The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-04

a.lnltted that the woman was
her as Mrs. sutherland'0 there was no
suspicion that the doctor had made away
Win ms wife Not even Macomber had
any idea OF foul play. The woman bad
been attended IN her illness By two ply
sicians and nurse; the physicians were
agreed as 70 the cause Of death-cere5ral
dpOpieNN-she was buried. Buchanan had
the money. and the crime seemed 10 be
securely hidden On May 9 the doctor went
TO Nova Scotia.
Later IA the month New York paper
received a special news dispatch that
Ut. Robert W. Buchanan of New York
nad been married. May Is, at Halifax
70 a former wife, from whom he had been
divorced. \ local addition detailed the
Iact that his second wife had died sud-
Denly IN New York ana that previous TO
net marriage she mad been the keeper OF
a rouse OF III rane in New York. Re
porters were set 10 work to investigate
me story The doctor was interviewed.
he denied that he had remarked his
first wife, but admitted the death of the
second He also denied that wife No.
had been engaged in the disreputabie
S,9.. t stated by the paper. He said
~ did not take the reporters long to
discover that Buchanan had been guilty
OF falsehoOd. His marriage with his
former wife was esta blished bv the officiaI
records IN Halifax, and an investigation
IN Newark soon brought out the proof
concerning the life of Mrs Sutherland
peIore she married DR.. Buchanan.
These falsehoods were significant Of a
darker story and the paper insisted thar
some official action be taken to bring IL
The police did nothing. They did not
take any stock in the insinuations against
Ihe ccctor' but the reporters kept at
Work exposing the duplicity Of Buchanan
ana gradually weaving network of sus-
picious circumstances around him
At last the district attorney took up
the case and had the body of Mrs. Blu
chanan exhumed. An Investigation show
e9 that there had been no hemorrhage
OF the brain. An analysis OF the stomach
and traces of atrODine.
In the meantime the reporters had dis
covered Macomber and learned all he
hheW, but the district attorney was of the
opinion that unless he could obtain corrob-
viction
BY looking up Buchanan's record. il was
found that he had lived a many sided
NE. In one circle of acquaintance he
was known as reputable physician; il
another, a registering fellow. free with
his money; in still another he was classed
as a hardened, depraved man, who had
married disreputable woman old enough
TO be his mother in order to get her for
tune. There were Others who knew him
as a man who had studied medicine in
scotland and Chicago. and who was fond
~ IN love with the woman he had first
married
1t was also learned that Buchanan had
said during the trial of Carlyle Harris
the .poisoner: Harris is a young fool
he would have left no traces"
Buchanan had conceived a perfect plan
for poisoning his wife without detection.
He began by giving her atropine, which
produced hysteria, ant then had her
treated by the family physician. Later
he gave her the morphine, the external
symptoms of which were cOunteracted by
the atropine. BY combining these drugs
he completely deceived the two physicians
called i'm the case.
In the doctors library a medical book
the effects Of uoieop was xrfff,
the leaf turned down at a chapter headed
Morphine Mixed With Atropine"
The death certificate of the attending
physicians was the greatest obstacle to
the prosecution. Notwithstanding the re-
suit Of the chemists analysis and the
contradictory statements of DR.. Buchan-
an, the two physicians adhered to their
original statement and testified on the
witness stand that death had resulted from
natural causes.
Considerable evidence was obtained
against the doctor after his return from
Nova Scotia through his meetings with
Macomber. on one of those occasions
Macomber testified that Buchanan said:
ut is getting pretty hot for me here,
and l think I had better get out of the
way until this blows over. He expressed
regret that he had not had the woman's
body cremated.'
Then he emrloyed men to watch the
grave, and if it should be disturbed he
was to be at once notified He made prep
arations for flight, and told Macomber
live under the name of A. J. Reed.
To further show his condition of alarm
it was given in testimony that he passed
an entire night in front of a newspaper
office waiting for the first issue, in which
he expected the charge of wife-poisoning
to be made against him.
Buchanan was one of the strongest wit
nesses against himself, and became in
Volved in maze of contradictions. He
swore falsely as to his whereabouts Oh
the night of his wifes death He also
testified that he his xxffn two IDEAS
of medicine instead of one, as directed.
Many questions he declined to answer on
the ground that it would tend to degrade
MN. lie denied the various conVersa-
lions testified to by Macomber and others,
but the jury found him guilty of murder
in the first degree.
The case was taken to the court of APP
peals, but the application there for a new
trial was set aside The conviction was
affirmed in February last and in March
he was sentenced to be electrocuted
some day during the week beginning
April p. Arrangements had been made
for the electrocution on Wednesday last.
The prescribed number of invitations had
been sent out and the prison chaplain had
begun a series of religious exercises with
him, when, on Tuesday. the respite ear a
week was received from Gov. Morton.
This lease of life Buchanan owes to the
unceasing efforts and pleading of his re-
married wife. She has been faithful to
him from the time of their second mar
riage and has been active in his behalf.
She is a little woman with golden hair
and big, blue, pleading eyes. She dresses
stylishly and wears big black cart
wheel hat. She visited the doctor in Sing
Sing on Sunday last and then went to
Gov. Morton to make a final appeal
which was successful in staying the death
penalty for a week
This action on the part of the governor
has raised a question as to whether Blu
chanan can be legally electrocuted next
week. 1t is, claimed by legal talent on his
side that he cannot, as the time legally
fixed foe his execution has passed They
cite the case of Hallinger, a Jersey City
murderer, who was respited, and had TO
be tresentenced before he could be exc
cuted. If the same process should have
to be gone through in the Buchanan case
the dactor could not be put in the death
chair for about six weeks.
The prosecution in the case do not think
that the stay will develop anything in the
doctors favor, and that he will have to
pay the penalty of his crime at the ex-
piration of the governors respite.
Warden Sage believes the doctor will
die game He says:
Buchanan scouts the idea of showing a
weakness in the chair. In the case of
Harris We had grave fears that poison
might be smuggled in to him and his let-
tiers were tested to see whether they had
been soaked in poison. We do not analyze
the doctors letters, but we protect our
eoI,v Nv he, tc 1t