The Twisted Tale of Black Widow Serial Killer Mary Cowan: “The Borgia of Maine”
Labeled by the press as “The Borgia of Maine,” for her murderous ways, the tale of Mary Cowan is particularly heinous due to the extreme cruelty inflicted on her own children
Though not widely known, Mary Cowan was one of the most cold-blooded and deadly female serial killers of the 19th century. Her willingness to murder her husbands and children without a seeming shred of remorse makes her a fascinating case study.
Mary Knight was born in Plymouth, Maine, in 1863. Her father, Johnathan Knight, was a Civil War veteran. The Knight family lived in a rural, quiet area of Maine. Mary grew up in the family home, where she remained until she married Willis Bean, a farmer who lived in the neighboring town of Dixmont.
Marriage to Willis Bean
Mary and Willis had three children during their marriage, all daughters whom they named Grace, Alice, and Mabel. Though he worked as a farmer, Willis had bigger dreams.
He wanted to become a doctor, and his wife supported him in his pursuit. Unfortunately, Willis could not pursue this dream immediately, as he needed to earn a living to support himself and his family. They could not afford to put Willis through medical school, so his dream of becoming a doctor was put on hold.
In 1884, things took a dark turn. Grace, then only three years old, was found dead in the family home. The neighbor who found Grace immediately ran to tell Mary, who seemed unbothered by the death of her child, responding that she already knew and that Grace had died about half an hour earlier.
Due to the mysterious nature of Grace’s death, it was seemingly chalked up to a freak occurrence.
The very same year, the couple’s middle child, Alice, fell ill with a mysterious stomachache; she died shortly after her symptoms first appeared. The family had lost two of their three children, with only their youngest, Mabel, remaining.
Tragically, Mabel passed away the following year, in 1885, after battling the same strange stomachache that had killed her sister. There is no historical record of these tragic deaths ever being investigated as suspicious.
During this time, Willis Bean was attending a school and trying to earn a medical diploma, but unfortunately, the institution he was attending turned out to be a scam. A new law shut down the fraudulent institution for selling fake diplomas, and Willis never received his.
After this setback, Willis convinced his parents to purchase a farm for him and Mary to live on, and the couple agreed to pay his parents back for their expenses. Shortly after, Willis decided to again pursue his medical degree, and the couple moved to Ohio for Willis to enroll in a medical program.
In early 1888, Willis’s parents received a letter informing them that he had died. According to reports, shortly before his death, Willis had suffered unexplained stomach pains.
Mary returned home, temporarily living with her in-laws. The widow claimed she was unaware of any agreement to repay Bean’s parents for the farm. With nothing more than a verbal agreement binding them, Mary was awarded full ownership of the farm.
She sold the farm for $2,000, leaving the Bean family behind without their farm and mourning the deaths of their son and three grandchildren.
Black Widow
Not long after Willis Bean’s death, Mary married a man named George Taylor, who worked in the nearby Lewiston mills. Mary moved to live with her new husband. In 1891, George suffered from four days of intense stomach pain, ultimately resulting in his death.
George was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which entitled him to a life insurance policy. Unfortunately for Mary, George was not up to date with his dues, so his life insurance plan was not paid out.
Out of the kindness of their hearts, fellow members took up a collection and raised several hundred dollars to support the newly widowed Mary.
Despite her outward grief, Mary moved on quickly. A few months later, she married Elias Cowan. His former wife had passed away, leaving Elias to care for their now 8-year-old son, Willis.
Elias was a farmer with an impressive homestead. Shortly after their marriage, several of his buildings were burned down under mysterious circumstances. Aside from this, Mary was rumored to be less than kind to her new stepson, who allegedly suffered beatings for the slightest misstep.
In September 1894, Willis grew ill after snacking on some apples. He was suffering from extreme stomach pain, and his father summoned the local doctor to assess his condition.
The doctor prescribed medication to help alleviate the symptoms and was confident that Willis would make a full recovery. Yet, after two more days of intense suffering and immense pain, Willis died.
Suspicion and Arrest
Strangely, Elias had also recently suffered from debilitating stomach pain, but he made a recovery. Given the prevailing history of unexplained stomach issues resulting in death that pervaded Mary’s past, Willis’s body was exhumed from its final resting place, and Bowdoin College performed a toxicological analysis of his internal organs.
Upon receiving the results of this analysis, the scientists determined that Willis had an alarming amount of arsenic in his body. Allegedly, the child had a high enough concentration of arsenic to kill an adult ox.
Immediately after the test results came back, police arrested Mary for the murder of Willis Cowan.
Trial and Sentencing
Mary Cowan’s trial began in February of 1895. Maine had never dealt with a serial killer, and as such, the newspapers printed Mary’s story far and wide. She was given the title of “The Borgia of Maine,” a reference to Lucrezia Borgia, a famous Italian noblewoman known for poisoning men who had outlived their usefulness to her.
Mary never admitted to poisoning Willis, but the evidence, as well as her prior history, was damning. In early March, the jurors delivered their final verdict: Mary Cowan was found guilty of murdering her stepson.
Mary was sentenced to life in prison and was sent to Maine State Prison to serve out her sentence. Mary was pregnant at the time of her conviction, and shortly into her sentence, she gave birth to a daughter. Unfortunately, the infant did not survive.
By 1898, Mary’s own health was failing. Her doctor petitioned the governor of Maine to allow her to be pardoned in her final days, as she wanted to pass away in her home in Dixmont.
However, in September of 1898, Mary died in prison. Her body is buried in Sawyer Cemetery in her hometown of Plymouth, interred in the same plot as her late husbands and children, the innocent victims of her murderous ways.
Closing Thoughts
There were numerous female serial killers in the United States during the 19th century. These included Sarah Jane Robinson, also known as “The Boston Borgia,” and nurse Jane Toppan, who became a very prolific killer, with 31 murders that she confessed to and likely many more.
Though many likely haven’t heard of Mary Cowan, she is infamous for being Maine’s first and most deadly serial killer. The fact that Mary poisoned and murdered her own children is a testament to her sick depravity, setting her apart from other killers of the “Black Widow” variety.
Sources:
Contributors to Serial Killer Database Wiki. “Cowan Mary A.” Serial Killer Database Wiki, Fandom, Inc., skdb.fandom.com/wiki/COWAN_Mary_A. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Emilyburnhambdn. “Maine’s Deadliest Serial Killer Was Known as the ‘Borgia of Maine.’” Bangor Daily News, 20 Mar. 2024, www.bangordailynews.com/2024/03/20/penobscot/penobscot-culture/maine-deadliest-serial-killer-borgia-of-maine-joam40zk0w/.
“Mary Cowan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cowan.