The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-09-26
Will Be the Hearing Of Mrs. /.
Ball at Blue Mound.
Charged With Attempting to
Poison a Stepson.
IN WATER.
Alleged Motive of Crime to Sc.
cure Money and Farm.
Case Comes Up Sept. %, De.
PENDANT Ont on Bail.

lola, Sept. 26.-The preliminary
hearing of Mrs. Isaac Ball, of Elsmore.
Kans., who is now under arrest.
charged with attempting to poison her
stepson, Forrest Ball, and his family.
will be held in Blue Mound, Kans.. on
the 2Sth of this month Because of
the prominence of the Ball family in
both this and Linn county the case is
attracting much attention.
Forest Ball, the stepson, in swearing
to the complaint charging the defend
ant, Mrs. Isaac Ball, with attempting
TO take his life and the lives of his
FAMILY, says that on or about August
14th last, when his step-mother was
visiting his home ~ Linn county,, near
Blue Mound, arsenic was put in the
barrel which contained the water the
FAMILY drank and used for cooking
purposes. Early that morning when
Mrs. Forest Ball went out to get the
water which she expected to make cof-
Zee win Tor the family, she noticed
tnat the cup was gone and that there
was white scum over the water 1t
is alleged that because of the appear
ance of the water and because on the
night previous at the supper table
Mrs. Isaac Ball, the accused woman.
nad stated that an enemy of the fami-
iy was in the country and that they
mad better be careful, she did not use
the water from the barrel, but went
elsewhere to get it.
The suspicion of the entire family
was aroused and a sample of the wa
ter found in the barrel was sent to the
chemist at the State University who
made an analysis and found that it
contained a large quantity of arsenic
The evidence connecting Mrs. Isaac
Ban with the placing of the poison is
clrcumstantial. 1t is alleged that on
the night previous she was seen about
the building near where the barrel
containing the poisoned water stood.
Tracks which appear to be that of a
woman were found in the wet ground
near the barrel.
The state alleges that the motive
on the rart of Mrs. Ball to commit
such a crime would be to secure the
money and farm which her husband
left upon his death August 1. In
this will. it is said, he gave this farm
to his wife, the accused woman, the
remainder of her life. At her death
everything was to go to her son. Isaac
Ball had $4,000 life insurance. $1,000
of that went to his son, Forrest Ball,
and $4,000 to his wife. 1t is charged
that she wished this property to go to
her children.
1t is claimed that soon after the dis
covery of the poison Mrs. Ball returned
to her home in Elsmore where she
says she found arsenic poisoning in the
water which she used for drinking and
cooking purposes. On the morning
after returning to her home about 2
o'clock she went to a physician, COM
planning that she had been poisoned.
The state insists that this is a well
laid plan on the part of the defendant
to lay the blame of the poisoning on
an enemy of the family, by making
it appear that she was to be poisoned.
Mrs. Ball is now out on $1,000 bond
which she gave as soon as arrested
Mrs. Isaac Ball is the sister of Col
umbus Carter, who was killed near his
home in Elsmore, in 1883, by parties
in ambush. Several arrests were made
Three men were finally convicted of
the charge of killing Carter after long
litigation.