Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-11-11
ROLAND MOLINEUX
FOUND NOT GUILTY
Jury Returns Verdict at Late Hour This
Afternoon
Deliberations Lasted But Short Time and Verdict Was Re-
turned Half Hour After Jury Was Sent Out-Twce Ac-
cused and Once Condemned, Molineux Escapes the
Electric Chair - History of the Famous Case

New York, Nov. 11.-Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Osborne finished his adj
dress to the jury in the Molineux trial
at noon and at lis the justice began
his instructions to the jury.
New York, Nov. 1.-THE Molineux
Jury retired at $40.
New York, Nov. 11.-Bulletin p. m
--Afterless than an half hours delibera
ton the jury in the trial of Roland B.
Molineux returned verdict of not
guilty. The court room was crowded
and Molineux and his counsel, ex-
Governor Black, received congratula-
tions from all sides. The scene was
dramatic when the verdict was read.
Molineux apparently was unaffected,
having prepared himself for any verdict
that might be given. Molineux was
formally discharged few minutes af-
<
ter the verdict was rendered. He left
the court room with his father fol-
lowed by the cheering throngs. Altho
the jury was out twenty-five minutes,
they agreed on the verdict within ten
minutes after leaving the court room.
History of the Famous Case.
The retrial of Roland B. Molineux
for the murder of Mrs. Katherine B.
Adams is the second attempt to solve a
mystery which has baffied the greatest
lawyers, policemen and judges in the
country. A case which has two sides,
each of which Is capable of logical DEM
onstration, yet one Of which must be
utterly false.
The most cunning novelist Iever con-
trived plot more tangled that that
which the prosecution has built UP
around Roland b. Molineux and his
handsome wife-for she is really the
central fgure-"the woman in the
case"
This is how the prosecution states
the case: As an active member of the
Knickerbocker Athletic Club, Molineux
Il w s1o iHiliitdtG Will IISAly ~ DdliiSk
wealthy club member and bachelor,
who made his home at the club. The
two men were both infatuated with
Blanche Cheesebrough, a handsome
young woman, who gained favorable
notice in musical circles, first as
choir singer and later as a singer in
concerts.
Molineux first proposed marriage to
Tis.r. y al,,.nt, t,e~1, to- ~
1899. She refused him and showed a
preference for Henry C. Barnet, then
Molineux's best friend. A little later.
Molineux, after a quarrel with Harry
Cornish, the physical instructor of the
Knickerbocker Athletic Club, resigned
from the club and became an active
member of the New York Athletic club.
After leaving the Knickerbocker Ath-
letic Club, Molineux gave his room TO
Barnet, still his warmest friend, appar-
entity, altho his successful rival in love.
In November, 1899, Barnet was taken
i'll, after swallowing some medicine
which came to him thru the mail, and
s was was supposed to be sample OF
Kutnow powder, which is a sort of
sheadache powder"
Barnet's illness resembled diphtheria,
but later 1T was discovered that he had
been poisoned with cyanide of mercury,
which was mixed in the powder sent
thru the mails. Molineux did not call
to see Barnet during his illness, nor
did he attend the funeral of his best
friend when he died, but Miss Cheese
brough attended the funeral, and for
few DAYS afterward dressed in black
Two weeks after Barnet died Molineux
married Miss Cheesebrough.
Then came the poisoning of Mrs.
Adams in an attempt to poison Harry
Cornish, it was said, another man
whom Molineux was supposed to have
reason to hate.
The fact that Barnet was poisoned
did not leak out until after the death
of Mrs. Adams 1t was supposed that
he died from diphtheria, as the physi-
clans certificate stated.
a bottle Of bromo seltZer was sent to
Cornish thru the mails. 1t was in
little silver holder, and was supposed
TO be Christmas gift. Cornish took
the supposed bromo seltzer to his home,
where he lived with Mrs. Adams and
her daughter Mrs. Florence Rogers. a
few days after Christmas, Mrs. Adams
was feeling ill, and asked Cornish, so
Cornish testified, to give her some
brofIlo seltzer The bottle In the SILVER
holder was brought and dose taken
out. Mrs. Adams fell to the floor. and
expired soon after swallowing the drug.
s Cornish said he took some of the stuff
left in the glass and was made i'll, tho
one physician denied he was sick.
Then the story was told OF the pol
soning of Barnet. His body was dis
inferred and an examination of the
powder taken before his death proved
that the same poison which caused the
death of Mrs. Adams was instrumental
in causing the death of Barnet. For
weeks the police were at loss for
clew to the sender of the poison and
the motive of the double murder. Cor
nish said from the first that he sus-
pected MolineuX, but the police had abb
solutely no information on which to
base this suspicion. Then came the
examination of the hand writing of the
address on the poison packages A
sample of Molineux's handwriting was
Obtained, and experts declared that he
had addressed the poison packages. 1t