The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-17
THE KANSAS SENSATION.
The MedlicOtt-Ruth Case In Court
pOpmlar Feeltng-C0mpOSur of

| the ffiSOner-ReSume of the Case.
Correspondence of the World
GARNET, KAN, October 9.-The
pleasant and thriving little city of Gar
nett, the county seat of Anderson
county, Kan, situated some sixty miles
south of Lawrence, on the Leaven-
worth, Lawrence, and Galveston rail-
road, is to-day the scene of an un-
wonted excitement A murder trial is
in progress, which in tragic interest
bids well to rival the Ruloff and Laura
Fair cases. While ! write Judge Bas-
sett is endeayoring to empanel jury
for the trial Of DR.. Medlicott, who is
before the court charged with the MUIR
der of Mr.. |. NJ. Ruth, by the admins
tration of heavy dose Of morphine
and atropinc. The history OF the case,
preliminary to the trial now opening, is
as follows:
On the morning of Thursday, April
%, Mr.. Ruth, an old and highly re-
spected citizen OF Lawrence, business
manager OF the Lawrence Tribune, was
found dead in bed. A coroner's jury
WAS promptly summoned, and a search
was made among the clothes of the de-
ceased for any letters or papers that
might throw light npon the mystery OF
his death. The inquiry soon met with
startling reward In a pocket diary,
found lying on Mr.. Ruth's coat, and
covered by his vest, the following let.
ter, addressed to Mrs. Ruth, was dis
covered:
DARLING: The Doctor mean Dr.
Medicott-Save me quinine powder
Wednesday night, April 26. The effects
are these: have a terrible sensation Of
rush of blood to the head, and my
skin burns and itches ! am becoming
numb and blind. can scarcely hold
my pencil, and cannot keep my mind
steady. Perspiration stands outall over
my body, and | feel terribly. The clock
has just struck IL, and took the med
icine about 1890 P. NJ Iwrite this so
that if | should never see vou again
you may have my body examined, and
see what the trouble is. Goodbye, and
ever remember my last thoughts were
of you. | cannot see to write more.
God bless YOU, and may we meet in
heaven. Your loving husband
|. NJ. RuTH.
The accused was at once arrested and
became the subject Of universal gossip,
the substance OF which will be best un.
derstOod if given in the shape Of per-
sonal history OF the parties concerned
in the tragedy.
Mr.. Ruth was one Of the early settlers
of Lawrence, but removed to st. Louis,
where he found employment in the
postoifice at the commencement of the
war. During his residence there he
became acquainted with handsome
lady whose large black eyes looked IA
voringly upon him. She boasted on
her mothers side relationship to the
noble French family Of De Spraugh, of
Strasbourg, and was the prospective
heress to title and fortune. While
very young she married Mr.. Seymour
Voullaire, a lawyer The Noullaire
establishment was by no means harmo-
NOUS, and the lady seems to have found
in Mr. Ruth an acquaintance more
pleasing to her than the man she had
sworn to love, honor and obey. A hos
tile encounter in thr streets Of st. Louis
took place between Mr.. Ruth and the
aggravated husband, in which shots
were exchanged without the intlction
OF any permanent injury on either
party. In 1867 Mrs. Noullaire OBJ.
tanned a divorce, whereupon Mr.. Ruth
married her and removed with her and
her five children, who assumed the name
of DR.. Spraugh, to Lawrence, where he
found subsequently employment IN the
Tribune office. At Lawrence Mr.. and
Mrs. Ruth formed an intimate acquant-
ance with DR.. and Mrs. MeGlicott. The
members of the two families visited
frequently, and Mr.. Ruth seems up to
the hour of his death to have approved
and encouraged the intimacy that exist
ed between him and Mrs. Ruth.
DR.. Medlicott is native OF Ireland,
but removed with his parents, when SIX
years old, to Marietta, Ohio. His repr-
taton while resident there was very
high, and his personal friends in Kan
sas are unchanged in their regard for
him. Early in the war he enlisted in
the West Virginia cavalry, taking part
in the raids made on the Virginia and
East Tennessee railroad and gaining the
rank of lieutenant. In 1864, while
lying i'll at Hagerstown, he met the in-
ture Mrs. Medlicott, the widow OF Mr..
Todd Doyle. Her connection with old
Maryland families and her possession
of some $4,000 are said to have blinded
the Young soldier to the fact that she
was old enough to be his mother. The
marriage had the approval OF the lady $
relatives, and there is no proof that II
was an unhappy one. Mrs. Medllcott
shared her husband $ visits to the kuths
and appears to have been as free from
| jealousy as Ruth himself. She died
suddenly in December, 1870. With
Ruth's death the friendly quadrilateraI
was wholly destroyed. Two otthe four
friends Law innocently in their graves
the third stood about to be charged, with
their murder, because of an alleged
guilty love for the fourth. .,
No sooner was it ascertalned as the
result of analysis that Ruth's death was
the result of poison-morphlne ana
atrophipe-than attention was called TO
the suspicious character of Mrs. MedlI,
colts death, and her body was exhumed
for examination. The result OF the !, IN
vestigation has not been made officially
public, but there is no doubt of the fact
that the scientific experts employed De-
lieve they discovered in the body OF the
deceased lady poisonous compound
:S.;oo1 ill that found in the body OF