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- New York Times
MURDER SUSPECT ON BAIL.; Blydenburg, a Pious Iowan, Said to Have Poisoned Third Wife -- His Second Was from Brooklyn. October 12, 1903, Page 12
MURDER SUSPECT ON BAIL. Blydenburg, a Pious Iowan, Said to Have Poisoned Third Wife -- His Second Was from Brooklyn. ELDORA. Iowa. Oct. 11.-Ebenezer S. Blydenburg, who was arrested here last night charged with the murder of his Wife, was released to-day under $10.000 bonds. Mrs. Blydenburg died on May 20 last, and the remains were taken to Wauseon, Ohio, for interment. Her death was sudden and occurred a few months after her marriage to Blydenburg-. At the investigation of the dead womans sister the remains were disinterred and the stomach wns sent to Ann Arbor, Mich.. where Prof. V. C. Vaughan made an analysis of the contents. He said he found enough arsenic to have caused death. The dead woman, who was ten years older than Blydenburp owned a valuable Iowa farm, of which Blydenburg now has possession. She was Blydenburgh's third wife. They were married at Wauseon, Ohio, where Blydenburg was prominent In Sunday school work. Blydenburg's second - Mrs. Is said to have died in Brooklyn, N. Y. In May, 1900, and it Is stated that her life was insured for $7,000. Before her marriage she was a Miss Goddard and lived at 090 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn. During his residence in Eldora Blydenburg has manifested great zeal in religious work, and his arrest has caused much excitement here.
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New York Times
THREE WIVES MET SIMILAR DEATHS; Ebenezer S. Blydenburg Under Arrest on Murder Charge. In Each Case He Was a Beneficiary of Life Insurance Policies -- Once a Brooklyn Sunday School Superintendent. October 13, 1903, Page 6
THREE WIVES MET SIMILAR DEATHS Ebenezer S. Blydenburg Under Arrest on Murder Charge. In Each Case He Was a Beneficiary of Life Insurance Policies -- Once a Brooklyn Sunday School Superintendent. Ebenezer S. Blydenburg, who was arrested Saturday at Eidora, Iowa, charged with the murder of his wife, and later released In $10,000 ball bond, was for twenty years a resident of Brooklyn and prominently identified with church work. He was for a while Superintendent of the Sunday School of the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church of De Kalb Avenue, and after the death of his second wife spent two months in Canada as an exhorter and revivalist. His three wives are said to have met with almost similar deaths, being taken violently 111 after hearty meals and dying In agony about four hours after the first symptoms of Illness. They all had Insurance policies on their lives. Blydenburg's first wife was Miss Emily Hawkins of Brookhaven, L. I. She had four children. Seventeen days after the birth of her last child she was taken ill, dying after eating a meal. She carried a life insurance policy of $1,000. This was paid to her husband. The attending physician, who confessed at the time that he could not account for the suddeness of the fatal attack, gave a death certificate which stated that the woman had died of peritonitis. A year after the death of his first wife, Blydenburg met Laura Godbold. They were married in the Epworth Church in 1894 after a brief courtship. The second wife died Feb. 14, 1900, at Greene Avenue,, where the first wife also died. Her death was given in the certificate of the physician as due to acute gastritis. There was an Insurance on her life of $6,000. The man in the course of his religious life and work as a contractor went west where he met his third wife. Miss Jessie Resenborough, a school teacher of Elflora, Iowa. She was his senior by many years. They were married after a brief courtship. She had $20,000 in bank and owned 3.000 acres of valuable farm land, half of which she made over to him immediately after their marriage. She also carried insurance of S12,OOO, it is said. The marriage took place Oct. 1, 1902. Blydenburg's third wife died May 29 last, her death being like that of the other wives of the man. Her sisters felt that there had been undue haste in embalming and burying the body. The fact that it was shipped to Bryan, Ohio, for interment added to their uneasiness. They had the body and the stomach was sent to Prof. V. C. Vaughan of Ann Arbor, who stated that he found traces of arsenic. Recently the County Attorney for Eldora. Iowa, went to Brooklyn, where he learned from J. G. Godbold. father of the second Mrs. Blydenburg, and his family the circumstances of her death. He also obtained evidence in regard to the death of the first wife. Mr. Godbold is a retired merchant, and lives at 91O Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn. He said last night: " "We did not want our daughter Laura to marry the man. because she would have to care for his four children, but she was devoted to them, to her church, and to Blydenburg. and we had to give in. I did not like my son-in-law, as I felt that a man who was always carrying around a Bible and talking religion on every possible occasion could not be sincere. " We made the best of it, however, and got along amiably. He seemed fairly good to our daughter and she was deeply attached to him. She would forgive him even when he would go out at night, when she asked him to stay at home. He did exactly as he pleased and she believed that anything he did was right, even if it was directly against her wishes. " At the time of her death there was not the slightest suspicion of anything wrong-, although I did object to the haste in disposing of her body. Before we were quite convinced that she was dead, he had sent for the undertaker. She was embalmed within three-quarters of an hour of her death. She was insured for $10,000. This he collected. " After Laura's death he utterly his business, and finally left Brooklyn because he owed everybody money, including two widows, one of whom, a Mrs. Smith, he was engaged to, and from whom he obtained a large sum of money. He was dismissed from the church, but no one ever heard the exact reason. There were rumors, which we did not Investigate. Laura was and he was nothing to us. It is not now settled whether my daughter s body is to be disinterred." " My daughter s death was very sudden and mysterious," said Mrs. Godbold. " and from what my son-in-law told me of the of his first wife and what the attorney from Iowa told us of the death of his third wife, they all died in almost the same manner and in the same time after being taken ill. " We will probably go to the trial at Eldora as witnesses. Laura was absolutely devoted to the children of her husbands first wife. She never went out without them and cared for them, as if they were her own."
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RENO EVENING GAZETTE, Friday January 29, 1904: He cooked arsenic in her meal, Blydenburgh was cool and collected as he took the stand; Eldora, Iowa, Jan 29th. E.B. Blydenburgh accused of murdering three wives took the stand in his own behalf today, answering the charges that he had poisoned his third wife by administering arsenic in a meal cooked by himself. Blydenburgh told a straight forward story corroborating the testimony of his daughter Irene who said that she cooked the meal.... which the state says contained arsenic administered by the accursed man. "He said, we all sat down to the meal together. Shortly afterward Mrs. Blydenburgh complained of nauseating pains and vomited. I supposed it was merely her old complaint and did not treat the matter seriously, until I saw that she was in a dangerous condition.
Blydenburgh denied that he had purchased poison or that he and his wife had a serious quarrel.
Above story is well documented in the Cedar Rapids Gazette and records in the Hardin County Court House in Eldora.
Duluth News Tribune, January 23 1904
Church Deacon Up for Murder. Man Accused of Poisoning Wife--Other Murders Hinted At.
Eldora, Iowa, Jan. 22--But little progress was made by the state today in the prosecution of Eben S. BLYDENBURG, on trial for the alleged poisoning of his third wife. Witnesses testified to the sale of arsenic and to dissatisfaction expressed by Mrs. BLYDENBURG prior to her death, in which she determined to leave her husband.
BLYDENBURG, who was a Sunday school teacher, a deacon in the church and a philanthropist, was arrested in October, and evidence has since developed tending to show that two of his former wives died violent deaths.
Emily HAWKINS, BLYDENBURG's first wife, died mysteriously at Stony Brook, L.I., five years ago.
Bismark Daily Tribune of North Dakota paper September 15, 1907 he was acquitted of the murder(s).
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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky): November 1, 1903 - Image 1
The Salt Lake herald (Salt Lake City [Utah): January 23, 1904, Last Edition, p. 5 - Image 5
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/lccn/sn83030272/1903-10-13/ed-1/seq-4
Person ID I02029 Wheeler
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1862 - 1929 (66 years)