Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-02-26


the bromo settler which she and Cor
nish drank showed the same rare
poisoning. 1t is said that only three
cases of poisoning by it are on record.
Barnet had been an intimate friend of
Blanche Cheseborough, whom Moli-
neux married shortly after Barnet died.
The district attorneys office was
convinced that Molineux committed
both crimes.
The trial began Dec. f. Interest in it
had become national, and the court
room was damned with all kinds and
conditions of men and women
Molineux's father, a general in
the civil war and man Of
social distinction in Brooklyn, who
had vowed that he would spend $780,
000 his entire fortune, if necessary, to
save his sons life, sat beside the pris
oner. Barlow S. Weeks, ex-president
sonal friend of the MolineuXs and an
enemy of Cornish, was principal coun-
sci for the defense He had for advis-
ers David NJ Carvalho, handwriting
expert, and Allan McLane Hamilton, a
medical expert. Assistant District At
torney Osborne, with two assistants,
conducted the prosecution.
The case against the prisoner was
purely circumstantial. 1t was shown
that Molineux was superintendent OF q
color-making factory in Newark, N. J.,
and that he could readily have com
pounded cyanide of mercury from the
dry colors at his command.
1t appears that it is the GUS
tom of manufacturers Of GER
tain kinds of patent medi-
clines to preserve and exchange with
one another the letters of customers.
and hundreds of thousands of these
letters were examined by manufacture
ers in various parts of the country to
find any signed by I'll. G. Barnet or
I'll Cornish" Some were found, and
were exhibited to the jury, and it was
on the claim that MolineuX was the
writer of them that the prosecution
chiefly depended to prove it's case.
None of the handwriting experts
called by. the people was able to iden-
tify the admitted handwriting of the
defendant with that on the poison
package, but they swore positively
that he was the writer of the Barnet
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 dis
puted letter signed "H. G.. Barnet, -
which was written on a quality OF
blue paper rarely handled and sold
The paper had a device in the shape OF
three interlaced crescents at the top
An unwilling witness, Mary Melando
an old friend of Molineux's, proved
that be had used this kind of paper
Another document which the prose
cution regarded as of much import
ance was a diagnosis blank sent out
by one of the medical concerns anC
filled in and signed by the bogus Bar
net In it the writer gave his chest
and waist measurements, age anC
height, and other physical characters.
tics, all of which are Identical with
| MOlineuX's.
In order to prove motive, evidence
was given to show that Molineux ha(
lived with Blanche Cheseborough, {
very pretty, talented and stylish girl
as man and wife, in a b0arding-houst
in New York for some months in 1898;
that later Miss CheseborOugh LIVED
alone in another clearinghouse, ant
that Barnet called to see her there 4
was also shown that she had called tC
see him at the Knickerbocker club, bu
no evidence that their relations were
more than of a friendly character
was given.
The theory of the prOsecution-al
though no evidence was given as tt
this-was that Molineux was jealous
Of Barnet, and therefore poisoned
him. that Cornish suspected him, anC
that Molineux therefore wished to ge1
him out of the way.
The testimony Of these experts was
the only direct evidence offered against
MOlineux, but it formed by far the
| largest part of the prosecutions testi-
mony, and in the aggregate it is The
most formidable mass of hairsplitting
deduction that has ever been offered
in a murder trial.
For the purposes of mere summary
Of the trial. the rest of the testimony
with three exceptions, is immaterial
Emma Miller, the Newark salesgir
who sold the discriminating silver bot
! tie holder, testified positively that
Molineux was not the purchaser of it
DR.. Robert Boocock served to compli-
cate the already conflicting evidence as
to whether Barnet died of diphtheria
or cyanide of mercury by testifying
that cyanide of mercury produces
! diphtheritic symptoms in a patient
and also that the same poison cures
diphtheria.
In the testimony at the cOroner's in
quest, Molineux asserted that he and
| Barnet were warm personal friends UP