Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-05-12
DR.. WALTER CROSS
IN HYDE Defense
He Explains the Appearance Of Cya-
hide Poisoning.
FORMED BY NATURAL PROCESS
Also Told Of Conditions at the swops
Home That Might Account
For typhoid Epi-
den1lc.

Kansas City, May 7.-Hydrocyanl
acid, the deadly principle Of cyanide
potassium, and the poison alleged b
expert chemists to have been foun
in the stomach contents Of Thomas +
Swope, can very naturally be foun
from the combination Of formic aci
and ammonia, testified DR.. Walter N
Cross, city chemist, on the witnes
stand in the Hyde trial.
Then DR.. Cross, to make his NEAR
ing quite clear to the jury, explains
that q body treated with embalminl
fluid, as was Col. Swope's. is a likel,
place for the finding Of formlc acid
the oxidation Of the formaldehyde be
ing effected by the alkalis ordinaril!
found in The human system. Thi
formic acid, in combination with am
monia, which Is existent in both liv
ing and dead bodies, makes format'
of ammonia, which will change I,
hydrocyanic acid.
Depends on Temperature.
The time required to make the
change depends largely upon tempera
-ture.
DR.. Cross considered the atmOS
pheric conditions surrounding the
preservation Of the body Of Col. Swope
ideal for the ultimate formation Of the
hydroyanic acid and said he believed
that the fact that the states chemists
did not iind the cyanide on their firsi
tests and secured a response to testa
IeAbde three or four weeks later bore
e. his theory that the hydrocyanic
acid was formed In the stomach Of the
dead man after 1t had been frozen and
subjected to thawing out process.
The time required for the formation
Of the hydrocyanic acid depends on
the degree Of heat to which it is sub
jected. A low temperature and a long
time will effect the same results that
. high temperature will bring about in
short time.
Could Not Shake Him.
No amount of cross-examinatiop
could shake DR.. Cross from his posi-.
tion. He admitted friendship for DR.
Hyde to such a degree that he was
willing to give his services to the de
Tense gratuitously, but he also detailed
made in his own labora
tory by which he produced hydrocyantc
acid from the acids he believed were
present in the body Of Col. Swope.
The fact that summer weather con.
tinued for six weeks after the body Of
Col Swope was laid away in vault
and that the cold that followed froze
the corpse 80 that before an autopsy
could be performed a thawing out pro
cess had to be resorted to had a great
deal to do with the chemical combina
lion Of the acids, he said.
DR.. Cross wavered not q bit on cross.
He stood the fire better
than did the states chemists under the
lash Of Attorney Frank p Walsh, hav.
ing a reason for the faith that is in
him, that he was quite ready and will
ng to expound to the satisfaction Of |
everyone.
Commissions In typhoid.
DR.. J. B. Riley Of st. Joseph, Mo-,
estined that he had seen commissions
n typhoid fever. He had seen slight.
Ionic spasms and the severest tetaniC
he said.
He estimated that he had seen I'VE
" six typhoid patients who suffered
rom commissions and thought that
the germ Of the disease may
le inhaled, although It is usually
AIKEN into the system by food or drink.
'Uraemic spasms." said he, may be
mild or severe. It may be only n hand
r It may be the entire system thrown
nto violent commissions. Coma often
oilows:"
Typhoid, he said, is often carried BY
les ana Is often scattered BY the
vind.
He estimated that the typhoid germ
an live 80 years in a person who has
recovered from the infec.
lon. 1t grows in the tissues Of the
Iody, he said, and can infect an entire
-. s...,lts, :. NtN~ 4-Aawa