Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-09-13
F,FrEEN.YEAR.oLo MAREAN no.
DENsAueH coNFEssEs IN
NoRTHwoop CASE.
MARRIED SISTER
AZ INsTicAToR OF CRIME
Child Says She Followed Instructions
of Mrs. Larson, Now Under Indiet-
msnt, in Poisoning Food and Coffee
Of Father and stspmothsr-An In
eriminatins Letter.

NoTtnWOOO, sept. l5.--lOWd mas q UiS
poisoning scandal. Four or five times
lately the family OF Douglass Rhoden-
baugh. one Of the wealthiest farmers
Of Worth county. narrowly escaped
death from paris green and arsenic.
Pretty 15-year- old Marean Rhoden-
baugh finally made confession. say
ing she put the poison in the tea and
coffee pots at the suggestion Of her
older sister. Mrs. Eta Larson.
Now Eta and her husband, Chris
tian, are under indictment charged
with minglins poison with coffee with
the intent to injure human beings.
A,tho the alleged crime itself Is suf-
f:cient to startle the whole northern
half OF Iowa, the circumstance is all
the more sensational because OF the
motive mystery.
II the LITTLE girls story is true au-
thorities can see only two possible
reasons Why Eta Larson would wish
to get rfd saf her f1ther. These pos
sibie motives1re:-aS
FfYst4Dislike Of the stepmother, the
new Mrs. Rhodenbaugh, or
Second-Desire to get hold of Rho
denbaEgh's fine 320 acre farm, w1r,n
$4,000 or $4,000.
The Rhodenbaugh family was first
Inisored in 1909. They were terribly
sick Every few months afterwards
they We're again made sick from some
unknown cause. and at length Rho
denbaugh suspected that somebody was
try ing to put the family out Of exist
elice. His investigation led to the as
story of his black haired
daughter, whoosaid that she had blind
ly followed the advice of her older, sis
ter. With childlike simplicity and con-
fidence in what others had told her,
she had been made to believe. her ia
ther says, that she was in great danger
Of her father and mother.
Made Her Do Il.
Whatever the motive was, the little
girl knew nothing Of 1t. as far as is
shown in any of her statements on the
subject. She did what she was told.
according to her own story, and when
asked why she did not understand the
great wrong she was doing, her only
answer is that her sister made her do
It.
An Ineriminatins Letter.
The following letter written TO
Marean by Mrs. Larson is now in the
hands Of the officers:
Northwood, Iowa, May 80, 1911-Dear
,Marean: Got your letter today. If we
find out that you did tell on me we will
XIII you. If you have not, be careful
what you say or you know what you
will get. Say 1t was all you or blame
it on some one else. Say the folks did
It, and wanted to blame II on you. II
you open your mouth about me or my
relation. we will kill you mighty soon.
II you blame It all on yourself
we will not kill you. We know you are
not to blame at all. But you take the
blame 80 we can get out OF it. That
darned old fool Of DR.. Greasure
needs to be killed and IL he don't watch
out some one will kill him. He took
that coffee with him and It was none
OF his darned business - Don't you
80 to Mason City. II they want you to
60 Just stay at home or run away. be-
cause those lawyers Will. kill you. 1
have heard OF them doing 30. = :
Burn this as soon AZ you read it.
From Eta LARSON.