WEBVTT - The Poison Precedent: Part One 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:06.160 You're listening to History on Trial, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:14.240 Listener discretion advised. Catherine Adams woke up on the morning 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:19.000 of December twenty eighth, eighteen ninety eight, with a pounding headache. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:24.280 It was the wine, she thought. The night before, Catherine, 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.680 a fifty two year old widow, her adult daughter Florence, 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.560 and their tenant, a distant relative of theirs named Harry Cornish, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.360 had gone to the theater and then to a late 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.839 dinner at which they'd enjoyed. Catherine now thought, maybe a 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:43.120 little too much wine. Well, nothing to be done about it. 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.559 She got out of bed and began tidying their apartment, 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.920 a cozy second floor space only a block west of 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.279 Central Park on New York's Upper West Side. But an 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.400 hour later, the headache had only gotten worse. Catherine was 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.240 holding a moist washcloth to her head when her daughter 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:04.920 Florence emerged from her bedroom around nine a m. Florence, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.000 seeing her mother's suffering, suggested that she take some Bromo seltzer, 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:13.120 a popular hangover remedy. Harry had brought a bottle home 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.280 only the day before. He'd received it in the mail, 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.160 along with a charming silver bottle holder. Earlier that week, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.520 the package, addressed to Harry at his office at the 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.120 Knickerbocker Athletic Club had had no return address. Harry and 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.360 his coworkers had assumed it was a practical joke, a 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.120 gag gift reminding him not to drink too much over 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.280 the holidays. Katherine and Florence teased Harry that it had 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.440 come from a secret admirer, but whoever the center, Catherine 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.440 was grateful to them. Now, following the instructions on the bottle, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.880 Catherine mixed a heaping teaspoonful of the powder into a 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:54.840 small glass of water and drank It. Tasted awful, so 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.040 bitter that she couldn't finish her water, leaving a mouthful 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:02.440 at the bottom of the glass. Awful, she said. Harry 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.720 teasingly took the glass and swallowed the remnants, saying, tastes 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:10.760 all right to me. It's supposed to be bitter. It's medicine. 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:15.040 But this medicine wasn't just bitter. There was something wrong 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.800 with it. Within minutes, Catherine was seized by a wave 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.239 of nausea. She pushed her way into the bathroom where 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.919 Florence was washing up, and began vomiting profusely, groaning in agony. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.520 At first, Florence thought Catherine had just had a reaction 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.400 to the foul tasting medicine, but then she saw her 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:40.160 mother's face. It was a terrible blue color. Catherine bent 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.040 over the toilet, raised her hands to her daughter, and 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:49.800 then collapsed. Florence screamed for Harry in his bedroom. Harry 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.480 himself wasn't feeling so good. He was a strong, healthy man, 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.680 but he was suddenly feeling weak and queasy. When he 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.720 got to the bathroom, he found he couldn't lift Catherine, 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.680 something he should have been able to easily do. With 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.400 the help of their HouseGuest, Fred Hovey, Harry and Florence 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.280 maneuvered Catherine onto the couch and sent for a doctor. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.960 By the time doctor Edwin Hitchcock arrived only a few 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:20.480 minutes later, Catherine's breathing was labored, her pulse was faint, 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:25.320 and her skin was clammy. Hitchcock administered stimulants and gave 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:31.040 Catherine artificial respiration. Harry Cornish's condition had worsened. Now he 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.760 was throwing up in the bathroom. Florence explained to doctor 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.680 Hitchcock that both Harry and her mother had taken some 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:42.240 bromo seltzer right before falling ill. The doctor examined the bottle, 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.880 then dipped a pinky finger into the powder, wiping all 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.680 but a single speck off. Hitchcock placed his fingertip to 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:56.120 his tongue and recoiled. He had tasted bitter almonds. This 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:02.000 was not medicine. It was cyanide. Harry Cornish, after several 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.680 days of suffering, managed to pull through. Catherine Adams was 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:11.400 not so lucky. She died shortly after doctor Hitchcock arrived. 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:17.040 Newspapers quickly jumped on the story. An anonymous poisoner delivering 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.479 death through the mail made for a good copy for 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.560 the city's tabloid style yellow papers, and soon enough the 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.240 story got even wilder because it turned out that Catherine 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.720 Adams was not the only person to die from cyanide 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:36.480 disguised as medicine in eighteen ninety eight. A month earlier, 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:40.560 a man named Henry Crossman Barnett had died after taking 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:45.839 a dose of Cutno's improved effervescent powder, another supposed hangover Keir. 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.880 Though Barnett's doctor had attributed his death to diphtheria, he'd 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:55.960 had the powder tested just in case and found cyanide. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.040 And that wasn't the only connection between the two cases. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.480 Henry Barnett had died in his room at the Knickerbocker 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.920 Athletic Club, the very club that Harry Cornish worked at. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.800 Terror gripped New Yorkers. Was there a serial poisoner in 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.200 their midst The police would soon zero in on a 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:21.200 surprising suspect, but proving their case was easier said than done, 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:25.080 and their investigation would lead to a series of dramatic 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:32.479 courtroom confrontations whose outcomes still echo today. Welcome to History 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:37.400 on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This week New 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:44.800 York v. Rowland Malineux, Part one. Before the Nightmare began, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:50.560 Edward Molineux was living the American dream. Born in England 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.560 in eighteen thirty three, Edward Kington New York. As a 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.360 small child, those early years were not easy, but Edward 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:02.440 was disciplined and determined. Soon enough, his hard work saw 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.440 him rise through the ranks of both the paint manufacturing 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:10.200 industry and the New York National Guard. His bravery and 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.119 compassionate leadership during the Civil War made him a hero 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.920 and earned him the rank of general. After the war, 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.320 he joined a new company, C. T. Reynolds and helped 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.640 turn it into the largest paint manufacturer in the country, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.640 earning a fortune in the process. He and his beloved wife, Hattie, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:37.240 had three handsome, intelligent sons. From the outside, everything seemed perfect, 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:42.120 but inside the Malnu brownstone on Fort Greene Place, something 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:47.560 dark was festering. The trouble was Roland, the Molinu's middle son, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.120 born in eighteen sixty six. There was nothing outwardly wrong 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:56.640 with Roland. He was clever, well mannered, and exceptionally athletic, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:01.599 A national champion in amateur gymnastics. He dressed beautifully and 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.520 was fastidious about his grooming. Roland was a talented chemist. 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.800 He worked first for his father's company, and then was 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.840 recruited away by Morris Herman and Co, another manufacturer, who 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.920 made him the superintendent and chief chemist of their Newark 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:21.520 paint factory. Roland was dedicated to his work, literally living 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.280 at his job. Herman and Co. Gave him an apartment 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.440 on the second floor of the factory, which Roland filled 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:31.280 with luxurious furnishings and stocked with dry paints and chemicals 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:36.320 so he could continue working after hours. Okay, so Roland 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.760 was athletic, clever, and industrious. These are all good things. 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.760 What's less appealing is constantly talking about how athletic, clever 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:51.040 and industrious you are, which seemed to be Roland's favorite activity. Plus, 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.320 Roland was a snob. He had a way of tilting 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.840 his head back and literally looking down his nose at people, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.960 a chilly, superior way of speaking. He liked to be 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.960 the smartest person in the room, the strongest, the most powerful. 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.200 He didn't like people who got more attention than him, 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.600 So in a way, it's not surprising that Roland didn't 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.240 like Harry Cornish. The two men first met in early 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.120 eighteen ninety six, when Harry became athletic director of the 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.960 Knickerbocker Athletic Club. The newly opened Knickerbocker was a gym 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.440 and social club where New York's elite could play squash 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:34.080 and smoke cigars. To help boost the club's reputation, its owner, 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.400 Jay Herbert Ballentine, had recruited some of the city's best athletes, 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:43.360 including his friend Roland Molineu. Roland liked the club so 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.320 much that he'd taken an apartment on its second floor 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.520 and joined several of its management committees. Vallentine also recruited 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.600 a top notch staff, hiring Harry Cornish to be athletic 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.760 director in eighteen ninety six. Harry Cornish was one of 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.800 the most famous sportsman in America. He'd been the athletic 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.240 director of the Boston and Chicago Athletic Clubs, written a 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.280 book on physical training for Spalding, and organized the athletic 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.840 games at the eighteen ninety three Chicago World's Fair. His 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.880 appearance fit his reputation. At thirty two, Harry looked like 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:23.680 an ideal Victorian athlete, muscular and hyper masculine, with a 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:29.480 luxuriant handlebar mustache. His arrival at Knickerbocker made the news, 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.360 with The New York Times writing quote, as a mentor 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.360 and promoter of athletics, mister Cornish is without a peer. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:43.040 Soon enough, people started calling the Knickerbockers athletes Cornish's men. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.839 That rubbed Roland Molineux the wrong way. In his mind, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.560 he should have been the star of the Knickerbocker. After all, 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.479 he was a national champion. Harry Cornish was just an employee. 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.960 Roland didn't like Harry on a personal level either. He 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.520 thought Harry was vulgar and coarse, and alleged that he 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:10.400 neglected the club's facilities. Throughout eighteen ninety six and eighteen 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:15.160 ninety seven, hostilities between the two men escalated. Roland got 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.000 some of Harry's powers removed. Harry spread rumors that Roland 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.760 owned a brothel. Tensions finally reached a crescendo in December 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.680 eighteen ninety seven, when a squabble between Roland and Harry 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.640 got escalated to the club's board. Roland issued the board 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:36.040 an ultimatum fire Harry Cornish or he would resign from 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:42.559 the club. Alas Roland had overestimated his own importance. Sure, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:48.080 Harry was just an employee, but Roland was just a member. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.920 There were plenty of rich, young athletes to take his place. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:57.640 The board told Roland they were keeping Harry. Roland immediately 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.040 resigned his membership and moved out of his apartment, and 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:06.280 Harry Cornish, delighted, taunted Roland, saying, you son of a bitch. 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.760 You thought you'd get me out and I got you 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:15.880 out instead. Roland simply smiled at Harry, waved his hand 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:22.480 and said you win. But inside he was seething and 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.880 wrote letters to friends detailing all of Harry's flaws. Roland's 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.360 departure from the Knickerbocker wasn't the only blow he faced 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.240 in late eighteen ninety seven. He had also been bested 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.319 in love. That August, on a yacht in Rhode Island, 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.960 Roland had met a twenty three year old aspiring singer 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:48.720 named Blanche Cheesebrow. Blanche was a newcomer to Roland's elite set. 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.160 She'd had an unstable childhood, dragged around the country by 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.640 her father, a dreamer with an insatiable appetite for get 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.400 rich quick schemes. Blanche's siblings had all settled down. Two 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.240 of her sisters had married wealthy men, which is how 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.800 Blanche ended up on the yacht that summer. Her sisters 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.240 wanted her to meet a successful man too, but Blanche 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.400 had different dreams. A gifted singer, she wanted to pursue 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.560 a career on the stage. She'd had some success already, 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.320 performing at Carnegie Hall and working as a featured soloist 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.480 in a prestigious Brooklyn Church choir, but she wanted more. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.800 She wanted to see the world have adventures. When she 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.920 met the thirty one year old Roland that summer, she 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.480 found he shared the same passion for music and traveling. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:45.360 Roland immediately besotted with the charismatics. Stylish Blanche fed her fantasies, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.240 describing trips they could take to see the symphony in 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:53.240 Paris or the opera in Milan. That autumn, Blanche and 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.760 Roland saw each other regularly in New York. Roland showered 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:02.839 Blanche with gifts and experiences, shows on Broadway, jewelry, from 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:09.199 Tiffany's dinner at Delmonico's. He was devoted, but Blanche was uneasy. 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:15.400 She enjoyed Roland's company, but something was missing. I wanted 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.160 passion and love in my life, she would write years later, 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:24.560 I wanted my existence to be fervid and glowing. With Roland, 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:31.320 that passion was lacking, especially physically. In early November eighteen 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.840 ninety seven, Blanche and Roland were at the Metropolitan Opera 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.320 when they ran into a friend of Roland's, Henry Crossman. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.840 Barnett Barney, as he was known, also lived at the Knickerbocker. 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.240 He and Roland had bonded over their mutual dislike of 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.360 Harry Cornish, although Barney, who was not an athlete, was 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.439 more annoyed by Harry's lackluster supervision of the janitorial staff, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.440 than he was by the man's athletic prowess. Thirty one 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:03.240 years old, Barney joviality. He had a round face, a 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:07.280 plump build, and twinkling blue eyes. He was a social 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.080 butterfly with a charming, confident attitude that won over men 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:16.120 and women alike. Blanche was instantly taken by him, writing 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.240 later quote, I sensed a hidden strength and a brute 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.440 force in him, and it was as natural as breathing 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.640 that I should capitulate to that. Her fascination with Barney 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:32.480 was so strong that when Roland got down on one 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:38.320 knee that Thanksgiving, Blanche said no. She told Roland that 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.040 she might change her mind in the future, but that 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.680 hardly softened the blow, especially once rumors spread that she 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:51.040 had been seen unchaperoned in Barney's apartment at the Knickerbocker. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:57.960 Roland was distraught, but again he maintained his outward composure. 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.400 When Blanche again rejected him in January eighteen ninety eight, 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.720 he repeated the same phrase he had used with Harry 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:11.000 Cornish the month before, saying, quote, tell Barnett the coast 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:16.760 is clear. He wins and for a while the coast 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.640 did seem clear. Blanche and Barney kept seeing each other. 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.320 Roland drowned his sorrows in the seedy bars of Lower Manhattan. 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.120 He spent time in Europe. He grew a handlebar mustache 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:34.760 and then shaved it off, typical breakup activities. Then, in September, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.280 Blanche had a sudden change of heart. She ended her 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.760 relationship with Barney and told Roland she would marry him. 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:49.000 What motivated this reversal is unknown, but Roland was thrilled. Unfortunately, 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.240 Barney proved a hard habit to quit. Soon after she 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.640 agreed to marry Roland, Blanche started reaching out to Barney again. 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.480 He put her off, but eventually agreed to see her 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.320 in late September. The meeting didn't go as Blanche had hoped. 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.080 Barney told her that they were finished. Any hope of 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.400 even a friendship between them had disappeared when she'd agreed 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.520 to marry Roland a month later. On October twenty eighth, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:19.560 eighteen ninety eight, Barney summoned the Knickerbocker's night watchman, Joseph Moore, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.200 and asked him to get a doctor. Barney told Moore 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.560 that he'd woken up with a hangover and taken a 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.960 dose from a sample tin of cutnose improved efferbescent powder 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.680 that he'd received a few months earlier, But the medicine 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.640 wasn't sitting well. He was throwing up and had diarrhea. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.160 Doctor Wendell Phillips, a fellow club member, came to check 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.840 on Barney. After procuring him medicines to calm his stomach, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.360 Phillips told Barney to get some rest. By the next day, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.400 Barney's gastro intestinal symptoms had subsided, but his mouth and 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:55.400 throat were extremely sore. Another doctor, Henry Douglas, examined him 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.360 and diagnosed him with a mild case of diphtheria. Douglas, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.400 hearing about Barney's fears that his cut nose powder had 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:07.160 been poisoned, sent the powder in for testing. The medicine 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:12.320 tested positive for cyanide, but that actually didn't concern Douglas, 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.320 at least not then. Cyanide was at this time a 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:21.240 common ingredient in medicine, albeit in small doses. Douglas was 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:25.600 sure that Barney's symptoms were just caused by diphtheria. Barney 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.040 took the dip furia medicine Douglas prescribed, but a week 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.920 later he was still feeling terrible. He was so weak 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:37.080 that he required round the clock supervision from nurses. Early 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.160 on the morning of November tenth, one of the nurses 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:45.879 called doctor Douglas. Barney was getting worse. Douglas arrived and 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.800 knew at once that Barney's heart was failing. This could 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:55.920 happen with diphtheria. Later that afternoon, Barney died, aged thirty two. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.800 His funeral was held on Saturday, November twelve. Blanche attended. 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:08.000 One week later, Blanche and Roland got married. One month 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.640 after that, Harry Cornish received a bottle of Bromo seltzer 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:20.320 in the mail. Newspapers started covering Catherine Adams's death the 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:24.040 very day she died. It took only another twenty four 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.400 hours for reporters at Joseph Pulitzer's paper, The New York 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:32.960 World to draw a connection between Adams's death and Barnett's newspapers, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:37.240 like the World and William Randolphurst's New York Journal, thrived 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.439 off publishing sensational crime stories, and the poisoning case was 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:46.280 especially appealing. In historian Harold Scheckter's book on the Malinu 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.520 case titled The Devil's Gentlemen, Scheckter writes of the public's 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:55.520 fascination with certain crimes often mirrors their larger societal concerns. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.919 At a time when people could never be certain of 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:03.040 what they were putting into their Checkter says, when medicines 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:07.520 were made of strychnine and arsenic, bakers preserved their dough 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:13.000 with sulfur of copper, babies consumed swill milk from cows 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:18.320 fed on distillery waste, and soldiers received rations of embalmed beef. 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:24.400 The poisoner haunted the imagination of the American public. Reporters 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.680 did more than just cover the Great Poison Mystery. As 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.160 the case came to be known, they also investigated it. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:36.200 Journalists ran parallel investigations with the police, racing to break 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.879 the case before the authorities did. On December twenty ninth, 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.200 the day after Catherine Adams died, Hearst's Evening Journal's front 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.879 page featured a blown up copy of the handwritten label 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.280 from the package Harry Cornish had received, with the headline 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.600 who knows this writing it was fortunate that this label 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.600 had even survived. When Harry received the package he'd thrown 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:03.360 the wrap in the trash, but his assistant, Patrick Finneran 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.240 had told him to keep the paper Harry might be 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.080 able to identify the anonymous sender through the handwriting. At 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.080 this point, they had all thought the package was a 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.399 practical joke. No one had realized how high the stakes 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:19.000 of this identification would turn out to be. A day 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:23.080 after the Journal published the label, John Adams, another Knickerbocker 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.800 employee with no relation to Catherine Adams, recognized the handwriting 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:32.919 as the Knickerbocker's secretary. Adams conducted the club's correspondence and 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:36.720 was thus familiar with many of the member's handwriting. To 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.760 confirm his suspicion, he pulled a number of letters from 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.800 the club's files. When he was certain that the handwriting matched, 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:48.639 Adams went to Harry Cornish's office. The handwriting on the label, 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.679 Adams showed Harry looked just like the handwriting in a 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:58.000 resignation letter written on December twentieth, eighteen ninety seven, a 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:04.280 letter written by Roland Molineux. Harry Cornish shared Adams's findings 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.520 with Captain George McCluskey, chief of the New York Police 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:12.320 Department's Detectives Bureau. In a long conversation on December thirty first, 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.760 the men discussed Harry's fraught history with Roland, as well 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.800 as Roland's relationships with Barney and Blanche. This would not 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.120 be the last time that McCluskey heard Roland Molineu's name. 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.800 Though the police denied that they were pursuing Roland after 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:31.880 papers published his name in January. In truth, more and 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.600 more clues were pointing his way. Addie Bates, one of 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.560 the nurses who had cared for Barney during his final days, 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.520 told police about a peculiar gift her patient had received. 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.280 A popular man, Barney had been sent dozens of well 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:51.439 wishes and presents from friends, but only one had seemed 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.600 to really affect him. Bates remembered a bouquet of chrysanthemums, 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.159 accompanied by a note of what Bates called quote an 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:06.159 affectionate nature. The note had been signed Yours Blanche. It 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:08.919 wasn't hard for detectives to draw a line between this 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:13.440 note and Blanche Molineux. But this note didn't prove anything. 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:16.840 It just gave the police a hint at Roland's potential motive. 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:21.080 They'd have to find something more concrete. Using the remnants 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:24.359 of a partially removed price tag on the silver bottleholder 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.199 that had been sent to Harry Cornish, detectives tracked the 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.439 item first to its manufacturer and then to a retail 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:34.560 jewelry shop called Hartigan and Co. In Newark. Hartigan's was 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:38.359 very close to the paint factory where Roland lived and worked. 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:42.320 On the day Hartigan sold the bottle holder, December twenty first, 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:46.880 Newark police detective Joseph Ferrell, who knew Roland well, had 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:51.399 seen Roland walking near the Hartigan store. Roland told Farrell 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.159 he had just been dining with his boss, Morris Herman, 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.440 but Hermann denied this to police. However, the clerk who 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:02.240 made the sale at Hartigan's, Emma Miller, could not identify 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.840 the buyer and claimed that he had a red beard, 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:09.920 which Roland did not. This pattern of tracing a lead 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.800 almost back to Roland, but failing to conclusively tie it 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:18.240 to the man continuously frustrated at the detectives. It happened 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.560 again with the Bromo Seltzer bottle. The police had arranged 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:25.840 for doctor Rudolph Whitehouse, a prominent toxicologist and forensic medicine 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:29.639 expert to examine the bottle. Though the dark blue glass 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:34.119 bottle looked like an authentic Emerson's Bromo Seltzer bottle, Whithouse 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.159 discovered it was a forgery. The bottle didn't have the 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.560 company's name embossed on it and was slightly smaller than 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.639 the real thing. Whithouse discovered a manufacturer's mark on the bottle. 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.679 The detectives traced to a chemical firm called Powers and 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:51.760 Weightmen in Newark. Powers and Weightmen had sold ten bottles 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:55.520 containing cyanide of mercury, the poison that Whitthouse identified in 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:59.800 the bottle, to another Newark business, the pharmaceutical supplier Ceebee 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:03.520 Sme and Co. In July eighteen ninety eight. After a 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:08.200 laborious search through thousands of their sales slips, detectives found 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:10.920 that two of those bottles had ended up at Ballboch 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:15.560 and Co. A metal smelting company based only two blocks 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:18.800 away from the Herman and Co. Paint factory. But again 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:23.280 detectives couldn't link these bottles to Roland Molineux. The chemist 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:25.720 at Ballbach claimed that he had used up all the 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:30.440 cyanide in experiments. The next swing and a Miss came 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:33.600 from trying to trace the poison. Henry Barnett had taken 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:36.879 the tin which Barney had received in the fall of 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:40.119 eighteen ninety eight, purported to be a sample of Cutnose 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:43.840 improved efferveescent powder. The tin turned out to be legitimate, 0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:46.840 though the contents had likely been tampered with, so the 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:50.480 police turned to Cutnose to try to identify sample recipients. 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.800 The company sent samples to customers who wrote in requests. 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:59.520 Owner Gustav Cutno explained these request letters were saved for 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.399 future mo marketing. Cutno continued and detectives were welcome to 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:07.439 look through them. Fortunately, Cutnoe could narrow down the window. 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:09.760 The tin had been sent in to a six month 0:25:09.840 --> 0:25:14.639 period thanks to a specific sticker. Unfortunately, during these six 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:18.400 months alone, the company had received more than one hundred 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:24.040 thousand letters people have always loved free samples. Three detectives, 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:28.679 with the assistance of Cutnoe's bookkeeper, Elsie Gray, began the tedious, 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:35.679 laborious search. Seven days later, Elsie Gray struck gold. She 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:39.920 found a letter one written on Robin's Egg blue stationery 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:44.720 emblazoned with interlocking silver crescents, with handwriting that looked much 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:48.840 like the handwriting on the poison package addressed to Harry Cornish. 0:25:49.000 --> 0:25:53.240 There were just two problems. First, the letter had come 0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:57.320 in on December twenty third, six weeks after Barney had died. 0:25:57.960 --> 0:26:00.760 And secondly, the signature at the bottom of the letter 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:07.080 read not R. Molineux or even H. Barnett, but confusingly 0:26:08.119 --> 0:26:13.640 H Cornish. What could this mean? Following their return address 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:17.359 on the letter, detectives found a private letterbox company owned 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.000 by a man named Joseph Koch. Coke told detectives he'd 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:24.119 rented box number ten to a man named Harry Cornish 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:28.040 in early December, but when detectives brought Harry Cornish to 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:31.520 Koch's offices, Coke didn't think this was the man who'd 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:36.960 rented the letterbox. Captain McCleskey wasn't surprised. He would later 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:40.399 say that the use of Harry Cornish's name only further 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:45.440 convinced him of Roland Molineu's guilt. In McCluskey's words, quote, 0:26:45.800 --> 0:26:48.919 the next best thing to killing an enemy is to 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:53.480 have him accused of murder. The post office box gave 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:56.600 detectives another lead to go on by following up on 0:26:56.640 --> 0:26:58.879 a package that arrived at the box shortly after they 0:26:58.920 --> 0:27:02.800 discovered it. Police found that the box owners had using 0:27:02.840 --> 0:27:06.520 the same Robin's Egg blue stationery as in the cutnos 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:11.199 letter written to multiple medical companies to request samples of 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:15.800 their cures for mail impotence. One of these companies found 0:27:15.800 --> 0:27:19.040 a letter whose handwriting and stationary matched, but had a 0:27:19.080 --> 0:27:23.200 different return address and purported this time to come from 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:28.359 an H. Barnett. Detectives followed this information to another private 0:27:28.440 --> 0:27:31.680 letter box. Maybe this time they could find a real 0:27:31.720 --> 0:27:36.159 connection to Molineux. Examining the mail in the second mailbox, 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:40.719 the police found correspondence with Marston's Remedy Company. When they 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:44.560 contacted Marston's, the owner handed them a diagnosis form that 0:27:44.600 --> 0:27:48.919 a customer had filled out using the name Barnett. But 0:27:49.000 --> 0:27:54.720 the descriptions in the diagnosis form the patient's age, height, measurements, 0:27:54.800 --> 0:28:03.480 and medical history didn't match Henry Barnett. They matched Roland Molineux. Unfortunately, 0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:07.959 this lead to fizzled when the box's owner, Nicholas Heckman, 0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:10.639 said he wanted payment to make an idea of the 0:28:10.640 --> 0:28:15.440 box's renter and refused to cooperate with police. Joseph Coch, 0:28:15.880 --> 0:28:19.720 owner of the other private box also stopped cooperating, saying 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:23.840 he was too frightened to get involved. The police were 0:28:23.840 --> 0:28:28.560