Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1872-04-25
isteI1aM eoM s.
The Leesba:g Poisoning Case.
MRS. LLoYDFULLY COMMITTED.
THE PARTICULARS AND INCL
DENTS.

| LEEsBURG. April l5.-Ihls usually
quiet community is his morning convuls
ed as by ,er,itle moral earthquake, tho
vibrations of which. as they echo back
from The lips OF The witnesses exam ined
before the coroner's inquest. send thrill
of horror and TIL tale of circumstances
guilt. the euormi,y OF which is almost
unparalle led in the annals Of human de-
plavi'y The subject has now reached
that point OF dehni'u' SIS, III which 1t will
be sired by legal prosecution.
In December. 1868, Mr.. CHARLES E
Lloyd, the keeper Of drinking saloo"
in this town, nan of high temper, aud
SAID 10 have been unkind to his family
but by no means bad citizen, vas Ia
ken sick and for ten days suffered rom
severe attack of typhoid pneumonia
He had become convalescent. however,
and his physician pronounced him out of
dagger. The doctor visited him on the
morning of bis death, and found hun sit
ting mp, aud SO much better that he sta
I'D he would be at bis business next day
In short time, perhapa less THAI an
hour, he was again summoned to his as
sls.auce. bur tne Vital spark had He'd be-
fore he had reached him. Lloyd had III
he meantime pa, taken of some slight re-
fresbmeut. The death was so sudden
and unexpected. that his friends were
startled, bu. his physician attributed it
TO The disease of the heart, With which
re was ff1ictrd. and the mex, day his re-
mains we're inferred in Uuiou Cemetery.
where in few months. ,hey were fol-
lowed by an aunt of Mrs. Lloyd Iu
April 1870, Mrs. Hammerly OF Wash
ing,on, all aunt of Mrs Lloyd, aud by
whom she had been raised-paid her a
visit, and in two Or three weeks after her
arrival, another grave was dug, and an
other torn laid beneath the clods-bnt AS
the aunt was old and quite infrm, nd had
been kuo 20 express desire 10 return
aud be buried at The home OF her early
lie, her death occasioned' little else than
sympathy for the again bereaved widow
The father died, leaving his wife In
moderately comfortable circumstances
with four children. TWO boys and two
girls, Zone OF the girls. Maud, was born
a few we. ks after the fathers death } all
of them fine. healthy, robust children.
who became the almost idolized objects OF
the widowed mothers affections. In Ju
ly. 1870, The two boys George aged 8
years, aud Henry, aged years, in COM
lany with one two children, and negro
girl, some II or IA years of age, wing
i'll Mrs Lloyd's family were perm tilted to
TO 60 tlackberryiDg. They returned in
the evening. accomplishing. but that
night both boys were taken seriously i'll.
and the family physician. DR.. A. K
Mott, called in. He found them suffer-
ing from the effects of poison, but a.
their mouths. both inside aud out. were
covered with irruptions. he attributed it
to their having, in their ignorance, eat
| Gu poison oak leaves with the berries
Their condition grew worse. and Dr.
| Gross was called in, but the children boz
died Henry, Oh the 24ih OF August,
aud George on the 25tn the mo,he,
nau Iiestipg all the evidences Of sorrow
natura 10 the maternal heart lace:ated b.
the sudden tax ing of OF two Of her first
bvru. These sad events were the suhject
of much comment at the time, aud an ex-
animation of the stomachs was talked OF,
but no one was bold enough to charge
foul play on the part of the mother, be
cause no che was willing to believe, from
her previous character, that So revolving
lime could have originated in bel
breast. Two little graves were dug be
s,ue that OF the taiher--two little cof-
fius were consigned to their narrow en-
brace. and day after day the mother:
form might have betn seen bending ovel
the fresh mounds, seemingly with all til.
loving tenderness OF mothers heart. ano
each time as She .urued her TACK upo,
those graves there might lave been See,
resting upon their Geld bosons bunci
OF flowers, those sweet scented mcmentoe'
OF woman constancy and afrc,lon- thu
dlsarmipg the credulous in their su. pi
cions and rengtLeuiug tue. incredulou
III their convictions OF the mothers en-
tire innocence. Shortly after tie deatI
of the two boys. Mis-. Lloyd left her oil
home, the scene Of SO many painful mem
cries, aud took up her residence 10 nea
little story-aud-a half ST. ne house. situa
ted on the western end of Loudoun street
fronting immediately on the street
i Here It was hoped. tuat she and her sur
vivlne Aittls ones world be spared ths