Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-10-25
LOG BURIED IN THE COFFIN.
Mrs. Barnaby's Murderer Said to Ha&
Been Spirited from the Denver Hail.

Mrs. Barnaby's Murderer Said to Have
Been Spirited from the Denver Jail.
DENVER, Col, Oct. f9.-Tne Rocky
Mountain News publishes a sensational
story to-day about the death of DR.. T..
Thacher Graves, who is supposed to
have committed suicide in the county
Jail in this city on September Is by
poisoning. The story is to the effect that
Charles n. Chandler, q wealthy citizen of
Thompson Center, Conn, arrived
here Tuesday in company with Stephen
Morse, of the same town, which is DIR.
Graves old home and where the
body is supposed to have been buried.
These gentlemen told the hotel pro-
prietor where they stopped that
DR.. Graves was not dead; that the cas-
ket vas opened at the grave in Thomp-
son Center against the protests of the
widow and was found to contain pine
log instead ola dead body, and that the
supposed dead doctor is now enjoying
his liberty in foreign country.
The story of DR.. Graves crime, arrest
and trial are familiar On one of the
last four days of March, 1891, someone
put into the mail in Boston package
addressed to Mrs. J. B. Barnaby in care
of the friends she was visiting at Den
yer. In due time this package
reached Denver. 1t was opened
and found to contain quart
bottle of whisky, sent as a New Years
gift, so the writing on the label said.
After several days, during which
many hands, Mrs. Barnaby and one of
her friends, Mrs. Worrell, drank from
the bottle. Mrs. Worrell became vio-
emily i'll, but recovered. Mrs. Barnaby
died after days of agony. The whisky
was analysed and arsenite of potassium
was found in it in considerable quantity.
In considering the case two suggestions
IS to the poisoned liquor are possible
that it was poisoned by the sender
and that it was poisoned by some
one of the several other persons
who had access to it before part of its
contents reached the lips of Mrs. Bar
naby. The proposition that DR.. Graves
sent the poison in order to secure Mrs.
Barnabv's wealth was the basis of the
prosecution of DR.. Thomas Thacher
Graves. The proposition that the
whisky was poisoned after it was put
in the mails was the groundwork upon
which the defence built its fortifica-
tons, although it also held that the
sender, not DR.. Graves, might
have poisoned it. The jury that
tried DIR. Graves failed to agree. He
was in jail awaiting second trial when
the supposed suicide took place. A
great deal of mystery has always sur
rounded that supposed death. 1t was
said DR.. Graves body was found in the
cell he had occupied, and two or three
letters that he wrote affirming his inno-
cence were given to the public.
A rumOr has been current here for
some time past that the body carried
from the cell in the county jail on that
Sunday morning was wax and not the
flesh of the alleged famous poisoner and
that this trick had been played III order
to give the prisoner his liberty and
deceive the public; that the parties
to the deception were some high
officials and secret organization. This
rumOr was strengthened by the fact
that no one was allowed to view the re-
mains except the most intimate friends
of the Graves family and that Mrs.
Graves refused to allow the body to be
embalmed before shipping it to Massa-
chusetts; but to-day is the first time the
report has appeared in print.