New Britain Herald Newspaper, May 26, 1916, Page 5

) NEW, BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1916. Waite Describes Attempts To Murder Wife’s Parents -, Jury Shocked By Cold Blooded Recital of Dentist Who Coveted Father-in-L aw’s Millicns—Poison and Germs Used. New York., May 26—Dr. Arthur {would have made evidence of mur- Warren Waite t before Justice | der difficult or impossible to trace. : He wen 2 - de- Shearn in the supreme court last gntion ToRtell oy fatterde night and told a jury trying him for that he had his father-in-law, Murder Peck, and airing of killing the old man with disease germs, he had resorted to killed John E. |2 scheme of his own based on some- Mrs. thing he had read in the paper about Peck. He smiled as he explained the | the war. Sufferers from chlorine gas, workings of subtle germs and poisons | he had read, were so weakened that the lawyers couldn’t understand; he | they became easy victims of disease. looked straight ahead and talked in | On several occasion, Waite tried out an even tone when he swore that he | this theor: v opening bottles of . had killed the aged couple because [ chlorine gas in his father-in-law's a wealthy woman, who lived at the | Park avenue hotel in this ci 1 Dr. Waite was his own chief wit- aness to support the defense of in- sanity, and he certainly made no er- | fort to lighten the weight of the | charges against him. Talking slowly | and calmly, with the attitude perfect frankne: he described how zerms he had adm he wanted their money. | room, and on the following days gave Dr. Waite not only admitted that | him heavy doses of germs. he had killed the old man with eenic and that he had killed mother-in-law with but that he had made several successful attempts on the life his wife’s aunt, Miss Katherine Peck h un disease germs, ar- | of | of | he had made scores of murderous at- tempts on his wife's rich relatives, whose death, he hoped, would give him great wealth. The means Dr. Waite had been accused of using to kill those who sfod between him and riches were deadly disease germs, arsenic and chloroform. He added several to the catalogue in his story last night He also used, he said, powdered glass chiorine gas, doses of calomel and varinol. Tried to Give Him Pneumonia. When John E. Peck's tonstitution resisted disease and poisons, Dr. Waite told sought to give him pneumonia burned fly-paper, over- powerful germs how he by | cused friving him about swiftly in an auto- mobile, having first taken care leave the windows open; by ening the sheets of his be Ing off the heat from his room and opening a window in mid-Winter. When he was asked what kind stered to Mr. and Mrs. Peck, he said: 11 death-producing ones.” Asked to name them, he mentioned typhoid, influenza, diphtheria, an- thrax, pneumonia, tuberculosis, strep- tococcus, “and some others.” Waite's tone at times seemed to in- dicate resentment that his father-in- law's great vitality had protected him against death from disease which Sinceritg Llothes Buy Clothes More Wisely It's good sound judgment | to invest one’s money in real- ly good clothes. ) On the othed hand, it's simply a waste of perfect- ly good money to exchange it for an inferior make of clothes. Sincerity Clothes When buying this make of you have i —and ours as well—that you arc getting the most clothes value for your money it is possible to get. The man who buys Sin- cerity Clothes, buys wisely, indeed. See the dandy garments we show at from $15 to $25 The ASHLEY-BABGOC COMPANY. to damp- by turn- of seemed to have he added. Had Germs Ready For Mrs. Peck. Dr. Waite finally became :c eager for the immediate death of his father- in-law that he gave up the supposedly detective-proof methods which he had | been following and administered the poison directly. He did not adopt the latter plan, however, he said, un- til he had for several weeks given his father-in-law the contents of a test tube of germs dally. | Waite said he had the germs ready | for his mother-in-law when she made her visit to his apartment at 116th gs\reel and Riverside Drive in Febru- j ary of this vear, and that he had be- gun to feed them to her in the first meal she took with them. She sick- ened and died within a week. Before he came to the murders, Waite told a long story of his life. | According to his own tale, he had | never overlooked an opportunity to steal, and had been in trouble on that taccount from his boyhood days until | his return to this country from South | Afri in the Summer of 1915. He | has stolen frequently since that time, he admitted but had never been in | trouble on that account. He also ac- himself of cheating, forgery, | misrepresentation of himself as a phy- sician, unprofessional conduct as a dentist In South Africa and >f mul- titudes of lies. He said he had been Vvicious and immoral nearly all of his life. Justice Shearn barred women from the courtroom at the evening session at which Waite told the wuorst part of his story. Took Poison From Flypaner. This whole story came from his lips in quiet tones, and with an accent that would have been regarded as af- fectedly soft because of his broad “a,” except that it was explained by his four years in SoutH Afr laughed outright once when told to raise his voice because | jurors at | could not hear him. He smiled fre- | auently, usually in the most srewsome parts of the story. Jurors sat back and rolled their eves after some of { his statements. l On one occas “It no effect on | him.” the the other end of the box on, when he was asked if he had even given arsenic to his | wife's aunt, Miss Peck, he looked puz- {zled and replied in the negative. iAskt‘d again by his counsel, Walter | Rogers Deuel, if he remembered any- | thing about the flvpaper, he broke into a laugh, as if vexed ita him- self for being slow of perception and said: “Oh, yes, of course; that had slipped my mind. T had read of some i one getting the arsenic out of poison- ous flypaper by burning it. T think I read of it in a newspaper. I tried it, and some of the arsenic, or what- ever it was that T got, I gave to Miss Peck but it was too weak, T guess, because it had no effect on her.” How it came that Miss Peck sur- vived her brother and sister-in-law is one of the mysteries in the case. Dr. Waite said he wanted to kill her be- fore he was married, because he knew that she was wealthy, for she had given him a good deal of money and some jewels and he wanted her niece to inherit a share of this before he married her. New Murder Device Daily. Waite tried nearly on the aunt—-powdered gla anthrax, tuberculosis, and other germs During the Sum- mer and Fall of 1915, he said he tried some new device to kill her near- every day. Through the practice which he obtained by these failures, however, he eliminated faulty meth- ods. Just at about the time that he had obtained germs of the most viru- lent sort and perfected the zechnique of placing them in food, he explained that his attention was taken off the Dr. o hing , arsenle, typhoid fever aunt by the visit of his mother-in- law, whom he killed at once. Dr. Waite’'s own narrative of his life eclipsed the stories told about him by the witnesses for the State. He told it in the detached manner of a man discoursing in technical terms on an abstract scienw> and never once indicated that he experi- [ enced any moral or emotional reac- tion as he passed in review the facts of his personal history. While his own story made the stories told about him sound insignificant, his autobiog- | raphal relation was borne out in many | details by the evidence of his rathe | his two brothers and other acquaint. ances, who had said that his infancy had been in keeping with his adult ife in that he had delighted in tor. PHILADELPHIA i DENTAL ROOMS 193 Main Street Over 25c Store BEST WORK AT MODERATE PRICES Oflice Open from 8 A. M. to 8 P. M. Sundays by Appointment. F. E. MONKS, D. D. S. Geox:giana Monks, D. D. S. turing animals as soon as he was strong enough to hurt them; that as a boy, he had been selfish, passionate and vicious and that in high hool and college he had cheated his way through examinations and committed repeated thefts. Glass in Her Marmalade. Waite's testimony on his various attempts to kill with poison and germs began after a question by Mr. Duell whether he had ever given ground glass to Miss Peck, the aunt of his wife. Dr. Waite smiled. and said: “Yes, I put some into her mar- malade.” “How did you give the marmalads \ to her?” “Why, she had it there in a closet. I took it down from a shelf and put the ground glass into it and left it there. She was fond of marmalade and ate it frequently.” This matter-of-fact statement came with special force because the de- fendant just before had been telling how intimate and friendly he was with Miss Peck, who was the aunt or his bride to be; how she had him to dine with her frequently; how she had given him the diamond for the engagement ring for her neice, and how she had made presents to him of money and other jewelry. But this shock was not enough to prepare the jury or the audience for what was to come next. “State whether or not you ever made any germ cultures and placed them in a can of fish?” “I did, early in the 1916."” “What did you do with it " “I took it to Miss Peck's resi- dence and made her a present of it.” “For what purpose did you do that " “Why, so that she would eat it."” “What kind of germs were they?” “I don’'t remember what kind of germs they were on that occasion.” summer or “Did you give her any other germs on any later occasions?” “Yes. Shortly after that I gave her some others that I got from the laboratory. Th did not seem to have any effect Poured Germs Into Food. Waite said that Miss Peck fre- quently left milk and other foods to cool in a window in the dining room, and that he would empty half a test tube of germs every day or so into them. He described how, after several failures, he had learned that the germs which he had obtained were not sufficiently deadly, having been robbed of some of their virulence by having been reproduced in animals instead of coming from serum taken from human beings. He said he had originally hegun to get germs from a Dr. Webber with whom he had been studying. “When did vou first get them?” he was asked. “In winter, several months I began to use them.” “What did you want them for at that time?” “Why for Mr. Peck, Mrs. Peck and Miss Peck.” He said that early in the summer of 1915 he had given up the study of bacteriology with a Dr. Heitzman be- cause this specialist only used steri- lized germs in the course of study anqa could not, or would not, procure the live germs for him. He told again how he had bought culture after cul- ture before he could find any viru- lent enough. Asked again what he wanted them for, he replied: “To kill those I mentioned.” “When did you make your last at- tempt to kill Miss Peck?” “Shortly before the arrival of Mrs. Peck from Grand Rapids.” “How soon did you begin to minister germs to Mrs. Peck?” “Right soon, I think. I had every- before ad- thing ready for her before she ar- vived.” “What were the deadly disease germs you used on her?” “Typhoid and pneumonia, I think.” “How did you administer it to ner?” “In the food on the table.” “She Died Within » Week.” Waite described how he went into the dining room ahead of the rest of the family and put the germs in soup and other dishes before the place of his mother-in-law. “They acted on her immediately,” he said. ‘“‘She died within about a week. She got sick and rapidly be- came worse,” he continued after an- other question. “But one time she seemed to get a little better. I got some varinol, a sleeping potion, and gave this to her. I had to go to several drug stores to get it, because no single one of them would sell it to me in sufficient quantity. For some reason or other that did not seem to affect her, but at the end of the week she died.” “How many germs were there in the test tubes which you poured into the food of Mrs. Peck?” “That is a difficult question to an- swer." “Would they be millions or bil- lions?" ' “Billions, so many that you could not count them.” “Was it you that suggested that Mrs. Peck’s body should be cremat- ed?” “Why, I don’t remember.” “Who was it that suggested it " “Well, we came to an understand- ing. I think that Mrs. Peck wished to have| her body cremated. After it lad been decided that Mrs. Peck’s body was to be cremated. Mr. Peck wished to have his body creamted, so that it would be disposed of as was that of his wife.” Mixes Calomel and Germs. The jurymen leaned forward in ister germs to him' asked Mr. Deuel. strained attention when Waite's coun- sel, after he had drawn out the tale Peck, asked: of the killing of Mrs. “When Mr. Peck came back to your home here did you give him any germs?" YO, W ' he replied, “the first day.” " “How many times did you admin- ister germs to him ' asked Mr. Duell. «Oh, every day and as often as T got the chance.” LK “What germs did you give him? “Typhoid and all the others T had given Mrs. Peck, and then I got some new ones—-some tubercular germs. “Did Mr. Peck become ill? | | “No, the germs didn’t seem to at- fect him as they had Mrs. Peck.” “What did you do then?” “Then I tried to make him sick by giving him big doses of calomel. I gave him half a bottle at a time in his food. same time. T thought the germs would be helped along by the calomel or the condition it produced.’ A juryman laughed aloud as Waite unfolded his diabolical scheme. ““Then I tried some more things to kill him,” the witness went on. g gave him pneumonia germs and took him riding in the rain. I wet the sheets of his bed at night to give him |a cold. Chlorine Gas Fails. “Then one night T read in the papers how the soldiers were killed | by chlorine gas. The paper said was very’ effective, so I got some chlorate” of potash and put hydroch- loric acid on it and placed it inside his door. I fixed the electric heater th some stuff so it would smell as if varnish were burning if he waked up. But it didn’t hurt him at all. In reply to questions, Waite said he got all his germs from Dr. Webber of Cornell University Medical school. He was testifying along this line ot detail when he said: “By the way, I turned on the gas for Mr. Peck one night, but it didn't work. A servant was blamed for that.” “For a week before Mr. Peck died did you notice any illness?” Mr. Deuel asked. “‘Oh, yes, a little at first. I guess it was some of the germs.” “Did you give him anything else?" “Oh, yes, T gave him arsenic along about Thursday or Friday.” {Where did vou get the arsenic.” “At a drug store in Lexington ave- nue.” Dr. Waite then told of the difficulty in getting the arsenic. He said The finally got 90 grains after he said he wanted it for killing cats. “How much arsenic did you give Mr. Peck asked Mr. Deuel. “All of it,” was the reply. ‘“ A little at first and then more until he had it all.” “How did you give it?” “I put it in food, oatmeal, rice pud- ding, hot milk, soup, and anything it seemed proper to put it in. Then Dr. Waite told of putting a couch outside of Mr. Peck’s bedroom door on the night he died so that “‘he could hear anything that happened “I slept a while,”” he said, “and then I heard a groan. I went in and gave him chloroform.’ “Tell in detail what you Deuel instructed. Knew Victim Was Dead. “Well I had heard that aromatic spirits of ammonia would relieve pain. But I didn't have any aromatic spirits, but my wife had some chlor- oform she had used for cleaning, and I got the bottle. I put some of it on a handkerchief, and said to Mr. Peck, ‘Here s some ether and ammonia; it will help you.” He said, ‘All right'—I think he said ‘All right'—and T press- ed the handkerchief over his nose until he was etherized.” Then the witness said he went out of the room, and returned a few min- utes later. ‘“Then,” he said, “I found there was no pulse.” The witness sald he then called Dr. A. A. Moore, who advised him to call an undertaker. Waite sa\\ he called and undertaker and went back to bed He said he got up to let the under- taker into the apartment, and went to sleep again. Then the witness told of leaving at 5 o’clock the next day for Grand Ra- pids with the body of 'Mr. Peck. Tt was just before the close of his testimony that Waite was asked by Mr. Deuel in a sharp tone. “What was your purpose in admin- istering these germs to these people?” daida.” «T Wanted Their Money.” wanted them to die,”” was the or “Whose money?"” “Their money.” “When did you conceive this idea?” ‘About the time I met Miss Peck. “Did you have any reason for stopping giving germs to Miss Kath- erine Peck?” “Yes, if my wife's parents first, Miss Katherine wouldn’t much of their money, anyway.” “Did you intend to kill Mrs. Peck?" “Why, yes; I did that first of all.” “Did you have any reason for kill- ing her first?” The witness was silent a moment and then answered: ‘No, only that she was the first to come to see us.” Mr. Deuel asked Waite if when he got to Grand Rapids with the body of Mr. Peck, anyane said anything to him about the autopsy. No,” was the reply, “I didn’t think there would be anything like that.” Waite said he staved in Grand Rapids two weeks. He said he sent a telegram to Mrs. Horton from jrand Rapids telling her to meet him at the station and then when she failed to do so, he telephoned to the Flaza hotel, but she was not in. *“I didn’t go to the Plaza as I had in- tended,” he said, ‘“because I thought someone might be on my trail ‘When I got to my apartment the su- perintendent told me some one had died get been there inspecting it, but he didn’t tell me who it was.” Waite said he made plans to play | tennis that afternoon, but didn't be- cause he couldn’t find anyone to play with. Accuse Kane and Potter. bat night,” he continued, ‘Pot- ter, the undertaker, called on me. I tsked him what the embalming fluid was made of and if it could be fixed so it would appear it contained arsenic. He tald me Kane had done the embalming and that it would have to be fixed with Kane. I asked him 4Af he could fix it and he said it would cast money—he mentioned $10,000. “The next night Kane came to see me after Potter had telephoned him. I told him what I wanted and he said he could fix that all right. Waite then related his experience with Potter and Kane, much as he had done in earlier confessions, and told of visiting District Attorney l Swann, 1 gave him germs at the | it Mr. | SEE WINDOW Alterations Frec. Sale Ladies’ Stity Pay 1.00 a week competitors. Every Suit in the house has been reduced in price. All ‘wool gaber- dines, serges, poplins and shepherd checks. All the wanted shades —and all sizes. 198 TO 9% The witness said that the next day he saw Mrs. Horton and that she told him she loved him as much as ever and wauld do anything for him. He then told of a trip to the office of John H. Stanchfield, when, he said, he told that he had given arsenic to | Mr. Peck. Waite then said hr}; couldn’t remember anything of what {ook place in the next two or three cays because he took so many drugs. “What was the next thing vou re- membered ?"" asked Mr. Deuel. “I remember a tube of vaseline in Bellevue Hospital. I remember a lot of people coming to see me, and I remember that the next day I w: taken to the Tombs."” i There was only one interruption in Waite’s tale of death. It was when Le was seized with a fit of coughing. “Please pardon me, gentlemen,” he id, with a smile. ‘I seem to have ymething in my throat.” | An attendant brought him a glass of water, and in a few minutes he went on with his tale with little aid from his counsel. It was evident that some settled opinion had formed in the minds of the jurors before Waite was nearly done. They smiled often vhen he smiled. Waite's remarkable tale will be called by his lawyers a story no sane man would tell, and his actions the actions that na sane man would conceive, Waite's Tale of Early Depra Before testifying regarding the | riurders, Waite told a history of him celf full of crimes and instances of .d conduct, beginning with his teas- ing the family cat and drowning her kittens. With the same demeanor which he carried later in telling his modern methods of murder, he described how he had avoided doing homework with the help of lying excuses. Once he ciimbed a fire escape at high school, | stole the papers on an examination in German, copied out the answ and later ed with flying colors, His first larceny, he said, was the pocketing of money derived from the sale of “extras’ When he was a new roy. He got through college, he said, | Jargely by ferreting out lists of ques- dother papers tions an i examinations and passing his tests with their heln. Later, he said, he stole from his father and mother, from hi two brothe from boarders with his tamily, and from grocers and others WEAR NICE CLOTHES EST PERSON CAN AFFORD A LITTLE A WEEKS Our styles are exclusive, and quality unbeatable. 5.00 BOYS’ SUITS, 3.98 H less and simple a wha employed He lost his first five jobs, he salid, ofter being caught in acts of dis- honesty. At the dental college at Ann Arbor University, he nid that through playing ball he got behind in labora- tory work and failed to make a plate which had been assigned as part of the work of his class, so he stole one from another student. Later, he sa ke stole $100 from thetrunk of an- cther student. He was exposed both t'mes, was expelled from his frater- nit but managed to remain in the college. After being graduated, he said, he had gone to Edinburgh, where he had altered the diploma he obtained .at Ann Arbor so as to give him a higher degree, so that he was permitted to malke an effort to pa a twa years’ course in six month 1 he did ass this course, but did so by cor- yupting a eclerk who furnished him with ans S to the examination questions. Then, in the he went to Sc was employed Bridgman Cape Town an There, he said, first year, with work he did cach of the suc this job, he sai pany of sever: pocketing f from his employers and opened Finally, mails. aid, and the tions with him piration of tife Picked Mot The war in ¥ responsible country. He t Miss Clara Lo he had corresponded abroad, candic did not love h after the Peck South with the had picked th mother-in-law, After the nounced Waite New York, all continue with His real res tennis, a 8¢ liantly. He soid he 1 Mrs. Margaret Dental for 9.98 LADIES’ COATS, 5.98 3.00 MEN’S HATS, 1. then $1.00 w eekly. nd easily und erstood. terms on larger purc hases. SURELY EVERY HON Read our terms below, and be convinced that we do just advertised. Our May cle arance prices are far below any of our 12.98 LADIE S’ DRESSES, 6.98 Pay us $1.00 down on purchase of $15.00 or Our terms are Generous as Sale Men’s Suifs Pay 1.00 a week Here is ever) man’s oppor: tunity to wea handsoms for less The newest spring fashions, in al wool fabrics of the finest quality; all re- duced in price, 250 25 him during vacations. year 1909 uth Afri by the Wellman & company, first in d then in other cities. he received $1,500 the h a percentage on the and increases during ceeding four years. In d, he robbed the com- 1 hundred pounds b He stale implement their he caught, he company broke rela shortly before the ex- was contract. her-in-law’s Purse. urape, Waite said, was his coming to this old of paying court to uise Peck, with whom while he was lly admitting that he er and that he was money. On a trip Pecks, he said that he e purse of his future obtaining a $5 bill. engagement was an- said he came back to eging that he had to his surgical practice. on, he said, was to play me which he plays bril- ecame infatuated with Horton and went | Miss | Peck caused him to set the date by saying: “Life is und ] am growing old, and I wan vou two married, so that T w sure you are settled.” The first witnesses for the were Warran A, Waite, the evrey day to the theater to h sing and told of meeting with h| said he soon became fand of hfj she apparently reciprocated, came regular plan to spe together the Plaza f o’clock in the morning until the afternoon,” he said, were together I often tele: my wife to tell her how I told Mrs. Horten that 1] surgeon and that I operated of before I met her iu the marni after I left her in thq evening, Mrs. Horton Sang to Hi Waite said that at the Plag Horton zang to all the tiw our aay to was. him and t were therc him very Waitc fondness Leing the day sumbed Waite felt much. told a far tenn that he p that his to the de said that compunction about m: Peck because he did nj her, but that he soon got over said he had intended at first good deal ab , ‘one sta ived a few mother-in-la) germ at one ti six or eight months before mi her and to put in that time ing, but that the mother of aant’s fathr, and his brother and Frank. The father said ti of the defendant's first coust died insane and that two cousins had been confined in a All three said the defendant hd a queer youth. They t though, that during the fousg he was in South Africa he h home $7,000, After their testimony, Mr. began the reading of many a of persons acquainted with bis youth, telling that the def had, been regarded as an ex nary sort of boy. one of ti ponents made positive statem to their opinions on his sanity| Before Justice Shearn ad, court until 10 o'clock this m Waite's lawyers reserved the ask him certain question: be on the stand for cross-e tion today.