In the spring of 1888, a troubled marriage, a traveling theater company and a fatal dose of morphine came together in one of Wright County’s most puzzling murder cases.
George Diggle, a barber from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, traveled to Clarion, Iowa, on May 23, 1888, hoping to convince his wife, Bertha “Bert” Diggle, to leave the stage and return home to their family. Bertha, however, had established a second life as “Jessie Leland,” an actress touring with the Ford Metropolitan Dramatic Company.
The couple spent the night talking at the Caroline Overacker rooming house. Bertha later said George repeatedly asked her to give up acting, but she refused.
The following afternoon, Bertha purchased morphine from a Clarion drugstore. The drug was legally available at the time. She reportedly asked the druggist whether the amount she purchased could kill someone.
Later that evening, George became sick after drinking beer. He complained of dizziness and sleepiness before being helped back to the room. A doctor was called, but George quickly deteriorated and died around 9 p.m.
An autopsy found enough morphine in his stomach to cause death.
The circumstances immediately raised questions. Investigators discovered the morphine package had been torn into pieces and hidden in an outhouse. Wright County Attorney W.T.R. Humphrey believed Bertha was responsible and eventually had her arrested and charged with murder.
Her trial began in Clarion on December 17, 1888 and attracted national attention. Prosecutors argued Bertha had placed morphine in George’s beer. Her defense maintained George may have taken the drug himself and pointed to statements in which he allegedly threatened suicide if he could not persuade his wife to return home.
After several days of testimony, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on December 23.
Even after her acquittal, suspicion surrounding Bertha never completely disappeared. Some believed George had taken his own life, while others remained convinced that Bertha had poisoned him to remain with the theater company.
More than a century later, the case remains unsolved. The evidence left behind has never definitively established whether George Diggle was murdered or died by suicide.
As the History of Wright County ultimately concluded, the question of who killed George Diggle may never be answered.
Source: Nancy Bowers, “The Fatal Glass of Beer: Murder of George Diggle 1888,” Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases
