The Washington times., 1908-07-11
HONEN'S LETTERS
CLUES TO MURDER
Wilson Case Furnishes New
Lines That May Solve
Mystery.

PHILADELPHIA. July u.-Part Of
the detective force or Philadelphia are
today scrutinizing a stack Of letters
/ found IL a secret drawer in q desk in
| the home Of Dr. William H Wilson.
who died after drinking poisoned ale
sent 20 him by express Other detec-
! tives have begun = careful search
among The dealers in seals and dies in
! an endeavor 10 find where the seal with
! which the impression Of a letter So
was imprinted on the sealing wax which
/ the bottle was sealed. With the two
r-w clues 10 work on police believe that
he murderer Of Dr. Wilson may be
| found
The letters. fifteen hundred Of them.
contain inform ation that II is expected
viii unravel much OF the mystery that
surrounds the career Of Dr. Wilson
Most OF the letters are from women.
/ Many bear the names OF women socially
prominent. Two persons already are
/ under police surveillance as a result OF
the disclosures In the letters.
Stamp Used on Bottle.
The discover that the s. imprinted
in the sealing wax was not made by
the letter pun n ased from the keystone
Type foundry. Dat from a seal evident
~ made with the letter as a model has
furnished another clue. Detectives be-
heve Il viii be much easier TO discover
VINO ordered the seal than 90 find who
purchased the type They say a more
careful record OF sucn a sale would be
necessary.
Mrs. Mary Wilson. wife of the slain
man. IS IN a state Of collapse. and IS
under the care Of a physician as the
result Of her appearance yesterday be-
fore the cOCOner's jury AM the strain
OF her tragic recital OF the circum-
stances leading up 90 the death OF her
husband.
Did Not Tell Of Poison.
Though Mrs. Wilson herself testified
that the dying words q her husband
were, My God. 1 am poisoned" three
physicians 4.Jer cath declared that
while they were labOrins 10 save her
husbands life she never told them about
the suspicion Of poisoning. but left
tnem cropping IN the dark for a diagnosis .
Of the case ahG the remedies needed
until little flve-yeai-old Vera Wilson
oaofled out the story Of the poisoned
ale.
MS. Wilson, who was much azitate5
during her cross-eNamination al the
cOrOner's inquest, thought al nrst .baf
she had told the physicians everything
10 shea light on the nature OF her hils-
banc sudden illness. but finally de-
clared that she was not sure whether
or not she told them about the uojsonei
ale bottle Z
Il handed him the bottle and a glass
anc he took a sip said the wId6u, in
describing the death scene, after she
had told about the decOy letter which
her husband had received. and in whicO
he was asked to sample the poisoned
ale. He took a s!p-Oh-he swallowed
some Of il and spit some of ~ ont /
My, that's horrid stuff, he said Just
put Il 10 your lips, don't drink IL
Then he Sot up from the table and
said, My God, I am poisoned. Keep
that bottle
Looked Like hemorrhsge.
I found Dr. Wilson unconscious ana
gave him a heart stimulant by hypo-
dermic. I had no conversation with
Mrs. Wilson about the ale and Il struck /
me as If the man was suffering from,
cerebral hemorrhaEe," said DR.. Edwin /
Miller, the first physician to be called 4
in.
when I came to the house there u,as
a crowd Of excited people there. and 1
Mrs. Wilson carried on in a hvsterjcai 4
manner, said Dr. p. a. Trau. mo; /
Mrs. wilson said nothing about the ale
bottle. I heard nothing about rbat
until the little girl Vera, babIed ont
that Daddy drank some of the ale and I
spat il out because Il was bitter Then /
u was that [ said we are better save !
that bottle"
You are sure Mrs. Wilson said Moth
ing TO you about the ale2'' asked AS 1
emphasis.
! am answered DR.. Trau. She
said nothing until the little girl had
mentioned il. Then Mrs Wilson said.
oh. he didn't drink much OF it."
How much, or rather how extremely !
little. of the SIe was needed 80 kill pr. I
Wilson was brought out later. when the 4
city chemists, DR.. George Meeker and 4
DIR. William G. Robinson. testified that
they found the enormous dose OF 63J. 4
grains OF cyanide Of potassium in the 4
bottle OF ale, which contained 81 fluid
ounces Cf liquid, enough poison to Kill 4
several hundred people From one-haIf /
of the stomach contents OF Dr. Wilson 1
the chemists recovered O32 grain of \
cyanide and from the other half O296 /
grain
Mrs. Wilson made an extremely pa /
thetic figure in court She was dressed 4
in deepest mourning nd heavily yelled /
Her whole body tremhled, and her phys
ical and mental suffering was most pitt I
ful. After she was sworn she was
offered a chair beside the witness stand. /
EuC even resting in the chair. with her |
attorney. Francis Namely at her side,
she was several times on the verge of /
collapse and appealed to Assistant Dis
trIct Attorney Gray to excuse her.
sI.25 to Baltimore and Return