The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-10
CORN ISL
Testifies In Adams
Inquest.
HAD NO ENE MES.
Knew ofNo One Who Would
Attempt to Poison Him.

New York, Feb. s.-The inouest int
the death of Mrs. Kate ]. Adams who
oleo from poison December 2S last. uas
begun by Coroner Hart TODAY. Nearly
oU witnesses will be called upon to res
my. Harry Cornish. the athletic di-
rector of the Knickerbocker Club of
New York, was the witness fodav.
IL took less than half an hour to COM
plete the jury, and District Attorney
Gardiner then made an address in
which he gave an outline of the case
Harry Cornish was the first witness to
go on the stand
| just as Mr.. Cornish began his testi-
mony, Assistant District ATTORNEY os-
| oorne announced that all witnesses
except Cornish and the police oficers
| would be excused for the day.
| Mr.. cornish, replying to Mr.. Osborne.
sS4u ne hao peen athletic director of
the hnlckerbocker Athletic Club for
| three years.
| Asked to tell what he knew of the
| death of Mrs. Adams, and as much of
ms own life as was pertinent to that
oeath, Mr.. Cornish told of the RECENT
OF the silver holder and bottle of
promo settler at the athletic. club. He
described the parcel containing the
noIoer and box and the empty envelope.
F1hdlng the envelope empty. he thought
nrst of writing to Tiffany to learn from
whom 1t came, but his general impress
sion was that 1t was sent to him as a
JOKE. he kept the wrapper. extracting
later to identify the joker by his hand
writing. He showed the package to
every one in the club. On Sunday Mr..
cornish told Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Rog-
eTs OF the grit he had received, and
they Joked with him about his unknown
admirer =
Inc witness then stated how he took
| the holder to his boarding place and
the subsequent events leading IN to
and the taking of the fatal dose of
what was supposed to be bromo seltzer
| by Mrs. Adams.
The thought never entered my
mind, Mr.. Cornish said, that any
crime had been committed. The body
Of Mrs. Adams lay on the dining room
moor in view of any one entering, and
L understood the coroner's permission
was needed before ii could be moved -
He declared again that it was not
until 48 hours later that the thought
entered his mind that a crime had
been committed. Mr.. Cornish finished
his statement by declaring that he
|
| such a thing to him.
Tell u.s." said Mr.. Osborne. $50
much Of your private affairs as you
| think may throw light on this case"
II can conceive of nothing in my pri-
vate affairs that would throw light on
the matter I never did anything to
any one. Any question of my connec-
ton with any woman, or of jealously
or anything of that sort may be elm
mated. If any one has done such a
| thing to me, it must have been for a
motive of which 1 have no idea"
Mr.. Cornish was asked to tell the
name of every human being in the
world with whom he had ever had any
| difficulty, Mr.. Cornish said he had had
no trouble with anybody within year
and a half.
Mr.. Osborne then asked about Mr..
Barnet's death Mr.. Cornish said ne
had heard that Mr.. Barnet died of
| typhoid fever.
| Did DR.. Phillips, who attended you,'
| Mr.. Osborne asked, tell you Barnet
| had received a similar dose and in a
| similar manner as you did,"
Mot at that time" Mr.. Cornish an
| sWered. 81 think he did afterward"
| Now, without mentioning any names
| can you think Of any motive for the
attempt to poison you:" asked Mr.. o.
| borne.
Il can't think of any possible mo-
| tive"
Being pressed for facts" Mr.. Cor
| pish said there were no facts sufficient
| to supply motive. Continuing, he said
| that he never had any personal quar-
rel with any member of the Knicker-
| booker A. c., but he twice had had
| charges preferred against him, once
| that he knew of, and enc he was in
formed Of. I was accused, he said, of
| saying things about two members of
| the club to a third member. The
| charges were made by G. c. Hughes
| and the names Of the two members in
| volved in the quarrel were Molineux
| and Barnet.
| He was notified to appear before a
| committee composed of G. G. Hughes,
| E. F. Bushnell and Chandler Fulton to
| answer charges that he had spoken
| disrespectfully of Mr.. Barnet and Mr..
| and the witness could not remember
| further details. The charges, said
| Cornish, were dismissed.
| He denied again and again that there
was any truth in the charges preferred
against him. He said he understood
that at a conference held after a din
ner at the Union League Club, Mr..
Molineux had declared that he would
leave the Knickerbocker Athletic Club
unless he (Cornish) was discharged
from it's employ.
Mr.. Cornish explained that he did
not consider Mr.. Molineux's statement
could be called charges. He said that
either Mr.. Ballantine, Mr.. Sears OF
Mr.. Adams told him of Molineux's
statement. Witness said he was not
discharged from the club, and Molin-
eux did not resign from the club.
did you have any idea who sent
you that box?" asked Mr.. Osborne.
II have no idea. 1t was in no posi-
ton to know"
did you not tell Capt. McCluskey
reading from the typewriter state
ment: 1t came over me in an instant
when I thought of Molineux; that's
Just the fellow who sent the box to
me?"
i Cornish replied that that must have
been his impression when he made the
statement to McCluskey. He could
not think of any other man on earth
with whom he had had any kind of a
quarrel that could leave a feeling OF
| vindictiveness. MolineuN had tried ia
cause him to lose his position. When
witness heard about the handwriting,
it struck him that the writing on the
wrappers was like the writing Of Mo-
lineux. He had not the original wrap
per, but the facsimile in the newspa-
pers reminded him of Molineux's writ
ing. Mr.. Adams had shown him some
of Molineux's handwriting and asked