The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-01-09
SAYS THAT He SOLD
POISON TO CHAS.
-TWIGG
Declares Grace ElOsSer'S FL
anCe Bought Cyanide
POLICE WORK ON CLUE
Pastor Insists That Dead Girls Sister
is Victim Of Undeserved
Notorlety
POLICE WORK ON CLUE

Cumberland, Nd. Jan. elf Charles
Twigg poisoned Grace Elosser and
himself on the eve Of their wedding
in the parlor of the Elosser home ON
December p, the source from which
the poison was obtained is believed
to have been found.
j. c. McKown of Paw,Paw, West,
Va, 20 miles east of Cumberland
said that last summer he sold Twigg
four pounds of cyanide of potassium
Mr.. McKown is manager of the or
chards of the Allegheny Orchard COM
pany. He made his statement in the
store OF c. h. Venting at Paw-Paw.
He said Twigg presumably wanted
the poison for spraying his orchards.
The poison was in a salts form much
resembling grains of starch. Mr.. Nc
KOwn added that after reading about
the tragedy 1t occurred to him that he
sold Twigg the cyanide Of potassium
and in investigating his books he
found the record Of the 50 G. Quite
a number of men heard MckOWn's
statement including several CONNER
cial travellers He described how
powerful was the poison, saying that
the minutest particle dropped on the
tongue would produce death in three
minutes.
States Attorney Robb says that he
has been in possession of the inior-
nation and that he now has a repres-
entatiye of his office investigating the
matter lie said the information had
come to him from two reliable sour
ces, so that he felt that at last clue
had been found that would lead to
something tangible.
Willard and Vernon Twigg. broth
ers Of Charles +. Twigg, testified be
fore the Coroner's Jury that they
looked after the orchard of their broth
er, and that cyanide Of potassium was
not used In spraying peach trees,
while they did not use any poison at
all in discriminating rabbits, which
had never bothered them sufficiently.
They said they had never heard Of
| potassium.
1t is known that Charles Twigg had
made a study of fruit culture and re
ceiyed Government reports on the
subject. These reports, among other
things, dealt with the use of spray
ing poisons Twigg could easily have
purchased a quantity OF this poison
and not have used 1t for the purpose
intended. He could have had It IN
his possession without his brothers
| knowledge
Some orchardIsts in this belt use
cyanide extensively while others em-
ploy other chemicals.
The Rev. Dr. w. w. Nanarsdale,
pastor of Grace Methodist church,
where the CLOSER family worshipped
who has calleu az the El0sser home
during their trouble last night ex-
pressed the opinion that Miss May
Elosser is receiving much undesery.
ed notoriety. When questioned re
garding the fact that at the inquest
II was brought out that she was sui-
fering from what DR.. Foard thought
to be cyanide poisoning instead OF an
ordinary fainting spell, DR.. Vanars-
dale said that he had consulted a
physician on that point and had been
assured that she might have inhaled
some Of the poison while assisting In
removing her sister from the room,
thereby giving her the appearance OF
being poisoned. DR.. William r,
Foard and Or. Thomas w. koon,
both of whom testified al the inquest
stated that such poisoning by inhala.
ton would be possible, but 1t would
have to be while the cyanide was still
fresh and e6ervescing. There seems
however, to be no ground for suppos
ing that she inhaled sufficient while
in the room to produce poison symp
toms.