The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-22
DR.. WAITE, TRIAL


table IN Ln1S QTdD anu
room. deliberately wooed and mar
ried Clara Peck with the precon-
ceived intention of numbering her,
her father and mother and any other
persons it might be necessary to muir
der in order that he might get pos
session of the Peck millions.
Married to Develop Plot
The state will introduce evidence
to prove that Waite. married to Clara
Peck and having Mrs. Elizabeth Hor-
ton as his Studio companion" in
big New York hotel, actually did get
Mr. and Mrs. Peck to New York on
visit and murder them by poison
ing them with arsenic; that he got
his wife to will her estate to him and
was planning her murder as the third
of the series in his alleged scheme to
get the Peck millions.
And that after numbering his moth
er-in-law and engineering the Gre
nation of her body to prevent the dis
covery of the cause of her death, he
bribed New York undertaken with
$4,000, ($7,S00 of this amount was
found where the undertaken told the
police he had hid IT'D, to swear that
arsenic was used in the fluid employed
in the embalming of his father-in-
laws body.
Affinity Goes on Stage.
With his wife turned against him
and prosecuting her suit for divorce;
and Margaret Horton, his Studio
Companion fresh from the triumphs
result of the publicity she gained from
her association with him, Waite faces
his fight against the electric chair
without the support either of the
woman he married or the woman he
Squandered his money on
While he lay on a cot in Bellevue
hospital, recovering from the effects
of poisons he had taken in an attempt
to die after the poisoning of his faith
er-in-law was discovered, Waite told
several stories of how it had all hap
pened.
Chief among these was the fable
of the Man From Egypt.
This mysterious and sinister Spirit,
Waite is said to have assured District
Attorney Swami, was with him night
| and day, goading him on to evil deeds.
Had Dual Personality.
| Nameless and intangible and pos
sessed of the fiendish resourcefulness
| of ten thousand devils, The Man From
Egypt never has been found. Nor is
/ he expected to be.
| Another story Judge Swami reported
as having been told him by Waite was
that his father-in-1aw was tired of liv-
ing and asked him to get the arsenic
for him so he could die.
1t was only a few days after the
death of Peck at the Waite apartments
| on Riverside drive that the first hint
came to the authorities here and in
| Grand Rapids that all was not as it
should be.
This hint took the form of a rays-
| ferrous telegram from ''K. Adams" in
New York to the authorities in Grand
Rapids, advising an investigation be-
fore Mr.. Peck's body was inferred.
1t has since developed that when
Waite saw this in the papers. he went
to Margaret Horton at the School of
Languages where they first met and,
according to Mrs. Horton, asked her
to buy him certain sleeping powders
which she says she did.
Mrs. Horton, who at orce began
giving out columns and columns OF
interviews, insisted that the studio
she shared with Waite in the hotel
was used only as studio, that Waite
never was anything more than friend
y with her and that they had regis
tered under an assumed name, as man
and wife, to get the suite.
Horizons Suddenly Became Rich.
Harry Horton, husband of The
Woman of Mystery, at first declared
that Margaret was so utterly innocent
of the ways of the world and so in
capable of any wrong that he felt he1
association with Waite was to be en-
tirely condoned.
Horton said his wife was IAN limo
cent dove among a flock of crows
Since then, however, Horton has
been credited with the statement thai
he knew his wife was getting money
from some one, but that lie didn'+
know who and he didn't like to put q
detective on her trail
Mrs. Dorothy van Palmenberg,
friend of the Horizons who s-aunchly
supported Mrs. Horizons story at first
later quarreled with her and gave out
} a long interview in which she told
how poor the Horizons were when sht
knew them couple of years ago an6
how suddenly and luxuriously affluen
they were when she met them aftel
Mrs Horton had met Waite.
Mrs. van Palmenberg told of find
ing lingerie and silk kimono and
articles of male attire in "a SUITCASE
Mrs. Horton brought to her hous'
from the Studio apartment the nigh
) after the first hint of the Peck poison
= ing became public and Waite hat
5 locked himself in his Riverside Driv'
apartments
= Waite Attempted Suicide.
When the police wen. to arres
. Waite the following morning the.
!. found him in bed apparently dead
: with the poison containers beside him
Waite was not dead, but he lay in
stupor for days, being transferred t,
Bellevue when he was recovered suf
ficiently to be moved.
Should Waite maintain his limo
cence in court today the trial viii
i proceed, so far as the defense is con
cerned, probably on the theory tina
: Waite was temporarily insane whe
g he committed the crimes charge
Q against him.
f The state will try to prove that h
o was at all times sane and that hi
d alleged crimes were planned and car
r ried to their conclusion in cold blood
Should this situation arise it Wi
develop a battle between alienistS sue
: as has not been seen since the Harr
a Thaw trials
:, The court room today was jamne
:, to the doors with curious men an
women and hundreds of others wer
. turned away by the line of polio
guarding the entrances to the build
~ ing.
- A venire of $50 men is drawn fror
= which to start choosing a jury, bu
should the case actually 90 to fria