The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-04-14
partial IO POISON
Crime of the Degenerate Is on
the increase.
SOME STARTLING FACTS
Clever People Find New
Method of Murder,
SOME STARTLING FACTS

Comparing recent times with those Of
Fifty or one hundred years agoit is foudn
that the percentage Of murders by poi
son is greater now than it was then.
Poisoning is the crime Of the degener-
ate. If il be known LAT a form OF muir
der is increasing, have we an answer 70
that other important question, are we
hegenerating2
Everything seems to point to the con-
rlusion that poisoning is on the increase
here Within recent years murders by
poison have occurred in different parts
of the country. IN 1898 it seemed almost
IN epidemic.
Previous TO 1850 we heard but little Of
murders by poison IN this country In
those days the spirit of the murderer
was more martial. Usually blood was
spilled where a murder took place
Today the really clever murderer does
not have to wash his hands after hoIni-
eide his instrument is poison, his We
hicie the mails; his security-not always
secure-dis .uised handwriting.
Within the last ten years the extent
and variety of poisonings in this country
have been marked. There have been
murders committed through boxes Of
candy, through doctored beverages, pol
soned wells, poisoned medicines; murder
has even been attempted by poisoned
kisses Many Of these crimes are yet
undetected. In other cases the perpetra-
Eors nave been discovered only after the
most painstaking processes Of justice.
Whether fifty years ago murder was
perpetrated by poison on so extensive a
ecale as it is now. no oata exists TO
demonstrate. Prof Witthaus, one Of the
T0ff e.r1
States. told d world reporter that he had
been unable to get at any statistics that
would show whether or not poisoning is
on the increase. Administrations
rev Osborne. another expert in his fed
States that statistics are lacking.
Herbert Spencer once said that muir
rers bv poison increased in direct pro-
norton 10 the educational advantages Of
people. This Is highly educated coun-
arv. Our public school training. our uni
versities and colleges are recognized as
araong the best in the world it is ad-
.nitted that Americans are very well
saanipped along educational lines.
The deduction from these facts is plain.
II Spencer be correct in his statement,
then poisoninss are on the increase
However this may be, there are a
number of startling murders which have
been committed By poison within the
last few years n LAS country. Early
c-inlnal records do not show poisoning
u, have been one of the approved meth
els of murder.
Aulcrg the most notable murders by
means Il poison j nthis country within
modern times the AIolineaux case is, OF
course the most prominent Previous TO
tnst -hcre were the following poisoning
cases- Dr. IT, r. Graves, DR.. II c. T.
Never Mrs Adelaide C.. Bot1in, GeorIA
w Pierce. August Becker, Charles May.
AIRS. Mary Fleming. Mrs. sham, Mar
fha Eghittaker. Isaac Counter Viola
Tbomos3n. Lizzie Stevens. Mrs Fannie
7xorn Mary 1Ietzdorf and William May
hor.
These are the most prominent There
IRE hundreds OF other cases where fam
Eies have been poisoned by discharged
ec-vants. with spite for the motive. and
where the same motive has led to the
,sisoning of drinking water and the
ll-e.
The. 1loIineux case is almost too recent
To- require rehearsing. Its main facts
sg-e these. on Dec a. 1888, Harry Cor
nh Of the Knickerbocl0er Athletic club
received through his mail poisoned
package of bromo-seltzer On Dec p he
took the bottle home and the next morn
ing gave q dose OF It's contents TO Mrs.
Katherine J. Adams. with whom he
boarded She died in horrible agony
shortly after
Cornish himself, who took some of the
supposed medicine. was made III. So
was the doctor who attended Mrs. Ad-
ans. on Nov. 10. 1SaS. another member
OF the Knickerboeker club. Henry c.
Barnet, had received a powder through
the mail Both the package sent to
Cornish and the powder sent TO Bar
net were from an anonymous person.
Barnet took the powder and died from
BODY and that Of Mrs. Adams cyanide OF
fnercury-an unusual poison-was found.
Both III the Barnet and Cornish attempts
suspicion pointed tn Roland r. MonueuX.
n Barnet's case jealousy OF woman;
Ia Cornish's case club rivalry We're the
motives assigned. The handwriting on
Rhe Cornish package had been fortu-
.nateiy preserved.
writing experts said positively that the
handwritiug on the Cornish package and
MoHneux's admitted penmanship were
identical 8IolneuX was idenuhed by
the men from whom he rented private
snauing boxes under the names of H.
Cornish and il. c. Barnet He was
found guilry. His case IS st1l pending
or appeal The poison was of SO peculiar
2 character that il could only have been
knowa TO q chemist 1T0Iineux was q
chemist il color-manufactory in New
ark.
one Of the most famous cases Of r1ur-
Ser BY poison was that of Carlyle Har-