Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-09-27
MRS. S0UTHARD
BEING TRIED ON
MURDER CHARGE
CONTINUED from Page one.)

~ Ohl o6S SA4Cs1
dice the talesman in the defend
ants favor.
Mr.. and Mrs. w, j. Trueblood,
parents of the accused woman,
were not in court.
Poison, said to have been found
by state chemists in the bodies of
the four husbands and one brother
inlaw of Mrs. LYDIA Meyer South
ard, led to the filing against her of
the charge of numbering her fourth
husband, Edward f. Meyer.
According to Prosecuting Attor-
ney Frank L. stephan, of Twin
Falls county, Mrs, Southland col
lected $4,000 insurance on the
deaths of three Of the five men. All
were insured, with Mrs. Southland
as beneficiary.
Mrs. Southland is eight
years old and is the daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. w. j. Trueblood,
who reside on a farm at Kimber-
ly, near here. After Meyers death,
September Z, 1920, his widow
worked for a time as a waitress
here, and later left for Los Angs-
les, where she met Vincent South
ard, naval petty officer, who later
became her fifth husband. South
ard was with her at the time OF
her arrest in Honolulu, T. Fl. May
IL, 1921. She married Southland
in Los Angeles November %, 1920,
Authorities say Mrs. Southland e
first matrimonial venture was her
marriage to Robert c. Dooley, a
farmer, in Twin Falls, March II,
1912. Dooley died in a hospital
here October 1, 1915, typhoid fever
being assigned as the cause. A
child was born to the Dooleys, but
it died at the age of two years, ty-
.phoid also being given as the cause
of the DEATH.
Mrs. Southard's second marriage,
the officials assert, was in June,
.1917, to William G. McHaffie. q
waiter. On october %, 1918, Nc
Haffie died at Hardin, Mont, sup
posedly from influenza and diph-
iberia.
Next Mrs. Southland married Har-
Ian C. Lewis, Billings. Mont, au-
tomobile mechanic, at DEM er,
March 10, 1919. on July 6, OF the
same year Lewis died at Billings,
the cause of death being given as
castro enteritis,
Her fourth marriage, to Meyer,
was at Pocatello, Idaho. August w.
1920. Meyer, a ranch foreman,
died in a Twin Falls hospital Sep
TENDER Z, 1920, less than month
after his marriage. An autopsy
revealed traces of poison.
Edward Dolly, a brother OF MRS
Southard's first husband, died Aug
ust 8, 1915, about two months oe'
fore the brother-husband died.
Mrs, Southland collecte insur'
ance of $4,000 on her first HUSBAND
and also $4,000 insurance Jointly
assumed by his brother, Edward
Dooley, and her husband in favor
of her. She also collected s5,ooo
insurance on the life of her thir
husband, Harlan c. Lewis.
Prosecutor Stephan has stated
that he has in his possession EVIL
dence which will establish that
poison caused the deaths Of the
two Dooley brothers, McHaffie,
Lewis and Meyer. Stephan said
the bodies of the first four men
we're exhumed and the contents OF
their stomachs analysed by Her
man Harms and Edwin F. Roden'
baugh, state chemists. respectiveiiJ
Of Utah and Idaho, and deadly
poison found. In each case. he
declared, the poison was the samr
In two cases, authorities say
Mrs. Southland failed to collect IN
surance on her husbands lives
The policy on MoHaffie's life was
allowed to lapse through non-pay'
ment of a premium. Meyer, the
fourth husband, carried $1,000 IN
surance, which was increased IRON
$4,000 shortly before his death, pn'
no attempt was made by his WIZ
to collect it before she left Twin
Falls.
An examination of the rancf
house occupied by Meyer and ms
wife in Twin Falls county. is saic
to have revealed a quantity O.
poison. The authorities report III
presence of the same kind of pos
concealed in the house occupied tl
Harlan G.. Lewis and his wife a
Rillinpg Montana.