Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-20
HELD FOR MURDER.
MRS. PAGE CHARGED WITH POIS-
DINING HER HUSBAND.

Result of the Coroner's Inquest Held OF
Jack Page, Who Died Suddenly Yes
terday Morning-A Tragedy in Low
Life. With Very Commonplace Sur.
roundings.
An inquest was held yesterday morning
on the body OF Jack Page, the man whose
death under suspicious circumstances was
reported in this paper yesterday. The
house where the tragedy took place is a
box-car converted to the use Of a cabin on
the east side Of Wyoming street, a little
lot. It ls one of the lowest dives in the
city. Here the woman who calls herself
Mrs. Page, and claims the deceased as her
husband, led a disreputable life, with the
assistance OF another woman named Lille
Sterling, who visited the resort in the even
ing. The deceased lived here, and with a
female child of eight or nine years OF age,
completed the list OF occupants OF the
shanty. AS might be expected in such an
outfit, there was more or less quarreling
between Page and his wife. But nothing So
far has been developed in the inquiry into
the causes of the tragedy to account di.
rectly for the oma Page committing the
crime with which she is charged. The
charge against her is wilfully administering
poison to her husband with intent to muir
der him, by which he languished from
February L. TO February 16, when he
died from the poison SO administered at
about 1 O'Clock on the morning OF the
18th.
From the evidence developed at the ill.,
quest it was shown that Page had been
sick curing Friday and that about 4 d. m.
he had been given a glass of whisky by his
wife after which he lay down and was left
in d room by himself. 1t the course OF a
few hours he gave evidence OF poisoning by
morphine, or some narcotic drug, and
never spoke after half past 8 p. m. The
woman Sterling, who had been called to the
house earlier than usual that day by Mrs.
Page. went to Cluett's store, on Park
street, and asked him to telephone for DR..
Leavitt. The latter not being in, DR.. How
ard came in response to a request and Wis.
tied hedeceased, when, at a glance, hefound
him narcotized. He administered a hypo-
dermic injection of atropia which had no
effect, as the man was past saving then.
He died early On the morning Of the 18th
when the police communicated the fact
to the Coroner who ordered the place
to be kept locked up until morning when
the jury was convened and the inquest
held.
The worst features Of the case which
aroused tbs suspicious of the jury, leading
them to a verdict charging Mrs. Page with
-n,rlo- 80 %hn lonan1al -nc Tho nrs
IDENTIFY false character Of the testimony
by Mrs. Page and the startling de-
that followed the testimony of
the child Julia. At the inquest Mrs. Page |
had testified that the deceased and herself
had been Laughing, talking and ioshing"
during the day, and that he had taken the
himself. This was contradicted by |
Lille Sterling who had seen nothing OF the
kind, but Cd the contrary testified the
had been quarreling heavily forsome
days. She also testified that about 4 p:
a., Mrs. Page had gone into the room
her husband was lying on a bed,
having been more or less sick that day and
the day preceding, and when she returned
to the Dom said with a meaning look that
he (meaning Page would go to sleep now
and not bother us any more"
The child Julia had testified that in the
afternoon she was IN the yard picking up
chips where her father was splitting some
wood, when she noticed him take a bottle
his pocket, pour out into his hand q
resembling -four, which he swal-
then threw away The vial. The vial
being an important feature in the case
under the circumstances, the jury decided
to require it's production. The child was
asked if she knew where it was thrown,
and replying that she did, in company with
J. r. Bordeaux was sent to look for it.
The search was unavailing, and Mr.. Dor.
deaux piled the child with questions, which
resulted in her making a confession to him
that she had never witnessed the act on
the part of her father to which she testi-
fed, but that the story was concocted by
the Page woman, who compelled her to
give that evidence on pain OF being
severely whipped. The child also
testified to frequent quarrels b-tween the
couple. None OF the testimony, however,
showed any particular outbreak or any act
on the part OF Page himself to account for
the woman having poisoned him, either as
an act OF revenge or with any Interior
motive. The result OF theinquest, however,
could only leave one conclusion to be
reached, which the jury arrived at in the
verdict that the death of Page was due to
poison administered by Maggie Page with
criminal intent.
The Sheriff made the arrest about 3
o'clock, and took Mrs. Page and the child
Julia to the County Jail where they were
accommodated in q roo outside the cell
building and locked in. A reporter paid
them a visit a little later and found Mrs.
Page lying on the bed dressed, just as she
had been brought in, apparently asleep.
The little girl, Julia, was sitting on a chair
sobbing as if her heart would break. Speak
ing a few c~onsolatory words to the child.
the reporter was about to retire when
Mrs. Page awoke to the realization
that she had a visitor and that the
child was crying. Her first impulse was to
chide the child GROSSLY, but seeing the Sher-
if and a stranger in the room she changed
her first intention and called the child to
her, soothing it with assurances that no
one was going to hurt it. She then apollo
gized for having been found as she was and
gave as an excuse that she had been kept
up for the past two nights by her husbands
sickness.
When the object of the visit was ex-
planned to her she sat up on the edge OF the
bed and began a rambling account OF the
affair that followed closely the evidence
she had given before the CoroDer's jury. She
is an unattractive looking woman oil about
40, with a Sinking manner, herface having
a puffy look ofdissipation. She was dressed
in dark clothes and wore a tall hat that
gave her rather d rakish appearance. There
is look about her that gives the impression
of the presence of a violent, cruel temper
when aroused. The story she told was
that Jack, as she called the deceased, had
been very sick on Friday morning, vomit-
ing repeatedly, and that he had expressed
to her the conviction that he was going to
die. She cheered him up and gave him
some simple remedies to quiet his stom-
ach. During the afternoon he had split
some wood and brought it into the
kitchen, and again complaining
of feeling uuwell, she had
given him some whisky and he lay down.
In the course of the evening she bee me
drowsy and she had tried to rouse him sew
eral times but failed to do 30. This
alarmed her, when the child, she said, then
first told her what she had seen her father
take while he was splitting wood, and she
sent for medical aid, but too late. In a
maudlin way she declared she would not
have harmed q hair OF Jacks head.
In reply to questions she said she knit W
no cause why Jack should have poisoned
| himself, save that he had repeatedly said
he was tired OF this life which she attributed
| to trouble between Jack and a man named