rosemary, I am following your story with interest. I know Lake Mills pretty well (I grew up in Chicago and used to vacation in the area). The before and after pictures of Addie are quite dramatic, and your sleuthing as to the cause is fascinating. She looks so much like a battered and beaten down woman, only 5 years after her marriage. What a sad, sad story. If the doctor recanted, what happened to the killer?

Dr. Oatway (the physician who made the deathbed confession) died in 1944, and Enoch died in 1921, so Enoch literally "got away with murder." I think that this is the reason Addie haunts her old room at the B&B. I don't think it has anything to do with dying so young (she was 34). I think it's because no one knows the truth about how she died.

*That* would be very, very disturbing.

I had a very vivid dream several days ago. In my dream, I saw Addie running toward me. She got right up to my face and said (in an urgent voice), "LOOK AT MY TEETH!"

She bared her teeth and she had the teeth of a meth addict. They were rotted and brown at the ends and looked horrible.

The dream startled me awake and I googled "arsenic poisoning" plus teeth, and found arsenic - even in fairly minute amounts - causes discoloration and rotting of the tooth and the tooth enamel. If you google the images, the people with arsenic poisoning (such as in Pakistan, where the water supply is tainted with arsenic) have what one would call "Meth mouth" - just like I saw in my dream.

Pretty interesting dream.

Rose

Very interesting dream, I would say. Poor, poor Addie. If she was a battered woman, people must have known. Something to consider about the photographs is that taking pictures in 1896 was a rigorous process that required a lot of work, good lighting, and a skilled professional. The picture certainly looks like Addie has right sided damage to both her lips and face. But Enoch sounds like he was very controlling. Would he have allowed her to have her photo taken if he had beaten her? Perhaps she conveniently "fell down the stairs" or something prior to the photos, who knows. Poor lady. I'm glad the truth is coming out now.

Your explanations may explain several things but I'm not sure about the hairline theory. In her wedding photo her hairstyle looks like it comes forward from her hairline just a little before sweeping back so it rather obscures the hairline.

Interesting! The dream too!

I do want to point out that the swollen face and lip, loss of eyebrows and the receding hairline could all be symptoms of hypothyroidism too.

Is there another book in your future?? I think it would be very interesting!

Here is a link that might be useful: Before and after pics - hypothyroidism

The hypothyroidism is a point, but the swelling on Addie's face is not symmetrical. The hypothyroidism photos show a uniform swelling on the afflicted people.

Now I just need to find out how people died of Diphtheria! I seriously doubt they became ill one evening and died at 2:00 am the next morning.

Rose

I see the eyes of a young woman about to be married and full of life in her wedding photo.

In her "before death" photo,I see a woman not trusting anyone,and not happy at all

Thank you so much for posting this continuing story. You are doing some really good detective work (not to mention the dream) and following the link to the additional material just makes this story so much more intriguing. Keep us updated! This is better than reading a novel or watching a soap opera! It's real life. And it's a skeleton in your family's closet that you're finding the truth about and sharing with us!

Doesn't arsenic poisoning sort of embalm the body? It's a lot of trouble and probably expense to have a body exhumed. Interesting story.

I'd love to see you write a book on that...I'd buy it for sure! Almost seems like it was destined for you to do........

This is an amazing tale! Those before and after pictures are fantastic, the way you've scrutinized and analyzed them. Considering Enoch died not too long after, I'm sure he got his comeuppance! Strange about your dream-another clue!

EEEEK, that dream! Sounds like she's talking to you through your dream! Did you even know that about the teeth before the dream? It sounded to me as if you dreamed that about the teeth and only after the dream did you discover that arcenic poisoning causes rotten teeth! I was thinking about this and I wondered if Enoch killed her because she didn't ever get pregnant and couldn't give him a son? Just a thought. That was kind of a big deal back then...

This is so amazing ~ great detective work. What a story. I have been wondering if this was your Father's side of the family and if that furniture that you are selling is from this era? I would think that the value would increase if it had something to do with this story. Keep digging Rosemary, this is facinating.

To answer the question - it never even dawned on me to think about what arsenic did to teeth, but that dream was SO startling and I'm not 100% sure it was a "dream" - per se.

I was in that almost-but-not-quite asleep place when I was startled by Addie rushing up to me and as she got VERY close, she bared her teeth and she said - urgently - LOOK AT MY TEETH and I did and that was the end of the dream.

However, it sure woke me up!

I do feel strongly connected to Addie and I am not sure I can even articulate why. For decades, I've carried ONE old photo around with me from house to house (and marriage to marriage...) and it's the picture of Anna Hoyt Whitmore - Addie's older sister.

One day I walked downstairs and into my dining room (where this picture hangs) and I feel like I heard someone say, "You're on the right track. Don't give up. Keep going forward with this."

I really do feel almost a calling to see where this leads.

If I had the money, I'd have her exhumed, but it's not just the cost of exhumation, but also the legal fees. An exhumation would have to be court ordered at this point, and that's where the serious dough will come in.

Down deep in my bones, I know that Addie will rest in peace when the truth is revealed.

And that furniture of my father's - oh boy - that's another story but now we're learning that there's a better than 50% chance it came from Enoch's HOUSE!!!!

Can you believe it?

We always heard from Father that it was an exhibition piece and I wasn't even sure what that meant. We also knew it was made in the mid-1890s. We also knew that it came into my Father's life when he was 13 or 14 (about 1933 or 1934).

Two weeks ago, I was talking with the owner of The Fargo Mansion (B&B) and he said that Enoch Fargo would tell anyone who'd listen that all his furnishings were "exhibition pieces" from the 1893 World's Fair (in Chicago).

That perked up my ears.

And then the B&B owner said, "In the 1930s, Mattie Hoyt Fargo (Wife #3) decided to sell the house (Enoch died in 1921) and she invited the Hoyt family into the house to take whatever they wanted out of the house. We understand that Mattie's sister and cousins pretty well cleaned the place out."

Well, my father's grandmother was Anna Hoyt (cousin of Mattie Hoyt) and that was like the missing puzzle piece!

So now I *suspect* that my father's furniture might have come from the Fargo mansion.

Rose

Very intriguing! I sure seems like Addie & Anna are trying to tell you something. Interesting about the furniture. Do you still have it?

Is that the dresser you posted a picture of here? LOVE this storyline....tell me more.....

Wow, amazing story. You feel such a bond with Addie and getting to the bottom of her story. No wonder you can't stand the furniture and want to get rid of it!

I Love reading this story, its so interesting to me and I can't wait for you to write more, If you do write a book I am buying it for sure.

I think Addie was very very beautiful, but the picture of her right before her death, he eyes are extremly sad to me, like she is in so much emotional pain. I don't know how else to explain it. My heart goes to her. I hope the truth can be found. I think she needs to be allowed to rest in peace and until then that is probably why you are having the dreams, so You can find the truth.. Good luck. Please keep us updated