The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-06-09
MARGARET RosEMAN ACQUITTED
OF A SERIOUS CHARGE At
Ethiopia WEDNESDAY
Case Recalls Story Of How Young We
man Lost Valuable Lands in
Franklin County.

Margaret Roseman, Of Pasco, was
discharged at Ethiopia yesterday, after
preliminary hearing on the charge
of attempting to poison C. w. Max
well, of Seattle.
The specific charge against Miss
Roseman was that she mixed bicnlo-
ride of mercury in some eggs which
were served to Mr.. Maxwell for his
breakfast on the morning Of May 81.
The prosecution failed to prove that
the young woman tried to administer
the poison or that she was seen at all \
with the poison in her possession. The
testimony given by Mr.. Maxwell that
Miss Roseman was seen In the kitchen
of the hotel, while the eggs were be-
ing prepared for the table, was not
substantiated by other witnesses.
Maxwell, who mas been in Walla
Walla recently in connection with the
proposition to secure street car fran
chise from the city council, was a
friend of Miss Olney, who resided In
Walla Walla several years ago. She
was the daughter of the late Judge
Olney, of Maryland, who, in the boom
days of 1901 was a large property
owner at Pasco. The Olneys owned
land that when the panic of 1893 came
was not worth paying taxes on, but
which is now held to be worth from
$50 to $3.50 per acre on the ground that
it will shortly be irrigated, enther by
government reclamation or by private
enterprise.
Claims Land Was FraudulentIy Lost.
Miss Olney lately brought suit in the
federal court in Walla Walla against
N. r. Sylvester, prominent man Of
Pasco, and others, to recover title to
several hundred acres of this land.
She was aided in her suit by Max
we'll. She charged that she had been
fraudulently induced to sign a quit
claim deed to the land that had been
sold by the county on tax foreclos-
ures, the certificates having been pur-
chased by the defendants.
1t was charged that the Roseman
woman is not only close friend OF
Sylvester, who now has title to this
valuable realty, but that she has an
interest in the property as well.
The land is very valuable now, and
Mr.. Maxwell has plans completed for
the construction of private plant to
water his holding in case the Palouse
river project of the United States rec
lamation service is shelved. The lands
owned by Maxwell and those claimed
by Miss Olney in her suit, are among
the richest in the entire state of WASH
ington. They would easily command
$3.50 per acre when watered.
Miss Olney. VINO is trying to recover
several hundred acres which she claims
she decided under a Misrepresentation
of the facts to Sylvester and mis- assoc
ciates, lived in Pasco for years. She Is
a highly educated woman Of fine fam
lily. There is no more pitiful store In
the state than the wreck Of the Olney
fortune. Judge Olney. her father. set
tied there in the boom days, when the
Northern Pacific westbound trains
were met by brass bands. and the
from the east were sold
lots and acres at fabulous prices.
Then came the crash Of 1898, and
Judge Olney and his daughter lived on
the hope that the tide in their fortunes
would turn for the better. They be-
came hard pressed for money Judge J
Olney died, and most, If not all. OF
their holdings were sold for taxes.
Miss Olney was induced to give quit
claim deed to some Of the choicest land
about Pasco when the spectators got
busy on the report that the govern
ment would divert the Pa1ouse river In
the Franklin county desert.
Sues for q Divorce.