The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1912-09-19
CURIOUS CHAIN
OF CONDOLENCES
FOUR MYSTERIOUS DEATHS ARE
RECALLED BY THE ARREST
OF LAWYER GIBSON.
LANDED IN N. J. JAIL.
Charged With Numbering Client
Drowning Of Mrs. Szabo, He
Declares, Was Purely
Accidental.

Middletown, N. Y, Sept 14.-But
ton w. Gibson, the New York lawyer,
who was arrested at his Office on
charge of numbering his client, Mrs.
Rosa Menschik Szabo, was locked up
in a cell in police headquarters here
to await arraignment before County
Judge Royce. His self-confidence and
jauntiness fed with his arrival here.
Deputy Sheriff DeGrew took his
prisoner. not to the Jail, but to an
hotel, when he reached here, and had
prepared to have him spend the night
there when County Judge Boyce, who
issued the warrant for Gibson's arrest,
reached town and ordered Gibson to
Jail
Il heard about Gibson's trip to
Middletown," said Judge Royce, "all
the way home from Albany; 1t seemed
to be in the nature of free show.
There is no reason why he should be
treated differently from any other prts-
oner. Lock him up in Jail and keep
him there until the arraignment."
Chain of Tragedies. !
Besides the Szabo tragedy there has
been a chain of curious condolences
linking Gibson's name with cases of
sudden death, or disappearance, or Of
clients of the lawyer, or Of persons
connected with cases in which he
was interested. The first OF four such
condolences occurred when Mrs.
Alice G. D. K1nnan, daughter OF an
aged woman, whose property Gibson
handled, was murdered at her home
in the Bronx. The murder mystery
was never solved. Gibson was held
pending an investigation, but was re-
leased on a habeas corpus writ and
subsequently brought suit for false
arrest.
Continuing the curious chain, a wit
ness at the Kinnan inquest, Michael
Shippo, was found drowned. in shall
low creek, and George /. Malcolm, a
Wall street broker and relative of the
Kinnan family, who had fought Gibson
for the control of the estate, was
drowned in Long Island Sound from
q steamboat.
The late John Rice O'Neill, Brit
ish subject, who had conferred with
Gibson concerning a mortgage trans
action, after winning a $4,000 dam
age suit for the loss Of leg. disap-
peared following his conference with
Gibson more than year ago.
Gibson talked all the way up from
New York about the case against him
and outlined his defense in detail
"The name Of the woman am
charged with staying" he said, lis not
Szabo. 1t is Ritter. Further, she is
not the Viennese Mrs. Ritter at all.
My client was beginning to show the
advance of age. She wanted to come
up to Greenwood Lake and at her in
Nitation accompanied her. We went
rowing on the lake and there came up
thunderstorm. rowed under boat
house and Mrs. Ritter became con-
fused and steped out Of the boat into
two feet of water.
"The next time we went rowing, sev-
eral days later. the occasion uf an.
other visit to Greenwood Lake, we
had on our bathing suits. was in
the end of the boat and Mrs. Ritter
wanted to change seats. The boat was
round bottomed. She got up and
started towards me. hadn't stood up
but was just half way out Of my seat
when the boat suddenly tipped and We
both went into the water.
II clung to the boat when came
up and launch picked me up. There
were four persons in that launch and
they know what say is the truth