Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-05-20
LAW PROHIBITS BOND PENDING
CONVICTED MANS APPEAL TO
HIGHER TRIBUNAL.
PATHETIC SCENE IN COURT.
Defendants Wife Throws Her Arms
Around Husbands Neck and Weeps
as Verdict Is Read.
THE ACCUSED STILL HAS HOPE.

KANSAS CITY, No, May 16-Dr.
3. c. Hyde was found guilty at 1923
o'clock today Of numbering Col. Thomas
II. Swope. His punishment was fixed at
life imprisonment.
'Oh, Clark" cried Mrs. Hyde when
the verdict was read by Judge Latshaw.
She threw her arms about his neck
and Wept silently. Then she patted her
husband on the cheek
DR.. Hyde sat motionless. He looked
firmly at Judge Latshaw while the yer
dict was being received. AS the words
Imprisonment in the state penitentiary
during his natural life" were pronounced,
his gaze was fastened on the floor.
Don't worry, ttearie," he said to his
wife as she clasped him in her arms.
Mrs. z. n. Hopkins and Miss Laura
Hyde, sisters OF the physician, looked
distressed but did not break down. They
tried to comfort Mrs. Hyde.
eve shall hope for the BEST" they said.
"We don't understand this verdict.
Clark is innocent"
II have not lost hope" declared DR..
Hyde.
Within ten minutes after the verdict
way to his cell. Mrs. Hyde remained in
the courtroom for some time. She was
extremely weak
Neither Mrs. Logan o. SwoDe nor any
of her children except Mrs. Hyde, was
IN the room when the jury reported.
Planned to Hold Jury.
Judge Latshaw half an hour before
the verdict came in decided to change his
plan of discharging the jurors tomorrow
morning if they did not agree. He
planned to hold them for several days
longer.
When the announcement came that the
verdict was ready the news spread rapid
~ and every inch of space in the court
room was soon occupied.
The group at DR.. Hyde's table was
hopeful but inclined to nervousness Re
ports unauthorized, but persistent, were
that for many hours the vote had been
eleven to one for conviction. The ar
rival at an agreement made it appear
certain the physician had been found
guilty. In the face Of discouraging pros
poets, Mrs. Hyde evidently tried to be
brave.
II think it will be all right" she said
to her husband, and smiled.
Little time was wasted in reading the
verdict. The crowd heard it, and at
the marshaPs orders, arose and silently
trooped out from the room without con-
fusion
Appeal Will Be Made.
An hour after the verdict was reached,
Mrs. Hyde was able to go to her home.
Before leaving she said:
81 am now over the first shock and
am feeling strong. [ shall take imme-
date steps to make motion for new
trial. Failing in this, | shall arrange for
an appeal. The case will be reversed in
the supreme court, | am confident be-
cause Clark is innocent and therefore,
it cannot be otherwise"
When news of the conviction was for
warded by telephone to Mrs. Swope at
Independence she shrieked and dropped
the receiver. She refused to make q
statement.
1t is the belief Of court attaches that
the supreme court will be unable to reach
DR.. Hyde's case for at least a year, on
account Of the crowded condition of the
docket. In the meantime the prisoner
may be kept in the county Jail or sent to
the state prison at jefferson City by
Judge Latshaw. The law of Missouri
prohibits the courts from admitting per-
sons convicted of murder to bail.
Mrs. Swope Talks.
Mrs. Logan o. Swope was feeling i'm
proved III spirits this afternoon and con-
scented to talk.
IF l had not been satisfied I was
doing the rigth thing" she said 81 never
my son-in-law.
"As for a reconciliation with my
daughter, l stand now as l have always
stood. The doors of my house and my
arms aud heart are open to her when
ever she wants to come home. My mo-
ther love for her has never cooled I
have though she was mistaken but never
that she was other than the sweet, limo
cent girl she is"
History of the Case.
DR.. Hyde has been under suspicion in
connection with the mysterious illness
and deaths in the Swope family ever
since the death of Col. Thomas H
Swope on October 8, 1909.
The death Of Col Swope followed
soon after he had suffered severe con
yulsion and the CONFUSION, it was
charged by members of the Swope fam
lily, followed Immediately after the ad-
ministration of capsule at the direc-
ton of DR.. Hyde. 1t was proven at
the trial that DR.. Hyde had purchased
cyanide of potassium in five grain cap
sules.
Two days before the death of Col.
Swope, Moss Hunton, cousin of the
millionaire philanthropist, died at the
Swope home following a stroke of apo
plexy. DR.. Hyde and DR.. G. L. ivy
man of Independence treated Hunton.
Beginning early in December, an cpl
demlc of typhoid fever broke out in
the Swope home, during which ten MEM
bers of the family were stricken and one.
Chrisman Swope, brother of DR..
Hyde's wife, died. Chrisman died after
taking a capsule given at DR.. Hyde's
direction.
The analysis of the liver of Col.
Swope's body resulted in the finding of
hfty-two-slXty-sixthso of a grain of strych-