A REMARKABLE POISONING CASE.

Western Star, Issue 2253, 4 November 1898, Page 9

A REMARKABLE POISONING CASE.

: A remarkable poisoning case, having t its inception in San Francisco and its i consummation in Dover, Delaware, has : aroused the intense interest of the peo- , pie of the United States residing on the shores of the two oceans. There i were two victims. One was Mrs John P. Dunning, wife of the former Associated Press agent of San Francisco, more recently a newspaper correspondent in Puerto Eico, and her sister, Mr* J. D. Deane. The ladies were daughters ot ex-Co ngiessraan Pennington, to whose house M's Dunning had withdrawn some time previous, owing to the mutual infatuation of her husband and a Mrs Cordelia Botkin. a married woman of middleage, living separate from her lawful spouse. The surroundings indicate ihat only the life of Mrs Dunning wan aimed at. but her sister also fell a victim, while a number of other persons residing at or visiting the Pennington house at the time of ihe reception of the treacherous present were taken sick, but managed to escape a like fate The poison was administered through the medium of candy received in a box addressed to Mrs Dunninp-, and bearing the San Francisco postmark. The fatal box reached its d-stination iff , Dover on August 9, just before the Pennington family were about to sit , d"wn to an evening meal. Upon Mrs ! tunning opening the box it was seen that, strangely enough, a common cambrie handkerchief was spread over the sweets, while also within was a written message reading: "With love to your- . self and baby, Mr* C." Although the sender was unknown, as were also the • uandwiitings of the note and the address, the latter that of an illiterate . person, as evidenced by thf orthographic blunder in transcribing the ' name of the State, no suspicion was aroused, and the two Bisters as well as r several children of the family and some ' young lady callers who happened to be present, partook of the contents. All were subsequently affected, but only Mrs Dunning and Mrs Deane with fatal results. An examination then showed that arsenic bad been mixed . with the candies. .