Mary Busch married Robert S. James in the spring of 1935. It was James’ fifth marriage. In June of the same year, James approached his friend Charles Hope with a sinister proposition. James asked Hope to help him kill Mary and offered Hope $100 from the life insurance settlement he would receive in return. Hope agreed to the plan.
On August 4, Hope arrived at James’ home with two rattlesnakes. James had already strapped Mary to the kitchen table and taped her eyes and mouth closed. Hope and James put Mary’s feet into a box containing the snakes. After Mary was bitten, the two men left the house.
James returned to the home drunk at 1:30 a.m. and found that Mary was still alive. He took his wife to the bathtub and drowned her before placing her face-down in the fish pond outside. A bartender later called in a tip to police after hearing Hope bragging about the murder at a bar. During questioning, Hope gave police details about the murder. Robert James was arrested for the crime in 1936.
