The Long Game of Arthur Waite and The Peck Family Murders featuring Short Panic

The 1900's were a happening time in Grand Rapids.  Unfortunately,  Arthur Waite had his eyeballs set on The Peck Family money and he went to great lengths to get to it.


Leaving you with a happy ending and on a good note, as always.  This week we are featuring  Short Panic.

Short Panic
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Transcript

Arthur Waite

1. Grew up in the outskirts of Grand Rapids and was the son of a fruit and veggie farmer, parents Warren W and Sarah Jane Waite.
2. Most accounts pegged Arthur as the classic jock high school kid who surprisingly for the times, crossed the lines into drama classes.
3. Arthur, like so many kids then and now, cheated his way through to graduation.  
4. Arthur’s family would see the real side of him, this kid could have come straight out of one of Boot’s explicit content warnings.  He did all of the things.
5. It was rumored that he killed animals.  CHECK
6. He was easily angered and violent.  CHECK
7. He was busted for stealing things.  CHECK
8. I am not sure if he was ever charged for stealing things but we can see that Arthur Waite was an all mighty ass hat.
9. While Arthur was growing up in the farmland of Grand Rapids, he often went to the city to galavant with the rich.
10.  In the early 1900’s Grand Rapids was having a huge population boom.
11.   Very much like it is now, in 2023 only then we were growing on lumber and furniture..now we are growing on hops.
12.   John and Thomas Peck were the children of Elias and Catherine Peck of New York City.
13.   The children learned a lot about running a business and about pharmaceuticals from their father while growing up in New York.
14.  John Peck married his second wife, Hannah in New York and they would eventually move to Grand Rapids with Thomas.
15.   The brother’s Peck would bring their learned pharmaceutical skills to Grand Rapids in the late 1800’.
16. John and Hannah would go on to have 3 children in Michigan.  Percy, Clara and one child that died as a teenager.
17.  John and Thomas Peck opened a pharmacy together in Grand Rapids on Monroe Street in 1875 and is known to this day as a classic part of Grand Rapids History.
18.   It was called Peck Brothers Drug Co.  just recently the Peck Building was being renovated and the original painting on the bricks from the pharmacy was uncovered.  It was pretty freaking cool.
19. The Peck family became very wealthy with their pharmacy.  However, they weren’t snobs.  While they did attend all of the elite GR happenings, they seemed to be betrayed as a very humble family.
20.   John and Hannah’s son, Percy would marry off and start his own family.
21.   However, as of 1915 Miss Clara is still not married…is she considered a spinster then?
22.  The Brother’s Peck sold the business that the two of them worked so hard to grow, they received millions from the sale…millions, in 1914 the sale was complete and the Peck Building had a new Revco pharmacy in it until the late 1980’s.
23.   Meanwhile, good old Cheater Arthur Waite is eyeballing the family…keeping tabs on them.
24.   Arthur was even at a few of Grand Rapids balls, I do believe.  Afterall, the Peck family home had the largest ballroom in Grand Rapids, it was said.  I am sure that he attended a few there and set his sights upon The Peck Family Fortune.

1. Arthur wanted to be a dentist when he grew up so he applied at U of M.
2. This son of a farmer didn’t stop his cheating at high school graduation.  He literally lied, cheated and falsified his way into the University of Michigan.
3. The dental program apparently accepted him and he graduated with his dental degree the same way he graduated from high school.  Lying, cheating, talking his way through.
4.   Arthur applied to work for a British Company who tended to recruit students from the great U of M.
5.   We shouldn’t be surprised when I say that Arthur forged paperwork regarding post grad work and other rather important items that one should actually do before working hands on as a dentist.
6.   He headed off to Britain, with all of his fake documentation to be a dentist.
7.   I don’t remember seeing that there were any weird mishaps with him in Britain, he apparently worked there for a while, faked his way through more classes, I believe and then he jumped at an opportunity to work in Africa.
8.   When he gets to Africa,  it isn’t long before he is up to his no good behavior.  
9.   He starts stealing the dental gold and other weird things he could get his mitts on.
10.   He doesn't leave Africa until he gets into legal trouble with a woman….he high tails it out real quick like.
11.  Apparently, he paid his way out of that situation.
12.   Arthur came back to the States in 1914.
13.   He works in NYC as a dental surgeon for a while…a SURGEON.  
14.   Finally  Arhtur makes his way back to Grand Rapids, Michigan where there is all sorts of local hype about the paupers boy who became a well educated dentist who has worked across the world!
15.  As he has done his entire life, he uses his infamy as a way into Grand Rapids upper society.
16.   He still has an eye on Clara Peck and her families money.
17.   Clara remembers Arthur from younger days, but she doesn’t really like him all that much.  Mrs. Hannah Peck does though, so mother is like…you need to go for this young man.
18. This is because Arthur had weasled his way into the Peck’s family via Hannah.  He used her and got on her good side so that she would whisper good things about him into Clara’s ear.
19.   It works.
20.   I mean, at this point Clara is an ‘old maid’ right?
21.   Clara and Arthur are lawfully wed in what I would assume is a huge affair…a big to-do on September 9, 1915.
22.   Shortly after, the newlywed couple Mr & Mrs Arthur Waite move to New York so he can proceed with his fake dental business.
23.   I mean it’s real…he just isn’t.
24.   Arthur and Clara lived lavishly in New York also.  It was told that their apartment had a view of Central Park and all of the latest and greatest.
25.   Back in Grand Rapids, the Brothers Peck have sold their pharmacy, are millionaires and they move on to make money in different ways. 
26.   Both men are very involved in the city and banks and all of the things that rich people did in the 1900’s. 
27.  About a year later, in 1916,  Mr and Mrs Peck planned a trip to NYC to visit their only daughter Clara and her husband.  See their new digs and all of that.
28.   Before the trip out there, John had some sort of business come up and he ended up staying home.
29.   So Mrs.  Hannah hopped on the train and made her way out to NYC. 
30.   By the way, a train ride to NYC from Grand Rapids in the 1900’s would take a couple of days, I think.  I started to look and honestly…it’s too much.
31.   Soon after Clara’s Mother arrives at their abode, she becomes sick.  Really sick.
32.   They believe that she may have ended up with food poisoning from her trip.
33.   On Sunday, January 30 1916 Mrs. Peck was found dead in her own daughter’s home.
34.   Think about the logistics of a db back then.  They now have to arrange to get Mrs. Peck back to Grand Rapids via TRAIN!  
35.   Arthur claims that Mrs. Peck begged for cremation while she was dying, which didn’t settle well with the family because of their religious beliefs.
36.   I do know that Hanna Peck’s funeral was held as most customary funerals were back then, in the parlor of their home.
37.   It was, of course, a big deal…I’m sure most of Grand Rapids paid their respects to such a lovely, high standing woman of their community.
38.   Mr. Peck goes on living in their huge home, widowed now.  
39.   He finally decides to go visit his only daughter in New York City.  He traveled there on the old train in March of 1916.  I think it was March.
40.   Surprisingly, Mr. Peck becomes really ill while visiting the Waite home too.
41.   He is sick for days…it is a really drawn out illness. 
42.   Crazy enough, Clara becomes sick while her dad is visiting!  They must have the same virus, it was thought.
43.   Sadly, on March 21, 1916 Mr Peck was found, he too had passed away in his daughters home after weeks of being ill.
44.   Not suspicious at all, Arthur insists that Mr. Peck also asked to be cremated upon his death bed.   
45.   At this point, nobody is suspicious of anything about the deaths of these two humans.
46.   Until they were.  While they were headed back to Michigan (via train) a very important telegram would be sent to Grand Rapids and beat them home.
47.   The telegram was sent to Percy Peck, Clara’s brother, and went like this:

Dear Mr and Mrs Percy & Ella Peck, of the Grand Rapids Peck Family.  As you know Mr Arthur Waite is on his way with Mr John Peck's remains.  Please take heed, I do believe dear sir that he did not die of natural causes.  I advise of an autopsy to determine means of death.  With all sincerity, Kay Adams

1.   We learn who Kay Adams is eventually.  Let’s just say without her history and this story would be totally different.
2.    Percy Peck does the right thing and asks for an autopsy for the well known and respected Mr. Peck of Brothers Peck.
3.   By the time Clara and Arthur Waite arrive in Grand Rapids with the deceased body of her father, suspicion has finally arisen.
4.    Mr. John Peck is respectfully mourned at their beautiful home and laid to rest at the age of 72.
5.   Miss Clara, was so sick with typhus that she had to stay at the hotel in Grand Rapids that they were staying at.  She could not even attend her own father’s funeral.
6.  Typhus is an infectious disease caused by rickettsiae, characterized by a purple rash, headaches, fever and usually delirium, and historically a cause of high mortality during wars and famines.  There are several forms transmitted by vectors such as lice, ticks, mites and rat fleas.
7.  Fucking rat fleas?????
8.   Arthur did go to his father in law’s funeral though.   He showed up, and represented.
9.   When Arthur returned to the hotel, he insisted with all of this death in the family and how sick she is that Clara wrote a will right now…on hotel stationery.
10.   So, Clara wrote her will.  When Arthur read it, he was not at all pleased to find that she left large portions of her money to various charities.  So he stood over her shoulder and made her rewrite her will so that the money would go to him.
11.   Meanwhile, Percy is finding out the results from the autopsy performed in Grand Rapids.  The results along with the telegraph were enough for him to hire a private investigator to start looking into his brother in law, Arthur Waite.
12.   As his wife is sick at the hotel, Arthur is feeding crap into her ear canals…like how sick Percy is starting to look, this can’t be good at all.
13.   All the while, assuring his wife that he is here for her through all of this.  Through sickness and in health…for richer or for richer.
14.   Clara, you are looking pretty ill too….I know you are mourning your father, but you are looking rather ill, my love.
15.   The investigation into the Peck family murders is under way.  The family priest has now joined the crusade against Arthur, pushing Percy to dig further.
16.   The three of them hopped on a train and headed to New York to dig up Arthur dirt out there.
17.   The private eye was set to keep his eyeballs set on Arthur to see what he was up to on the daily.
18.   The priest and Percy were set to dig around and start asking questions.  
19.   Arthur, being well, not book smart but certainly had his head on a swivel, figured out that he was being looked into.  He attempts to start covering his tracks.
20.   He attempts to bribe the maid who witnessed Arthur taint the soups that were fed to Clara’s parents in New York.
21.   You heard right, somewhere along the way, Arthur Waite became fascinated with bacteria and infectious diseases and he had obtained a collection of them.
22.   I don’t know if he ordered them from the Montgomery Ward catalog or at the local store down the road ... .but he did, in fact, put germs in the family's soups!
23.   It’s too late for Arthur though.  The 3 sleuths from Michigan collected enough evidence, witness statements and coincidences to bring to investigators in New York.
24.   This is when the official police investigation into Arthur Waite and the deaths of Mr and Mrs John & Hannah Peck legally begins.
25.   Back in Grand Rapids, samples of Mr. Pecks stomach and eventually brain would be sent off to U of M for a toxicology report.
26.   Arsenic was found in Mr. Peck's brain and murder was definitely the culprit. 
27.   Arthur was a practicing dentist and had access to all types of weird stuff that we absolutely do not use in today’s medical practices.  Like cocaine and arsenic.
28.   Clara had been adamantly against her husband's guilt, she did not believe that he would kill her parents.
29. She is planning to return to New York despite their suspicions.  The family knows that she is already a dead lady walking so they devise a plan that forces her to stay home.
30. She needs to help handle all of the paperwork and be there for the will stuff.
31. I think it’s during this time that the family brings up the fact that Arthur did not spend his days working on teeth.   He spent his days with his mistress.
32. This mistress, a cabaret singer, was said to be Arthur's arsenic hook up.
33.   Clara finally realizes that she has been fooled, that all of this was a plan to get her family's money.
34.   Investigators have enough to charge Arthur and head to court.   Court is held in New York City, as that is where the murders were actually committed.
35. Arthur’s brother and father come out to New York for the trial.  They are really the only two behind him.  Ultimately, it will be his brother Frank who fights for him as much as he can, despite knowing he is guilty.
36. Frank is trying to get the death penalty off the table…he talks Arthur into confessing to his crimes so that it reduces his sentenced to life.
37. Arthur agrees with Frank and chooses to admit his guilt.  When he does so though, he starts claiming that a little phantom dude …he calls it “the little black man from egypt” is whispering in his ear and telling him to “DO BAD ALWAYS.”
38. So he is basically one of the first few people to try the crazy defense, he had actually looked up a different case similar and tried to simulate the same ruse.
39. Arthur was kept in the Sing Sing prison in New York where it was said that the only visitor he had was his brother Frank, still trying to work with the dude.
40. Needless to say, the judge did not fall for the “little black man from egypt’ scheme and he slapped the death penalty right back on the table in front of Arthur.
41. At the trial Clara testified against the man that she believed in for so long.
42. His father also testified at court.  I’m not really sure what he said though.
43. An unwilling participant in testifying was Miss Margaret Horton (the mistress, the lover, the cabaret dancer).
44. Her testimony was considered here say as she was recalling letters sent to her from Arthur in Sing Sing.  He confessed all sorts of stuff, but Miss Horton burned the letters, so her testimony was helpful…but here say.
45. Jurors would later report that Mr. Waite, Arthurs dad and Clara’s testimony were the most moving and real of the entire trial.  Ultimately, they found Miss Horton not to be very credible. 
46. Remember Kay Adams…she sent the telegram from New York, she also testified.  Her testimony stated that someone asked her to send the telegram, but she didn’t say who.  It is believed to be Dr Cornell who was a family friend when the Peck’s all lived in New York City.
47. Arthur took his fat ugly balls up to the testimony stand too.  The audacity!  He was said to have put on quite the charming act.  Even grinning and smiling at times…ahhh, ever the narcissist. 
48. Arthur would tell the court about spiking tea with germs….the arsenic he used.  He even admitted that Mr. John Peck wasn’t dying fast enough, so he used a pillow to suffocate him.
49. Arthur was sent to Sing Sing to live the remainder of his life on death row.  
50. Years later, with his brother Frank still at his side, they ate Arthurs last meal together. 
51. On May 24, 1917 Arthur Waite was set down into the Electric Chair, ol Sparky at Sing Sing Prison and was put to death.
52. In the 75 years that Sing Sing utilized the electric chair 695 people were executed.  In 1965 New York would end capital punishment.  
53. The electric chair replaced hanging in New York in 1887.
54. Miss Clara moved on through this tragedy though.  Both of her parents being killed by her own husband.
55.   She went on to marry John J. Caulfied and they lived in California.  To this day, she has descendants there.
56.  Miss Clara lived to be 76 years old before passing away on August 15, 1964.  
57.  Most of the Peck family is burried in the Oakfield cemetery.
58. The Peck family name lives on big time in Grand Rapids.  The building where the brothers Peck had their pharmacy is still called The Peck Building.
59. Their gorgeous home still sits in the Heritage Hill community at 345 Washington St.
60. The home was built in 1887, is 6,656 square feet and boasts 

-10 bedrooms

-7 bathrooms

-full basement

-3 fireplaces

1. I believe it was last sold in 2021 for $699,900.00 
2. Remember, it once was the home with the largest ballroom in Grand Rapids, or so it’s rumored.
3. If you want to get a LOT more detail that we left out of the story, I highly recommend reading the book, “Poisoning the Pecks of Grand Rapids”  expertly researched and written by author Tobin T. Buhk.  There is so much information and nuances in his book that I simply couldn’t cover in a short form type of way.
4. I also encourage you to check out his website dark corners of history.com 
5. Tobin Buhk wrote in his book that Arthur called himself a soul less, moral idiot.  (words used back in the day) Now he would be called a sociopath.  I agree with Mr Buhk and Mr Waite.  He was definitely a moral idiot.
6.