The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-05-15
Said to Stand 8 for Ac-
quittal, q for
Conviction.
PUBLIC INTEREST
is AT HIGH PITCH
Case Has Been as Dramatic as
Uncanny-Physician Charged
With Numbering Colonel
Swope, Millionaire, His
Nephew, and Attempting
Murder Of Eight Others.

Kansas City. Mo, May 14.-Having
| failed to reach a verdict at 1915
o'clock tonight, the DR.. B. c. Hyde
| murder jury was sent to its hotel by
| Judge Ralph S. Latshaw.
The jury will be returned to Its
room in the Criminal Court building
| tomorrow morning at o'clock. If,
however. the jurymen can arrive at a
| verdict at the hotel they have the
| courts permission to do so.
| BY law a verdict may be given on
| Sunday Judge Latshaw said tonight
| that in case of an agreement being
| reached tomorrow he would imme-
| diately read the verdict in open court.
| This afternoon 1t was announced
to 4 for conviction.
The history of the Swope case is az
dramatic as IT is uncanny, and public
| interest has never been so keen since
| the famous Guinness tragedy.
J 1t was on October 3 last that Colonel
| Thomas II. Swope. a multimillionaire.
| died very suddenly. and under most
| mysterious circumstances, following a
| brief illness The attending physician
| was DR.. CLARENCE y. Hyde, the husband
! of the dead man's niece. and he dag
| nosed the cause of the coloneis death
| as apoplexy. 1t developed. however
| that on the fatal day Colonel Swope
was feeling In good spirits. until after
he had swallowed a capsule given him
! by DR.. Hyde. He was seized with
4 commissions and one hour later was
dead. Just two days before the colonel's
| death. James Moss Hunton. his cousin
6 .. nys4rx
! died of apoplexy.
| Colonel Swope left an estate estimat-
| ed at s4,000,00o. the principal benefici-
aries being The unmarried children OF
/ his sister -in-law, Mrs. Logan o. Swope.
To the married daughter, Mrs. Frances
/ Hyde. wife of DR.. Hyde, he leftSs276.-
! 900.
No suspicion was attached to the
coloneIs death until December. wher
an epidemic of typhoid broke out in
the Swope household.
One of First Victims.
Chrisman Swope, nephew OF Col
onel Swope, was one of the first tc
lfall a victim. Possessing a strong con.
/ stitution, however. he seemed on a
fair road to recovery. when on De
| cember 2 he was suddenly attacked
| with commissions and became uncon
/ scious exactly as his uncle had done
| two months before. He died on De
cember 6.
other cases in the Swope household
| included Miss Margaret Swope, Mis-!
| Cora Dickson. governess. Jane Cop.
! page. colored servant; Stewart S
Fleming, nephew of Colonel Swope
Mrs. sara Swope. niece. and Mis-:
Stella Swope. another niece.
Dr. Hyde had been treating Chris
man Swope, and on the sudden deatt
of the latter the nurses became
alarmed and refused to stay in th'
house unless Mrs. Logan Swope would
summon another physician. This she
| did. but the physician was unable tc
1 locate the cause of the typhoid OF
December is Miss Lucy Lee. daugh-
ter of Mrs Logan Swope. was strlcker
with typhoid fever four days after he'
arrival from Europe. Dr. HYDE nae
met the young woman IN New 1orf
/ and had treated her in the early stages
of her illness.
Mrs. Logan Swope acquainted Johr
4 G. Paxton, the attorney for the Swopt
estate. with her suspicious. and as
result the bodies of Colonel Swope ant
Il his nephew were exhumed and autopsie!
performed Strychnine was found II
large quantities, and an eNamlnauor
J. OF the stomach of Miss Margare
;. Swope, who recovered from the attact
i Of typhoid, revealed the presence Q
this poison. c,,
! Attorney paxton and Mrs. swop'
nnrsued the investigation with re-
! lentless vigor, and as a result OF thei1
; activity DR.. Hyde brought libel SUI
! for $500. 600 against Attorney PaN-
ton. DR.. Frank L. Hall and Dr. Eo
ward Y. Stewart, and another 1o1
$1,000 600 against Attorney Paxton
later the 100000 suit was dismissed
HYDE Held Responsible.
II was on February that the coro
ner's jury in Independence MO
handed down verdict holdlns IT
} uvda RESPONSIBLE for the death of Col
Swope. Developments now came 1niei
and fast. The following day Dr. Hyd
vas arrested. charged with murder II
the f,rst degree, the warrant beint
j, ;ssued al the request of Attorney JOIN
q paxton. executor of the Swope es
y tate Or. HYDE took his arrest COOL,
aud pleaded mot guilty when ar
ra,rned before Justice W. r. Loar a
, Jnf1anendence, Mo He was release,
. on bond of $4,000.
The climax came on March >, whel
!, tho grand jury handed down ten In
Edictments charging Dr. Hyde with tn
: killing of Colonel Thomas Il swop
: and ClrlSn1U SNtpS WIN PS'soll
, with tho attempted murder Of eigh
+ mambers OF the Swope household wit
/, | tvphoid germs, Another indictmen
accused him of manslaughter, b
bleeding Colonel James Moss Hunter
cousin of Colonel Swope.
IT developed during the investlga
i ton that Or. Hyde had secured som
= typhoid bacteria on November 10. Mr..
!, Logan g. Swope, while giving her de
d position in the Islander suit brough
II hy Or. Hyde, 'swore mat ne mad trie
to poison her by placing something
the water.
!, Oustcd From once.
!, In 1897 DR. Hyde. then police sur
! reon. was ousted from office becaus
: Of alleged inhuman treatment OF
colored woman who had ATTEMPTED t
: commit suicide His name was NOR
4 .onspicuously in the newspapers !