Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1900 — Benton County Poisoning Case. [ARTICLE]

Benton County Poisoning Case.

Benton county is all torn up with excitement over the allegea poisoning of William Lyda, a prominent farmer residing six miles southwest of Fowler. On the afternoon of July 19 Lyda went home from Fowler, where he had been on business, and after eating a hearty supper became deathly sick, and died before the arrival of a physician His symptoms were those of poisoning, and despite the protests of the widow, the coroner sent the stomach to the chemist of Purdue University for analysis. He found strychnine both in the stomach and contents. The widow, Mrs. Lyda, and Star Cox, a man who had made his home with thfe Lyda’s for several years, were arrested and a preliminary trial held before Justice Stevenson, who held that there was sufficient evidence to commit them to jail without bail. Mrs. Lyda was a prominent member of the Daughters of Rebekah and a leader in her circle. She was about ten years her husband’s junior. Cox is a laborer who came from Tennessee about a dozen years ago and for the past five or six years had made his home at theLydas, choring about, assisting with the housework, etc. Saunderson & Hall are attorneys for the accused, and on advice from their counsel they refused to testify in the preliminary trial.