Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-03
POISONING.
A Retired Chemist With a Monomania
Murders His Family and Suicides.

London letter: About ten days ago a
retired chemist named Samuel Hill Derby
poisoned his wife and six children and then
committed suicide. Derby, who recently
ca me into possession o. a fortune by the
death Of a relative in Ireland, had been for
some time in ill health. his affection de-
veloping into the one idea that his relatives
were e~ndeavoring to rob bin Of the prop
erty he had inherited. At the same time
he treated his family well, and &c suspicious
were entertained that he contemplated
the terrible crime wlich is now laid at his
door.
DISCOVERY OF TIE CRIME.
On the evening OF the dag that it is sup
posed the tragedy occurred, Derby's aged
father vent to the family residence on Gar
field street, as was his wont, to see how the
family were getting on. He found the front
door locked, and, looking through the key
hole, saw that the key wal missing. From
this he concluded that the folks were out,
and returned to his own house OF Month
street. At $50 on the following morning
he again vent to the Garfield street house
and rang the front door bell, receiving no
response. He went to the rear, and by
means Oft ladder, he got up to the bed
room window.
ooKIS INTO hi RooM
he saw lyingin bed, as if asleep, his slaughter
in.law, Mr. Derby, and two OF the younger
children. He raped upon the glass, but,
failing to arouse them, came to the con-
clusion that they were dead. Messengers
were Immediately dispatched to the near
est police station and half a dozen officers
responded. Upon e~ffecting an entrance to
the house a terrible spectacle met th"lr
gaze. On a bed in a rear 0 were the
bodies OF the wife and two young children,
They were cold and stiff. In the iron bed
room were the bodies OF the four eldest
children lying lengthwise upon an iron bed
stead, the bodies being covered with bed
clothes.
THE PERPET7AToR OF IT ALL.
Down stairs in the kitchen, stretched out
on a sofa that had been drawn up close +
the fire, was the body of the murderer. :
number OF letters addressed to his mall
| and female relatives were upon the mantle!
| piece. In one he said that he was about
to commit suicide, owing to tie conduct 0
| relatives in connection with the property
left him, and that he could not leave HI
wife and children behind. In another let
ter he said that his wife had often remarked
that she did not want to live after he haC
gone, and that he desired the bodies to b.
sent to Owens College for dissection. Their
was also a will by which all OF his prOpert,
was left to his sister.
PRUssIc ACID.
In searching the house the police dis
covered in a closet a teacup containing
nilk-white fluid, which, upon examination
by a chemist, was discovered to be prussi
acid. One OF the most painless and dead!
poisons known to medical science. III
theory OF the police is that the muir
derer killed the entire family by pour
ing the poison down their throats viii!
they slept. Derby was "a years OF age
his wife sc, while the children wer
Gladys, aged 3; Florence Helen. 3; CLAIR
Elizabeth 7; Frederick Cecil, 9; Harold
Percy, II, and Ernest Llewellyn, IS. Til
funeral was attended by 10000 people
In pathetic contrast to the awful TRACED.
is the fact that on the Sunday previous tn
poor children gathered around thei
, parents ia the warm glow Of the sitting
room fire, and while the father played tn
parlor organ, they sans with the melodlou
sweetness OF childhood the well-kno".
hym mn, Take, Oh Take Me to Thy Rest.