Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-08-18
POISONING STILL A MYSTERY
No Explanation of the Strange
Dover Fatality.
A DASTARDLY PLOT SUSPECTED
Directed Against the Entire
Pennington Family.
No Room to Believe That the Two Deaths
Were Duo TO Anything but Poison, Which
Was Contained in .the. .Gandy-An Investi-
CATION TO be STARTED After the Funsrai-

No Room to BelleVa IhHb tne lWo De"thb
Were Due TO Anything but Poison, which
Was Contained in .the, ,candy-An investi-
CATION TO be STARTED After the Funsrai-
Dover, Aug. 12. The citizens OF
Dover were never more shockgd tnan
yesterday afternoon, when the death OF
Mrs. Ida Deano, wife of J. D. Deane,
and daughter OF Hon. John B. Pening-
ton, was announced.
The facts 10 the case, as given by
Mr.. Pennington, are as follows:
On Tuesday evening Mr.. penington'a
family, consisting of him and his wife,
j. d. Dsans, wife and daughter, Mrs.
j. p. Dunning and daughter and Mr..
Psnington's grandson, Harry Pening-
ton, partook oil supper. which included
corn fritters and trout, OF which nsarly
all partook freely. After supper, the
grandson went to the postolfice and
upon returning, brought to Mrs, Dun
ming box OF candies. With which wera
a handkerchief and q nQte, the latter
inscribed: For yourssH and baby,
| with hest regards. IL
The postmarx on tbssletter was in
audible, SO tina. It was {mpossihle to
tell where the package aame from, but
it ia supposed, by Mrs. DuAning to have
been sent by a lady friend Uf hers,
named Craven, of San Franoisco, whom
she became acquainted with while
living there.
After opening the box, Mrs. Dunning
handed ii to thOae sitting on the porch,
Mrs. Deane and daughtSr. Harry Pan
ingtou, her own daughter, M iss
Josephine BatemRn and Miss Ethel
Millington, who had come to spend the
lsvsning, all OF whom, HH well as herself
II partook Of tbs candisA No unpleasant
ness was felt by any of The party until
after thsy had retired FOR the night,
when Mrs. Deane vas AKen i'll with q
violent vomiting spel. The usual
household remedie4 gers resorted to,
az it was thought sthe llness would
soon passawny, Mrs puphing, later In
the evening. was also taken i'll with a
similar spell. Toward morning Mrs.
Deane's daughter was also taken sick
in the same way,h hs also was the grand
son, M isa Bateman and Miss Millington
were alsu made sick, but they soon re-
covered.
Z Mrs. Deans aud her daughter and
Mrs. .Dunning continued all through
Wednesday night tu have nauseoua
feeling, but it waa still thought il
would work OF. In the case OF the
: | daughter, she did recover yesterday
NOR ming sufficiently to be out ol
danger; but IN the case OF Mrs. Deant
: and Mrs. Dpnuing. ]. theyseemed to i'm
prove very slowly. Physicians wer,
o aummoned yesterday. Mrs. Deane, a
noon, began to grow worse, and Heemet
. to realize, az she retained conscious
. ness until within an hour of death
, that she was dying. She passed ava.
a about 4. 80 O'Clock.
D What was the real cause of Mrs
!, Deane'a death is not known. Th
q theory of poison from the candies j
d based on the fact that thoae who di'
) not eat them did not become sick
I DEATH OF MRS. DuNNINe.
II Dover, Aug. l3.-Mrs. ]. Presls,
n Dunning died late last evening. pre-
sumably from the effects of bsin
Q poisoned. She was the second victim
her sistsr. Mrs. ]. d. Deane, havin
died about 80 hours before from tn
same cause. 1t ia pretty generally be
II lieyed here that tha deaths of Mrs
Deane and Mrs. Dunnings and th
n serious illness of several 0thers wa
,l caused by the candy whirh WAS re
}. ceivsd by Mrs. Dunning. through th
y mail, on Tuesday evening. just wh
70 sent the candy is not yet known, bt
Il it is believed to have come from lad
d in San Francisco with whom Mr.,
Dunning is acquainted.
DR.. Il. A. II. Bishop, the physicia
g. who has bean in attendance since tn
ID troubls first developed. is Of th
10 opinion that, while the eandy vi
II evidently all right when it was pt
chased, it has undergone some chem
cal change since that time which hi
made it impure. From an investigate
it appaars that IL there was anythir
W wrong with the cnndy the trouble vi
on the outside OF ths pieces and di
y not penetrate the interior. This beli
~ is strengthened by the fact that non
~ who partook nf inner particles of II
a, candies were not marie sick. Some
- the candy has beon saved and it
80 probnble that chemical analysis wi
No bo made.
NJ According to DR.. Bishop, Mrs. Deal
i, and Mrs. Dunning died from hea
III trouble, but he expresses the bell
=, that it was auperinduced by son
- poisonous substance. as when they fir
became i'll they were attacked wi
severe vomiting spells. Mrs. Dunnil
n. suffered in the same manner RH b
ne sister Since the trouble assumed su,
ali serioua proportions DrH. Davis al
h Downes have been called in consult
Nv tion by DR.. Bishop. 4.
as 1t was thought by some that
.as autopsy on the body of Mira. Dea
re- might reveal the exact origin of Il
of trouble, but DR.. bishop believes th
in on account of so much vomiting befo
death nothing would be found in t
stomach TO examine, and the idea b
been abandoned.
III Dover, Aug. 10. The people of Dov
Of are shocked over the sudden and m,
,sr terious death of Mrs. J. D. Denne a
at Mrs. ]. Presley Dunning, daughters
,;s ex. Congressman John B. Pennington,
IN in the absence of positive informati
,nt concerning the mysterious caudy viii
al they ate, and which is believed to ha
CAUSED the fatal sickness In each cal
most people here nre of the opini
that il was poisoned by somebndy W
~ designed to kill the entire family.
inv 1t was at first doubted that I
nj candy produced the fatal Illness. /
at DR.. L. A. II. Bishop, who attend
hoth Mrs. Deane and MrH Dunnif