The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-11

I
making factory IN Newark. y. j.. and that
( ne could readily have compounded cyanide
/ of mercury from the dry colors at his com
mand The prosecution claimed that he
/ rented private letter boxes in New York
! I'm the names of H c. Barnet and II. Cor
! nish and had received mail addressed TO
these persons. The proprietor of the Bar
net letter box positively identified Mol
| ineuN as the Barnet who had rented II
and received "Barnets mail, but the
! lessor Of the Cornish" box weakened
this circumstsntial link for the prosecu-
tion by swearing quite as positively that
Molneux was not the man who received
the Cornish" mail.
II appeared that II is the custom OF
manufacturers Of certain kinds OF patent
medicines To preserve aud exchange with
one another the letters OF customers, and
hundreds OF thousands Of these letters were
examined by manufacturers in various parts
of the country to find any signed by II. {.
Barnet" or H. Cornish" Some were found
and were exhibited to the jury. and it was
on the lain that Molineux was the writer
Of them that the prosecution chiefly de-
pended 10 prove its case.
The handwriting Experts.
None of the handwriting experts called
by the prosecution was able 10 identify the
admitted handwriting Of the defendant
with that on the poison package, but they
swore positively that he was the writer
OF the 'Rarpet" and Cornish" letters. and
that the writer of those letters was the
person who wrote the address on the poison
package. Great stress was laid on one dii
puted lester. signed H. c. Barnet" whiCh
was written on a quality CT blue paper
rarely handled and sold The paper had a
t-, ha cha nT fhraa pfprlarpb
crescents at the top. 4 very unwilling
witness. Mary Melando. an old friend of
MolineuN. proved that he had used this
kind of paper Another document which
the prosecution regarded as OF much i'm
portanre. was diagnosis bank sent ont
hy one of the medical concerns and filled
in and signed by the bogus Barnet. In il
the writer gave his chest and waist meas
urements, age. and height, and other
physical characteristics. all OF which are
identical with MolineUx's.
In order to prove motive. evidence was
given tc show that Molineux had lived
with Blanche ChesebcTough as man and
wife Il 2 boarding house in New York for
some months in 1898: that later Miss
Cheseborough lived alone in another board
ing house. and that Barnet called to see
her there. II was also shown that she had
called TO see him at the Knickerbo -ker
Athletic club. but no evidence that their
relations were more than of friendly
character was given.
One Of the Theories.
Tie theory of the prosecution--although
no evidence was given as to this-is thai
Molineux was jealous OF Barnet. and there
fore poisoned him; that Cornish suspected
him. and that Molineux therefore wished
I'll.
denc, to prove motive for the attempted
killing of Cornish was that they had had
a bitter club quarrel and that MolineuS
had left the Knickerbocker Athletic Club
in consequence II should be said here tina,
the defence strongly objected TO the in
Production OF any evidence as TO the death
of Barnet and that the doctor who at
tended Barnet during his fatal sickness In
sisted despite the testimony OF analytical
chemists that cyanide OF mercury had been
found in his intestines. that diphtheria WIS
the cause of death.
Other testimony against Molineux showed
that he was we'll acquainted with the store
where the silver bottle-holder was pur-
chased aud that he was in New York on
the day when the poison package was
mailed.
The testimony OF the handwriting eX-
perts was the feature of the trial. Day
after day one or another lectured the jury
on the science. Specimens of the hand
writing OF Molineux. the poison address,
and the TBarnet' and Cornish" letters had
been introduced as exhibits and photo
araphed. and as the jurymen studied the
photographs the experts illustrated the
most minute pen Pecullarities Of the va
rious letters bv crayon drawings. Alto
gether eight of these experts and ten bank
tellers. who were accepted as experts. testi-
fed for the prosecution. and all of them
were positive that Molineux wrote the poi
son address.
Technical Testimony.
The testimony of those experts was the
only direct evidence offered against Moli-
neuE during the trial. but it formed by far
the larger part OF the prosecutions testi-
nony. and in the aggregate # is the most
formidable mass OF hair-splitting deduction
that has ever been offered in 4 murder
trial II has enriched the language with
hundreds OF novel words and phrase One
expert. Persifor Fraser, of Philadelphia,
split individual letters into twenty parts
msgnified each part Il. 800 times and sub
jected each peculiarlty TO the unrelenting
measurement of miIlimetres. Expert Henry
edly surplus, sustained, and waning
energies" and exhausted impulses
In all Of MolincuX's writing and in the
disputed aud poison package writing he
said the prime characteristic was phys
ical strength and weak will power" The
former was shown by the strength and
strsightness OF the curve lines" the lat
ter by the extraordinary size OF the first
letters in word and the diminishing size
OF each succeeding letter. Col L. y. Hay
OF Washington. concurred in the opinion
of the other experts but he incidentally
threw cold water on TOlman's theory. de
clariug that such exhausted impulses"
were usual in most handwriting. Expert
Amcs Of san Francisco. lectured on me
chanical arrangement"
More Complications.
For The purposes OF mere summary or
the trial the rest OF the Testimony. with
three exceptions. IS immaterial Emma
Miller. the Newark saiesgirl who sold the
discriminating silver bottleholder. testified
positively that MoliueuE was moi the puf-
chaser Of IT, Dr. Robert BoOcock served
TO ,complcato the already conflicting evi-
dence ss to whether Barnet died of diph-
iberia or cyanide Of mercury by testifying
that cyanide Uf mercury produces dypth-
Naer''c symptoms IN f" patient ana also
thai the same poison cures dlphlheria.
The third exception was the lntroduc-
tiou Of Molineux's own testimony given
At the oOroner's Inquest There was a
great fight between counsel over the adj
mission OF this as evidence but the re
corder finally permitted the testimony TO
De introduced. The value OF this testi-
mony OF MolincuX has been much dis
puted. The prosecution insists that IL
shows motive for the killing of Barnet
ami that it shows lasting hatred OF Cor
nish. MolineuX + friends insist that in no
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