The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-12-15
TRUE B|LLFORAG| GIRL
Vida Johnson indicted for At
tempt to Poison.
Her Intended Victim Mrs. Ger
trude Lundstrom.
Jealousy Said to Be at Bottom
of the Affair.
Attractive Young Widow Causes
Green Goo Coos.

O"atollid, Dec miss vida JOnn-
son was today indicted by the grand
jury on the charge of attempting to
poison Mrs. Gertrude Lundstrom. The
history of this case is unusually inter-
esting. Jealousy is supposed to have
been the motive for the alleged crime.
Both young women were reared and
have lived nearly all their lives in the
township of Havana in this county Mrs
Lundstrom is an attractive young wi
dow, who since the death of her hus-
band few years ago in Wisconsin, has
been teaching the country school near
the home of her parents, Mr.. and Mrs.
j. l.. Johnson. Vida johnson /. is
young woman of frail physique. Her
face is pallid and she shows every EVIL
dence of the strain under which she is
laboring
Before the alleged attempted poison
ing, Vida Johnson was receiving the at
tentions of prominent young man liv-
ing near her home That she liked the
man there was no doubt and it was not
until he was seen in the company Of
Mrs. Lundstrom that trouble crossed her
path. On one occasion he was known
to have taken Mrs. Lundstrom to the
theatre in Owatonna. Later he was
frequently at the home of Mrs Lund-
strom and the Sunday before the al
legged attempted crime, the young man
accompanied Mrs. Lundstrom and her
parents home from the country church.
The following Tuesday night was
marked by severe rainstorm and the
next moring at $3.50 o'clock, when Mrs
Lundstrom was preparing the morning
meal, she went to the pump to draw a
pail of water. While engaged in this
act, her attention was called to the pro-
nounced and unusual greenish color of
the water and realizing that something
was wrong she went to the barn at once
to summon her father. When they re-
turned there was a heavy sediment of
green in the bottom of the pail and it
did not take long to decide that the
color was induced by liberal amount
of paris green. An examination of the
pump revealed a large quantity of the
poison on the pump and platform. Foot
prints of a woman's shoe were noticed
and these were followed to the main
highway and for two miles south, to
the home of Vida johnson. The fol-
lowing day, in pumping out the well, the
flow of water suddenly stopped and
paper sack bearing the label, paris
Green, Metz & Vinton, Owatonna, Minn.,"
was taken from the spout.
In the meantime the officers had been
hot on the trail of the criminal, and
when the sheriff visited the home of
Vida johnson it was found that the de-
PENDANTS brother had obliterated all
traces of the footprints in the road by
means of disc harrow. Asked why he
had done this, the brother stated that he
was simply trying to properly set his
drag before entering the field nearby. In
conversation with Vida johnson, she
declared to the sheriff that she was
wrongfully occused of the crime. She
stated that they never had any paris
green on the place.
Sheriff Chambers, suggesting that evil
dence might be adduced to show that she
had purchased some recently in Ovation
ma, she admitted that she had purchased
cents worth only short time before.
This she secured to kill rats which in
tested the cellar. She offered to show
Sheriff Chambers where she mad placed
the poison, and in his attempt to find
any trace of the poison in the cellar he
failed. While they were in the cellar
the mother, not knowing of her daugh-
ter's admission, maintained to j. l..
JOHUSOu tldC tucy hC'Si Hou any Pei"
green on the premises.
Asked to be shown her wardrobe, Will
da showed skirt to the sheriff. 1t
was marked with mud. This she said
she soiled while walking to the Havana
station the day before. She had but one
pair of shoes, and those were the light
slippers she then wore At the time OF
her arrest, however, she wore a pair OF
shoes, apparently three months old, and
the left heel of which is worn over as
that of the person who visited the home
of Mrs Lundstrom the night of the alleg-
ed attempted poisoning.
While these Investigations were be-
ing carried on, Mrs. Lundstrom CHANGED
to remember that only a few days pre-
vious she had found paper sack tied
to the door of her schoolhouse containing
an orange and bearing the inscription, in
O feminine had, "For Teacher" She was
about to peel the orange and distribute