Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-02-28

MolineuX, of Brooklyn, was arrested
tonight at S:45, charged with murder
ing Mrs. Katherine j. Adams in this
city on December %, 1898.
The coroner's jury came in with the
verdict at S:43 p. m.
1t was as follows:
We find that the said Katherine ].
Adams came to her death on December
%, 1898, in No. 81 West SiXty-eighth
street, by poison by mercuric cyanide,
administered by Harry S. Cornish, to
whom said poison had been sent in a
bottle of bromo seltzer by Roland B.
Molineaux"
The coroner Immediately issued a
warrant for the arrest of MOlineaux,
and the latter was at once arraigned
before him. Through his attorney,
Barlow S. Weeks, he demanded an i'm
mediate hearing but Assistant District
Attorney Osborne objected, saying it
was impossible to proceed with the
hearing. The hearing was then set
down for Wednesday morning at 1870
o'clock Molineaux was committed to
the Tombs without bail.
While the inquest was into the death
of Mrs. Adams, it also went into the
circumstance of the death of Henry C.
Barnet, of the Knickerbocker Athletic
Club, who was poisoned by a powder
received through the mail, as was Mrs.
Adams. The cases are so closely con-
nected that they can scarcely be con-
sidered separately.
The proceedings of the final day of
the inquest were sensational in the
highest degree. The case had dragged
along anonymously, witnesses being
examined for the sole issue, as it
seemed, of contradicting Harry Cor
nishs testimony in minor details or
OF olciting suggestions as to a motive
that might have led Cornish to commit
the crime.
The newspapers from the beginning
had stuck to Molineux as the person
most to be suspected, but the prose-
cutting officials apparently never har-
bored such a thought. The examiner
was kind and gentle when Molineux
was on the stand, but gruff and severe
when dealing with Cornish.
The curtain rose on the last act of
the melodrama this afternoon. A shop
keeper who rented private letter boxes
swore positively that Molineux was his
patron, using the name of H. C. Bar
net" 1t was proved long ago that the
bottles of medicine had been sent to
that letter box.
Then the handwriting experts were
called and one after another declared
that the hand that wrote the address
on the poison package and forged the
names of Harry Cornish and H. C.
Barnet to letters sent to drug firms
ordering powder nAlicines was the
hand of Roland B. Molineux. The ex-
perts were absolutely certain in their
Identification of the penmanship and
NOGEu uIdhS no Qudi4uCdtiOu VI lACli
statements.
District Attorney Gardiner then
summed up the case, directly accusing
MolineuX.
Molineux is a member of the New
York Athletic Club, and was, until his
quarrel with Harry Cornish, promi-
Of nj hnr
Athletic Club, from which he resigned
because of that quarrel.
Molineux's father is a paint manu-
iacturer and is reputed to be a million
aire. The prisoner has gone in good
society, being of excellent address and
manners and prospective heir to a great
fortune. His counsel is Barlow S.
Weeks, of the New York Athletic Club,
and a personal enemy of Harry Cornish.
The Identification of Molineaux by
Nicholas Hickman, the private letter
box man, was dramatic. After testi-
flying to his business and that he had
rented a letter box for one month to
a man who had given the name of II.
C. 7arnet and that this man had called
for letters about sixteen or twenty
times, Mr. Osborne asked the wit
ness:
Could you recognize him if you saw
him again?'
Yes said Hickman.
who is he?" demanded Mr.. Os-
borne.
Hickman answered:
MIR. MolineauX. There he is
Molineaux heard the accusation with
out changing color or a trace Of agita-
ton. He leaned forward with his
hands on the table and staring stead
lily at Hickman, said emphatically:
81 never saw that man in Forty
second street (where Heckman's let
ter box agency isl. I saw him at the
hotel where | was on exhibition, and
/ al Newark, where a man brought him
10 me and asked if / was the man.
f a liar
That's ALL said Mr.. Osborne quiet
Despite Mr. Weeks's efforts to
I've Hickman cross-examined, he was
nYed to leave the stand, the cor