The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-03-21
'EATON'S WIDOW
SENT TO PRISON
Charged With the Murder of
Admiral Eaton on
March s
ARSENIC FOUND
IN VICTIMS STOMACH
This Revealed by Experts
Analysis-She Smiles
in Court

the sudden death OF Rear Admir-
Joseph Giles Eaton, U. S. n, retired, h
hasty burial with absolutely no nav
honors and the subsequent secret inve
tigation, came yesterday with the arre'
OF his widow charged with his murder.
Mrs. Eaton pleaded not guilty whe
she was arraigned here before Judge Ia
ward Pratt A continuance until Mare
% was ordered, in accordance with a
agreement between the District Attoi
ney and her counsel, Francis j. GeogaI
She was held without bail.
Immediately following her arraign
ment, Mrs. Eaton, accompanied by tw
officers, stepped into waiting automo
bile and started on the thirty-five mil
ride to the Plymouth county Jail, wher
she will await trial.
| The admiral was poisoned. This wa
made certain when District Attornc'
Barker, Immediately after the arrest
said:
Since the opening of the investigation
nearly two weeks ago it has been know
that the police were making thorough
search through this section for poison
sales, and it was this that made it pla!i
that Prof. Whitney of the Harvard med
| ical school, after an analysis of th'
stomach, had reported that he foun,
poison.
The arrest of the admiral's widow
who watched dry-eyed the burial of heI
husband, was as sensational and mys'
ferrous as has been every detail OF the
case. Two officers accompanied her in a
closed automobile from the Eaton home
in Assinippi to the court house here and
when she walked smilingly into the
room it was ostensibly to testify at the
inquest.
The first suspicion of the turning OF
the inquest into a court of law came
when District Attorney Barker tele-
phoned for Mrs. Eaton's lawyer, Fran.
els j. Geogan, who arrived within half
hour.
That the authorities knew for the past
two weeks that Admiral Eaton came to
his death by other than natural causes
was shown by this statement of Dis
trict Attorney Barker:
Rear Admiral Joseph G. Eaton did
not die natural death. This fact was
communicated to me verbally on March
10 by Prof. Whitney in preliminary re-
port. 1t has been known to the officers,
who since that time have worked unceas-
ingly on the case. The peculiar features
of the case have prevented these facts
from being made public earlier.
eve have been unable thus far to as
certain where the arsenical poison which
killed the admiral was obtained. Mrs.
Eaton is under arrest, charged with muir
der"
How Suspicion Started.
Rear Admiral Joseph Giles Eaton, U.
5. n, retired, died suddenly on Saturday,
March s, at his home in Assinippi, Mass,
several miles from the south shore OF
Boston Bay The suddenness of his
ieath first aroused suspicion, as he had
been in apparently good health until
,wo days before his DEATH
The attention of DR.. Gilman Osgood,
medical examiner for the district, was
allied to the case by DR.. Joseph Frame
II Rockland, who prescribed for the Adj
niral on Friday, the day before his
Ieath. This notification is usual in
asses of sudden death. Preparations for |
prompt funeral had been halted by |
telephone message from Dr. Frame to
he family. He ordered them to await |
he results of an investigation.
DIR. Osgood was unable to determine I
he cause of death by superficial exam-
alton. He performed an autopsy Satur-
ay afternoon and the stomach and in
astines were sent to the Harvard medi-
al school for chemical analysis. The
tate police and District Attorney Bark
: of Brockton had meanwhile been
llled into the case by the medical OK
miner and began an investigation on
he theory that the admiral had been
oisoned.
Mrs. Eaton, the admiral's widow, and
er mother, Mrs. George Harrison, We
emently protested against the inquiry
nd insisted that Eaton had died of
,ute Indigestion, DR.. Frames first con-
cture. He had cooked himself a pork
inner on Wednesday, they said, and
I'd eaten too much of the meat, with
lie result that he was ciolently i'll the
.xt morning.
Mrs. Eaton maintained that her hus-
md had been i'll for three years. She
'clared the investigation was cruel and
human. She had done all she could for
e dying admiral. she said, given him
It water bottles for his feet and back.
sisted by her daughter, Dorothy Aims
orth, until late Friday night. The two
ept that night in room adjoining the .
mirals. Her mother corroborated this ,
DRY. She had been sleeping in a more
mote room.
'Abouts2 O'Clock Saturday morning / Z
ard a sound of something falling" she :
ID in an interview. "and | called TO nv
lighter and Dorothy. They found the :
miEal had fallen out Of bed. They put :
m in bed again and he said That's
Cd; I'm comfortable Mrs. Eaton re-
lined with him and fell asleep. About
o hours later. as dawn was breaking,
was awakened BY voices and heard he
Is dead. Mrs. Eaton said she awoke to Z
4 him dead"
A. the inquiry dragged on. the district :
torney awaiting the report Of DR.. :
hitney. who was examining the ad-
rails stomach for poison traces. and
! police visiting al drug stores in Nor :
j and the neivhboring towns. both =
- Eaton and Mrs. Harrison. her
lthsr. became III under the strain and :
used to see any one. As their sus- ;
lon grew the police began to keep e
Itch upon the house which developed ;
. an espionage that followed an mem :,
= q the household every time they :
pearsd.