The times., 1899-02-18
HELPED CORNISH OUT.
Chemist Yocum Tells About the
Bromo-SeItzer Hotties.

Chemist fOcum Itfi@ tbo"t the
Bromo-SeItzer Hotties.
New York. Feb. 17.-Three of the six
witnesses examined today at the inquest
into the death of Mrs. Katherine J. Adams
were personal friends of Harry S. Cor
nish. One of them was John ID. Adams.
secretary of Knickerbocker Athlete Club.
Another was Patrick J. Finnsral. Cornish's
assistant in the gymnasium. and the other
was John II. Yocum. professional chem
ist and Cornish's most intimate frisnd.
Yocum did much to clear up the cloudy
parts of Cornish's testimony He tod a
clear. straightforward story. explaining
how he happened to tell Cornish that it
must have been halfway chemist" who
sent him the poisoned bromo- settler and
how he happened to examine at the Adams
fiat the glass from which Mrs Adams
drank the poison. Yocum's testimony was
positive in relation to Cornishs illness.
According to his story. 1t would be alb
surd to say that Cornish was shamming
illness. Finneran and Adams did not ma
terially strengthen Cornishs testimony.
Policeman Sheehan, who had been on duty
at the Adams house after the poisoning.
told this morning what he saw there,
which was nothing new. and then Patrick
j. Finneran was called. Finneial in one
part of his testimony, spoke OF how Cor
nsh said he received the package He
said the package was bromo- Sc. tZ r bot
tie. wrapped in paper. and sealed at both
ends. He tried to put the bottle into the
holder and it would not fit. He then tore
of the wrapper and the bottle fitted ell
right. Later the holder and a bTomo-
setzer bottle were produced at the inquest
and it was found that the bottle did not
fit the holder.
John II. Yocum. who gave his address as
the Knickerbocker Athletic Club. was next
called. He is chemist by profession and
explained that he told Cornish that half
way chemist Sent tine poison, because
firstclass chemist woull nave known that
mercury is easily detected in the human
body, while a layman would have been en-
tirely ignorant of the compound. Yocum
was closely examined about his knowledge
of Mrs. Adams household and about Cor
nish's sickness. upon which previous wit
nesses seemed to have thrown dorbt. He
was positive in the details of the Illness.
John d. Adams, secretary of the Knick-
erbocker Athletic Club. was the last Wit
ness of the day. He was questioned III part
as follows:
How did you first happen to think that
Molineux might nave some connection with
the case?"
Il saw fac-simile of the address OIL
the package sent to Cornish. | studied
that fac-simile for several days. l COM
pared it with samples of Ar. Molineux's
handwriting The similarity was striking.
One day showed the fac-simile to a man
connected with the club named Stanaby.
l. said TO him: 'Stanaby. did you ever see
writing that looked like this? He looked
at the fac-simile for some time and then
went upstairs and got some scraps of Moli-
neuxs writing. He brought them to me
and l saw that the idea that had come to
me had come to him 1 then took some. of
the samples to Cornish and he said that
he would Immediately take them 10 head
quarters.
do you mean to tell me that the only
reason you suspected Molineux was on ac-
count of the similarity OF his handwriting
and that of the fac-simile?''
Il had another reason. and that was the
differences he had had with Cornish in the
club
Was the fac-simile you examined the
same that Cornish had spoken about when
he was on the stand?"
Il believe it was. I think I gave Cor
nish the fac-simile which / had studied"
And that was the fac-simile which he
showed to the police and which has been
printed in the newspapers.
1t was. Cornish mad testified that after
he and Adams had noticed similarity be-
tween MolineuX's writing and tina. Of the
fac-simile he found out that the fac-simile
was no fac-simile at all and that when the
writing on the package was compared with
Molineux's writing he saw that there was
no similarity.
The court adjourned to Monday morning
at 10:30 o'clock. In contradiction of state
ments published this afternoon Mr. Os-
borne took occasion to say tonight that he
did not know who the poisoner of Mrs.
Adams was, and that he had never said
that he knew or said that he had evidence
enough TO convict anybody and that the
published statement that he had said that
! MolineuX was not the man and that he
would not tell whether or not Cornish was
the man was an invention; that he had
never said anything of the kind