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Heis.
    Sixty-two-year-old George Heis contacted the police and told them of his near escape with Anna. He told investigators that he had met Anna a year earlier and that they had got along well. George said that he had become suspicious of Anna when he became violently sick after drinking a glass of beer she had poured for him and that he’d never felt in good health since.
    The investigators then heard from Philip Hahn, Anna’s husband. He handed to the investigator’s a bottle of Croton oil he had taken away from Anna when the two were together. Philip had suspected that the cause of his mysterious illness that had caused him to be hospitalized was Anna trying to poison him. “I kept meaning to take it to the police,” he said in an interview with the press in September of 1937.
    On August 10, 1937, the Cincinnati police charged Anna with the murder of Jacob Wagner. Anna Hahn’s trial began on October 11, 1937, at the Hamilton County Courthouse in front of Judge Bell and lasted four weeks.
     

    Hamilton County Courthouse
     
    The jury consisted of eleven women and one man. Anna pleaded not guilty. The prosecution claimed that Anna had murdered Jacob Wagner for his money and estate and that greed was her motive. The prosecution paraded through the court a large number of witnesses, which included hospital staff who described in graphic detail Jacob Wagner’s last torturous days. A pathologist testified that Jacob Wagner had easily enough arsenic in his body to kill at least four men.
    In addition, a handwriting specialist testified that Jacob’s will was a forgery. He also testified that the handwriting belonged to Anna. Judge Bell allowed the prosecution to introduce evidence connected to other poisoning cases of Anna’s. This was allowed to illustrate Anna’s homicidal personality. George Heis was called to give his account of Anna and his ensuing illness. Anna sat throughout all the testimony supremely composed, always dressing neatly, and wearing only a discrete amount of make-up.
    The defense had little to offer beyond Anna’s claims of innocence. On October 29, 1937, the jury took just two hours to return with their verdict. Anna sat calmly, as she had throughout the trial, as the jury foreman read out the jury’s decision. The jury found Anna guilty of the murder of Jacob Wagner and recommended that no mercy be shown towards her.
    Anna was led away to the cells to await sentencing on November 10 th . Anna was confident she would escape the electric chair as no woman had ever been executed in the state of Ohio. What Anna failed to realize was that when the jury recommended no mercy, it meant that the judge had no choice but to sentence her to death.
     

    Anna Marie Hahn prison photo
     
    On November 10 th Anna was brought back to court, and Judge Bell asked Anna if she had anything she wished to say to the court. Anna simply replied, “I’m innocent, Your Honor”.. After a moment of silence, Judge Bell sentenced her.

    Anna , on December 1, 1937, was taken to the Ohio State Penitentiary. Her lawyers made appeal after appeal against the death penalty. On March 10 th , Anna was still alive and firmly believed that the appeals would eventually spare her. The appeal finally reached the US Supreme Court, which refused to stop her execution.
    Anna then appealed directly to the Governor of Ohio, Martin Davey , but he refused to intervene in the court's decision. Anna’s execution was scheduled for December 7, 1938.
    The day before the execution took place, Anna wrote four letters which she gave to her lawyers.
    On the day of the execution, Anna dressed in a tan colored flowered silk robe, blue cotton pajamas, black shoes, and tan silk stockings rolled down to her ankles. The right leg of her pajamas was cut, and a small patch of hair on the back of her head was shaved off, so electrodes could be attached to her skin. Anna was in such an emotional state, she barely noticed what the prison officials were doing