Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-01-08
CURRENT AFFAIRS
THE NEWS IN BRIEF.
Murder in the First Degree.
Conviction OF DIR. Graves at Denver---
the story OF this Remarkable Case.

Conviction OF DIR. Graves at Denver---
the story Of this Remarkable Case.
The trial at Denver, Colo, Of DIR. Thatch-
er +. Graves of Providence. Il. l., for the
murder OF Mrs. J. b. Barnaby of that city
by sending her a bottle of poisoned wills
key, ended last Saturday evening in the
conviction of Graves. The arguments were
completed just at nightfall and at g:4j the
verdict Of murder in the first degree was
returned. Graves was completely over
come by it, and the two deputies who took
him to the jail declare that in the deiec-
ton of the moment he confessed to them
that he sent the whiskey to Mrs. Barnaby.
but said that Col. Ballou of Providence. a
prominent lawyer Of that city and one Of
his counsel at the trial was the instgator
of the crime, and more guilty than he.
This confession Graves now denies having
made. An application for a new trial has
been made. If denied Graves will be hung
within 80 days. His wife and mother were
Frustrated 10y the shock of the sentence,
and it is feared that his wife has perna-
nently lost her reason. She had been kept
in ignorance of the character of the evil
dence against her husband until she heard
| the summing up for the state in the court
| room on Saturday. 1t is a suspicious fact
| that Col. Ballou left Denver Saturday even
| ing before the verdict was announced,
claiming that he had an important engage
ment to meet at the East. His arrest for
/ connection with the murder is anticipated.
! This case is one which will take its place
as one OF the notable murder trials OF this
| country. and summary Of the facts is
| therefore of interest. Mrs Barnaby was
the widow OF j. b. Barnaby, a successful
/ htt5 81 u
marriage took place in 1857, and nine years
later Mrs. Barnaby became partly paralyzed.
| Her helplessness rendered her the prey of
designing servants and other persons, and,
bearing this fact in mind. her husband. who
died in 1859, left her only $500 year
| The remainder of the property he left in
trust for his daughters. Graves, who was
a physician having a good practice and
good social standing in Providence, secured
an introduction to Mrs. Barnaby through
Mrs. Hickey, a woman who had done
mental offices in both households. He told
Mrs BarDaby that paralysis was one of his
| specialties, and she consented to place her
self under his treatment He induced her
to contest her husbands will, and her
daughters, TO avoid a trial and the conse-
! quent publicity, agreed TO give her SlOj, 600
! in cash. Graves arranged to have the mon
ey paid TO him as agent for Mrs. Barnaby,
and he induced her to make a will giving
him $1,000 Mrs. Barnaby subsequently
made another will by which the sum was
reduced to S2j,O 900, but Graves knew moth
ing of this second will. Immediately after
the first payment of SIS, 900 by the trustees
of the estate he paid 10000 to Col. Bal
lou, who drew Mrs Barnaby's will in his
favor. The hnal payment was made to
Graves March II, 1891. and soon afterward
he mailed the bottle of poison at Boston to
Mrs. Barnaby. who was then in Denver.
The bottle, which held one quart, was
unsealed, and passed through many hands,
among others the hostlers in Denver at the
house where Mrs. Barnaby was staying.
Mrs Barnaby was absent when the bottle
| arrived, but 1t was given to her on her re-
turn, and that evening she and her friend,
Mrs. Worrell, drank freely from it. Both
were soon taken violently i'll, and Mrs
Barnaby died in six days. Mrs. Worrell
has never fully recovered. Examination of
the whiskey showed that it contained a
large quantity of arsenic. Graves was at
once informed by telegraph of Mrs Barna-
| by's illness and death, and the course that
he then pursued counted strongly against
him. Instead of going TO her at once as
her medical adviser and the man in charge
of her property should have done, he loi-
tered on the way at various points in the
West, and did not arrive in Denver until
the burial had taken place. He then showed
no wish to find out what caused her violent
death. The lawyers for the state wove a
terrible web of circumstantial evidence
about him, and when the prisoner was him
self put upon the stand he so often con
tradcted himself and confessed to having
repeatedly made false statements in CON
nection with the case that he damaged him
self before the jury beyond recovery. The
incredible thing is that any man should
have chosen this reckless way to commit
murder, having no sort of assurance that a
dozen other persons than the intended vic
tim might not partake of the deadly mix
ture.