The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-06-18
A. C. LAR0S, THE ASSASSIN.
MS WAY or GBITIsG MONET TO
EN1BLE HIN TO sTUDY nav.
Father, Mother, two brothers, three sisters,
mud n Friend. Poisoned Four aud a Half
Ouncrs9of Arsenic Among Eight People.

The poisoning of the Laros family at
Mineral springs, Northampton county. Pa, on
Wednesday, May 81, il doubtless stl frcsh In tho
Of readers Of the current events
Of the day ~ crime Of unusual horror not
only from the wholesale slaughter attempted.
hut from the fact that the assassin deliberately
planned the murder of his parents, brothers,
sisters. and an old friend Of the family residing
with them. for the purpose of getting possession
Of a small sum of money. Such an unnatural
crime challenges belief when Viewed a. the
work Of sane man and invests the pcrpctrator
with peculiar interest as psychological study.
Allen G. Laros Is young man, barely twenty
one years Of age Of slight build, weighing not
more than 10 pounds and about Eve feet and
Ave Inches in height. Ills hair noustache,
and goatoe arc intensely black, Is are his eyes
also, while his skin Is Of a cold waxy whitoness.
His lower lip ia prone to droop, his eyes avoid
meeting steady gaze, aud his mind Is not ac-
tive. y representative OF THE Sun reached him
on Friday last, with considerable difficulty, ow-
Ing to rigid orders which have been issued at the
instance Of his counsel for his soclusion from all
visitors. I4lros was lying upon his bed, in a
large, close CELL reading the Bible. Beneath and
about him were strewn number " religious
papers, which he had been reading upon the
margins Of some OF which ho had been scribbliug
fragments Of scrptural texts and quotations
from hymns which to his mind seemed appro-
pirate to his situation. one Of these, prom-
nently displayed, was
"My soul lies humbled In the duet,
And own. rhy dreadful sentence inst,
Iook down Lord. vita utyiag eye;
Aud save the soul condemned ~ die"
II ind 1t hard to pass my time in here so I
read and scrbble and try to get through the day
that way as best can" said he, apoloretically.
sitting up ON his bed and ainles-ly tumbling
and fumhling tho papers.
\ visitor accompanying the reporter asked
Laru, Il lie could eat the prison fare, Offering to
send him anything he might desire to eat.
No. thank you" he replied. " don't want
anything. When think Of what I've done any
lining 40 az Is too good for me. It's more than
" SEQ You. are reading tho bible Is that
now occupation for yout'
oh. 10, -ir. I've always read the Bible
good deal, but more since l'ye been IN here than
Have you over professed rclgons"
,tl.'e w sir Wa ga, member ct The The, Reformed
what class II reading matter have you pre-
feTcd and given mos. attention to"
IL don't UNDERSTAND YOU
mcnfs In literature -
"Oh I've studied grammar and geography,
and written arithmetic and taental arithmetic"
Have you read much history 2"
Yes. some-a good deal Of history"
fictionf"
"N1yci.. stories"
M; never cared for them"
Are you fond 81 poetry g.
Hs shook his head with an air Of contempt.
Have you ever travelled ?"
We hcen down 20 Philadelphia. was there
only couple Of wechS before this thing hap
pened. liul I've always lived rignt at home.
Wei. Allen. YOU are represented "a, having
confessed that YOU poisoned your family In or
der To get possession Of small sum Of money.
l. that true -
why were you guilty OF such \ de- perNte
decd We're you la any great want OF that
Wei fll toll YOU. wanted TO get Il that
might study law. | had been 10 see Mr.. Scott
about reading law wlth MN ana lie got me
rc-lsicrrd ~ student. Ihen wanted the
money 10 pay my expenses. | had no money
Ia never kept any that earned teach hing school
50 Thought Ia take what they mad You see
father was executor Of the Norton estate. and
he had 10 pay some money. and when tho time
came lac didn I have ii all. 80 to make up what
he wanted. he took up three months Of my
wages for teaching school. was given To- un-
derstand that should have the pay OF the other
two months all to myself. but mother used to
laugh at and tell me IL took that money Id
nave :" psy beard s Rps ,hearH RAW wo ,p n sHs
given me the money To study law, II a told him
IN thor and the rest used 20 laugh At me. and
make Fun Of me and say, The ilea Of your be-
ins lawyer and got 40 that didn't want To
ash him for the money But father WAS always
kind % mo aud gave me money when ! wanted
me 80 to gO TO Philadelphia"
- YOU preferred poisoning the whole family,
~ simpler way Of getting The money than ASK
Yes; hut didn't mean to Kill them. only
wanted TO stupeiy them, 80 that they ii think
inc for taking the money, but think some ono
else had to's II aud given them the poison. We
always heard that u YOU give a person too much
poison II would only stunefy them and not Xii
them, inst the same ~ II YOU give them too
little. and that 1t must be only certain amount
70 ALL That was Why put Ia 80 much. because
wanted not o. Kill them, but just To- -tupefy
thrrn. You know lappealng To gentleman
present. We always SAID that ] only wanted To
stup.IN them.
why did Won employ arsenic, Did you
not know that all mineral pOisons are easily
traced, and that none are more certain II datec-
Ton than arsenic, while there are vegetable poi
sons which leave scarce any traces aud I'm their
action often 50 nearly simulate certain diseases
thai Their agency is not likely To DO suspected =
.,,,. did net tnow anything about that; /
before ! did IL. I'd never read about poisons.
only, Id heard that il YOU give n person too
them \ while"
" la, not a suspicion forced itself upon Won
huling from Dr. Voorhees, 50 near home rs
Easton, the poison you int ended 70 u-e In such
a sweeping operation aud 50 supplying link In
tho powerful chain Of evidence against You Z"
Va. but didn't think about that then"
You had got the money. both Your fathers
AMI Mr.. Sohug s. before the poisoning, did you
Yes and buried It where It was found after
ward"
why, then, did you poison the family. when
the money was already in your po-ses-ionf"
,. To throw them IN from suspicionins me. !
~
think 1t was somebody else did IT,"
How much arsenic did you put in the coffee
pot2"
| don't know. u was fffty cents worth"
Dr. voorhees, says that there wer four and
half ounces.
% wanted 20 give them too much 10 kill them,
so put II all in"
How much money did Won get p
" | don't know exactly-I didn't have time to
count IT,"
THE amount found where he had secreted 1t
Wa, e.ilSO
Tell me- about the poisoning"
Well, put the stun into the
coffee pot as | went through the kitch-
en- about three-quarters Of an hour be-
fore supper time Then worked around until
Clara called IA to supper. We went In and ant
down To table. There were father and mother
and Mr.. schug. and Alvin. Erwin. Alice, Clara
Flora and me. They all drank the coffee, and
took couple Of swallows Of n myself because
intended To he sick too. 50 that wouldn't be
suspected. They noticed the queer taste Of tho
coffee but didn't recognize At FIRST what II was,
"a they were eating and drinking the coffee to-
gether, and ! took some, what thought would
Just make me sick, while pretended to taste
10 see what made the queer taste. Then they all
got very sick and was took sick too 40 that
don't remember much after that until il was all
over.
-" How many Of them died - Father mother
and Mr.. Schug The Others got over II. suppose
they didn take enough 10 Nil them.
" Have any Of your brothers and sisters been
Won since YOU have bepn here -