CCPRS

June 12th 2010

Visit Patrick's website: http://www.morsemillhotel.com/

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Public Information:
The community is named after John H. Morse, who settled here in 1847. Built in the early 1870s, the Morse homestead was a three-story frame house with a New Orleans-style balcony on the second floor. The house was used as a motel in the Roaring 20's, known as Morse Mill Hotel [1]. At this hotel is where Bertha Gifford killed her first known victim. There is an abandoned mill dam on the Big River here.

Bertha Williams (ca.1872-1951) was a farmwife in rural Catawissa, Missouri during the early 1900s who was accused of murdering 17 members of the local community. While some consider her to be America's first female serial killer in Missouri.

Bertha Alice Williams Graham Gifford was born in Morse Mill, Missouri,the daughter of William Poindexter Williams and his wife Matilda, née Lee.She was one of 10 children. She was married to Henry Graham and this union produced one daughter, Lila. Following Graham's death, she married Eugene Gifford and they had one child, James.

In 1928, Gifford — known in her community for her cooking skills and caring for sick neighbors and relatives — was arrested at Eureka, Missouri and charged with the murders of three people. Following the exhumation and post mortem exams of Edward Brinley and Elmer and Lloyd Schamel whose bodies were found to contain large amounts of arsenic, Gifford was put on trial in Union, Missouri.  Following the three-day trial, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to the Missouri State Hospital #4 (a mental institution)where she remained until her death in 1951.

Although counts vary, most historians and family members agree that Gifford actually killed at least 17 people over a period of 21 years. Statistically, she ranks as one of the world's first and most prolific of the known female serial killers. All of her victims were friends, neighbors or relatives of her husband. 

The Morse Mill Hotel, originally a one room house built some time in the early 1800’s, now a supernatural landmark, open to all that are seeking a true haunted house experience. A look back at its history will give you a feel of how it came to be.