Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-07
SECRETS OF A GRAVE
Unearthed to Prove That DR.. Buch-
anan Poisoned His Wife to
GET POSSESSION OF HER WEALTH.
A Former Lover of the Woman Raises the
Question of Murder. .
G0THAM'S LATEST CRIME SENSATION
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,

| ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArcH.l
NEW YORK, June CDR. Robert W.
Buchanan was arrested this afternoon on
the charge of killing his wife, Annie B.
Buchanan, by the administration of poison.
| Dr. buchanan was remanded to police head
quarters III the custody of detectives.
Mrs. Buchanan died April % at house
purchased, it is understood, with money
given to Dr. Buchanan by her after their
marriage. She was attended by Drs Henry
z. Watson and B. G. Mcintyre. They
were not called until the day preceding
her death. Mrs. Childs, professional
nurse, was employed to care for Mrs
Buchanan only a few hours before her
death. The physicians said that Mrs
Buchanan's death was due to cerebral hem
orrhage, and DR.. Watson signed certificate
to that effect.
About a month after Mrs. Buchanan's s
death, Dr. Buchanan went to Halifax, N.
s., and remarked his divorced wife, whom he
had not seen, so far as is known, for about
two years before his second marriage. 1t is
said, however, that he corresponded with
her and occasionally sent her money.
The woman who died on April % had a
checkered career. She was a native of
Easton, Pa, of respectable parentage. She
became the wife of Baptist minister
named Braden. He left her in poverty.
and after several years of widowhood she
married Henry Kicker, a shoemaker. They
lived in Easton. Kicker was shiftless and
dissipated. Their house gained an ill-re-
pute and was raided by the police, and
Kicker and his wife moved to Newark.
Mrs. Ricker's house in Newark was finally
broken up by the police
Then she sent Kicker back to Easton,
ostensibly to hire house for her. He did
not hire house and she never Joined him
in Easton. She never lived with Kicker
again. He had become cripple and unable
to care for himself, and one of his brothers
gave him home until his death.
Meanwhile Mrs. Kicker was keeping a
house in Newark. 1t is said she married
man named Smith, though she knew her
husband, Kicker, was living. In fact, when
she married DR.. Buchanan on or about
November %, 1890, Kicker was still living
In Newark she called herself Mrs Annie
B. Sutherland, and said she was widow
She was generally known, however, to the
frequenters of her house as Mrs. S. -
a Former Lover Raises a Question.
The house that she kept In Halsey street
was not disturbed by the police. No one
apparently knows how she came by the
name of Sutherland. After DR.. Buchanan
had remarked his divorced wife in Halifax
he returned to his home in West Eleventh
street with her.
James NJ Smith, of Newark, who is said
to have been former lover ard one time
reputed husband of Mrs. Sutherland,
called upon Coroner Messemer of this city
about three weeks ago and said he had
learned that three days before her marriage
to Dr. Buchanan, Mrs. Sutherland had made
a will in Buchanan's favor She was worth
t.. least S25 600, Smith said. Smith suggest
ed that an inquiry be made to learn if
Mrs. Buchanan had not died from poison
administered by DIR. Buchanan.
Smith finally put his statement into the
form of an affidavit. This the Coroner
submitted to District Attorney Nicoll,
because the woman had been buried out of
the county. Mr. Nicoll began formal in
quiry. Investigation showed that DIR.
Buchanan had married the woman to get her
wealth. -
After Smiths charges were made public
that DR.. Buchanan had poisoned Mrs Bu-
chanan, William S. Doria met Dr. Bu-
chanan and said to him, 81 suppose they
win dig her up" DR.. Buchanan said: 81
am afraid they will. If they do L am
goner. They will find something more.
You know she had the morphine habit
wish had cremated the old thing, and that
would have settled the matter" Next, DR..
Buchanan said his wife had died from an
overdose of morphine selfadministered.
The grave was opened to-day. The au-
topsy showed that the cause Of death was
~ of ba boI
The chemical analysis of the stomach has
not vet been completed.