 Springfield Missouri Republican, September 19, 1922. When Claude Cushing died in December 1921 in Cassopolis, Michigan, it was initially believed that he had died of natural causes. However, when Cushing’s wife, Maude, married Emory Storick just a few weeks after Cushing’s death, Cushing’s body was exhumed so that officials could look further into his cause of death. His body was found to contain large amounts of the poisonous compound bichloride of mercury, leading many to the conclusion that Maude Storick (formerly Maude Cushing) had poisoned Cushing in order to marry Emory Storick. On March 17, 1923, Maude Storick was convicted of her first husband’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, Storick located the doctor who had treated her husband prior to his death. This doctor had recommended to her husband that he stop using bichloride of mercury for his throat pain because it was poisoning him. Notwithstanding this new evidence, Storick was denied a retrial or parole. In 1945, a Detroit attorney, Mrs. Alean B. Clutts, became interested in Storick’s case and arranged for her to take a lie detector test, which she passed. On October 25, 1949, after spending 26 years in prison, Maude Storick was granted an unconditional pardon by Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams, the only such pardon Governor Williams granted in his six terms in office. Emory Storick, who had written Maude a letter every week for the past 26 years, was waiting to pick her up upon her release. – Meghan Barrett Cousino
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