The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-28

.n- curtain rose on the last act OF the
melodramma yesterday afternoon. A
ehopkeeper, who rented private letter
boxes, swore positively that Moineux
was his patron, using the name of III.
G. Barnet" It was proved long ago
that bottles OF medicine had been sent
TO that letter box. Then the handwrit-
Ing experts were called. and one after
another declared that the hand that
wrote the address on the poison pack
age and forged the names OF Harry Cor
nish and III. G. Barnet TO letters sent 20
drug firms ordering powder medicines
was the hand Of Roland Il. Molineux
The experts were absolutely certain I'm
their identification OF the penmanship.
and would make no qualification Of their
statements.
At ABS o'clock Colonel Gardiner an
nounced that the evidence In the hands
OF the people had been given. and he be-
gan TO sum up the case. lie explained
the reasons for the delay In bringing the
case to an Investigation. saying that IL
was necessary 10 determine whether Mrs.
Adams had in reality died OF poison.
Professor Witthaus did discover poison
In the contents OF the bottle and az soon
as IL was possible for the district at
torney's office to go ahead with the in
quest IL did so.
I'm consequence OF the publicity which
the case was given" continued Colonel
Gardiner, certain persons had became
suspicious and were put on their guard.
Certain methods had therefore TO be
adopted to disarm suspicion. We realized
that we must have evidence of the hand
writing OF the person we suspected We
suspected also that the person who com
pitted the crime had knowledge of
chemistry.
THE first witness placed on the stand
Cornish was made 10 suspect that we
thought he was the guilty party. and the
evidence he gave was the evidence OF a
man full OF CONSERVATION But we dis
armed suspicion from the really guilty
person. The very next man to go upon
the stand (Moineux) was the person that
the public had settled upon.
when this witness was called and nv
able assistant treated him i'm such an
apologize manner. 1t was done to dis.
arm him Of suspicion. There was gen
eral feeling Of anger against the district
attorneys office on this account But
placed in the position Co make it appear
that Cornish was really the guilty per-
son. Then the guilty person. seeing that
ne was not suspected was perfectly will.
ing to give us all the handwriting we
wanted and we got IL. The evidence
given by these experts In handwriting
seems To me 10 he conclusive. Tner.
was another element in this case Of won
derful importance. That Is the circum-
stantial evidence which was brought out
There was the purchase OF the bottle
holder. Where was that bought? In
Newark on the 2ist day OF December
Roland Il. Molineux was in Newark on
that day. Where was il mailed? on
the Broadway side OF the postofiice
Molineux was In that vicinity at the tim,
st was mailed"
Colonel Gardner then told the circum-
stances under which Molineux admitted
he met his wife and said: NOW that
womans character (meanng Mrs
Molineux) has been portrayed in this
courtroom by her own husband. For a
thousand years down 90 the present one
murders OF this kind. 81 has been demon
strated have been committed on ac-
count OF two reasona- Jealousy or hate
and in the large majority OF Instances
either by woman OF degenerate"
Colonel Gardiner called attention &c
the yachting trip in which Mrs. MolineuS
figured. And there was another woman
there. and herhusband was not With her
That fixes their character pretty clear
Iy" be said
lie saidthe deaths of Barnet and Mrs
hsd h'en poisoned 10 powder sent