The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-28
MURDERED BY SCIENCE.
Cunning Method Used by Doctor to
Kill Girl Who Was an Obstacle
to His Getting a Fortune.
(Ch;cago Tribune. J

| 6rnCOn ne ndO reldXed from MS ndOll-
ual reticence. We sat in Grant park
watching the endless flow of carriages
and automobiles. Rivers knew nearly
everybody, and as he commented on the
passersby the seamy side of society
seemed to be passing in panorama be-
! fore me.
/ For a moment there was A stoppage
| in the stream of vehicles, and a vel
| low automobile came to a standstill
before US. In it was seated man of
remarkable appearance-tall, broad
shouldered. exceedingly corpuient, with
a fine, massive head. If you merely
| had taken the upper part of his face
| you might have passed him off as a
| benevolent philosopher, but rhe heavy
| jaw and thin lips gave him a sinister
expression.
''Whoever he is" I said to Rivers,
that mans no fool"
No, he's probably the cleverest II an
in America, and certainly the wicked
est. You wouldn't think that pleasant
| person seated there nOdding to his ac-
| quaintances is a murderer. There, lie
| has noticed me-thOse quick eyes of his
miss nothing. A clever man, an ex-
| ceedingly clever man, but he'd be none
the worse for hanging"
My curiosity was awakened by
Rivers description. "Who is this muir
derer?" 1 asked, "who drives along
Michigan avenue as if he owned it?''
That's DR.. Alwyne Beswick, the
great consulting physician. He makes
$4,000 a year and spends $4,000. oh,
the murders he was responsible for
Or. Beswick, businesslike in every
thing. of course, married an heireSs.
Her father died soon after the mar
riage, by the way, and l shouldn't
wonder if the amiable doctor helped
him out of the world. Anyhow, he left
his money, 100000 or so, to be equally
divided between his two daughters.
If one daughter died without children
the surviving daughter would inherit
her sisters share. If she left chill
dren, however, the money would go to
them. Thus it was to the doctors
interest that his sister-in-law, Mrs.
TreVille, should not live. Luckily,
from his standpoint, she was a hope
less invalid. She suffered from neural
gia of the heart and a few other COM
plants, and no one would give six
months purchase for her life. How
ever. if she died, the doctor would be
no better off. Her daughter, Maud
Treville, was a bright girl of IS, who
had just become engaged. Thus it
would be useless for the doctor mere
ly to remove Mrs. Treville, but if he
could get Maud out of the way the
shock of her death would certainly kill
her mother, and the $3.50, 600 would re-
vert to Mrs. Beswick. Charles Treville
and the doctor are the best of friends.
Treville is a supplemented man. with
a great respect for his clever brother
in-Iaw. l believe that he would as
little think that DR.. Beswick could
have designs on his wifes money as
he would think of trying to get Mrs.
Beswick's money for himself. How
ever, now I've given you the ground
work of the case, I'll tell you how
became involved in 1t.
Il was sitting in my office one morn
| ing when clerk brought me a card
1t bore the name of Leonard Travis,
and the clerk told me the gentleman
wished to see me at once. 1 didn't
know the name, but told my clerk to
show him in My visitor was hand
some young fellow. dressed in mourn
ing. and he seemed to me to be in a
state of great agitation.
" Sit down, Mr.. Travis / said to
him. and tell me the trouble
He looked me steadily in the face.
It's murder, cold blOoded murder
he said.
Give, me the details, please
My fiancee, Maud TreviIle. died a
few days since. Her death was mys-
verdict. The analysis and doctors say
teh symptoms point to strychnine pOis-
| Oning. but I am confident that was not
/ the real cause of death.
We'll, he went on to tell me of Dr.
! Beswick's financial interest in Miss
| Treville's death. Directly I heard the
name Of Beswick l listened eagerly, be-
cause | knew the doctor was capable
| of anything.
when he had finished I said. We'll,
can you prove that DIR. Beswick adj
ministered anything to Miss Treville ?
| Had he been giving her any medicine
/ Had he any opportunity to placing
! anything in her fOOd?'
No, he had not seen her for four
| or five days before she died, but l
know how he killed her. He killed her
| by shocks from an electric battery
4 The day before her death Dr. Beswick
! sent Mrs. Trevile a letter. 1t said that
| he had purchased an electric battery
| in New York and sent it to her. He
| thought she might try the effect of
electricity for her neuralgia. The next
| day the battery arrived. Mrs. IRE
| vile was in great pain and resolved
| to try if the battery would give her
any relief She tried it and undoubt-
eddy felt better. Then Miss Treville
said she never had felt an electric
shock, so tried the battery herself.
Within half an hour she began to be
i'll. Soon she was in such agony that
a doctor was sent for But in spite
of everything that could be done she
died that afternoon. [ believe that
DR.. Beswick knew that in some way
Maud was susceptible to the effects of
electricity, and sent that powerful bat
/ terry with the deliberate intention Of
killing her.
q" Is that all your case? I asked.
Yes
Then Mr.. Travis, I strongly rec
Omend you to hold your tongue. You
have not limited your suspicious to any
one yet? All, that's right. The young
woman died, according to the medical
evidence, from strychnine in some
form. You allege that she was killed
by an electric shock. Now, the bat
terry was sent not to Miss TrevilIe, but
to her mother. You admit the treat
ment did Mrs Treville good Yet you
allege that the shock from this bat
terry killed a healthy person 1 own
that l regard DR.. Beswick as an ut
terry INSCRIPTIONS person, but you
have no case. Has he, to your knowI-
edge, performed any electrical expert
ments on the girI?'
90 No. | am sure of that Didn't she
say that she never had felt an electric
hofora