The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-23
fspecial from United Press,

Boston. Oct 23-The guilt or inno-
 cence of Rev. Clarence V. T. Richeson
 charged with the murder of Avis Ldn-
 nell the music student. who roomed
 at the local Y. w. c. A.. today hangs
 upon the result of chemical analysis
 of the dead girls stomach by three
 Harvard professors The result of this chemical investigation probably will not be made public for several
 days And it may be made tnls aI- ternoon.
 With every moment of waiting, now that the first few sensational develop ments in New England's most noted murder case, have come, police oIfl- cials are slowly beginning to retract
 many of their first assertions or con
 fdence that the case against Rev.
 Richeson is complete.
 Jt was pointed out, today, that, des- spite early statements of physicians
 who made the hurried autopsy, that
 cyanide killed Miss Linnell, there IS now good reason to believe 1t may have been another form or poisoh. Should this fact be developed by the Harvard professors. it would oe e staggering blow to the case Boston police claim to have heaped up agalnst the young Baptist minister.
 It is even further claimed by those
 working in the interests of R1cheson that it must be proven that any eva. 3 hide found in the girls stomacn must be of exactly the quality of that which Druggist William Hahn Of Newton ]. Center, claims he sold Richeson. Tues day. before the girl died. Then, too, if this point is proven to the saus- faction of the prosecution, that one 1 important link of how and when ana in what manner Richeson delivered tf.e poison to the girl will have to be established. Even the prosecution, through an unofficial statement made at the district attorneys office, tooay' admitted that not one but every one of these points must be established before the state can hope to carry through the case aealnst nicneson
 A development, today, was the an ,nouncement by District Attorney Pel-3 lletier that he will call a special ses- lsion of the Grand Jury. on InuIsoay ,morning, to consider what evidence the state has in the case. This IS taken as really an act tending to slightly favor the prisoner. It was ipointed out. today, by a lawyer who 4s working on the case with Judge l1nanf1s as counsel for Richeson, tha. the state fears the defense may sue for a writ of habeas corpus, demand ing instant release of the prisoner OF grounds of insufficient evidence. It would be easier to successfully sue tfions previous to an indictment than st will after 3 possible true bill Is returned
 With the curtain down on the first ecene of the tragedy. the public as ,been seen to change noticeably from ,fheir first, nasty attitude of universal condemnation. of the minister to an Attitude of questioning. On street icars. in public gatherings and 70! on etreet corners, this change Of attl- tude can be clearly noted. why" is asked, "did not Medical Examiner Leary make certain be- 'vond any chance of dispute whether the pocket to the girls bathrobe did mot contain a package, or vial"
 pr. Leary has answered by saying:
 ssNo I did not, myself, see if the ,hathrobe pocket contained anything. fBut surely, in such a case, none of ,1ny assistants would have been care 1t to me-" As it happens, this bath robe was buried in the casket with the body of Avis Linnell. The par ents are strongly opposed to eGhum- ang the remains. And Examiner Leary declares it would do little good. since the stomach of Avis will show all that is needed.
 But, again. another question arises, today Cyanide, according to Exami- per Leary, himself, the most deadly of all poisons, seldom fails to kill instantly. Avis had been in the death throes at least 25 minutes before she died. She was still breathing when her terrified rommates broke in the door and found her with her feet in the bath and her head hanging over the back of the chair.
 If 1t was cyanide which the girl took it must have been strongly mixed with another powder. And still an- other weakening of the states case came this afternoon, when it became known that first reports of the find ing of a paper containing powder on the floor near the dying girl are with out foundation. The police admitted, today no such paper has been found. Officers who at first calmly declared such a paper had been found, now say that a mistake was made when wrong interpretation was put on the statement of one of the detectives that perhaps the girl took the powder and threw the paper into the hopper where it disappeared"
 By the time the first real court hearing is given on Oct. 31, it is ex- pected that the most famous array of criminal lawyers will be pitted against each other in the history of the commonwealth. Neither District Attorney Pe1letier nor Judge Dunbar would tell whom they have in mind as assistants but intimated that pains would not be spared to bring to Bos- ion the most noted and efficient crim- final lawyers in America.