Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-27
A MINISTER
WAS HANGED
He Was Convicted of POiS-
oning His Wife.
HE DENIED HIS GUILT
But Circumstances Clearly Showed
That He Wanted to Marry an Old
SchoOlmate Who Had Become
Very Wealthy.

st. Louis. Oct. PA special to the
Post Dispatch from Dallas Texas says:
ReV q. f. Morrison was hanged at noon
To-Day at Vernon. Texas, for wife murder.
He met his death resignedly On the
scaffold he said to a select party of 20
witnesses permitted at the execution:
II am innocent Circumstances over
which had no control have placed me In
this position I have taken my trouble
in private to God. l admit l have acted
, lndiscreetly. l have done no worse, how
ever, than hundreds of men who stand
high in religious. social. business and Of
hcial circles of your state. have done
hothlnS to confess am in the hands OF
my maker and he knows I am innocent"
Morrlsons neck was broken bv the fan
and his death appeared to be painless
The crime for which Rev G. r. Nor
rlson paid the death penalty was the
poisoning of his wife in October. 1897.
Ihe facts show that for deliberate fiend-
lshness they are almost without parallel
in the annals of criminal Jurisprudence.
The motive for the poisoning was in or.
der to rid himself of a pretty. amahle
loving wife. in order to marry a laly pos
sessed of large means, 500. 900 of which
was in cash.
Morrison married his deceased wife
about 1, years ago. At one time they
lived in California. then in Oklahoma
Territory from which place they moved
to Pa. handle, Tex. where the crime
was committed He was born and rails
ed in Illinois and went to school at Car
bonda|e. There he became acquainted
With Miss Anna Whittlesey, who sub
sequently moved With her parents to
Topeka. kas. In August. previous to
the poisoning of his Wife, in October.
1897, Morrison met Miss Whittlesev his
schoolday sweetheart ascsrtained her
financial condition and made an offer to
her of marriage. He pretended that his
wife had been dead II years, that he had
quit preaching. had been successfully en-
gaged in the cattle business for eight !
years and owned ranch near II ;-eins,
Tex.
On his return to Texas he began a cor
reepondence With Miss Whittlesey llrs- |
ing his proposition of marriage stains /
that he had for number of years in I
tended to come to her when he could do I
SO honorably and he believed he could
now see the time. This statement was I
made one month before the death of his !
wife. He procured strychnine fol the |
ostensible purpose of poisoning var
mints," which he said We're catching his .
chickens. On the day previous he had
procured box of auinine with empty |
ca apsules. On Friday night before her
death Mrs. Morrison went to the Swiss
bell ringers, leaving Morrison al home,
who said he had to prepare his Sunday
sermon. The next morning he took
the stryehnne back to the druggist. tell
ing him that he was afraid to use it for
fear he would poison his neghbors
chickens. The package had been open
ed.
Sunday night he preached and alluded
in pathetic manner to the parting with
loved ones at death About 10 o'clock
that night he called upon his neighbors
for assistance. announcing the serious
illness of his wife. She was found in
paroxysms and spasms. He delayed
sending for a doctor who arrived after
the wifes death.
In the meantime he kept up his cor
with Miss Whittlesey, writ
ing her letter two days before the death
If his wife and the day after her burial,
asserting his love in the most lavish
erms. In the latter letter he anaounc-
I'd the death of his brothers wife and
Notified her of his early visit to Topeka.
On his return from Topeka he was ar
.ested, held a few days, was released on
oond and fed. About three months
hereafter he was arrested in San Fran
,isco, returned to Texas, tried with Miss
NhittIesey as the main prosecuting Wit
ness. and given the death penalty.
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