The age-herald., 1899-03-21
THE CASE AGAINST GUY JACK BEGUN
  Charged With the Murder Of Charles
 I. Stewart. ACCOMPLICE OF LIPSCOMB Who Has Already Been Convicted of Poisoning the Young Farmer.
ACCOMPLICE OF LIPSCOMB
JACK A VERY WEALTHY MERCHANT
Theory of State is That Jack Hired Dr. Lipscomb to Poison Stewart in Order to Collect Insur-
 ance on His Life

Meridian, Miss, March 20.-(Special)-
 The case of the state vs. Guy Jack, charged
 with murder, has been before the circuit
 court of Kemper county, now in session at | DeKalb, for the past week. The work of
 securing jury in the case was finished on
 Saturday, and the real work of the trial
 was begun this morning, when the first
 witness for the state was put upon the | stand.
 l Jack is charged as the accomplice of pr. l w. H. Lipscomb in the murder of Chas T.
 Stewart, a prominent young farmer who
 lived near Scooba, Miss IT has been the theory of the state that Stewart was 1 poisoned by Dr. Lpscomb, his family phy-
 sieian, under whose care he had been for several months, to secure S21, ,000 insurance l on his life. The policies for this insurance | were made payable to Jack, and the state
 has conducted its prosecution upon the | further theory that Jack was the instigator
 of the crime, and paid Lipscomb to murder
 Stewart, his motive being perfectly ap- l parent.
 | The crime was committed in January l 1897, and the circumstances surrounding it 1 stamps it as one of the most deliberately
 atrocious ever committed in this state.
 Stewart was young farmer who had been
 associated with Jack in one or two busl-
 ness ventures, in which the latter always l furnished the money. Jack was, and is, a
 merchant of Scooba, and is reputed to be | one of the wealthiest men in that portion l of the state.
 1 Lipscomb's Motive for the Deed He lived in the same town with Lipscomb.
 and the fact that he owed the latter's wife l considerable money, and that he had fre- quently been importuned by Lipscomb to | pay this amount may go to show motive
 that actuated Lipscomb In the murder of Stewart.
 Stewart was not in the best of health for several months prior to his violent death. and during the period of his indisposition, ne was under the care of Dr. Lipscomb who was his family physician. Realizing no special benefit from the treatment that
 he had been undergoing, Stewart went to the office of Dr. Lipscomb in the village of 1 Scooba, on the afternoon of the Fist day or January, for further conference re- l garding his case. Lipscomb gave him a l prescription of three capsules. This pre- seription, among other ingredients, called | for small quantity of strychnine. Though Lipscomb had drug store connected with his office, and was financially interested | therein, he violated his usual custom and had this prescription filled at drug store owned and operated by rival physician, 1 taking 1t there himself and having it filled. Stewart was waiting for the medicine, and as soon as Lipscomb returned and gave 1t to him, he mounted his horse and with | his father, rode out of the village towards l his home. While going home Stewart took l the box from his pocket, and upon examin- | ing it, was surprised to find that it con- | a na IJa ay caI p,1r- prise to his father, but his suspicious were l not aroused to any great extent, for when | he got home, following the doctors direc> l tions, he bathed his feet, swallowed the | single capsule and retired.
 | Stewart Seized with Convulsions | His wife retired a few moments later, l and had been in bed only short while l when she was alarmed by the singular ac- | tions of her husband, who was jerking | nervously in his sleep and grooming. She l aroused him with difficulty, and did every l thing possible to alleviate the pain which | he was evidently suffering. Stewards con- dition grew rapidly worse, however, and In l few seconds he passed into a convulsion, l which lasted for several minutes and l caused him great agony. Knowing that he l was very sick man and fearing his death. | his wife had aroused the servants on the | place and sent for physician. An aged | negro man, who was servant on the place, | and who came to the room to assist in the fight for his employers life, was by his l bedside when he regained consciousness. l The sick man asked him to pray for him, and according to this request the negro l knelt beside the couch of the suffering man, and in an illiterate fashion, but with an | humble trusting faith, he offered a feryent | prayer for his suffering employer. Before l he had finished Stewart passed into sec- | ond convulsion. His jaws were firmly lock- ed his eyes were fixed in a ghastly stare, l his whole body was nervously jerking and | twitching, and 1t was evident to the anxi- l ous watchers beside his couch, that he was | in fearful agony
 l In few minutes the convulsion had | passed, and, beckoning his wife to his side, | the dying man made this awful statement; | ..I am dying l have been dead, but the | good Lord has sent me back to tell you 1 that Dr. Lipscomb poisoned me with the l capsule he gave me this evening" Guy | Jack paid him to do it." He had not more l than finished uttering this terrible charge l when he was siezed with third convul- l sion, and after about two minutes of ex- 1 cruciating agony, he was a corpse. l Enough to Kill Three Men
 The suspicious of the authorities were l aroused by the peculiar manner of Stew | arts death, and 1t was decided to hold a | post-mortem examination of the remains l of Stewart This examination was con- | ducted by the most prominent physicians | of that section of the state. They found | every indication of strychnine poisoning
 and were of the opinion that the man had | been killed by dose of this drug. The I report of the state chemist at Starkville,
 who examined the stomach of Stewart
 showed that he had obtained by chemical | analysis enough strychnine to kill one
 man, and that there had been enough talk | en into the mans system to kill three men, When the chemist made his report, Lips | comb was arrested and placed in jail. At 1 preliminary hearing held few days af- | terward, he was committed to jail without
 bail to await the action of the grand jury.
 Circuit court met at DeKalb a week later,
 and the grand jury promptly entered upon an investigation of the cause of the death 1 of Stewart, as a result of which they re-
 turned indictments against Lipscomb and | lack iointly for the murder of Stewart