The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-04-29
HOPED TO CLEAR
DIR. HYDE'S name
Mrs. SwOpe Started Investiga=
ton With Idea of Aiding
Physician, Says Witness
jury Kept in ignorance of Fact
That Medical Man Has
Been Sent to Jail

| KANSAS CITY, April 2S.-It was with
the hope that Doctor Hyde would be
purged of all suspicion that John G.
of Mrs. Logan o. Swope. began the in
vestigation of the Swope tragedies, he
testified in the criminal court today.
| During the afternoon session at
torneys tried to prove Paxton harbored
malice against Doctor Hyde when he
/ began his investigation. Paxton dis
| claimed that he did. When Hyde was
ordered from the Swope home on De-
cember fS, said Paxton, he shook hands
with the physician.
| Doctor and Mrs. Hyde laughed heart
lily when Paxton told about his en-
| ploying detectives. Asked why he en-
ployed them he said:
ITO shadow Doctor Hyde and pre-
vent him from escaping.
Calling attention to the fact that
| the defense had served a subpoena
duces tecum on Paxton ordering him
/ to produce the papers which passed
/ between him and the scientists who
made the autopsy on Colonel and Chris
man Swope, Attorney Walsh for Hyde
| asked the court to force the witness
to give them to Doctors Hyde's at
torney. Judge Latshaw refused the
| request, and said:
IF all the states evidence were to
be turned over to the defense in Grim
inal cases, you might as we'll lock the
| front doors of the jails and open the
| back"
FOUND CAPSULES IN STREET
Thomas H. Swope Jr. told the court
today how he found capsules which
Doctor Hyde had thrown away in a
street, and recognized the odor they
emitted as cyanide of potassium.
While working in a Nevada mine he
became well acquainted with the poi
son and was positive he could not be
mistaken about the peculiar odor of it.
| Cyanide, he said, smelled like burned
almonds.
Doctor Hyde was about 500 feet from
him when the capsules were thrown
| stamped them into the snow after
dropping them, testified the witness.
| Insofar as Swope knew, Hyde did not
| know his actions were observed by
any one. Swope picked UP the capsules
and took them home.
Accompanied by John G. Paxton, said
Swope, he made a second visit to the
spot where he had seen Hyde and they
found fragments of three capsules.
All of the parts of the capsules were
sent to Chicago and chemists there
found traces of cyanide in them
After smelling wet cyanide on the
hand of Hugo Breeklein, a druggist, in
the courtroom, Miss l.. E. Van Mugs
said it was the same drug she smelled
on the hand of Swope after he had han
died the capsules he picked up in the
| street.
KEPT IN IGNORANCE
At noon Judge Latshaw ordered that
| at all times Doctor Hyde, whose bonds
have been revoked, should be brought
into and removed from the courtroom
out of the presence of the jury, in
order that the jurymen might not know
he was in the custody of the authori-
ties. The jury does not know he has
been in jail.
The action of the court pleased Mrs.
Hyde. She smiled when the order was
given.
During the morning session Walsh
held whispered conversation with At
torney John NJ. Cleary, and then, speak
ing rapidly, addressed the court:
Mr. Cleary hears that Thomas II.
Swope Jr. is in the prosecutors office
with cyanide sprinkled on his body and
is ready to come into court with this
odor on his clothes"
IF such is the case, have every odor
of cyanide removed before he is called
as Witness ordered the court
Miss Van Mugs was summoned and
she smelled the poison on Brecklein's
hands. She said it was the same odor
that emanated from the hands of Swope.
Prosecutor Conkling asked that the
jury be permitted to smell Brecklein's
hands. The court refused to grant the
request.
PICKS UP CAPSULES
Thomas II. Swope Jr. was called as
the next witness. There was no odor
| of cyanide about his person. Telling
of his finding the capsules, Swope said:
ION December IS, while walking
down Pleasant street in independence.
saw Doctor Hyde approaching me. A
block from me he crossed the street
Just after he stepped off the sidewalk
| he dropped something and stepped on
| it, A second time he repeated the ac-
ton. When he passed on l went to the
point where the articles had been
dropped and found a broken capsule in
the snow. l put it in my pocket.
Going home, I showed the capsule
to Miss Van Nuys and my mother. l
| noticed a peculiar smell about my
hands 1t was like burned almonds.
Miss Van Mugs smelled them when L
called her attention to it.
| Three or four weeks later / re-
called 1 had smelled the odor before
| it was that of cyanide of potassium"
Swope was excused after being asked
a few questions at the afternoon ses-
| sion. John G. Paxton followed as a
| witness. He said for Is years he had
been attorney for Mrs. Logan o. Swope
and was one Of the executors of Colonel
| Swope's estate. He corroborated
Thomas H. Swope's story about pick
ing up capsules.
These capsules and the contents of
the stomach of Margaret Swope We're
taken by him to Chicago for examina-
ton, said Paxton.
PIONEER NUN DIES-Denyer, April 2s.-Sister