Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-01
SINGULAR SUICIDE.
How Prominent Rancbman of Menard County
Net Death UnintentiOnally at His
Own Hands.
Correspondence of the Gazette.

Correspondence of the Gazette.
MENaRDyILLE, TEX, March 31.-The
circumstances attending the death OF
John F. Wilhelm reported in THE GA
zETTE of the 9th, are singular and
without parallel, and are as follows: Mr..
Taylor, who works On the ranch, claims
to have found in his saddle pockets the
drug which killed-Wilhelm. Taylor says
he does not know how it came to be in
the pockets, but thought MIR. Wilhelm
or some of his family had placed
it there for the purpose OF poisoning him
(TayIor). He took it out, went to
Wilhelm s house, MIR. Wilhelm not being
at home, and accused the family of plac-
ing it in his saddle pockets for the pur-
pose of killing him, all of which they de-
MED, and made out as though they
tasted it. Some of the family say they
did taste 1t and found it nothing but iron
dust from the fence staples usually car
ried in the pockets. Taylor says he
then proposed to try it on the dog,
but Mrs. Wilhelm objected, say
ing that it might kill it.
He then took "the stuff home with
him. Mr.. Wilhelm cams home on the
26th, came to ms (Taylor 81 house on the
morning of the 27th, remarked to Taylor
that he had been accusing his family of
trying TO poison hinS and wanted to see
Fthe stuff he found in his saddle
pockets. Taylor says he got 1t. Mr..
Wilhelm pronounced it nothing but iron
dust Casually Kept on the ran Oh to feed
to stock. He said he would eat it, and
show that it was no poison, and he
did eat about one and One-half tea
spoonsful against the protest OF Taylor
and his wife, they telling him they both
thought it poison and it would kill him.
Mr. Wilhelm 8 eldest son was present,
and saw his father eat what proved to
be poison. The son says both Taylor and
his wife asked Wilhelm not to eat it.
Soon after eating the poison Mr.. Will
hel m went home, complained Of feeling
badly, began to cramp and died in
about one hour and half, long
before the doctor came, it being fourteen
miles from town. A sample Of the drug
was examined by your correspondent and
others, and it is not Rough on Rats, -
as first reported, but chrystalized strych=e
nine mixed with brown substance, dirt
and iron rust. 1t was not placed in the
saddle pocket by anyone with criminal
intent, but came there by q chain
deal of strychnine is used on
sheep ranches for the purpose of poison
ing wolves. Il is often carried in the
saddle pockets with wire, staples, out
tiers, etc. The bottle is liable to get
broken or become uncorked, the strych-
nine get lost and mixed with dirt, etc.
Taylor found this in his pocket, con-
cluded some one was after him spoke to
Wilhelm 8 family about il, accusing
them of attempting to poison him. They
told Wilhelm about it and that they had
tasted the stuff. Wilhelm having faith
in what they said, and in order to show
Taylor all was right and that his family
was innocent of any attempted crime,
yentured too far and died by his own :
hands. Mr.. Wilhelm leaves q large
family. He owned a large ranch, well
stocked with sheep, cattle and horses,
and was in every way Hslss fixed fnan-
ciallY. 4