The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-03-21
Widow of Rear Admiral Is
Locked Up in Plymouth,
Mass, Jail, on Charge
of Poisoning Him,
COMMISSION MAY
PASS UPON SANITY
Story of Courtsllip of the Mis-
mated Couple as Told by
the Naval Officer Dur
ing Estrangement.
.LYMOUTH. Mass. March 90

~LYMOUTH. Mass. March 90
- Mrs. Jennie May Eaton wa'
locked up in the county jail here
late today pending n hearing OF
the charge that she murdered her nus
band, Rear Admiral Joseph Giles la
ton, by poisoning him.
She was brought here from Hingham
where she had been arraigned earlier In
the day following her arrest. Through
counsel she pleaded not guilty, waived
the reading of the complaint and was
held without bail for examination
March 2S.
For ter days the authorities have
known that the admiral died Of arsen-
ical poisoning and their efforts have
been directed TO finding where and by
whom the poison was obtained, and to
Iayinr bare the home life of the Eaton
family:
In the FIRST quest they have not been
successful, the district attorney says.
Along the second line Of inquiry a
wealth of evidence has been furnished
by friends of the family and neigh
bors. The admiral and his wife, who
was twenty years his junior, did not al
wnys agree, it is said. regarding those
who should be received at their home.
Both had been married before. The
admiral's first wife was Mary Anne
Varnum, whom he married at Draeut
in 1871, when he was lieutenant IN
the navy. His body was buried beside
that of his first wife. From his gradua"
tion at Annapolis until his retirement
Al ~ a a6rnirnl n lQlll
the life of the naval officer was filed
with honors and he acquired q for"
tune.
Soon after his retirement he met
Mrs. Jennie May Ainsworth, the daugh-
Ter of George Harrison Of Alexandra,
Va. Mrs. Ainsworth later divorced her
husband, d. II. Ainsworth, an employee
of the senate at Washington, and she
and the admiral were married in 1907.
Their courtship was described by the
admiral in q statement which he made
at the time of a brief estrangement
from his wife four years ago. he
said:
az met Mrs, Ainsworth in Chicago
and thought she was widow. At
that time, however, she WAS not ac-
tually divorced from her husband 1t
was not until Just before my marriage
that ] learned she had husband. Then
she told me that her husband was alive
and that she had just obtained di-
vorce from him on the grounds Of
drunkenness and desertion,
During the time that ] paid at
tentiou to her, knowing her strait
cncd circumstances and thinking that
her husband was dead. I helped toward
the support of herself and children,
giving her money. though at the time
/ did not know for what purpose she
was using it. Later. after the mar
riage. | learned inadvertently that I
had been paying for the divorce pro-
ceedings which she had instituted
against her husband
81 married her because l had snid
| would. and was too much Of gen.
tleman to withdraw my promise. She
has always been a good wife.
81 knew that money was given TO
Ainsworth, but never with my consent
except once; then l paid his fare to
Cleveland 10 get rid of him -
After their marriage the Eatons came
TO Brookline. Soon afterwards the ad.
miral met with financial reverses and
IN his last days led an unpretentious
life on poultry farm in Norwell.
His principal income was from his
allowance as retired naval officer
which amounted to $4,000 year.
II is understood that his estate r.