Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-03-21
A HAIRLESS PLOT
Rena Nelson Deliberately Sought
to Fasten Crime Upon
Mrs. Dye.
PURPOSE OF DYING STATEMENT
Mailed Poisoned Candy TO Herself
Would Have Married Hus-
band of Victim.

Des Moines. Iowa. March 2l.-For
diabolical cunning and utter heartless-
ness, Rena Nelson's solemn ante-mor-
tenn statement. made in full contem-
plation of death aud when she was
almost face to face with her Creator,
has rarely, if ever, been surpassed.
| To County Attorney c. NJ. Goodner
and Sheriff J. W. Laughlin. Of Pierre.
:. d., the dying girl told an ingenious
story for the purpose of fastening
suspicion upon Mrs. Sherman Dye. of
Boone, Iowa, and both those officials,
| in discussing the case in this city, de-
clare the girls statements were I'M
qualifieGly false.
They have found the store at which
the package of candy which was Miss
Nelson's death messenger. was pur-
chased. Dahoff & Co. ccnfectioners,
of Pierre, S. D.. sold Miss Nelson the
candy on the afternoon of Feb. 26. the
day before she received the package
at the postoffice When she received,
| it in the mail it bore the Identical
box and contained the identical candy
tered here and there among the chloe
| nIates was a small tablet Of corrosive
sublimate. resembling the ordinary
peppermint tablet. Miss Nelson had
mailed that package to herself, past
ing on the wrapper as an address the
face of an envelope which she had re-
ceived from Boone short time be-
fore. bearing her own name and adj
dress. This was mailed to her either
at Pierre or at some nearby city.
Plenty of Evidence.
IN array of evidence that is incon-
trovcrtible establishes that Miss Mel
son conceived the idea of having Mrs.
Dye convicted of an attempt to muir
der her. and in this way furnish
ground upon which Dye might obtain
divorce and marry her. Mrs. Dyes
character could not be assailed in the
divorce court and she had ever borne
with her husbands misconduct as
loyal and loving wife. Miss Nelson's
only hope was to fasten some crime
upon her. To do this she evidently
intended partaking Of just enough of
the poison to produce Il slight illness.
But she made a mistake as to what
! constituted fatal dose and ate an
entire tablet of corrosive sublimate
with which the candy was mixed.
Not yet realizing that she would
die she sent the candy to physician
for analysis and then calmly wrote Il
letter to her aunt at Boone telling her
| that she believed she was the victim
of an attempt upon her life by means
of poisoned candy. In her letter she
then recites her relations with Dye.
stating that they have in no wise been
1 dishonorable and that she believes
i Dye told her the truth when he said
divorce on the grounds of gross i'm
morality had set him free from the
only woman To whom he had been
married years ago. She said this wo-
man had written her threatening let
tiers. and she then urged the aunt to
call upon Dye for an explanation.
She expressed confidence that a word
from him would readily disprove the
claims of the alleged wife. The pur-
pose Of all this was to protect her
own name at the trial Of Mrs. Dye.
which she confidently anticipated
would result in the charge of attempt
ed murder.
POstmarks Changed.
| Investigation satisfied the authori-
ties that the wrapper on the package
had been arranged by Miss Nelson in
such a manner as to deceive them in
to thinking the package had been
mailed at Boone. In the first place
she had taken the face of an envel-
ope which had been sent to her from
Boone. Iowa. some time in January
and pasted it onto the package to
constitute the address. The postmark
on the letter showed the word
Boone" very plainly. Across this
was n cancellation mark of a design
that is used at Boone, but attached
to the stamp which had been placed
over the original cancelled stamp was
a cancellation mark such rs Is used at
Pierre. All but a portion of this
stamp had been torn off, and that por-
ton of the package that had evident