The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-01-19

Autopsies were to be per-
formed today in an effort to
learn the cause of death.
The last member of the family to
die was James Potter, Jr., 16, who
staggered into the police station,
mumbling, Daddy has given US
cough syrup"
Police Find Bodies
. Police went to the Potter home
and found the bodies Of Potter, his
wife, Mrs. Lulu Potter, and the
son, Robert.
First alarm OF the tragedy was
given when Mrs. Potter ran into the
hall of their newly-acquired lodg-
ing house and screamed for help.
Miss Emily Reiger, nurse, ran
n isato~lthe Potter apartment to find
Potter and his younger son extreme
ly i'll. The elder son was attempt
ing to aid them when he suddenly
became i'll.
Shortly before Mrs. Potter died
the nurse told police, she gasped:
Daddy has given us some cough
medicine and we are all ILL.,"
Size died before celebrating on
this statement.
Once Was Millionaire
Potter recently had been in
financial difficulties. He had been
a contractor at Steubenville, Ohio,
and was reputed to be millionaire.
Then his finances failed him and
he came to Cleveland about the
first of the month, bringing his
family with him. He took over a
large house in one of the better
residential sections of the city and
started a select lodging house.
Last week he was indicted In
Steubenville on charges of con-
version of money. He had under
taken several ambitious building
projects there in recent months, ac-
cording to advices from that city.
Numerous bottles of poison drugs
found in the family medicine
cabinet led to the belief that Potter
. had been an expert on the subject
of poisons and had planned the
deaths for some time.
Death Came Rapidly
D.L. Cowles, laboratory expert for
the detective bureau, after exan1in-
ing the fluid in the death glasses and
outward characteristics Of the
bodies, said death was due to quick
working poison, the only outward
characteristic of which was to cause
a slight curvature of the spine
Although many poisonous drugs
were found in the house, no med
icine which could be used to relieve
q couch was discovered.
Besides the poisons, detectives
found a bottle of rare old French
champagne, with the note attached
to the bottle, ITO be opened only
upon the birth of our first baby
daughter"
The house which the Potters had
taken over in their efforts to recoup
part of their lost fortunes was a
former home of Alva Bradley, presi-
dent of the Cleveland baseball club.
PalatiaI Home Sold
The palatial home Of the Potters
in Steubenville, where Potter
amassed his fortune, recently was
sold at sheriff's sale, following
the financial reverses of the family.
More than twenty years ago, Pot
ter was associated with a number Of
Steubenville capitalists in an oil
enterprise. Later he became engaged
in the contracting business and lost
most of his fortune.
A small fortune, subsequently be-
queathed by a brother, who died
under circumstances which at that
time were reported as mysterious,
brought the family back to a COM
paratively wealthy level for a time,
but financial difficulties In the con-
tracing and brokerage business de-
pleted the fortune and led Potter
to take his family to Cleveland.
CoIR -. no-