Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-03-20
WIFE GAVE POISON
TO HER HUSBAND
Mrs. White Convicted After A
Sensational Trial.
WOMAN AND LOVER EXPOSED
Woman's Daughter Went on Stand and
Gave Evidence that Convicted Her
Mother-Love Letters Were Snug.
gIed Into Jail.
gIed Into Jail.

Rayville, La, March 19-Charged
with poisoning her husband with
strychnine in order to be free of mar
ital ties and to marry younger man,
Mrs. Bette E. White, SO years old, OF
comely appearance, has been convicted
of manslaughter in the district court
here before Judge w. j. Gray, who sen
fenced the woman to term of fifteen
years in the penitentiary. The most
sensational feature of the trial, which
lasted a week was the testimony of
Mrs. Mary Bassett, of Rayville, elder
daughter of Mrs White, who identified
the handwriting of her mother in nu-
merous billet doux alleged to have
been sent by Mrs. White to Manfred
Cook, % years old, her alleged accom-
plice in the poison conspiracy.
The love letters were smuggled into
the cell of Cook while he and Mrs.
White were in jail here awaiting trial.
The correspondence, which was inter
cepted by the Jail officials after being
received by Cook, contained practical
ly a confession. Some of the letters
covered forty and fifty pages of closely
written manuscript, in which Cook
was addressed by most endearing
names and told to "be true to the one
who loves you and one who would die
for YOU
Cook, who is in Jail here, and is yet
to be tried for the part he Is alleged
to have played in the conspiracy, stat
ed at the trial that Mrs White intend
ed to marry o. F. Bagwell, a young
man, with whom, the witness testified,
she had been conducting secret cor
respondence for months before the de-
mise of W. H. White, the husband.
Cook denied having purchased the
strychnine with which the work was
done, as alleged by the prosecution,
and stated that he had no connection
with the affair further than being a
the husband, was a prosperous farmer
in Richland parish, and had accumulat-
ed a considerable competence He
was so years of age. The man died
March 10, 1905, after few hours
illness. The actions of Mrs. White,
both at the time her husband was
confined and when he was buried,
aroused the suspicious of neighbors
The body, shrouded only in a suit OF
underclothes, was bundled into a pine
box and put into the ground with lit
tie ceremony. A week later the au-
thorities exhumed the remains and for
warded the stomach to DR. A L. Metz,
professor of chemistry in Tulane uni
versity, New Orleans. The chemist
testified at the trial that he found nine
tenths of a grain of strychnine in
one-fourth portion of the intestines,
and stated that half grain is a fatal
dose. In his opinion it was unreas-
enable to presume that strychnine
could be taken in tablets and accu-
mulate to an amount sufficient to
cause death, as set forth by the de-
fense, which claimed that White was
a morphine fiend, and addicted to the
use of other drugs, including strych-
nine.
DR.. H. F. Wilkins, DR.. H. r. Wrenn,
DR.. w. D. Wheless and other physi.
clans were put on the stand by the
prosecution, and corroborated the ex-
pert testimony of DR.. Metz, in so far
as the accumulation theory is concern.
ed. Mrs. White, when sentence was
pronounced, was surrounded by her
two young children, girl of IL and a
boy Of IA. She exhibited the same
composure that has characterized her
bearing during the ordeal of the last
year. She denied the authorship of
the letters to Manfred Cook, and said
she had no hand in her husbands
death, declaring that If strychnine
poisoning was the cause Mr. White
had accomplished his own destruction
through the excessive use of drugs.