The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-28
DAMAGING TESTIMONY


is question. When this witness was
called and my able assistant treated him
in such an APOLOGIZE manner 1t was
| done to disarm him Of suspicion. There
was general feeling of anger at the
district attorneys office on this account.
But we had a duty TO perform. We
were placed in the position to make 1t
appear that Cornish was really the
guilty person. Then the guilty person,
seeing that he was not suspected, was
| perfectly willing to give us all the hand
writing we wanted And we got it,
Continuing, he said: You have lust
heard the evidence as given by these
experts. That seems In be conclusive.
There is another element in this case
| OF wonderful importance. That is the
/ cireumstantial evidence that was
i brought out. There was the purchase
of the botteholder. Where was that
bought? In Newark on the 21st of De-
cember. Roland B. Molineux was in
Newark on that day, Where was 1t
mailed? On the Broadway side of the
postoffice. Molineux was in that vi
entity at the time it was mailed"
| Colonel Gardiner then went on to
| tell the circumstances under which
| Molineux admitted on the stand he
met ms wife and said: Now, that wo-
mans character (meaning Mrs. Molin-
| eux) has been portrayed in this court
| by her own testimony. For a thous-
| sand years down to the present time,
murders OF this kind it has been DEM
onstrated, have been committed on ac.
count of two reasons-jealousy or hate
and in the large majority of in
stances either by a woman or de-
generate"
Mr. Gardiner then alluded to the
character of Mrs. MolineuX and des-
lgnated her "a woman" He said the
n1I
would not be separated. Barnet had
neeh poisoned by powder sent through
the mail and the one who sent it must
nave been on intimate terms with him
ana acquainted with the fact that Bar
net used Kutnow powders. Molineux,
ne said, was that person.
Now. in the killing of Barnet, where
was the motive? We have it by cir
cumstantial evidence Barnet was at
tentive to Blanche Chesebrough. He
Wined her and dined her, invited her
TO his room and SHE accepted. They
We're, in fact, on the closest terms of
intimacy. The other man wanted her
to marry him, and she finally consented
to do SO. but she loved Barnet She
came to New York and went to live
from place to place with no apparent
means of support, and no one to care
Tor her. And now we come to one of
the most remarkable things connected
with the case.
1T was clear that Mrs. Molineux
loVed Barnet, but knew Molineux had
sood prospects, and she wanted to be
taken care of. There's the motive"
colonel Gardiner here took up MoIin-
eux's hatred of Cornish and spoke OF
Mollneux's visit to Chinatown, and his
intimacy with persons there.
coming down to the hiring of the let
TER boxes, Colonel Gardiner said. I'm
one instance the box was rented in the
name of H. C. Barnet It was not
barnet who hired it. Who was it?
You heard witness on this stand this
very day swear that he saw Molineux
there 10 or 20 times, and identified him
as hiring the box in Barnet's name.
Then there was another letter box hired
in the name of Harry Cornish and a
letter was received there from Freder-
lex Stearns of Detroit in answer to one
written by H. S. Cornish making in
quiries about Harpster If the person
who wrote that letter of inquiry had
known that Cornish was acquainted
with Mr.. Stearrs he would probably not
have selected Cornish's name. Now
you have seen witnesses go upon this
stand as experts in handwriting, and
heard them testify that the man who
wrote those letters signed Harry Cor
nish' and H. c. Barnet wrote the ad-
dress on the package of poison Is
there any doubt in your mind that Ro-
land B. Molineux did it?'
Colonel Gardiner then said that the
letters to his mind had been written by
a degenerate.
1t was Sis o'clock when Colonel
Gardner concluded his summing up
and after brief charge to the jury by
Coroner Hart, the case was given in
the hands of the jury, and the II went
out to deliberate
The jury in the Adams poison case came
in with its verdict at S:43 p. m. 1t was as
follows:
I'VE find that the said Katherine J.
Adams came to her death on Dec 2S 1898
at 81 West Eighty-Sixth street, by poison
by mercuric cyanide, administered b.
Harry S. Cornish, to whom said poison
had been sent in a bottle of bromo seltzer
by Roland B. MoineuX"
The coroner Immediately issued a war
rant for the arrest of Melineux, and the
latter was arraigned before him. Through
his attorney he demanded an immediate
hearing, but Assistant District Attorney
Osborne objected, saying 1t was impossi-
BILE to proceed with the hearing The
hearing was then set down for Wednesday
morning at 1l:30 Moineux was committed
to the Tombs without BAIL