2226 Williams Street was built in 1891 for Edward and Lola Worrell. While Edward worked as a lawyer, Lola Carrier Worrell was a well-regarded composer whose songs included "The Song of the Chimes," made famous by operatic soprano Alma Gluck.
In 1891, the home was the scene of a murder that gripped the nation for several years. Josephine Barnaby, the widow of millionaire clothier Jerothmul (J.B.) Barnaby and a friend of Edward Worrell's mother, Florence, was poisoned at the home by a bottle of arsenic-laced whiskey mailed to her there. Rhode Island doctor T. Thatcher Graves, who stood to receive Josephine's estate upon her death (and, who was afraid of being cut out of her will), was charged with the murder. Graves committed suicide two years later before he could be convicted. Josephine Barnaby's murder has been chronicled in several books, including "Death in the Mail" by Martin Day.
To learn more about the Barnaby murder, check out this link:
http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/dr-t-thatcher-graves-rhode-is...
