The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-05-05
HYDE GOES TO JAIL
JUDGE ORDERS DOCTOR INTO
CUSTODY BECAUSE OF DAM
AGING TESTIMONY.
PHYSICIAN HAS TRYING DAY
Evidence Is Adduced That He Bought
Large Quantities Of Poison and
Procured typhoid Germs From
Kansas City BacterioIoglst.

Kansas City, Mo.-Just before the
adjournment of the criminal court Of
Jackson county on Wednesday, Judge
Latshaw ordered DR.. Bennett Clark
Hyde, charged with the poisoning OF
Col Thomas H. Swope, and who has
enjoyed his liberty ever since the in
dictments were returned against him
by the grand jury. to be confined in
the Kansas City Jail and he was there
fore locked up by the marshal.
The jury had filed out in solemn or
der when Judge Latshaw called the
marshal before him and said:
I'm view of the testimony thus far
given in this trial the court Is con-
strained to say that it amounts to
presumption Of guilt that under the
law deprives the defendant of the
right to go on bond and he Is hereby
and for that reason remanded to the
custody of the marshal"
Following this announcement Mrs.
Hyde, who once collapsed during the
day, under the weight Of adverse
testimony, was prostrated and her
condition is such that physicians are
in constant attendance.
Doctor Hyde underwent the hard
est and most trying day of his whole
life. 1t was brought out by the testi-
mony of witnesses:
That Doctor Hyde had purchased
both before and after the deaths Of
Col. Thomas and Chrismar Swope,
enough cyanide of potassium to have
killed thousands Of persons.
That Doctor Hyde specifically Or
dered this poison to be put up in the
form of capsules.
That in size, form and general ap-
pearance these cyanide of potassium
capsules were almost indistinguish-
able from the digestive tablets" that
were given to the Swopes.
That Doctor Hyde, previous to the
deaths and the illness in the Swope
mansion, had procured from leading
bacteriologist of Kansas City large
quantities of typhoid and diphtheria
germs.
That the bacteriologist, having be-
come suspicious that the cultures
were not being used for scientific
purpose, had visited Hyde's office
during the latter's absence in New
York and had substituted some harm
less germs for the typhoid and diph-
iberia germs.
That the nurses in the Swope home
during the epidemic of typhoid, feel
ing sure that they we're being used as
the unwilling instruments of death,
struck and refused to go on with
their duties unless Doctor Hyde left
the home.
And finally and probably the most
important of all, that the autopsy on
the body of Col. Thomas H. Swope
proved conclusively to the eminent
medical authorities who performed 1t
that death was not duo to natural
causes.
Young Tom" Swope, brother in-law
Of the man on trial, told the story
Of finding a broken capsule in the
snow on an independence street on
the night that DR.. Bennett Clark Hyde
left the Swope home for good and all
time.
Il was on my way to my mothers 8
house." he said, "and I noticed a
man take something out of his pocket.
throw it on the ground and stamp
upon it with his feet. / did not recog-
nize the man at that time. Later as
he passed under an electric light l
saw that it was Doctor Hyde.
81 went to the spot and found in the
snow a piece of capsule. took it
home. When l got there my fingers
smelled strongly of cyanide Of potas-
SUM"
John c. Paxton, the confidential man
of the Swope family, followed Swope
on the stand.
Hyde's lawyer sought to show that
Paxton had been actuated by improp.
er motives in attempting to work up
case of circumStantial evidence
against Doctor Hyde.
1t was clearly shown that one of
the strong bulwarks of the defense of
Hyde will be that he has been made
the victim Of conspiracy begun and
carried through by his mother-in-law.