| Show MRS KRAUSS HELD FOR THE MURDER OF stepdaughter AT HARTFORD CITY INDIANA aug 5 coroner william A hollas rendered his verdict in the inquest held at hartford city ind to deter mine the cause of the death of miss crystal krauss who died suddenly the verd ct ft as that crystal krauss came to her death by ne po son administered by rae M krauss her stepmother mystery in the case the poisoning of the g rl with ltv mysterious and lemarl able features has stirred intense local feeling the stepmother accused of the murder of the g rl by poison sat in her jail eel cool and collected tall ing of the tragedy without a tear or a quaver though the ch ef fai re in the absorbing tragedy and accused of murder she was utterly compla cent she denied everything and declared herself w about tear in str kii g contrast the father ot the dead g rl though not accused or under cusp cion was in a state ot utter collapse nervous and physical principals IN CASE at the top is a photograph of crys tal krauss the dead g rl at left is a p of the krauss home in hart ford city ind below is a reproduce tion of the note sent to drugg st lo 10 gan and the bottle of strychnine al lebed to have been found in the g bed below at r is a photograph of mrs W R krauss the girl s step mother who is charged with her death he had to be carried bodily from his room to the carriage that bore him to the funeral both the stepmother and father of clastal made extended statements ng the traced letier wife nor husband offered adyth ng to clear up the mysterious features of the girl s death or reconcile the conflict ing statements previously made by the woman in their story for pub 1 cation both said they did not believe the girl committed de though they gave the coroner a note alleged to have been found beside her body which bids the father farewell and says she cannot live without J m also both declare their disbelief that she was murdered but the most sensational develop ment was the declaration of a niece of krauss that the husband told her privately that he believed his wife guilty crystal krauss was tal en sick on the morning of aug 2nd died in convulsions without speaking mrs krauss insisted upon the physicians who were called just before the girl expired making but a death certify cate giving as the cause acute andl and heart trouble the clans refused and analysis by coro ner W A hollis showed death was due to strychnine po boning the coroner searched the death chamber and found nothing later mrs krauss produced a bottle partly filled with and a note which she said were found beneath the covers of crystal s bed after the coroner s party had gone papa I 1 cannot live without good by was all that was scrawled on the note jim was supposed to be james cronin a young su tor whom the fath er bad forbidden to pay attentions to cry c tal then appeared a lloyd bommer ville a boy who carried milk to the home who declared that mrs kra iss had sent him for strychnine to logan s drug store giving him a note reading give bearer 15 cents worth of strychnine I 1 want to clean out some nice signed mrs showalter the boy sommerville knew mrs krauss well mrs kra iss den ed hav ing ent him for strychnine mrs showalter who lives across the street denied having written the note krausa the woman s husband Is a drugs st his store being much closer than logan but sommer mile says mrs krauss very explicitly told him to go to logan s the police declare the farewell note attributed to crystal and the message to druggist logan were writ ten by the same hand mrs krauss stoutly denied writing the notes or sending tor strychnine I 1 do not see how they can proe me gu ity on the word ot a mere bo she said lloyd sommerville sticks stoutly to his first story and has rehearsed it several times to the pol ce mrs kraus is a remarkable woman a remarkably strong women in mind nerve and body it Is mere sp te work the woman declared pursing her lips and raising her eyes with an angry gleam I 1 know the prejudice against step moth ers I 1 hesitated a long time before as aming the responsibility I 1 see now that I 1 should have waited longer there is no evidence against me say that the farewell note iou claimed was left by crystal and the note asking druggist logan tor strychnine were in the same hand writing and that it resembled yours mrs kraiss showed neither anger nor surprise at the pointed observe tion she paused a moment raised her head looked her questioner straight in the eyes and said with I 1 did not write those notes I 1 did not send for strychnine I 1 deny it all well what about the boy som lie who says positively that you gave him the note to druggist lo 10 gana I 1 did not know him and I 1 doubt it I 1 could tell him it I 1 saw him came the reply rather uncertainly with the quick addition I 1 do not see how the can prove guilty on the of a mere boy I 1 am innocent and am not afraid but that I 1 can prove myself so she add d rather defiantly we had home she re i med grything ery thing ran along smoothly crystal and I 1 neve a wold I 1 did for her all a mother could I 1 sewed for her and helped her all I 1 could mr krauss will tell you that la the truth krauss the husband who conducts a drug store was seen and talked of his daughters death and the tion of murder against his wife he declared there was no truth in the report tha ine removal of the stepdaughter crystal would atre mrs krauss 2 additional of his estate he said he and his wife bad entered into a contract tor the disposal of their property and that he had mada a will neither of which could be at fectea by the daughter s death the folo addition to her possible inheritance was forwarded as a mo ave for the alleged poisoning of the arl by her stepmother the police declare krauss explanation factory and say that the death can be proved to make a difference in the property interests I 1 don t know why crystal should have committed suicide and there was certainly no reason tor my wife to poison her said krauss it was I 1 who found the bottle and note in crystal s bed I 1 have forgot ten whether I 1 gave it to my wife or to the coroner |
