The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-06
HAD POISON MANIA
Charles T. Yerkes Believed Ser
wants Sought His Death

Z. .NHdTlCS CIkCS DCilCNNH OCN-
wants Sought His Death
Chicago, oct at is asserted that
Charles 7. Yerkes at the time OF his
death Ia bored under the delusion that
his sery ants were cOnspiring to poi
son him. This will be the argument
advanced when the latest chapter in
the litigation over the estate Of Chi
cago's one-time attraction king comes
to court hearing.
Suspicion directed at members of
his immediate household is said TO
have been SO acute that he compelled
the butler and frequently the house
maid to par.ake of food set for him,
While he drank only what was ulbot-
tleG or prepared before him.
With the Cling of what purports to
| be a cCdicil to his final testam elt and
preparations to prevent it from being
sustained by the court these develop
nents can out ard promise to be
only the fCrerunner of unusual disclo-
sures in connection with the last days
OF the man who once controlled the
city's transportation lines.
Before Judge Cunning in probate
court Frid ~ Walter w. Ross, repres-
enting Lolis S. Owsley, executor of
the Yerkes estate, filed the codicil
which acts to strike from his will
| bequest of $4,000 to six of his ser
wants. II is dated London, August 19,
| 1905. Mr.. Yerkes died in New York
the following December. Reference
is made to the fact that he bequeath-
ed $4,000 to Arnold Held, his chauf
feur and $4,000 to other servants but
there is no explanation why the gifts
were revoked.
William Mannhardt, a Chicago at
torpey, has been retained to fight the
validity of the codicil and uphold
Held's claim to $4,000. Held and the
other servants are counted upon to
establish proof of Mr. Yerkes' poison
delusion" and to their testimony will
be added testimony of Franklin Bien,
New York attorney, who was with
Mr.. Yerkes in London, and Mary
Lightford Spotswood, London, both OF
whom signed the codicil as witness
es.
Just prior to the death of Mr..
Yerkes he became obsessed with the
idea that his servants were trying TO
kill him with poison" said Mr. Mann
hardt I'VE have evidence sufficient
to prove that, and hope even to estab-
lish 1t with the aid of Mr.. Yerkes
own Witnesses. That it was nothing
but the delusiOn of suspicious mind
will serve To establish the invalidity
of the codicil filed yesterday and pre-
pare the way for the servants TO share
In the es ate as Mr.. Yerkes once in
tended.
why this codicil has been so long
held back, rather than filed at once
so that it could figure in the litigation
of the past months, we do not know
I'VE are satisfied that, although Mr.
Yerkes went to extraordinary ends TO
test his servants and break up what
he believed "a conspiracy to kill him
before his time and profit by his
death, he finally was convinced Of the
faithfulness Of at least a few, because
on his death bed he said. I came near
doing Held a great injustice.
The movement In support of the
Held claim against the Yerkes estate
was started by and has the backing
of the Swiss minister to France who
will be represented here by the Swiss
consul in Chicago A. Holinger Held
acted as the chauffeur for Mr.. Yerkes
in London, Paris and New York.
When Mr.. Yerkes died Held went TO
the home of his mother-in-law in Par
is. The latter has been a servant for
many years i'm the. home of the Swiss
minister to France She told her en-
ployer the story of the cancelled be-
quests and what her son-in-law had
said with reference to the poison de-
fusion and the acts Of Mr.. Yerkes in
his attempt to Illustrate a suspected
plot
II the codicil is sustained the
Yerkes hospital of New York, an insti-
tuition for the establishment Of which
provision was made in the viii, will
be richer by $4,000