The Republican journal., 1871-11-09
The MedIicott Murder Trial in Kansas.

returned Il VeTulct VI Sullly vi IuuTuef II
the first degree. The jury could not con
sistently have found verdict for an,
lesser degree under the circumstances, a
the laws of Kansas make killing by poisol
murder. One juror stated that he was il
favor of murder in the second degree. bu
yielded to the opinions OF the other twelve
A motion for new trial was made, as
will probably not be granted by Judge
Bassett the case will 90 to the Supreme
Court. A large number of exception
were taken to the rulings of the cour
during the progress of the trial, and it il
not improbable that some of these rulings
may be decided to have been erroneous
For instance, there was one rather curl
Gus piece of testimony. johnson, the eel
mate of Medlicott, was not allowed *
state what Medlicott said in his sleep, but
was permitted to state what he told Med
licot he had said in his sleep. These
somnambulic revelations had doubtless,
their full influence upon the minds of the
jurors There are other points upor
which the counsel for the defence conf
IDENTIFY expect to obtain from the Supreme
Court a reversal of the judgment.
The case taken in all its details is one
of the most singular and interesting in the
annals Of criminal jurisprudence. A brief
epitome of the leading facts connected
with it may not be embarrassing.
Isaac NJ. Ruth had married, as his
second wife, the divorced wife of Mr.
Seymour Voullare, OF this city, at Il time
when Noullaire was supposed to be in a
dying condition from pistol ball fired by
Ruth. Several months afterward Ruth
and his wife removed to Lawrence, Kan
sas, where Ruth had resided before the
war. Ruth obtained situation as book
keeper in the office of the Lawrence
Tribune, and was a quiet. industrious
man Of business.
About the same time a young physi-
clan. named John j. Medlicott located at
Lawrence and commenced the practice of
his profession. He was about thirty years
of age, well educated, of good address,
manners and appearance. HIS wife
was about twenty years his senior-a
quiet, patient, unassuming woman. He
had married her in Maryland against the
remonstrance of her friends, who believed
that her little fortune of five or six thou
sand dollars had more to do with Med
lieott's choice than affection for the woman.
The young physician obtained a fair prac-
tice and was 4 member of the Episcopal
Church.
Medlicott became the family physician
OF Ruth, and his account book, produced
in court, showed that he made 10 charge
for his services, although his visits were
as frequent as twice day Indeed. so
frequent were his visits TO Mrs. Ruth, and
so uniformity were the doors locked and
the curtains drawn, that the ncighbors
gossiped about it, and surmised that there
was a criminal intimacy between the
parties.
In December last Medicott's wife died
very suddenly, and it is remarkable that
her symptoms strongly resembled those
OF Ruth at his death, four months later
Dark hints were thrown out at the time,
butIlittle was said and the body was inter
red at Lawrence. The cause Of her death
was stated to be apoplexy, but physi-
elan who was there at the time declares
that no symptoms of apopleXy were OBJ
servahlc. In the memorandum book in
which Ruth wrote his last letter is pen
ciled note of the death OF Mrs. Medlcott,
from which he wrote her obituary in the
newspaper, and it is there stated that she
died of apoplexy. There can be no doubt
that MedlicOtt himself furnished the dates
and cause of death to Ruth.
On the Goth of April, in the afternoon,
Mrs. Ruth went to Levenworth on a visit
That night Ruth and Medlicott played
three games of chess at the house of the
former, and they parted between nine and
ten o'clock. The next morning Ruth was
l.. nod
blood oozing from his mouth. OF course
the family physician was the first person
sent for, and his conduct in the presence
OF death excited remark.
The strongest feature of the whole case
is the letter written by Ruth to his wife,
Just before he died, informing her that
Medlicott had given him qunine powder
half an hour before, and requested her in
case of his death to have his body ex-
amined. In this letter he describes his
symptoms with some minuteness, and
states that the clock had Just struck eleven.
The memorandum book was found lying
on his coat, on the piano, with his vest and
pants lying on it. The question will at
once arise. why did he not call to his as
sistance the physician who slept next
door within few feet of his roomp By
doing so he might have save his life
he, however, strange as it may appear
spent the last moments of consciousness
in writing letter which, on the trial
was the most convincing evidence that he
was murdered.
AS soon as the letter was discovered
Medlicott was arrested and lodged in Jail.
He Immediately sent for a lawyer, and
Al, al, a,
lawyer had Mrs Ruth taken to his own
house Immediately on her return from
Leavenworth, and before she had seen
the corpse of her husband. What trans
pired between the lawyer and the lady
has not been revealed, but the prisoner
subsequently stated that the lawyer assur-
him "there was no danger
In the cell in which Medlicott was con-
fined was a young man named Henry
Johnson, alias Sperry, the same man who
was fined in the United States Circuit
Court in this city about year ago for de-
frauding the revenue department. John
son was imprisoned on a charge of larce-
ny. He became satisfied of Medlicott's
guilt from hearing him talk in his sleep.
The spirits of the dead haunted him in his
dreams. The apparition of his wife hoy
cred over him in his midnight slumbers,
and he started up with glaring eyeballs
and exclaimed, 80, God, Sarah are you
here?" The dying agonies of Ruth were
re-enacted in his dreamy imagination
and he would smooth the drapery of his
couch and say, ''Be quiet, Ruth Take
this, and it will do you good"
johnson, who is described as a profess
sional burglar in appearance, conceived
the idea of winning his own freedom by
obtaining satisfactory evidences of the
guilt of his fellow prisoner. He succeed
ed in getting Medlicott's confidence, and
in obtaining from him letters that are a
virtual confession of guilt. One of these
letters was glowing lovesick epistle to
Mrs. Ruth, written, as he stated on the
stand, to change the current of her feel
ings against him. To understand this ex-
preston it is necessary to know that the
newspapers had published ? report that
Mrs. Ruth had vowed vengeance against
the murderer Of her husband, and sworn
his children over his cof1ined corpse to
avenge his death. These fearful threats
explain why Medlicott was so anxious to
pacify her--why he wrote in one of these
intercepted letters that he s'could not 90
to trial without knowing what this woman
will swear to-