The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-06-18
MARTIN EDDINS DIES OF AR
SENlC!
His Wife Con fcsses Administer.
ing the Fatal DOse..She is
Arrested and in Jail i'm

Martin Eddlns, his wife and two child
rem lived in the very small village OF
Hamburg, about ten miles north of Ea-
ton. On the evening of the 4th OF the
present month Mr.. Eddins was taken Vi
lolently sick after eating his supper, and
was confined to his bed for three or foul
days before any attention vas given him,
when his father called to see him and
summoned DIR. Beck, who thought him
to be suffering with symptoms of typhoid
fever and left some magnesia powders,
which he ordered given as required
During the night of the 18th inst, Mr..
Eddins' wife and a Mr.. Burger were sit
ting up with him, when he began to grow
sick and his wife went to a drawer and
got out what she said was a powder and
went into an adjoining room, and in a
few minutes returned with the medicine
and administered it to him. He was i'm
mediately taken violently sick and lin
gered in the most excruciating agony and
pain until the next afternoon when he
died.
The fact being known that Mrs. Ed.
dins had purchased some arsenic a few
days before aroused suspicious that all
was not right, and a post-morteln exam
~ination being held showed the stomach
of the deceased to be in a high state OF
inflammation. The excitement increased,
and as there was one William Rowe,
living near Hamburg, said to be too in
innate with Mrs. Eddins, threats OF
lynching were openly made, which work
ed so heavily upon the conscience of the
wretched wife that she weakened and
made the following confession. We copy
from the Eaton correspondent of the Gin
~cinnati ENQUIRER, who was present at
the preliminary hearing:
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.
ELDoRADo, OHIO, June 15.-Your CORE
spondent arrived here from Eaton at 9 D. n.
to attend the preliminary hearing of Mrs.
Laura Eddins, for the poisoning of her hus-
band. After a brief wait Marshal Gartrell, of
this place, arrived with the prisoner. She
was taken before Mayor Erwin and waived a
hearing, and was sent to Jail at Eaton without
bail. To your correspondent she made the
following confession: &
81 am twenty five years of age, have been
married ten years, and have been the mother
of four children, two living and two dead.
Those living are both girls, one going on four
years, the other four months old.'
After being duly cautioned by your cores
pondent she made the following additional
Statements:
"On Saturday, the 9Th inst, 1 purchased five
cents worth of arsenic at Lefever's drugstore
in this place and took it home, and | and nv
husband mixed all of it in -four and set it to
kill rats. kept a small portion of it out, and
that is what l gave him. l gave him the poi
son on the 9th inst, and he died the follow
ing Friday, the 18th inst. l was persuaded to
give him the poison by William Rowe. He
had been at me for one year to kill him.
Rowe went away on the 4th inst, and had me
promise him that l would poison him. Curtis
Covert, a young man who lives near me, has
wanted me to leave my husband, and only two
weeks ago he threw SIS in my lap and said he
wanted me to leave with him, and that he would
go to Cincinnati and open a saloon."
She said that she had been intimate with
both Rowe and Covert for the past year. She
said she did not give him the poison to kill
him, and she said that Covert knew nothing
of her giving the poison. She is rather a fine
looking lady, and does not seem at all worried
or fretted over the affair, and talks without
hesitation. The citizens here are calm and
deliberate over the matter, and are a quiet
and respectable, law-abiding people, and there
was no demonstration whatever, though they
all appreciate the enormity of the crime. She
said her husband sent her for the arsenic, and
wanted her to get two cents worth, but that
the druggist said two cents worth would dc
no good, so she bought five cents worth. She
said that she does not feel bad over the mat.
ter, and knows the poison did not kill him
and wound up by saying: ~ am resting easy
Rowe skipped to Warren, Indiana, has
been arrested there and will be brought
back in a few days.