Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-22
NEBRASKA
POISON CASE
The Girl Was infatuated With
Her Employer
AND SENT BOX OF CANDY
Which Confined Poison to His Wife,
He Says That She Craved For
Sympathy in Trouble
AND SENT BOX OF CANDY

Hastings. Neb., April 22.-Back of the
case of Ollie Horlocker, when with muir
derous intent. as alleged, she placed the
box of poisoned candy at the door Of Mrs.
c. F. Morey. lay a maid i~nfatuation for
| the husband OF her intended victim. That
| such an i~rfatuation existed has been sus-
| pected by outsiders almost from the very
i moment that he crime was known TO
have been committed. That it did ex-
list is today admitted by Mr.. Morey, ana
it further ~transpires that its existence
was also known to lNfs. Mercy. to whom
the startling information was given from
the lips of the unfortunate girl. Mr.. Nor
ey said today:
Now. I wart to be perfectly candid
with you in this matter, as you have
shown a disposition to be fair. l wish to
ADMIT that my relations with MISS Hor-
locker were not the same as those of Mr..
Tibbetts. Matters W us had been
much more confidential than they had
between them, but there had been moth
ing that was not fully known and under
stood ~ my wife.
The fact is that Miss Horlocker's home
life was, as she herself expressed it sew
era1 times to me, a veritable he'll. Tie
girl craved sympathy, and l gave 1T. [
realize that it was foolish to do it, and |
was fool enough to permit her to tell me
her troubles and to sympathize with her.
This began about a year age, and was
the cutgrowth of her dependency and
moodiress. A number of bicycle parties
We're got UP for the express purpose of
taking Miss Horlocker's mind off her
troubles. When my wife went away Miss
HorlockeT and l went out riding together
just as we had dome with my wife, both
before and afterward. l wrote my wife
about it and she was fully a dvised of all
that was, being done in the matter.
Several months ago I told Miss Hor-
locker that it would not do to discuss
these matters as we had. and tina she
could see for herself that it had already
resulted in creating talk. She urged
against it, saying that it had been so
much Of a comfort to her and that ! had
no right to deprive her Of that comfort.
when it injured no one; that all she asked
W2s my sympathy, and that, ais she ex-
pressed 1t, | would continue to give her.
I old her that she must not talk to me
about these matters, and she upbraided
me for it and urged that I continue to be
her friend.
II believe she was the victim of an in
fatuation. In fact, she told my wife that
very thing. That in itself ought to show
that there was no foundation for some of
the malicious i~nsinuations that are being
spread abroad respecting our relations.
If they had bean other than as | nave told
you, IS 1t reasonable to suppose that she
would have said anything to- nv wife?
She continued to plead for sympathy, and
! told her repeatedly that it could not be
continued: that it was an impropriety for
a married man to permit any such conf
Dental relations, as they had already
proved embarrassing, and was getting
more so. She insisted that it vronced
No ora and 1nHNo roJ +Iho l. chs IL 49,
have A friend In the world or anything to
live for. She several times limited at sui
clde, but only on one occasion tina I re-
member did she openly avow her inten-
tions. That was about the middle Of the
winter when she said that was the last
time / would see her.
An instance of how the girl seemed to
feel was shown only the week before the
poisoning. She was to give q musical en-
t~ertainment, and on Monday morning two
weeks ago today she said she wanted mo
to be present.
"She said she could do better if 7 was
there, and urged me to come. | told her I
would if my wife cared to go; but it SO
happened that the weather was stormy
and Mrs. Morey was tired and did not
feel like going out. The next morning
Miss HorlOcker took me to task, notwith-
standing that the affair had been the
greatest success"
Speaking of Miss HOriCcker'S motive,
Mr.. Mercy said: Before the act of last
Monday l woul have said that she was
perfectly sane, but now cannot help
thinking she was not"
do you attribute the act to a desire to
get Mrs. Morey out Of the way in her
own interest, or to resent some real or
imaginary wrong done her by either your
self or your wife,"
1T seems to me that it must have been
one of those two things, and I am in
ciined to believe that it was for the pur-
pose Of hurting me. Why 7 think so is
this: A short time ago, when pleading
cised me for refusing to permit a dis
cussion of her troubles or to ak over
her troubles with her, and she said that
! was making her heart bleed, and made
the remark that some day mine would
bleed, too"
when did your first suspect Miss Hor-
locker as the guilty party?"
A soon as ] saw that card in the box
and noticed the marked similarity in the
writing, Notwithstanding the evident at
tempt to disguise it. I also Immediately
recalled the incident in the Bostwick
Hotel dining room of less than two hours
before, when Miss Horlocker got up from
the table, and left the room as soon as
my wife and / entered 1t. Ny wife has
told me since that she noticed that the
girl left her inner unfinished"
Judge John NJ. Raglan, leading counsel
for the defense, was asked by your cor
respondent for a statement as to when