The Mena weekly star., 1910-05-12
IN HIS OWN DEFENSE
pR. HYDE FOLLOWS WIFE ON WIT. NESS STAND IN sWoPE
 POISONING CASE.
CHILLED BY THE PROSECUTION
Under Severe Cross-Examinaticn De. fendant Made What Appears to bs Damaging Adnslssions--Denled He Ever Gave Poison to Anybody.

rible ordeal that Dr. E. Clark Hyde. charged with the Swope murders. went through on cross-examination And when he left the stand at noon the prosecution had made him make damaging admissions. The chief point was when he could remember no other druggist besides Brecklein from whom he had bought cyanide, after saying he had been using the poison for eight or ten years. The purchases from Brecklein had been made last fall.
 At 1:30 o'clock Doctor Hyde was again called to the stand He showed no trace of the grilling examination of the morning.
 lie Denied Everything.
 On direct examination in the first hour of the session Dr. Hyde denied everything anyone has heretofore said about the Swope troubles. He said he felt Margaret Swope's pulse be- fore giving her hypodermic of cam phorated oil and that Miss Gordon. the nurse, knew he intended to use it. He denied putting any germs in Lucy Lees silver cup on the train coming from New York. He told of arranging in August, 1908, to have laboratory in the Keith & Perry building and said he talked to Doctor Stewart about 1t in September, that year. McGonigle, agent of the build ing, knew he intended to have such room, he said.
 Never Gave Poison.
 Hyde told of the cultures kept in his office in November and described test he made in treating case. a test in which he used part of the ty. phoid cultures in one tube Doctor Hyde said, referring to cyanide, that he knew the best way to preserve it was in capsule form. He said he had not given any poison or any germs to any human being at any time or in any place. and, closing, emphatcallv denied throwing away or dropping capsules of any kind in the snow in Pleasant street, Independ- ence. the night of December IS, or at any other tlme.
 The cross-examination developed the chief point upon which the state Is depending. This was a relentless, persistent effort to prove that Doctor Hyde bought five grain Holadin di- gestive capsules one day in September and five grain cyanide capsules the next with the intention of using one 10 cover the other. The state says the defendant dare not say a cyanide capsule was given in mistake for Holadin because to try to explain one accident" would tie him up in acci- dents as to all the other cases of con- vulsions and typhoid
 Answered Readily at First.
 The cross-examination began at 9;50 o'clock. Virgil Conkling, prose cutting attorney. did the questioning in accordance. he said with the plan outlined in the beginning. At first Doctor Hyde answered as readily as when his own counsel were question ing him, but this attitude didn't last long. The inquiry as to cyanide pur- chases brought the change.
 Doctor Hyde declared confidently that he had used the poison for eight or ten years in removing stains of nitrate of silver from his fingers. This sounded plausible, but it's effect was lost when he could not remember one druggist except Hugo Brecklein who had sold him the poison. He had been with Doctor ]. w. Perkins several years ago and used cyanide in his office. but didn't know where it came from.
 The Jurors were evidently much in- terested In this line of testimony. Mr. Conkling clung to 1t for more than ah hour and thirty minutes ana Kep, alter the witness so fiercely that once or twice the court ruled his com. men's highly improper.
 The Cyanide Purchases.
 Another bad element for Hyde was ue prosecutors repeated question:
 II you used cyanide every day, as you say, and you bought only four capsules September 13, why was 1t you bought none from that date to December AZ"
 December was dark day in the owope home. Chrisman and Margaret were Ill., December 5 Chrisman had cohvuision and the next day he a'eu The significance was apparent - the question. Hyde declared he Souidnt remember buying cyanide pecemoer 4, and couldn't explain why ue bought none for more than two A,onlhs If he used 1t daily for his fing. CTS and to kill bugs.
 His Memory Bad.
 finally Conkkling, to pin the defend. an a,,' down to one idea. demanded {. van you tell me the name of one esist or any person from whom s.u bought cyanide in the last ten ssrfs except Hugo Brecklein?"
 Doctor Hyde replied q cannot" en .ne most remarkable part of the s,o'ssexamination sa,' came after Hyde aa .oia the second time that he used aluoe 10 kill reaches. He read in ,aa sone pamphlet that it was an excel rr. poison for that purpose. Conk aended him circular. This was