush?

The answer came in a newspaper clipping from the Union Sun & Advertiser, a Rochester newspaper, dated February 3, 1858. The article relayed the death of Henry, Frances Eliza Jane, and the possible poisoning of the earlier children. It also had this to say, "Last spring an infant child - born subsequent to Mr. Hoag's death - died after a short illness."

Here is a very good motive for the murder of Henry. Polly admitted to her brother-in-law, George Lester, that she had not slept with her husband Henry in months, nor would she again. Albert had caught Polly and Matthew in bed together on two separate occasions. Our only conclusion was that this was Matthew's child that was born after Henry died.