The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-04-21

anu DelOTt uOTulHy lHc CulluTtu were
under physician s treatment for COM
plant that, strange to say, was through
out similar. The grave old family phys
ician shook his head and looked serious.
The case was beyond his ken. He could
not fathom it. Cook, always suspicious,
limited that there might have been foul
play. The hint was as good as a nod to
the doctor, who ordered the premises
searched at once. The cistern, first OF
all, was subjected to scrutiny. It was
an old-fashioned receptacle, with big
puncheons protruding from underneath
the covering. Here there were found
small particles of white powdered SUBJ
stance, which were carefully removed
the physician, getting clew to his case,
prescribed antidotes for poison, and
brought out all the family except the
wife, who, after a. weeks illness, died.
The farmers around were not long in ar
irving at the cause of Mrs. Cook S death,
and the question now was, who poisoned
the cistern? What more natural than
that suspicion should rest on Leyer?
Rumors of an old and similar charge
that had been made against him only
helped to confirm the suspicious. Every
circumstance, every movement of the
suspected, man was discussed.
The funeral of Mrs. Cook was follow
ed by a determined resolution on the
part of the widowed husband to sift the
matter to the bottom. The suspicious
against Leyer were not quoted. They
began to form subject of discussion at
the corner grocery, in the settlement, at
the schools, where the mans children
heard them as they learned their lessons.
Then they were carried home to the
father, who, not caring to exhibit his
uneasiness, started for Evansville. The
same night his house was surrounded by
on armed mob. The men who cOmpOs-
ed it were farmers who had become
convinced of Levers guilt, and who
would not "brook the laws delay"
They came there to lynch him without
trial, but not finding him they fright
ened his family, and, after taking young
lad who had been living with him, gal
lOped away. The next day little 10
year-old son of Leyer arrived at Evans
vile, fOotsore and hungry, to tell his
father of the mob which had visited
there. The child had walked the entire
distance to warn his parent of the evil
he was in danger of. Then came the ar
rest a few days afterward. 1t occurred in
this city, and Leyer was conducted back
to Boonville, the county seat of
Warrick. Here he was committed to jail
without bail, and here it was that sec
ond time mob surrounded the building
a few nights afterward and battered with
sledge hammers on the iron door. Their
repeated blows were doing their work
the door guarding Leyer hung but by
single hinge. In Il minute more the
man would have been at the mercy of
the mob. But that one minute was long
enough for the Sheriffto sound an alarm
and arouse the citizens. You may fancy
the feelings of the prisoner during all
this time. 1t is told that he stood arm
ed with revolver, Struggled into his
cell by his wife, ready to meet the first
man who ventured to seize him. The
next day he was brought to this city for
safe-keeping. The Warrick County ar-
thorities declared that they were unable
to shield him from hatred that would
not stop at murder, and here in our jail
he bided his time and waited rs the day
| OF his trial drew near.
All this while Cook had not been idle.
His own theory, that Lever poisoned the
well,was strengthened by the convictions
of his neighbors. Then came the search
for the proof. Every drug store in the
city was visited to learn whether Leyer
had purchased any poison. The search,
continued for weeks, ended fruitlessly.
This falling chemist was carried up to
the Cook farm, and from there conducted
to the village cemetery, wherethe body of
Mrs. Cook had been buried nearly two
weeks before. The coffin lid was remov-
ed and the decaying remains subjected
to the chemists knife. Portions of the
stomach and liver were removed, after
which the mutilated body was restored
to its final resting place. Then the
cistern was drained, and the chemist
started home with a portion of the water
and a lot of the mud which he was hired
to analyze. BY every chemical test, all
the particles, with the exception of the
flesh, showed unmistakable evidence of
arsenic. Armed with this proof, to-
gether with circumstantial evidence,
enough to convict a dozen men,
Cook went before the Grand jury
and demanded a hearing. He pro-
duced his proof, and the result was an
indictment, charging Leyer with muir
der in the first degree. The prisoner,
through his counsel, waived trial in
Warrick County. He could not get JUS
tice in county where every man was
eager to lynch him, and the cause was
transferred to this county for trial. 1t
began last Monday morning, before our
criminal Judge, and closed at midnight
last night, with the verdict of the jury, find
ing the prisoner guilty, and fixing his
punishment at Imprisonment for life. 1t
was, in many respects, the greatest GRIM
inal trial ever heard in Southern Indi-
ana, or perhaps, the entire State. The
counsel was composed of the best talent
among our legal profession. In many
respects it was peculiar trial. believe
l do not err in saying that there was no
positive evidence against the man. Eve
~ particle of it was circumstantial. No
one saw the prisoner purchase the arSan.