In April of 1874, 17-year-old Lizzie Roemer and 22-year-old Louis Alberti would marry. They would have 8 children together unfortunately in 1884 they would lose their son Louis and in early 1894 they would lose their infant daughter Caroline. In 1885 Lizzie would lose her 15-year-old sister Dorthea. These deaths would affect Lizzie in 1894.
In May of 1894, Lizzie would shortly move out of their home on 44th and Winnie St. in Galveston, Texas. It was decided she would stay with her parents because she had become occasionally violent and unbalanced. She would soon move back into the home though she was still not acting like herself.
On December 4, at 6:30 pm 1894 Lizzie would call 5 of the children to take a sip of wine, Wilehemia (14) stayed studying in another room. Emma (16), Ella (10), Lizzie (8), Dora (6), and Willie (4) would drink the wine.
She offered him some wine and he obliged. He noted that she used a different bottle than that of what the children had. He didn't think anything of it. One of the children would then tell their father that she had poisoned them. He reassured the child that she didn't. He would go back to work in his shop adjoining the home.
The children would soon complain of stomach cramps. From his shop, he could hear that the children were in great agony and rushed over to the home. When he came in Willie had collapsed to the floor and Lizzie was trying to bring him to the bed. He would confront the wife who was sitting quietly in a chair as her children were dying.
She told him that there was morphine in the wine and she was going to poison herself. Mr. Alberti would call for a doctor. He and Wilhemla would be crying and watching in terror as the children died one by one. Willie would die shortly after the doctor came at 7:30. Dora would die next and then Lizzie would die last. Emma was the only one to survive the poisoned wine. It was found out that she had told the children the previous Sunday that she was going to the city to buy poison to kill herself and them.
This whole time Mrs. Alberti was seen as indifferent. After her arrest, she stated that she had been ill for the last 8 months that brought her to do this. Even on the day of her children's funeral, she sat in her cell calmly and seemingly unremorseful. She did want to see her husband though. She expressed while imprisoned that her only regret was that all the children had not died and that she did not take the poison as intended and died also. She rejected the idea that she was insane and was willing to take the consequences for the murders. She would not give an answer to the reason why she wanted to kill the children and herself.
She threatened to starve herself to death and was threatened that they would inject the food if she would not eat. She would reluctantly eat the food provided. I couldn't find out what her punishment for the murders was, but she would die almost 3 years later on September 30, 1898.
SOURCES:
Austin-American Statesman December 5, 1894
The Galveston Daily News December 6, 1894
Weekly Clarion-Ledger December 13, 1894
According to this site she was sent to an asylum and commited suicide when she was released.
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