The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-24
MAN TELLS STRANGE STORY OF
POISON AND CONSPIRACY.
JOHN CROY AND HIS AFFAIRS.
Deputy County Attorney Lynch
Listens To Tale of Painting Spells
and Disorders OF Similar
Nature.

| world find expression Is within the walls
of the county attorneys office. and the
strange tales there related make a most
! eccentric chronicle.
Today there was a man there who
| wanted to know what the law OF Mon
tana is on conspiracy and poison"
The mans name was John F. Croy,
he said, and he pronounced CON
| spracy." as to the second syllable, like
the word "spre." He said he had been
! poisoned two. years ago by his wife, his
mother-in-law, his wife's step-father
| and a man named John Hyde.
He tainted twice after he was
poisoned, and he never had done that
before. He fell down; he was out of his
head; he didn't know nothing" also he
was very sick
These various things he related to
| Deputy County Attorney Lynch, all
mixed up with his views of his relatives
his history, his desires and his inten-
| tons.
Has Odd Notions.
His notion of the meaning of words
| was as personal to himself as his pro-
nunclat!on.
Conspiracy to poison?" said Mr..
| Lynch.
Yes. sir; conspiracy and arson" he
| replied.
"Arson?"
Eyes, sir; conspiracy and arson. Don't
that mean poison?" he asked.
II guess you mean arsenic" said M.
Lynch.
well. / mean any kind of poison" THE
man replied.
What kind of conspiracy do You
mean =" the official asked.
''Why, conspiracy for your good and
welfare" the man explained.
For your good and welfare?" Mr..
Lynch repeated.
Against your house and your home
and your happiness" the man added.
"Oh yes: see. Who poisoned you?"
MY wife and her mother and her
step-father and John HYDE" the man
replied.
Little Dinner Party.
Then he narrated that after he was
poisoned, his wife and mother-in-law
went to town and had dinner with John
Hyde. They came back, and his mOther-
in-law asked him how he felt, and he
said:
II don't feel any better and I don't
feel any worse" And his mother-in-law
said. "Oh, you're all right and he an
swered. you bet I am. You couldn't
kill me with an axe. The poison didn't
hurt me-"
Then his wife came and inquired how
he was and he said:
Pm all right. The poison didn't touch
me; it's gone" And his wife said,
You'll be all right soon." and he re-
turned, You bet 1 WILL Then his wife
said, you ought to have been with us
today. We had a lovely dinner And |
he said, Who'd you have dinner with?"
His wife said. John Hyde and mann
ma" And he said. "Who paid for it?'
and his wife said II did and he said |
"Out of my money, 1 suppose" and his :
wife said ooh. yes; of course" Then he
said, "And here I amt had nothing to
eat since yesterday afternoon at 3
o'clock" and his wife answered, "Oh,
that's too bad!''
Makes Story Effective.
MI Croy put the proper infections on
his own remarks and his wife's mock
sympathy, 10 make the story effective.
Next his mother-in-law came in and
said "Oh, I'm sorry you ever married
Lille" And he said, why didn't you
say that before we were married, and /
l wouldn't ahad her."
He told Mr.. Lynch that his wife went
away and got divorce from him, and
that he was under bonds to answer in
the federal court to a charge of sending
obscene matter through the mails, ana
so it was evident that he had pulled
through the poison and the fainting
spells and had made considerable history
since.
He had no evidence to support his
charge of poison, the fainting fits not
being good for the purpose, in Mr..
Lynch's opinion, SO he was not given
complaint He insisted that there had
Law wifi hat |
ought to be law for him. but the prose-
cutor could not see it, @. the grounds
presented.
Croy is big raw onei, man, with no
beauties of person apparent to the casual
observer. He may have been wrongcd
and his luminosity towards the John
Hyde he was discussing may have been
justified. But after looking at him, it
was natural to suppose that John Hyde
whoever he is, possesses some few
graceS.