The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-11-01
Chicago Police Believe They
Are on Verge of Discovery
of Great Crime Commit
ted by Woman.
FEAR THE SUSPECT
HAS TAKEN POISON
Mrs. Louise Vermilya Kept
Under Close Watch Fol-
lowing Her Sudden Illness
on Tuesday Night.
(National News Association

CHICAGO, Nov. lin my opinion,
we are now on the verge of the dis
covery of one of the greatest poison
ing mysteries in the history of
Chicago"
In these words, DR.. Joseph w.
Springer, coroner's physician, summed
up police belief in the mystery which
surrounds the death of Arthur BisoA-
cite, young policeman, and eight
other persons who died in the home of
Mrs. Louise Vermilya. DR.. Springer
is now engaged in examining Bison
ette's stomach for poison. Mrs. Yer
milya is being guarded closely by the
police. Mrs. Vermilya became very
i'll last night and the police suspect
that she may have swallowed poison.
Symptoms Peculiar.
There were nine deaths, all marked
by more or less peculiar symptoms,
which have occurred among the mem
bers of the Mrs. Vermilya's household,
which are now under police investiga-
tion. The deaths include those of
two husbands, several children and
stepchildren and two boarders.
The bodies of several of these per-
sons may be ordered exhumed immed-
lately for chemical analysis.
DR.. Springer declared he was not yet
ready to state whether he had discov-
cred traces of arsenic. He was un-
usually vigorous, however, in declar-
ing his certainty that Bisonette's g
death was not natural
The deaths the coroner and the po.
lice are investigating at the present
time are: Arthur Bisonette, 26, who
died at Mercy hospital last Thursday;
Richard Smith, conductor l. c. rail-
road, died March II from acute g1sr
tritis after two days boarding at the
home of Mrs Vermilya. Coroner Hoff-
man says Smith owned an automobile
Brindkamp, %, son of Mrs. Vermilya
by her first husband, died of pneumon-
ia, Oct. 30, 1910, at the home of Mrs.
Vermilya's sister; Fred Brindkamp,
66, first husband of Mrs. Vermilya,
died after a brief illness on his farm,
18 years ago. BY his death Mrs. Yer
milya inherited small fortune;
Charles Vermilya, second husband, So,
collector on the Chicago & Northwest
ern railroad, died of gastritis after q
six days illness at Maplewood, Aug
I, 1902. He left an insurance policy
of $1,000; Lillian Brindkamp, &c, step
daughter, died Sept. 1906, of acute
neuthritis; Harry G. Vermilya, STEP
son, died Sept. 20, 1904, at 2O9 West
Diversey st., from heart failure. Cor
oner Hoffman has evidence that he
had trouble with his stepmother over
the disposition of property; Cora
Brindkamp, 8 years, a daughter. died
at Darlington; Florence Brindkamp,
IL years, died at Darlington.
The woman nemisis who gave the
police important information regard
ing the death of nine persons that
centers mysteriously about Mrs.
Louise Vermilya, and which promises
to form the greatest poisoning mys-
terry in the history of Chicago, was
revealed today as Mrs. Minnie Mys-
took. She is employed in a bakery at
1908 Cortage Grove avenue. Mrs. Mys-
took is said also to have been interest
ed in Bisonette, who Mrs. Vermilya
said was her fiancee