Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-11-06
SENSATIONAL TRIAL SET FOR
WORTH COUNTY COURT
THIS WEEK..
WOMAN AND HUSBAND
ACCUSED OF CRIME
Sisters Confession That Mrs.
Larson Compelled Her to Put Poison
in Food Of Father and Stspmothsr
Leads 70 Indictments and Triai-An
UnusuaI Tragedy in Life.
pecial to Times Republican:

Special to Times Republican:
Northwood, Nov. 6.-To solve the
mystery. if possible. of the poison
scandal which has brought this little
town into statewide attention. will be
the effort of the court which convened
here today. Jefferson F.. Clyde will
preside. A fine array Of legal talent
is engaged in the trial For the de-
Tense Attorney Kepler will be assisted
by Attorney Stiger of Toledo. Prose-
cutting the case County Attorney Sabin
has the assistance of ]. E. E. Mark
ley, of Mason City. Mrs. Eta Larson
and her husband, Christian, are under
indictment for the alleged poisoning.
No end Of mystery surrounds this
case Mr.. and Mrs. Douglas Rhoden-
'baugh have been the target Of MUIR
derous assaults since 1909. During
that year at nearly regular intervals,
the family was taken violently i'll.
Finally the suspicious of Mr.. Rhoden-
baugh were aroused and he started on
a thorough investigation. He was sat
isfied that poison had been the method
use to get rid Of them. The motive
was hard to reason out. He did not
at first suspect that the perpetrators
were of his own kind. He had no
enemies he could recall. He always
paid his debts and so far as he knew,
he had lived a clean life in his neigh
borhood. He had married the second
time, his first wife having died. but
he knew Of no one outside who had
made any objections along that line.
He finally concluded that he would
have to look for a motive from other
sources
Invsstiea Own Household.
He directed his attention to his own
home The daughter. Mrs. Eta Lar
not pleased with the last marriage.
Just how grieved she was he did not
know as she kept her secrets pretty
we'll to herself. But she was not at
home when they were taken sick. so
there was no direct connection that
could be made unless she was oper-
ating thru another Mr.. Rhoden-
baugh was loathe to think that one of
MIS- OWL NOuAu uAuNA Ne1NS ~
poison the family.
Marean, his 15-year-o daughter.
quiet little girl and one who does not
look as if she would be used in con-
nection with deed so heinous, was
questioned by her father and she final
ly broke down in tears and told all
she knew about the matter and if her
story be true. it reveals a condition
s,ul. ;<;- 10 net
and decidedly devilish on the part OF
her sister. Mrs. Larson. Outside the
dislike this eldest daughter had for
her stepmother was the fact that her
father owned 800 acres of valuable
farm land and had quite little ready
money on hand These two motives are
all that can be presumed for Mrs.
Larson or any other member of the
family to try to get rid Of MIR. Rhod-
enbaugh, and it is on these lines the
prosecution will proceed.
A Tell Tale Letter.
II Marean Rhodenbaugh is telling a
lie she has fortified herself well, for
she had in her possession a letter
which she says was not forged by her
and which she believed was written by
her sister Mrs. Eta Larson. The lat
ter, according to the reports now in
circulation, will deny being the author
of the letter, and doubtless expert evil
denee will be introduced along this
line. The attorneys for the state are
confident that the letter was written
by Mrs. Larson and they claim that
there will be no trouble in establish
ing this fact beyond a shadow OF
doubt. This remains to be seen. The
letter reads, leaving out the nom
essentials. as follows:
Northwood. Iowa, May 80, 1911-Dear
Marean: Got your letter today.
If we find out you did tell on me we
will kill you. If you have not, be
careful what YOU say or you know
what you will get. Say it was all you
or blame it on some one else. Say the
folks did 1t, and wanted to blame it on
you. If you open your mouth about me
or my relation, we will kill you mighty
soon. If you blame it all on your
self we will not kill you. We know
YOU are not to blame at all. But you
take the blame so we can get out of 1t.
That darned old fool Of DR.. Greasure
needs to be killed and if he don't watch
out some one will kill him. He took
that coffee with him and it was none
of his darned business. Z" - Don't you