The Mena weekly star., 1910-04-21
DEFENSE OF FDR. HYDE
FRANK p. WALSH MAKES OPEN ING STATEMENT IN sENsA-
 TloNAL POISONING CASE.
THAT PURCHASE OF CYANIDE
Defendant Had Used the Drug for Years to Kill Cock Reaches In Ills office-Denies Nurses Story About the Capsule.

office-Denies Nurses Story About
 the Capsule.
 Kansas City, April 20.-The defense in the trial of Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde, charged with the murder of Thomas H. Swope, will try to prove these things.
 That the cyanide of potassium, which the state says was one of the poisons used to kill Colonel Swope, was employed in Doctor Hyde's office and had been so employed for years, as in many offices of doctors, to eradi- cate eockroaches and other vermin.
 The uraemic poisoning was clearly indicated in the viscera of Colonel Swope, and that long drinking had made his liver and kidneys inactive.
 About the Typhoid Germs.
 That a negro servant in the Swope household had typhoid several days before any of the Swopes, and that the mother of this servai~ nursed the daughter and at the same time cooked the food eaten by the Swope family.
 That the entire Swope family had for years taken pills and other alleged medicines prepared by a negro from Fort Scott, Kan, a Doctor" Jordan who represented himself to be South American specialist.
 That Colonel Swope took Jordan pills possibly the night before he died and certainly up to within day or SC previously.
 That Lucy Lee Swope took six of Doctor Jordan's pills while on the train between New York and Kansas City.
 Young Tom Was III.
 That instead of the shadow oi death and all sickness being lifted after Doctor Hyde left the Swope home December IS, young Thomas Swope was III with fever resembling typhoid after his trip to Chicago in January with J. c. Paxton, and that he, too. took Jordan's medicines for that ailment.
 And finally. that every box and bot tie of medicine in the Swope home was destroyed, burned, day or two after Col Swope died. at the suggestion o Thomas Swope, Jr.
 All these intentions were made known in the opening statement O Frank P. Walsh, leading counsel fol Dr. Hyde.
 Defendant and Wife to Testify. Mir. Walsh also said that Dr. ant Mrs. Hyde both would testify. The defense will show in the begin ming of it's case, MT. Walsh said, thal instead of plotting to gain the Swops millions. neither Dr. Hyde nor his wife knew how the property was to be di vided in the will and that when Col Swope died in the presence of both neither knew whether they were tt receive a dollar or thousand Twyman Held the String, Mir. Walsh declared, in referring tc the death of J. Moss Hunton by apo plexy, that bleeding, it would De shown, was proper and moreover tha' it would not have been proper in thai particular kind of aroplexy nao not . large quantity of blood been drawr from the patient Hunton. be said
 was nearly dead when Dr. Hyde ar rived
 Instead of Dr. Hyde controlling the operation, Mir. Walsh said. it would be shown that Dr. G. r. Twyman helo the tie-string on the artery and shu off the flow when he deemed it proper to do so He described the friendly relations between Col Swope and pr Hyde and Mrs. Hyde; told how ths doctor called and chatted with him al hour daily or frequently and general, held his good regard
 MT Walsh spoke for two hours and five minutes without notes and with out arousing the states counsel to ons objection. He received the closest at
 tention from the jury. The courtroom
 was crowded almost to an uncomfort able degree and the railways wer, packed to the street.
 Or. Hyde's Early Life. A sketch of Dr. Hyde's early lift formed the beginning of Frank P Walsh's statement to the jury. For , while the voice of the attorney wa! rather low and the words came slowly but gradually the strength of the tonel grew until the voice, the gestures. tn, appearance of the attorney formed ; picture of impassioned speech. Bennett Clark Hyde, known 10 al of us as Clark Hyde, was born on ; farm" the attorney said "He Is sor of George w Hyde, who is sittin! there by his side. He lived on tn, farm until he was years old and thei the family moved to Boonville, Mo. IT 1881 the family moved 10 Lexington There the defendant was pupil in th' westworth Military academy He wal graduated there and became a sudden at William Jewell College in Libert, in 1892 Then he came to Kansas Cit, and was graduated from the Unlvers ity Medical college in 1895. The woman who is sitting by his side is Mrs Frances Swope Hyde, daughter o Mrs Logan 0. Swope, with whom sh' lived until 1905, when she married Dr Hyde We intend 10 prove to you tha since that time husband and wife hay, lived together in perfect happiness"