THE MURDERESS OF TWO HUSBANDS

Contact Myrtle Bridges


The Milwaukie Sentinel says it is believed from recent developments that Ann R. Bilansky, who 
was executed at St. Paul, Minnesota, for the murder of her husband by administering arsenic, 
was the same person who on the 8th of November, 1849, poisoned Alex. D. Simpson, her husband, 
in the town of Fayetteville, N.C. In that case arsenic was the agent employed and after the 
death of Simpson, his wife was arrested, but succeeded in escaping to Charleston, and thence 
to Havanna, where she remained until May, 1850. She returned to Fayetteville on the 6th of 
November following, surrendering herself for trial, and was acquitted. On the trial of Mrs. 
Bilansky she stated that she had resided at Fayetteville, N. C., where her husband died. The 
Christian name of the two women were identical, and many circumstances in St. Paul subsequent 
to her execution have been called to mind which tend to the belief that she and Mrs. Simpson 
were the same person. (Source: Weekly Standard - April 17, 1861 issue.)

A death notice printed in the November 13, 1849 issue of Fayetteville Observer reads: Died in this
town on the 8th, Alexander C. Simpson, native of NY, aged 31.

March 25, 1860 - St. Paul, MN - Mrs Bilansky was hanged Friday for poisoning her husband in March 1859.)

©Copyright January 31, 2003
Last up-dated September 2, 2022