Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-08-17

ry with 1t a puff of the pipe of peace.
BY and by the girl set up the plea
that she had been duped and asked
that the land of her fathers be re-
turned to her. But as he laughed she
cursed him and all his house:
May fortune smile upon him only
to blight him and his. Hear the prayer
of al Indian maid who has lost to this
maj the land Of her fathers"
Swope's neighbors knew the anger
Of the girl. They knew of the curse.
But II he eve heard it he never by
any act betrayed the knowledge.
Millionaire Without Effort.
The years rolled by, the people
came, they built q great city around
the Swope farms. His pastures were
cut into streets, his wheat fields into
building lots. His homestead became
a business center. A bank rose on
the site of his cowshed.' He became
a millionaire almost without the turn
of a hand.
Landless, farmless, the result of a
city's growth, he seemed scarcely to
know what to do with his vast for
tune. Almost in sadness he walked
the streets where once he had
ploughed and sown and reaped.
Wealth appeared to bring him no hap
piness. Always a hard working man,
he found little Joy in a life of idle
ness. Apparently he longed for the
strenuous years Of his youth. What
few times he came downtown in his
later years he found himself in a city
of strangers. Old friends were gone;
he made few new ones. His was q
solitary figure that not many recog-
nized.
Kindly OF heart, he gave thousands
away, but without much system or
reason. He had too much money. 1t
worried him. 1t was a burden. Thir-
teen hundred acres, lying along the
Blue river and adjacent to Kansas
City, he gave to the people for a
park, which bears his name. He
gave to charities and to all public
funds. Yet he Kept in the back
ground and appeared to gain no hap
piness even from philanthropy.
He was a sombre man, gloomy,
alone. The curse had begun to work.
His brother was dead, leaving a
large family in a beautiful home on
Pleasant street in independence, nine
miles as the crow flies and the trolley
car runs from Kansas City.
Thither went Colonel Swope to
live, and thither he took Moss Hun
ton, his friend and counsellor.
It was in independence that trou'
bles began to crowd upon the gen,
erous old colonel. One day in turn.
ing the calendar he came to a sum
mer month Illuminated with the draw.
ing Of an Indian girls head. The
colonel looked at 1t from different
angles and then tore it from Its
place.
Enter Or. Hyde.
DR.. Bennett Clark Hyde, well-knowr
physician Of Kansas City, had wooed
and won Frances Swope, niece Of the
millionaire, against the wishes of the
girls family. This estrangement was
patched up and Hyde was the family
physician of the Swopes when Hun
ton died suddenly and under circum'
stances later termed Suspicious and
mysterious" A few weeks later
Colonel Swope, apparently overcome
by the death OF his companion, passed
away. And then Chrisman Swope, the
nephew.
These three deaths, followed by an
epidemic of typhoid that threatened to
wipe out the entire Swope family, re
suited in a rigid Investigation. DR.
Hyde's name was dragged into the In
quiry and he promptly sued the ex.
ecutors of tho Swope estate for $100.
900 damages.
While the damage suit was pend.
ing and while small fortunes were
going for attorneys fees Hyde was
indicted on the charge of poisoning
Moss Hunton and Colonel Swope
Lucy Lee Swope and others with
typhoid germs.
A Trial and CouhtersTrlal.
Hyde dropped his damage suit for
the more important labor Of saving
himself from the gallows or the peni
Tertiary. The dollars began to pour
out. The executors employed the best
legal talent in two states to assist the
| prosecution. Mrs. Margaret Swope