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Show POISONING CASE IT WiLLARD HOTEL CLEARED OP Brighani City. April 80. The mystery mys-tery surrounding the death of A. J Thomas, a guest at the Grandpre hotel ho-tel in Willard, who died from poisoning poison-ing on April X, was finally cleared up today by a coroner's jury' that was in session several hours this afternoon aft-ernoon in Willard The jury's verdict ver-dict read that Thomas came to his death by strychnine poison placed in the sugar by his own hand. The jury was composed of Mayor W. J. Facer, Abraham Zundel and Frank J Lowe, and Epbraim White, acting coroner, all of Willard. and the hearing was conducted by County Attorney At-torney William J Lowe of this city. Evidence was brought out in the bearing that Thomas had purchased eight ounces of strychnine at the Driver drug store in (cden on March 11. Just a few days hefore going to Willard. He had signed his name on the poison register of the drug More as "H J. Thomas, Watts Canyon." Can-yon." A memorandum book found in Thomas' effect1-, bore the name of tbe canyon referred to and the writing was identically the same, the register being produced at the hearing and the writing identified. Tbe hearing was based on evidence gathered by the sheriff's office, together witb facts produced In the report of State Chemist Herman Harms after an analysia of the stomach and Its con tents. Mrs Grandpre. wife of F A Grand pre, proprietor of the Willard hostelry, hos-telry, testified that Thomas had been boarding at the hotel since March 1 without haing paid his board bill She asked him for money on the night of April 7 and he promised to settle the next day In the meantime he had entered the kitchen and placed plac-ed the strychnine jn the sugar bowl and it was the next morning at the breakfast table that Thomas took su gar from the same bowl and placed it on the mush served him and then handed the sugar bowl to the other guests. The coroner s jury was of tbe opin ion that Thomas bad tried to poison himself and also all the other people at the hotel. The testimony also showed that Tbornas was not altogether alto-gether what he had pretended to be because he posed as a wealthy cat tlcnian. but owned nothing The evi dence showed further that Thomas wae not deranged. The Grandpre family, as well as all the boarders at the hotel were exonerated by the jury Efforts of the officials to locate the family or relatives of Thomas have so far proved futile, and now that the case has been finally disposed dis-posed of it is likely that the officials will drop the search for relatives |