Mrs. Bluebeard

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Joseph Klimek’s guardian angels were working overtime on his behalf. They may have dropped the ball when he married his wife Tillie, but they used his brother to assist. Suspicions and a visit to the doctor proved what he feared, his brother was being poisoned.

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Tillie Klimek being grilled by the Chicago police. c.1922

Chicago, October 1922

The police initially arrested Tillie and her son, and the investigation of Mrs. Klimek’s background painted a very disturbing picture. It seemed everyone around her died, including her prior spouses.

Within two weeks an order was issued to exhume her second husband, Frank Kupsczyk, even though his death certificate stated he died from pneumonia. Enough arsenic was found in his system to kill four persons. Exhumation orders for her other husbands were quick to follow, starting with her first husband Joseph Mitkiewicz.

When it was discovered that Nellie Stermer Kulik (Anielia  Kulik nee Rynkowska), Tillie's cousin had supplied her with rat poison, her husband Wojciech Stermer (Szterner)  was exhumed as well. Police went on to arrest Nellie, when they received an anonymous letter asking them to look into her husband’s death, which it alleged was a result of poisoning.

Tillie confessed to the police within hours of her arrest, stating she was tired of her husband fooling around, but it didn’t explain the multiple life insurance policies she had procured in the event of his death, and the fact she was a widow many times over.

Harry Suida, Tillie’s cousin contacted the state attorney’s office and called their attention to the mysterious death of his sister Rose after eating dinner at the Klimek household. Eating with Tillie could very well be your last meal. When Harry came forward, Elizabeth Wyieckowski another cousin, told of the mysterious death of two sisters and a brother after they broke bread with the Klimeks. The police then followed the trail to the graves of three infants. Two were the children of Nellie Kulik, and the third was her grandchild.

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Murdering cousins, Tillie Klimik (R) and Nellie Stermer

It was around this time that the press started to compare Tillie Klimek to Belle Gunness and her "murder farm" in Indiana from ten years before.

Lieutenant Malone of the West Chicago Avenue police station found that Tillie had given birth to 15 children, six which had died. 

In 1917, Nellie Kulik had given birth to a set of twins, Benjamin and Sophia. Her husband Wojciech Stermer, refused to recognize the children as his, claiming she had been unfaithful. The children died within a week of each other; they were 3 months old. By the time she was arrested Nellie had given birth to thirteen children. The couple argued frequently, mostly over Mr. Kulik, who she would marry after Stermer's death.

Wojciech Stermer her first husband died April 22, 1918. The body was disinterred and found to have enough arsenic to kill several persons. 

Nellie married Wojciech "Albert" Kulik in 1920. It's unknown if they continued to live together after she was released from prison. He died in 1952.

Nellie Kulik did not spare her own family. She frequently argued with her daughter Frances Spera, who criticized her manner of living. One day Frances left her infant daughter Dorothy in her grandmother's care. The child who was one month shy of her second birthday died mysteriously. Her remains were examined as well.

February 27, 1923 Tillie Klimek was slated to stand trial, the star witness would be her last husband, Joseph Klimek who was still recovering in the hospital. Along with her cousin Nellie, they were accused of poisoning 20 persons. The crimes were heinous enough that the prosecution was seeking the death penalty, and if granted they would be the first women executed in Illinois.

​Neighbors whispered about dogs dying after eating scraps from the dinner table, and insurance payoffs against dead spouses.

​The more the police dug, the more they found.

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Tillie Klimek shields her face from newspaper reporters c.1922

​Tillie was born Otylia or Teofila Gburek in Poland on October 22, 1877. She was the eldest of 7 children born to Michalina and Michal Gburek, and she immigrated as a 4-year-old with her family. They settled in Chicago's "Little Poland" near the North Side. This area had the second largest Polish population next to Warsaw.

In 1895, when she was 18 years old she married 22-year-old Joseph Mitkiewicz. He worked as an inspector for the I.C. Railroad. Their first child Joseph was born July 1896. They rented a house on Sloan Street. During her 29 years of marriage, Tillie earned a good reputation as a cook, and strangely enough as a seer. It seemed she could predict impending deaths. The dreams usually involved argumentative neighbors and stray dogs.

Divorce was out of the question, so at the beginning of January 1914, Tillie started telling neighbors that she dreamt her husband Joe was ill and would soon die. On cue, he passed away on January 13, and the cause of death was listed as "heart trouble". He was buried in All Saints' Polish National Catholic Cemetery. He was only 40 years old. Tillie's payoff was freedom and a $1000 check from the life insurance company.

Not one to be sentimental, she married  Janus "John" Ruszkarski in February 27, 1914.

Thirty days later poor husband No. 2 was the subject of another of Tillie's premonitions, and on May 20, 1914 he went to join husband No. 1, leaving Tillie with $1,200 in cash, and $722 in life insurance.

Tillie became interested in Josef Guszkowski shortly after the death of husband No. 2 in 1914. He thought that by not tying the knot with Tillie he was safe — wrong! After a pleasure trip to Milwaukee, he turned her marriage proposal down. He shared candy Tillie had made with his sister Stella, both of them became violently ill. He mysteriously died some time after that in 1914.

March 1919, Tillie tied the knot with Franciscus "Frank" Kupczyk. They lived at 924 N. Winchester Avenue in Chicago. Tillie had once lived there with a man by the name of "Meyers" who had strangely gone missing. It didn't take long for Tillie to start foretelling about Frank's demise. He died April 20, 1921. Neighbors later described that she played festive music on her Victrola, quite strange for a supposedly mourning widow.

The coroner's report listed his cause of death as bronchial pneumonia, and Tillie collected $675 from his life insurance policy.

One has to wonder if there was a dearth of women in Little Poland in those years, because on July 30, 1921 Tillie married a wealthy man named Joseph Klimek (husband No. 4). In a well rehearsed pattern she had her husband take out a life insurance policy. Then he started feeling sick. Examination by a doctor confirmed he had been poisoned. Gulp, he also remembered when their dogs keeled over after eating scraps from the table, and Tillie's soup had a queer taste to it. 

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Nellie Kulik with next to her husband Wojciech “Albert” Kulik speaking to police c.1922

Tillie Klimek was spared the gallows, but was sentenced to life behind bars. It wasn't only the poisoned corpses of her husbands, but the testimony of her neighbors who swore she sprinkled "white powder" on cuts of cold meat and fed them to four of her husbands, who had hefty life insurance policies. The only one that escaped was number 4, who was discovered to be suffering from arsenic poisoning.

Some claimed that she ended up with a life sentence without a chance of parole, the first woman in Cook County to do so,  because she was a fat, squat, peasant-looking woman who looked 55, instead of her 45 years of age. With her dull brown hair, there was no dashing smile that would get her out of her sentence. Even the defense attorneys who understood too well the power of charming women, whispered, "She hasn't a chance to beat it."

Tillie ended up in Joliet for the murder of her third husband and possibly her disregard for beauty and guile. Or perhaps instead it was the perfect disguise for a cold-blooded, serial killer who appeared to be a dumpy housewife, but in reality did away with husbands and family alike.

Nellie spent a year behind bars with her cousin, who relentlessly tormented her. "Oh, they’re going to hang you today, Nellie!" Tillie whispered in Polish as guards removed her from the cell, causing poor Nellie to scream in terror. In actuality, Nellie’s trial ended in a hung jury followed by an acquittal. Nellie died in 1954, at aged 78.

​Tillie died in prison on November 20, 1936. She is buried in Bohemian National Cemetery.

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​TILLIE'S VICTIMS
~ Joseph Mitkiewicz.
First husband of Mrs. Klimek. One thousand dollars insurance. Died Jan 13, 1914, exhumed Nov. 11, 1922 contained more than 11.2 milligrams of arsenic. They had been married for 29 years.

~ Janus "John" Ruszkarski. 
This marriage is reported in Cook County records as Tillie Mitkey (a surname her son Joseph went on to adopt) and John Druskowski, which took place on February 27, 1914. The spelling on the marriage record was wrong, probably due to the difficult Polish surnames. His real name was John Ruszkarski. He died May 20, 1914, and left $1,200 cash and $722 insurance. Exhumed Nov. 11, 1922 yielded 13.8 mg of arsenic

~ John Guszkowski. Soon after her husband's death in 1914 she became interested in him. After a pleasure trip to Milwaukee, she proposed to him, and he laughed and jilted her. She made some candy for him, which he shared with this sister; both became very ill. He died soon after eating a dinner she cooked for him. 

~ Franciscus “Frank” Kupczyk.
Third husband. Left $1000 insurance. Married Tillie March 1919, died April 25, 1921. Body exhumed Oct. 31, 1922 was said by the coroner's chemist to contain "enough arsenic to kill four men". 

Joseph Tillek. Tillie married him July 6, 1921

~ Rose Chudzinski, cousin of Mrs. Klimek died 1919. Alleged to have told friends that following a quarrel with her cousin Tillie had served her a special dinner.

~ Stanley Zakrewski. Mrs. Klimek’s cousin. Died at age of 16, 1912
~ Stella Zakrewski, cousin of Mrs. Klimek, died in 1913
~ Helen Zakrsewski, cousin of Mrs. Klimek. Died at age of 15 in 1915.

These last three were the children of Mrs. Francis Zakrzewski an aunt of Tillie's with whom she quarreled. She later welcomed the children back to her home, and when in turn they fell ill she tended them.

NELLIE'S VICTIMS
~ “Meyers,” a common-law husband or sweetheart of Mrs. Klimek, concerning whom little is known. Missing.

~ Wojcik Stermer, first husband of Mrs. Kulik. Died in 1915, body exhumed disclosed arsenic.

~ Zofia and Benjamin Stermer, Nellie's twin children. Benjamin died August 8, 1917 and Zofia died August 17, 1914 both at 3 months of age,  

~ Dorothy Spera, 2 year old granddaughter, who died in 1921 after her grandmother had insisted that she be brought to her home for care for a simple cold.

~ John Stermer, 22, Nellie's son, who became ill in 1918 when his father died, but recovered. He declared he thought his mother had poisoned him. He was aiding the state to prosecute his mother.

VICTIMS THAT DIDN'T DIE
~ Rose Splitt. Says she was poisoned by candy given to her by Mrs. Klimek because of jealousy.

~ Stella Guszkowski, sister of John Guszkowski, sweetheart, of Mrs. Klimek. Given candy by Mrs. Klimek and became ill.

~ Nick Micke, son-in-law of Mrs. Kuzlowski, sister of Mrs. Kulik, and cousin of Mrs. Klimek, whose life was insured by Mrs. Kuzlowski. Found wandering the streets, stricken with partial paralysis which physicians say was caused by arsenic.

~ Bessie Kupczyk, sister-in-law of Frank Kupczyk, former husband of Mrs. Klimek. Told state’s attorney she was taken ill after eating at Mrs. Klimek’s home.

~ Lillian Stermer, 15-year-old daughter of Mrs. Kulik by first marriage. Lived at Mrs. Kulik’s home for one year when 13 years old. Made deathly sick by food. Now suffering from heart trouble.