AMERICA POISONING CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14568, 3 January 1911, Page 6

AMERICA POISONING CASE.

MILLIONAIRE AND HIS WIFE.

"HE CAN'T DIE TOO SOON"

[FBOlt OCR OWN COBBESrONDENT.]

London, November 25. '-,' The case against Mrs. Laura Farosworth'j Sehenk, the. maid-servant who became the! wife of the millionaire, pork packer, and is: now in gaol charged with attempting to! poison her husband, opened last week before; a grand jury at Wheeling, Virginia, U.S.A. >

A nurse named Kline, who was introduced! as a detective into the hospital where Mr.i Scbonk lay soon after (ho suspicions of the' doctors were raised against Mrs. Schenk, re-: lated how the accused once complained; to heel that she was nothing but an " Indian slave,"! adding that she was tired of tho entire! Sehenk family, whose wits were bound by: " money and meat." Tho nurse, in reply to/ this tirade, observed that Mr. Sehenk was likoly to die at-any moment. "Ho can't' die too soon for me," rejoined Mrs. Schonk ' who in a confidential voice added, according to tho witness, " Will you help me to get ri<i of him?" The. nurse, regarding it as hec duty to test tho sentiments of Mr;-:.Sehenk observed, "I am a poor woman and do not» know what I might do if it wore worth mr, while." "I will give- you £200 and seethat you never want, as long as you liv©,'S was Mrs. Schenk's alleged response.

Tho nurse described how tho accused went,' into the town to try to get, a ""knock-out'*' pill, but failed in her quest. She declared that the accused had instructed her if he* husband were suddenly to die' to "make &' grab at his trousers pockets and got the* keys of tho safo deposit vault whore he keeps his shares and bonds." She explained thai; if the keys fell into the bands oiihiai brothers, "I shall not get a cent/'

" I warned Mrs. Schenk," the nurse concluded, " not to betray any joy if her hus«i band died, but to procure mourning; clothes. To this," she testified, "Mrs! Schenk replied, ' Do not worry, I will gc& a big veil of double thickness so that people cannot see through it and see mo lough."* Mr. Schenk's condition is still precarious. .