Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-19
Friends Rally to Mrs. Wallau.

Friends Rally to Mrs. Wallau.
Loyal friends of Mrs. Wallau have been
so shocked by the charge against her that
yesterday from dozen different quarters
came two suggestions as to how the great
quantities Of mercury came to be found in
the dead woman's stomach.
One is that the wealthy widow, who was
suffering constant pain from her cancer
Gus affection, hoped for death as a relief
by dropping bichloride Of mercury tablets
in the champagne that was prescribed for
her. The second suggestion-an extraor
binary one-came from DR.. Samuel Gluck,
the family physician and friend.
Mind you,'' said the doctor in the dis
trict attorneys office week ago, Il do
not admit that Mrs. Wallau administered
poison to her mother; do not believe it.
But If she did-mind you, l say, ifs it
not conceivable that it was done from
motives Of humanity to put the old lady
out Of her misery?'
In another form this same suggestion
was put up to Assistant District Attorney
Corrigan yesterday.
Suppose" said the questioner, chat
Mrs: Wallau, worn out by constant at
shocked and distressed beyond mea sure
by Mrs. Binge's suffering, in a fit of emo
tional insanity thought it her duty to end
the elderly woman's pain, would any jury
convict her of murder?'
II decline to answer said Mr.. Cor,
rigan lightly, ION the ground that 1 have
not been retained as an attorney for the
defense"
The attitude of the district attorneys
office is that even without showing a
strong motive for murder, the coroner's
jury, the grand jury and finally a trial
jury will be compelled to adjudge the
woman guilty For" said a member of
Mr.. Jeromes staff, eff a shoots down
another man on the street and kills him,
after generalization, it makes little differ
ence in law that the murdered man was
suffering at the time from toothache or
other bodily affection"
Three Handled the Wine.
AS to the suicide theory, the district at
torney believes he can show that the cham
payne, from the moment it was brought
into the Wallau house at No. 6S East SOth
street, from Delmonico's, where it was
purchased, never was out of the sight of
time could have dropped a mercury tablet
into bottle unobserved. The half-pint
bottles of <champagne were opened in the
basement by Martha Meyer, the waitress;
by her sent upstairs on the dumb-waiter to
Mrs-~-Wallau and by Mrs. Wallau were
handed to Miss Elizabeth Devine, the
trained nurse who was in constant attend
ance on the invalid for six weeks.
Martha Meyer, Hannah O'Keefe, Bertha
Kuckuk and Thomas Woodson, the SER
wants, were brought to the district at
torney's Office under subpoenas by County
Detectives Reardon and Bremen yester-
day. After a talk with Mr. Corrigan they
were taken before Coroner Acritell and
placed under $1,000 bail each to appear as
witnesses at the inquest to be held at
1890 o'clock this morning They were
represented by P. J. Rooney of Ed
ward Lauterbachs law office and Harry s.
Bandler of Bandler & Haas, Mrs. Wal
lau's attorneys Bail for the servants was
furnished by Joseph Freeman, who lives
at No. 20 East SOth street. next door to the
Wallaus, and who gave a 5000 bond for
Mrs. Wallau when she was held as a wit
ness week before her arrest.
WoOdson, who Is a colored man, carried
the bottle containing bichloride of mercury
tablets from Jaffe's pharmacy, 10th street
and Lexington avenue, to the Wallau
house. There were fifty tablets in the bot
tie. Each tablet contains over seven grains
Of the-poison. Three grains is lethal
dose. After leaving the coroner's office
Martha Meyer made the following state
ment to reporter for the World:
Mrs Binge Wanted to Die.
II am certain that Mrs. Wallau never
gave poison to her mother. I believe that
Mrs. Binge took the poison herself and
placed it in the champagne bottles Ny
mistress was very devoted to her mother
and was constantly by her side during her
last illness. 1t would have been a very
easy matter for Mrs. Binge to get the cor
rosive sublimate tablets from the bottle in
the bath room. remember that the day
Mrs. Binge finally took to her bed she was
in great pain and cried out that she wanted
to die-that she could not stand the pain.
II remember on that night, that after
Mrs. Wallau had taken the champagne
from me of the dumb waiter. she came
down stairs to dinner. and shortly after
ward both nurses came. They said that
Mrs. Binge insisted that they should go
to dinner together. Mrs. Binge was alone
for an hour and a half. When the night
nurse got back she found the old lady in
great pain, and she cried out that she
wanted to die"
Edward Lauterbach said yesterday that