Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-08-30
Wyoming Woman Ad-
mits Guilt When Crime
Is Charged to Her, Then
Commits Suicide.
Writes Confession and
Swallows Strychnine as
Officers Wait for Her
in Adjoining Room.
eciai to the Daily Tribune.

Special to the Daily Tribune
Billings, Aug, 29.-Four months ago in
the little town of Buffalo, Wyo., south of
here, Mrs. Max Waegele poisoned her
fatherin-law, Fred Waegele, 60 years
old, after she had been subjected to an
assault by him. Now, confronted with
evidence gathered by painstaking detec
tive work on the part of Wyoming au-
thorities, she has poisoned herself. leav-
ing confession which bares in detail
three years of sordid existence while lv
ing with her husband at the ranch home
Of the elder Waegele.
The detective phase of the gloomy
story involves the microscopic study Of
typewriting on an envelope and an ex
animation OF nearly every typewriter in
the district until one was found with de
fective type faces. The human phase de-
scribes the burden of horror borne si-
lently by the young wife until her confes-
sion and death.
Dies as Officers Walt
She killed herself while officers waited
in an adjoining room to arrest her. The
confession which she had written was
found beneath the pillow of the bed on
which she lay.
For three years, says the confession,
ste resisted the advances of her father
in-law. Then came the final and sue
cessful assault while they were alone in
the ranch house and 1t is told how after
wards an expectant mother, she brooded
until she decided the Staying OF WaegeIe
was the only solution She mailed strych
nine TO him in the guise Of patent medi
cine. the confession says.
The elder Waegele died suddenly last
April. The case appeared unusual. but
public interest in it died when the report
was circulated that the death had been
due to the swallowing by mistake Of pills
sent by a Kansas City mail order firm.
Uses Fictitious Name
Detectives, however. made an investl-
cation. 1t was found there was no mail
order firm Of the name given. Then it
was learned that Waegele's symptoms had
been those Of strychnine poisoning. The
officers found an envelope containing poi
son capsules which, without postmark.
had been taken by Waegele from his mail
box. The typewriting on this was sub
jected to microscopic scrutiny, and Ger
tain pecnliarities were found. Then be-
gan a systematic examination of all
typewriters in the neighborhood. Tho one
whose type faces conformed TO the type
writing on the envelope was found in the
Buffalo schoolhouse. to which Mrs. Wac
gele had ready access. Further detec-
tive work fixed the guilt on her.
Is Found Dying
She had moved to her fathers home.
The officers went there and told her what
they had learned At first she protested
her innocence, but finally broke down and
wrote the confession. Mr., Holland, her
father, had left the room as she wrote,
and when she had finished she asked per-
mission to show the confession to him.
The officers permitted her to leave the
room. She did not return and. after
time, they went in search of
her. finding her in the bedroom, dying
with the confession folded beneath the
pillow.
She had taken strychnine. which she
evidently had prepared sometime before
hand.