Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1910 — HEAVY DAMAGES ASKED BY HYDE [ARTICLE]

HEAVY DAMAGES ASKED BY HYDE

Doctor Wants SIOO,OOO from Executor of Swope Estate. INQUEST ON BODY RESUMED Verdict Expected to Btraighten Out the Legal Tangle Which Developed Since the Investigation Was Started. Kansas City, Mb., Feb. 8. —A suit demanding damages of SIOO,OOO for alleged libel was filed by attorneys for Dr. B. C. Hyde against John G. Paxton, executor of the Swope estate. After an interval of almost a month the Jury called by Coroner B. H. Zwart to determine the cause of the death of Colonel Thomas H. Swope resumed Its sessions at Independence. Mo. On Jan. 12 a jury was summoned to view the body. At that time Coroner Zwart said to the jurors: "This is the b'Hly of Colonel Thomas H. Swope. Look at It well, for I may call upon you later.” The coroner called upon the Jurors to listen to a mass of testimony given by a score or more of witnesses who have knowledge of the case. The six jurors all live In Independence, and most of them were personally acquainted with the dead millionaire. 3 It Is believed that the coroner’s Inquest will do much to straighten out the legal tangle which has developed since the Investigation of Colonel Swope’B death began. If a verdict declaring that death came under unnatural circumstances is returned It is said indictments will follow. If an opposite verdict Is reached the criminal aspect of the case will vanish and only the civil suit will be heard. Testimony of persons who superintended the burial and disinterment of Colonel Swope’s body consumed the morning session. R. B. Mitchell, an employe of an undertaking company, told of preparing the body for burial His testimony was particularly Interesting, as It bordered on the assertions previously made that the embalming fluid might have contained a poison. He said he saw nothing strange about the body and did not notice whether the muscles were contracted.