The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-10-21
'SLEUTH' TELLS
OF TRAILING
POISON SALE
Amateur Detective Details
Activities in Behalf OF
Mrs. Simmons.
BOLSTER SALE STORY
Hatchery Man Is Called 10
Verify BargerSviIIe Wit
ness Tale.
BY STAFF CORRESPONDENT

h6OANON, 1llu.s OCb. d. 49, An
amateur sleuth," working on his
first case, testified in the Simmons
poison case today, telling how ne
rushed Miss Louise Robinson. Bar
gersville farm woman, here last
Wednesday, when he learned that
she claimed to be the buyer of pol
son in an Indianapolis drug store,
three days before the fatal picnic.
He is Lawrence Kirkpatrick, post
Office clerk. He said he started
working on the case at the request
of John Simmons, husband of Mrs.
Carrie Simmons, being tried for the
alleged poison murders of her
daughters, June 81.
He said he spent one day investi-
eating the character of Charles w.
Friedman, Indianapolis druggist,
who said Mrs. Simmons bought %
cents worth of strychnine from him
June Is.
Il went to Friedman's store last
Wednesday and was in there when
Miss Robinson told the druggist she
was the woman who bought the
poison" he testified. IT saw her
show him the bottle and I nearly
fell through a showcase"
Denies He Is Paid
He said after he was able to per-
suade her to go to Lebanon with
him to testify, he denied being paid
for his work and said he had been
a neighbor of the Simmons family
seventeen years.
During recess this morning, w. H.
Parr Jr., defense counsel, and Roy
Adney, special prosecutor, neared
blows in the corridor, when Adney
shouted. There's a lot of lying in
this case"
tits on both Sides" Parr re-
torted. IF you got any more to say
do it now"
Mrs. Simmons refused attention OF
picnic guests after the poison was
found in the food, Miss Lois Reth-
erford, companion of Mrs. Simmons
son Dale on the picnic, testified.
Il tried to rub her hands, but she
told me not to pay any attention
TO her" the girl related.
Sandwich Picked Up
She said when Alice Jean Sim
mons neared death, Mrs. Simmons
cried she would have to give up
my baby"
Miss Rutherford said she saw
George Simmons pick up a piece
Of sandwich from under a table after
the deaths of his sisters. This, she
testified, contained a strychnine
capsule, which nearly was dissolved.
The defense swings into the home
stretch Of its case today.
Wearisome repetition of avowals
of the good character of the farm
wife by her friends was finished. So
today the defense sought, through a.
Franklin hatchery man, to rivet
tight the story of Miss Louise Rob-
lnson of Bargersville that she was
the strychnine purchaser in the
Indianapolis drug store of Charles
w. Friedman, June Is, and not Mrs.
Simmons, as Friedman charged on
the witness stand.
Husband to Be Called
The manager of the hatchery. L.
S. Winslow testified he handed a
Matching of chicks to Miss Robinson
on June 10. Miss Robinson declared
she set the date of the poison pur-
chase by the chicken purchase. She
used the poison to destroy vermin
or weasels that she feared might
bother her newly purchased chicks.
Winslow produced records to
show June 10 as delivery date Of
the chickens.
In addition to the homestretch
drive to protect Miss Robinson's
story, the defense is expected to call
John Simmons, husband of the de-
PENDANT, to explain away the FORTY
period in Indianapolis June
IL, when his wife attended the Riley
Cheer Guild breakfast.
The forty minutes" have been
for in an alibi of the
defense that Mrs. Simmons could
not have purchased poison in Indi-
annapolis June 10.
Sons of the defendant, George
and Dale Simmons, and the daugh-
ter, Elizabeth, also are expected to
testify in behalf of their mother
regarding the morning of the fatal
picnic tragedy.
Many Praise Character
They are expected to show she
could not have inserted the poison
IN the sandwiches at the farm home
near Greenfield.
Charles L. Tindall, defense attor-
ney, said today Mrs. Simmons would
not take the stand in her own be-
half before Thursday and added:
1t might be Friday before we get
that far"
2 Numerous character witnesses
Tuesday afternoon, reiterating that
Mrs. Simmons was noted for her
peace and quietude in her COM
nunity," slowed the progress Of the
rial. The state dismissed them
with only cursory cross-examina-
ion.