The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1910-11-15
--<---~ s-s4.r- - 49,
FITS UP. Up. HER CELL
Woman Accused of Poison
ing Her Husband.
IS HELD WITHOUT Bail
More Arrests Win be Made and
Unnamed Suspects Are Ex-
peeted to Prove How Drug
Was Obtained.

Wheeling, w. Va, NOV. lZ.-ln D
room in the tower OF the county jail,
fitted up with rocking chair and
quilts from her own palatial home
Mrs. Laura Farnsworth Schenk re
mains detained, without the privilege
of bail. awaiting developments in the
illness of her husband, John o
Schenk, a millionaire pork packer.
The arraignment of Mrs. Schenk on
charges that she attempted to poison
her husband by putting arsenic in his
food and drinking water will be de
layed pending the outcome OF his sick.
ness
At the North Wheeling hospital,
where he was taken two weeks age
when suspicion was first aroused, he
was reported as slightly improved. but
still critically ILL., He suffers a high
fever and has a pulse Of 124. Despite
his weakened condition the authorities
ventured to tell him of the arrest OF
Mrs. Schenk, but he is said to have
only exclaimed her name and later re
marked
IF all these things are true, she is
where she ought to be"
To Make More Arrests.
That further arrests are to be made
in the case was admitted by Prosecute
ing Attorney Handlan and Chief OF
Police Hastings. II is believed the I'M
named suspects are expected to furnish
light on the manner in which arsenic
or other drug might have found its way
into the Schenk home.
The authorities have the certlica
ton of chemists al the Johns Hopkins
university and the West Virginia uni.
versity that arsenic was found in sam
pies of mineral water alleged to have
been taken from Mr.. Schenk's bedside.
The state laws expressly forbid the
sale of poisonous drugs without regis
tratiOn of the purchaser. In this con
nection it is said physicians will be
questioned.
At the Jail Mrs. Schenk was ques-
toned anew, but she repeatedly de-
clared her limo; eDce of any attempt
upon her husbands life. Attorney
Handlan said that Mr. Schenk's Illness
might be said to date back nearly
year. In January he fell suddenly i'll
and he took a trip abroad for his
health, going alone.
Doctors Agree on Poisoning.
Following his return, much improv-
ed. he fell i'll again. and Dr. Gregory
Alderman, an eminent German spe-
cialist, who was called in. diagnosed
the case as poisoning He was, how
ever. soon afterward discharged from
the case.
DR.. Frank lie Moyne Hupp. a promi-
nent local physician. was then sum-
moned by relatives, and he returned a
similar diagnosis. but his opinion was
kept from Mrs. Schenk until the ex
pert analysis had been made and her
husband removed to the hospital Since
his removal there srhe had been re
fused the privilege Of visiting him.
Laura Farnsworth Schenk is the
daughter of a poor family in Marietta,
o. She came to Wheeling twenty-three
years ago and found employment as
domestic She worked as such in sew
eral homes here until, ten years later,
Mr.. Schenk, who was then twenty
seven years old and wealthy, took her
to his palatial home on Wheeling ISL
and. in the Ohio river. as his wife.
She is a blonde. of rudy complexion
and buxom form.
At the island home she has enter
tined literally, and she and her hus-
band we're very fond of motoring. Only
recently he made her a present Of a
fine touring car They have two chill
dren, Virginia, aged twelve, and Rob
ert, aged seven, who have been placed
in the care OF relatives and who are
kept in ignorance of the grave charges
against their mother
Mr.. Schenk, who Is president OF the
pork packing firm of F. Schenk &
Sons. is a Millionaire and is brother
of A. NJ. Schenk, who recently an
nounced his candidacy for the United
States senate against Senator Nathan
B. Scott.