The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-05-02

young woman barely out of her teens,
died here in April, 1898, and the circum-
stances of her death were such as to
excite commen t.
She had been sick only about three
days, and was attended by DR.. w. H.
Hill, now practicing medicine in st.
Joseph. On the third day the patient
was reported much batter. She receiv-
ed some of her friends, and it was
thought that in q dav or so she would
be about again in her usual health; but
the next morning she was dead.
Inquiry OF those who had been with
her during the night brought out the
fact that she had taken nothing save II
drink of water. The hody was buried
simply, and few months later Bruce
left Plattsburg.
About eight years ago Bert Bruce was
called upon To defend himself in the
circuit court of Holt county, this state,
against a criminal charge preferred by
a young woman who lived at Mound
City. He was taken to Oregon, the
county seat, for trial before Judge G. A.
Anthony, of Maryville, then circuit
Judge of the judicial district which en-
braces Holt County.
After all the witnesses for the prose-
cution, save the complainant, had testi-
fed, the court took recess until the
following morning. The first witness
called in the morning was the young
woman, and Bruce's attorneys objected
to her testifying. When asked upon
what grounds, the courts attention
was called to the statute which provides
that wife may not be required
to testify against her husband. 1t then
developed that Bruce and the complain
ing witness had had conference the
night before, which ended in their
marriage.
The case, of course, was dismissed,
but not until Judge Anthony had deiv-
cred himself of scathing denunciation
of Bruce.
1t is said that Bruce and the girl
never afterward lived together. She
soon procured divorce and was re-
married at ST. Joe.
Four years ago Bruce was married to
Mamie Self, and she secured divorce
from him three months ago and is now
one of the chief witnesses against him.
Since the death of Self and Gcisler
Bruce has been in trouble of various
kinds, having been arrested several
times charged with felonies and mis-
demeanors, and his wife, in her divorce
case against him, gave some very dam
aging testimony, from which it was i'll
ferred that he had tried to kill her.
These things served to detract from
his former good reputation and high
social standing and speculation regard
ing the death of Self and Geisler be-
came bolder, and within the past six
weeks so many stories reached prose-
cutting attorney Keller that he decided
to act and detectives were put at work
on the case. Since then Developments
have followed each other in quick suc=
cession. Autopsies have been held;
the stomachs and other parts were re-
moved from the bodies of Self and
Geisler and turned over to chemists
for analysis. and upon their reports
the grand jury returned the indict-
ment. 1t is said that much important
testimony in the case has not been
made public, but it is known that the
chemists found arsenic in large quanti-
ties in the stomachs of both men.
Bruce has retained attorneys and at
his preliminary examination on Monday
he waived arrangement and entered a
plea of mot guilty" being remanded to
jail without bonds. His case will be
tried at the next regular term of court
at st. Joe which begins on the third
Monday in June.