New-York tribune., 1900-01-04
PRICE THREE CENTS.
POISON EASILY PRODUCED,
]. HI. YOCUM TELLS HOW HE MADE
CYANIDE OF MERCURY.
MANY WITNESSES TESTIFY IN THE COURSE
OF THE DAY AT THE MoLINEux
TRIAI-HARPsTER NOT Ex-
AHMED AS TO MOTIVE.


Although nothing particularly new or startling
was brought out yesterday IN the trial Of RalanS
B. Molineux. greater advance was made than
on any previous day since the opening OF the
case. In the course Of the two sessions Just a
dozen witnesses were called. Both Mr. Osborne
and Mr.. Weeks seem now to be animated by a
desire TO avoid any undue prolongatIOn OF the
trial, and If the rapidtty OF the work accom-
plished yesterday is maintained the issue will go
to the jury much sooner than was expected a
week ago.
Probably the most important witness OF the
day was John H. Yocum. who is a chemist IN
the employ Of a large corporation and Is one OF
Cornish's closest friends. The pith of his evil
dence was that cyanide of mercury was an ex-
tremely easy poison TO prepare. Yocum described
in detail how he had made cyanide OF mercury
In the presence Of Detective Sergeant McCanerty
by the simple process of boiling prussian blue
with yellow oxide of mercury. BY altering the
mass precipitate was obtained which was cy-
anide Of mercury. The cyanide came from the
prussian blue. itself a sulphate of cyanide. and
the mercury was obtained from the mercuriaI
oxides Mr.. Yocum also testified that he was
able to get the same results by a combination
Of prussian blue with suphate OF mercury
otherwise queens yellow. another dry color. The
purpose of the prosecutor in introducing this
evidence was to demonstrate that MoIineux
with his experience a manufacturer OF dry
cOlors, could easily have zlade cyanide OF mer-
curry.
EVIDENCE CUT BOTH WAYS.
To some extent however Mr.. Yocums evil
dence cut both ways inasmuch as Mr.. Osborne
had previously declared that cyanide OF mercury
was the rarest poison in existence. and so small
the demand for 1t that the largest wholesale
druggists only sold a few ounces of 1t in the
course of whole year. He has practically
charged that it would be almost impossible for
any one to obtain cyanide Of mercury unless he
held some such place as did the defendant Yet
Mr.. YOcum deposed that it was derived from so
simple a process that cook could make It, In
his crOss-examination Mr.. Weeks ascertained
that Yocum had most of the ingredients which
he used lying in his laboratory for some years.
+ and that he and Cornish friends.
These facts Mr.. Weeks will undoubtedly avail
himself of in that part of his defence which viii
be that every discriminating particle OF evidence
brought against his client could with equal JUS
tice be charged against some one else. In fur
ther discrimination Mr.. Weeks sought to
show that the witness in declaring he had won
cyanide of mercury by the methods he had de-
scribed did not know what PA talking about.
Mr., Weeks quoted from e standard chemical
work, which stated that the crystals Of cyanide
of mercury were always four sided. whereas Mr..
Yccum testified that the prisns which resulted
from his experiments were eight sided. The
witness replied that there was no consistency in
the number of sides. and that the prisms of the
crystals variously four six and eight IN
number. The witness also denied that there was
so much potash in prussian blue TO prevent
crystallization when mixed with EercuriaI
oxides.
A. A HARPSTER'S TESTIMONY.
Another interesting witness of the day was A.
+ A. Harpster His stay on the stand was COM
parativey brief. and for the most part his evil
dence was immaterial. To the surprise of every
one not a word was asked of him as to the en-
nifty between MoIineux and Cornish and OF
other details on which the prosecution must de-
pend to supply motive. As matter of fact. the
question Of motive hao far hardly been
/ touched on, and it is all The more inexplicable
because Cornish, Gallaghei IA Harpster have
been allowed to leave the stand without being
called on to elucidate the motive. necessarily
potent factor in case of this kind. where the
evidence is entirely circumstantial. which would
inspire Molineux to seek revenge on Cornish.
This rISglect on the part of Mr. Osborne to take
advantage of these three witnesses to place be-
fore the jury the underlying reasons which led
to the bad feeling between the defendant and
Cornish, and which eliminated in MOIineux
leaving the Knickerbocker Athletic Club. is ex-
ceedingIy puzzling to every one; but Mr.. Os-
borne refuses TO throw any light on the course
he is following or proposes TO follow in his
duct of the case
source of considerable mystery for some
time was a telegraph message which Recorder
Gon received yesterday afternoon Suddenly
stopping the proceedings he remarked to coun-
sci that he had received a message bearing
the trial and asked Mr.. Osborne and Mr.. Weeks
TO come forward so that he might read IL 10
them. For more than five minutes counsel and
the Recorder talked together in whispers. and
when he returned TO MS seat MI Weeks in
formed the reporters that he had been instructed
bv the Court not to make public the contents OF
the dispatch 1t later learned, however.
that the message was from Nr. Rogers asking
for an opportunity go on the stand for the
purpose of contradicting some of the statements
made by Cornish. 1t was said that the mes
sage also stated that Mr.. Rogers had not been
in Hartford for two years In his erOss-exani-
nation on Tuesday Cornish testified that he saw
Mr.. Rogers in Hartford and had bowed 10 HIM
DETAILS OF THE TRIAL
The first witness called to the stand yesterday
,rorptng when the trial was resumed was Patrol
man John II Palmer OF the West One-hundredtn-
at station who was called into the Eighty-sixth-
A. Aat shortly after Mrs. Adams's death The
,,,ress stated he received the brOmO seltzer bottle
a,d silver holder from DIR. Hitchcock and after
ward gave them TO DR.. Weston He also handed
Exhibit A the address on the poison package. 70
DR. Weston MIR. Weeks askeN the witness II MIS-
Rogers showed any hestsncS : answering his in
,It.s b,t Mr. Osborne objected TO the form OF the
ouestion Mr. Weeks managed TO elicit from the
witness the statement that Mrs. Rogers told him
Assistant District Attorney Mcintyre was her coun-
sci and that he had instructed her TO say nothing