The Washington herald., 1911-10-21
POISON PLOT THE RESULT
OF "ETERNAL TRIANGLE"
Remarkable Developments in One of the Strange Cases
in Criminal Annals of New England.

al on Tuesday came away in a sullen
and vengeful mood. Hyanns formed its
own opinion as to her death, and open
threats were made regarding the author
of it.
The girl was an excellent singer and
was of a musical turn, so her parents
sent her to Boston to take lessons at the
Conservatory of Music. Besides taking
her music lessons she sang in the Ire
mont Temple and taught Bible class.
Her friends say that all who met her
were endeared to her and her death has
come over them like a pail. Returning
on Saturday evening to the home of the
Young Womens Christian Association,
she told her girl chum cheerily that she
had been out to dinner with a gentle
man friend 1t was not long after this
that she went to the bathroom. to be
found dying there only a few minutes
later
Hyannis knew very we'll of the ro-
nance in the life of its highly admired
girl 1t began back in 1905 when Rev.
Clarence Virgil Thompson Rfcheson, then
student in the Newtown Theological
School. went to the town as a candidate
for the pulpit OF the Baptist church
there
1t was not long after he weht to Hyan-
mis- that he met Avis Linnell. and the two
from that time were seen frequently to-
gether. Then, early in 1909, Rev Mr..
Richeson was graduated and became the
pastor of the Hyannis Baptist Church.
About the middle OF the year it was
general gossip that the eloquent young
pastor and the pretty Avis LinneI were
engaged. No formal announcement was
made, but all who knew them took it for.
granted, and the girl began TO wear a
diamond ring. about which her friends
twitted her goOdnaturedly.
Gossip of Broken Engagement.
Then, in December. 1909 fresh gossip
went around that the engagement had
been broken off. This. however, was as
indefinite as the talk of the engage
ment itself. The girl said nothing, and
her friends did not question her.
1t was about this time that Rev. Mr..
Richeson became attendant upon Miss
Violet Edmands, the daughter of the
Brookline real estate operator and heir
ess in her own right. They had met
when he was a divinity student. The
introduction was made by her father,
who is a trustee of the Newtown Theo-
logical School. and who took a deep in
terest in the students there. Then there
came a ripple in the smOothness of the
Hyannis pastorate. 1t eliminated early
this year in the resignation of Rev. Mr.
RiCheson, to accept the pulpit of the
Emmanuel Church, in Cambridge. Here
the opportunities were greater for meet
ing Miss Edmands, and some time ago
their engagement was announced. An
elaborate ceremony had been arranged.
Girl Grows Moody.
Friends of Avis Linnell say that she
became moody after the announcement
of the engagement This depression.
however manifested itself only for a
while. and then she seemed as cheerful
as ever again. There were some who
thought that Ecr engagement to Rev.
Mr. Richeson had never been really
broken. Some went so far as to say
that she was still working on a wedding
gown when the news of the pastors en-
gagement to the Brookline girl came.
The death of the girl threw the dodgers
of the Young Womcn's Christian Asso-
citation into a state of great excitement.
A friend of the glrl telephoned at once
to Cambridge. seeking to get into COM
munication with Mr.. RichesOn. He,
however. was MT al his rooms, and his
housekeeper learned that he was at the
Emdands home, in Brookline.
The message about the girls death was
to him there. and the news is
said to have affected him so much that
a physician was called to treat him. Only
once, up to date has he left the house,
and that was for a brief time yesterday,
when he came to Boston. He went TO
an office building but the reason for his
trip was not made known.
Rev Mr.. RiCheson is a Virginian byl
birth. having been born at Rose Hill
about thirty-three years ago. He went
to high school at Amherst Court House, |
and then to the William Jewell College, |
at Liberty, Mo. 1t was from there that
he came to Massachusetts to enter the
Newtown Theological Schooh