Origin of this Article is unknown.  Handwritten on the clipping is the date April the 13.  No year is given.   The year was 1905.  Mary's maiden name was Fletcher.  The incident took place in Paducah, McCracken County,  Kentucky. I still have not been able to make a connection with my family. 

Thanks to Meg <VelvetDove2002@aol.com> for providing more information on this article.  A song was written on the incident and the lyrics follow the article.

Insanity Plea for Mrs. Brockwell                           April the 13 

Motion Made by Her Attorneys for a Continuance 

It Was Stated They Wanted Her Mental Condition Established—Murdress Was Calm. 

AFFIDAVIT ORDERED BY COURT 

     Mrs. Mary Brockwell, charged with the murder of her three youngest children, Ola, Lilly, and Lucy did not plead guilty today.
     She was not given a life sentence.
     No agreement had been made between her attorneys and anyone else, it developed, relative to her punishment, and the attorneys for the commonwealth had no understanding or agreement with anyone, and did not know what the prisoner intended to do when arraigned.
     The rumors that any arrangement was made, and that she would plead guilty through her attorneys and that a sentence for life had been agreed on, were all untrue and without any foundation whatever, as the Sun said when they were first made.
     On the other hand, Mrs. Brockwell’s attorneys will make a fight for her.  They will plead insanity.  She may not be insane, she may not think herself insane, but they are going to make a fight for her with that defense, and it may be sometime before it is known whether she will go the to asylum or the penitentiary.
     Mrs. Brockwell appeared indifferent and composed when brought over from the jail about 10 o’clock this morning.
     When the case was called Attorney Hal Corbett moved for a continuance.  He stated that he wanted an opportunity to have his client examined as to her sanity.
     Commonwealth’s Attorney John G. Lovett objected, and said that he did not believe that the court should consider a proposition like that to allow the defense five months to trump up evidence of insanity.
     The court ordered that the defense prepare an affidavit for a continuance and the case was passed.
     Mrs. Brockwell sat beside her attorney in the circuit clerk’s office while he was drawing up the affidavit and had little to say.  She was neatly dressed and did not appear as cheerful as when she was brought out of jail last Saturday after being indicted.
     The plan of defense is doubtless to get the woman in the asylum, if possible, on the plea of insanity.
     It will probably require some little time to secure the inquiry into her mental condition, making it unlikely that she will be tried at this term of court, even if it should be determined before the present term of court ends, that she is sane.
     If she is declared insane and must be tried, there is still a chance for the inevitable continuances, and after that of hung juries, new trials and appeals.  It is not likely that a jury would give her more than a life sentence, hence with every assurance that Mrs. Brockwell will never get more than a life sentence for her crime, she may still be far away from the beginning of that sentence.
     It was stated this afternoon that the motion for a continuance in the Brockwell case would be argued sometime this afternoon before court adjourns and possibly passed on by Judge Reed.
     Attorney Hal Corbett stated this afternoon that the affidavit on which the argument for a continuance will be made this afternoon late will simply allege that County Physician J. W. Pendley said he believed the woman of unsound mind and that if the court will continue the case until the next term she believes that she can be better prepared to defend herself.
     She will claim that it will be necessary to introduce as witnesses men skilled in mental diseases and their treatment, and who are experts in the line, which testimony she does not believe she can produce at this term of court.