New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-15
Officials Believe They
Have Proof of Col
legian's Guilt.
CANT CONVICT,
PRISONER CRIES
Drug Clerk Sold Him
Bottle Before Marian
Lambert Died.
~ Telegraph 70 T., Tr.bu.s D

~ Telegraph 70 llr lrIoAae
Chicago, feb. IL A bottle pGr-
chased in Madison and cyanide OF
potassium found buried in an ash heap
in Lake Forest arc believed by Lake
County authorities TO form the COM
pleting link in the crcumstantial evi-
dence against VIII Orpct, the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin junior. who is i'm jail
at Waukegan charged with the murder
OF Miss Marian Lambert.
Charles v. ITassinger, clerk in
pharmacy in Madison. admitted to-day
tha. he sold tvo-ounce empty bottle
to Orpe. at noon last Tuesday. -Four
hours later Orpet was on his way to
Lake Forest TO keep his tryst in Helms
Woods with the high school girl.
Led by a mysterious tip, States At
torney Dady. of Waukegan. and Walter
Mcclure, chief OF police Of Lake Forest.
searched the home Of O. r.. Orpet. care
taker of the Cyrus II. 1IcCormick es-
tate. IT, an ash heap in the basement
Of the greenhouse they unearthed
enough cyanide Of potassium. Mr.. Dady
said. "to kill a whole high school full
Of girls
The cyanide was sprinkled through
the ashes, but Mr.. Dad. recovered
three lump crystals as large as hens
eggs. A two-quart tin can which had
contained the poison was found hidden
under d pile OF rubbish outside the
greenhouse. An Undergraduate ad-
mittcd TO ~. Da6y that i4o had buried
the cyanide under orders from Mr..
Orpet-
State Ready for Trial.
"On the Developments OF to-day the
state is ready for trial" said States At
torney Dady. "l am convinced the bot
tie purchased by Orpet before he left
Madison on his tragic mission is the
missing container Of the poison from
which Marian Lambert drained her
fatal draft. am equally convinced
that Orpet filed this bottle with cy-
ande of potassium, possibly mixed with
sulphuric acid, at his fathers home
that same night
"Mr. Orpet has kept cyanide Of potas
SUM and sulphuric acid on his premises
to use with a spray to XIII insects on
the greenhouse plants. The cabinet
where these poisons we're kept stored
had been broken open. We have cs,ab-
lishcd definitely that Orpct slept IN a
room ABOVE his fathers garage on the
night before he met his former sweet
heart,
"The bottle has not been found. We
lnov What Kind OF poison it contained
Coroner j. :. Taylor scrapcd from the
dead girls hand and check ten grains
# crystals which had been left by the
evaporation OF some liquid in which
they formerly had been held IN solu-
ton. Dr.. +. r. Lecount. psthologist, of
Coroner Hofmans Office, has pro
nounced these crystals cyanide Of
potassium.
when Marian Lambert drank this
deadliest of poisons sne fell dead.
Cyanide of potassium Kills instantly.
A drop on the tongue will prove fatal.
II is absorbed at once into tho blood
and stops the nervous mechanism of
heart and respiration. The girl was
dead before her body struck the ground.
Nv point is that she had no power TO
throw the bottle from her whore II
might have been lost in the snow. 10
must have dropped from her lifcless
hand.
Orpet Watched Girl Die.
"Orpet. who has confessed that he
stood beside her and watched her die.
must have taken tho bottle away, just
As he must have arranged her body m
a position Of restful slumber. with her
hand under her head and her school
books in the hollow Of her arm. u 10
safe to say the bottle has been broken
- hidden mast hone Of recovery