Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1893 — DIED OF JOY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DIED OF JOY.

A Prisoner Expires When Told He Had Secured a New Trial. The death of William F. Pettit, at the Michigan City penitentiary, just after he had received word that the Supreme Court had granted him a new trial, ended one of the most sensational and interest-absorbing cases ever brought to trial in Indiana. The crime for which Pettit was tried and convicted was the murder of his wife in July, 1889. She died under certain suspicious circumstances. Four months after the

burial her body was exhumed. Enough strychnine was found in the stomach to cause death. Pettit was arrested, charged with the murder, and shortly after a Mrs, Whitehead, with whom he had been on intimate terms,’was also taken into custody. The latter was shortly afterward released, but Pettit was found guilty on strong circumstantial evidence. He was sent to the penitentiary for a life imprisonment, but all along protested his innocence and believed that some day he would be given a new trial. He made strenuous efforts to secure one, but was unsuccessful until recently. His health had been very poor of late and in his weakened condition the joy at hiving a new trial brought his death. Mr. Pettit was at one time in his career a minister and took much interest in church work.

REV. AND MRS. W. F. PETTIT.