Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1901 — The Lyda Murder Trial. [ARTICLE]

The Lyda Murder Trial.

The Lyda-Cox murder trial at Monticello _ closed Wednesday with Starr Cox and Mrs. Lydia taking the stand in their own defense. The argument of the attorneys begun Wednesday evening, E. B. Sellers opening for the state. He dTbo spoke about two hours Thursday morning. He was followed by Judge Reynolds for the defense, followed by Daniel Fraser of Fowler, for the state, followed by Attorney Haywood of Lafayette for the defense. It is thought at this writing that the argument would then be closed by Attorney Anderson of Crawfordsville, for the state, and the case would go to the jury last evening. The case has been on trial for three weeks. The general opinion is that the state has made out a very weak case against the defendants, who have gained the sympathy of almost every person who has listened to the evidence. The general opinion seems to be that the state’s case rested almost entirely upon unfounded neighborhood gossip for its motive for the alleged crime, and that the defendants will surely be acquitted. The expert testimony of physicians was very much in favor of the defense, they agreeing that the symptoms of Mr. Lyda’sdeath did not bear out the theory or strychnine poisioning, but did indicate uremic poision, a disease arising from kidney trouble, from which it was admitted Mr. Lyda had suffered for a number of years. Cox, by a life of industry and frugality, had accumulated a few thousand dollars, and held a mortgage of $2,000 upon the Lyda farm at the time of Mr. Lyda’s death. * He is a bachelor, and worked for Mr. Lyda for several years. His„savings and the Lyda homestead will probably be totally absorbed by the attorneys who defend Cox and Mrs. Lyda, and, if acquitted, both will be thrown upon the world at the shady side of forty without a dollar.