Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-08-03
CHILD'S FATHER ARRESTED
Charged with Poisoning His Daughter
Mt VictOry-The sixth Suspicious
Death In Family.

Victory. July 31.-The people Of this
town believe there have been six poi
sonings in the family of Robert Water
man who is now in custody awaiting
formal hearing on Friday next The ar
rest followed the sudden death of his
lhree-y ear-old daughter Lila on We'd
besday last. The people of the town
Dn hearing of this became so
Indignant that they demanded an
investigation, and Chairman Gray
VI the board of sclcctmen. act
Ing for the townspooplc, sought the scrv-
ICES of States Attorney Amery. who caus-
sd the arrest of Robert Waterman. father
" the child. After the arrest, Waterman
WAS given a preliminary hearing in the
Town hall and was placed under thu
charge of his employer. Joseph Wells.
10 await a formal hearing. which has
been SGT for Friday next at three o'clock.
The death Of the little girl occurred in
he village of C.allops Mills, a settlement
Of Victory. The little one. with her father
and older brother were living with the
mother and father-in-law OF Waterman.
who were caring for the children. Tho
two wives and four Of tho children have
all died within few years. and it is al
culiar circumstances. but not until the
death Of little Lila did the indignation of
The townspcople reach the point whore
they determined to have an invcstiga-
lion. Tho story of tho death of the last
Child is best told in the words of the
grandmother. Mrs. Poclcr, who said:
Last Tuesday forenoon. between ten
and eleven O'Clock. Waterman came into
the house from the shed. and taking a
bottle from his pocket asked Mr.. Pooler
and myself to have a drink with him. Flo
poured portion of the contents from
ihe bottle into Il tumblor and fitting it un
with water asked me to have 1t. AS he
passed it tC mo noticed that il was oily
on top and would not drink II. hut lie
passed il to Mr.. Fooler and he drank il,
Hardly had he swallowed it before he
seemed distressed and he asked Robert ii
the drink was anything that would in
tOxcatc him. Tho reply was that it WOULD
not intoXicatc md my husband cxclaimcd:
We'll. NodVc given lnc n - of n dose
anyway and my husband rushed into
another room where he always krsns n
bottle OF japanese oil and he drank some
OF II, thinking TO relieve his distress
which took the form of a terrible burn
Ing sensation in the stomach. This did not
seem to hclr him any, and he BECAME
frightened and went to the pantry and
drank several cups OF milk and ate n
lot Of salt. After takinE everything ho
could think OF to relieve his condition, he
finally felt some better and came out Of
The sickness. While he was sick little
Lila came in from the shed sufcrins
terribly and said she was sick, too. J
asked her what she had Lccn doing, and
Fhe said her father had given her a drink
Df something. We did everything we could
for the child, hut she grew worse every
minute and at three o'clock the next
morning she died" As soon rs tho news,
of the death of tho child spread about
the small settlement and tho circum-
stances were learned the demand for tina
Investigation came and States Attorney
Amery was called. So well convinced was
The attorney that all WIS not as it should
he he arranged for a post-mortem exam
ination, and Drs. Allen and French of
Et. Johnsbury we're called tn p' rform it,
The examination itvc1lcd nothing which
would shed any light upon the cause Of
death. and II was decided to send tho
stomach and brain of the dead child Ia
the Stats chemist at Burlir gton for cx-
animation. During the rost-mortcn ex.
H'"i'"t'" waterman was questioned at
length by the doctors, and his story in
substance was as follows: He said the
child had been troubled with diarrh lea
ana he took her to the shed and admin
filtered dose Of checkerberry Upon be-
Ing questioned more closely Waterman
declared that tho child had been troubled
with the complaint for some time and
that 1t continued after the dose had been
administered. After questioning him. Mrs.
pooler was called into the room and asked
II she knew that the child had been trou.
hled with the complaint This question
greatly surprised Mrs Pooler, and she
declared that she never knew Of anythins
Of the kind and she well knrw That moth
ing of that nature had existed. Confronted
with this denial by his mothcr-in-law
Waterman stuck to his story and dc clai ed
euch were the conditions. AEain Mrs
Poolcr denied the statement and again
Waterman was asked for an explanation,
and he said that the doctOrmnst have mis-
understood him. "But." said the doctor.
you told me that the child had this conf