The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-08
The Victim of the PoiSoner
Maintains Stubborn
Silence.
WOULD SET HIS WIFE FREE
1t Is Thought the Wronged Husband
win Go to Jail Rather Than
Answer Questions.

the trial OF Mrs. Kate Barnes, charged
with the poisoning of her husband, was
treated to an unexpected sensation to-day.
The first witness introduced by the prose-
cution after the jury had been secured was
Samuel W. Barnes, the victim of the poi
soning and the husband of the defendant.
He refused to answer the first question put
by the prosecution. Judge Campbell,
without severity, but with marked kind
ness, informed him that he must answer
all proper questions. Barnes again re-
fused. Byron Waters of San Francisco,
principal counsel for defense, then asked
persuasively that he answer, pointing out
fine or imprisonment, or both. Barnes an
swered somewhat doggedly:
swell, if can stand it, you ought to-"
Finally Waters held consultation with
Mrs. Barnes. She asked her husband to
testifyIfreely and he consented.
The first question put by the prosecution
tended to show conspiracy between Mrs.
Barnes and Tom Salter against Barnes
life. I n objection raised to this was sus-
tanned. The prosecution, not being ready
with with witnesses to establish the fact of
poisoning, moved an adjournment until
tomorrow morning.
The manner of the crime for which Mrs.
Barnes is now being tried is without par
allel in the criminal annals of this State,
and neither fiction nor history has ever de-
tailed SO cold-blooded proceeding.
Early last fall Barnes, who is well-to-
full cottage on Third street, was taken ill
J, Io,-
joints began to swell and his bones to ache
terribly. The usual remedies were ap-
piled, but the disease refused to yield.
Then the skin began to peel off, leaving
the flesh on the hands and feet raw.
A new physician who was called in sus-
pected arsenical poisoning and commune
Gated his suspicious to the local lodges of
Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, of
which Barnes was member. They fur
nished watches at his bedside day and
night, and the patient began slowly to i'm
prove.
Meantime detectives were set to work,
and by diligent search learned that arsenic
had been Systematically administered by
Mrs. Barnes and Tom Salter, handsome
young Englishman, who owned carriage
repository here. Both were arrested on
November and locked up in the County
Jail.
The next day Mrs. Barnes made a con-
fession to the District Attorney, acknowl-
edging share in the crime, but making
Salter the originator and prime mover In
the scheme of poisoning, and herself his
tool.
The plan of the prosecution was to make
Salter the principal and use Mrs. Barnes
as the main witness in the case against
him. After two months incarceration,
Salter, in whose lungs tuberculosis had
obtained a hold which could not be shaken
off, committed suicide in the County Jail
by taking morphine. Two days before
this event. he had been advised by counsel
that his chance .of acquittal was not one
in one hundred. iPost-mortem examina-
ton showed that he could not have lived
more than six months under the most
favorable conditions.
About year before the beginning of the
crime for which Mrs. Barnes is now on
trial young Salter was taken sick. Barnes,
who had strong liking for Salter, took
him home and gave him brothers. care.
During Salter's convalescence an intimacy
sprang up between him and Mrs. Barnes,
which continued until their arrest.
A very remarkable feature of the case is
that Barnes fully forgives his wife and con-
dones both crimes. He obtained bonds
for her release on the 25th of last Decem-
ber after two months imprisonment, and
Mrs. Barnes ate Christmas dinner at home,
where she has been ever since. He will do
what he can to secure her acquittal.
The principal witnesses against Mrs.
Barnes are her daughter, aged IA years,
and Mrs. Sullivan of San Luis Obispo
County, the mother of Barnes, who was a
member of the family during the poisoning
period. Trial of the case has been post
poned twice to accommodate Byron
Waters, chief counsel for the defense, now
at the head of the claims department of
the Southern Pacific Company.
It is believed that if questions involving
his wife's connection with the crime are
pressed Barnes will refuse to answer and
go to Jail without a murmur. Opinion
prevails that with Barnes acting as his
wife's stanch defender the prosecution will
have great difficulty in convicting the
woman.
AcQuittaIs at Modesto.
MnDECTO CAT Jupo 7-Tho &r;o1 ~