Murder victim. A wealthy, elderly farmer known to residents of Stratford, CT as "Old Hurlburt", Dennis Hurlburt was the second husband of the infamous Victorian era serial killer, Lydia Sherman. After poisoning her first husband Edward Struck and their six surviving children in New York City in 1864, Lydia took advantage of an offer to become a housekeeper in Connecticut. While there she met the widowed Hurlburt, who hired the attractive 46-year-old widow to keep house for him in 1868. Indeed, such was her charm that he proposed days after employing her, married her directly, and made her heir to $20,000 in cash and $10,000 in property. To all appearances the second Mrs. Hurlburt doted on her husband, who never-the-less began to suffer dizzy spells and declining health. His death was brought on by arsenic-laced clam chowder and hard cider, followed by more of the same in the popular "bitters" remedy he took for his stomach pains. Lydia then repeated the housekeeper-wife-widow pattern with Horatio Sherman, a recent widower from Derby, CT, with two young children. The three Shermans were her last victims, however, as a local doctor believed Horatio Sherman to have been too healthy to die as he did. When the autopsy revealed fatal amounts of arsenic in his body, the remains of the Sherman children and Dennis Hurlburt were exhumed with the same findings. Lydia Sherman, who later confessed to the Struck killings as well, was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. She died of cancer in 1878 while behind bars.
Murder victim. A wealthy, elderly farmer known to residents of Stratford, CT as "Old Hurlburt", Dennis Hurlburt was the second husband of the infamous Victorian era serial killer, Lydia Sherman. After poisoning her first husband Edward Struck and their six surviving children in New York City in 1864, Lydia took advantage of an offer to become a housekeeper in Connecticut. While there she met the widowed Hurlburt, who hired the attractive 46-year-old widow to keep house for him in 1868. Indeed, such was her charm that he proposed days after employing her, married her directly, and made her heir to $20,000 in cash and $10,000 in property. To all appearances the second Mrs. Hurlburt doted on her husband, who never-the-less began to suffer dizzy spells and declining health. His death was brought on by arsenic-laced clam chowder and hard cider, followed by more of the same in the popular "bitters" remedy he took for his stomach pains. Lydia then repeated the housekeeper-wife-widow pattern with Horatio Sherman, a recent widower from Derby, CT, with two young children. The three Shermans were her last victims, however, as a local doctor believed Horatio Sherman to have been too healthy to die as he did. When the autopsy revealed fatal amounts of arsenic in his body, the remains of the Sherman children and Dennis Hurlburt were exhumed with the same findings. Lydia Sherman, who later confessed to the Struck killings as well, was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. She died of cancer in 1878 while behind bars.
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