posted 07-13-2008 01:07 PM            

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CLUE TO POISON MYSTERY
Maker of Silver Match Holder Sent to Cornish Is Found.
ROGERS TALKS WITH McINTYRE
He May Be the Most Valuable Witness for the State -- Detective Captain McClusky's Work.

Capt. George W. McClusky, Chief of the Detective Bureau, believes that before another twenty-four hours shall have passed he will be able to tell the name of the person who purchased the little silver match holder in which the bottle of poison was anonymously sent to Harry Cornish, physical director of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, and which caused the death of Mrs. Kate J. Adams at 61 West Eighty-sixth Street on Wednesday morning last...

...Edward F. Rogers, the husband of Mrs. Florence Rogers, and an insurance adjuster of Buffalo, may turn out to be the most important witness for the State that the detectives have yet found... In connection with Mr. Rogers's visit to the police came a strong clew [sic] yesterday in the discovery of the matchholder which came in the same package containing the poison. A good part of yesterday detectives from the Central Office were in consultation with the silver manufacturing firm of Lebkuecher & Co., in Newark, who upon seeing the holder sent to Cornish at once declared it to have come from their factory... The fact that Lebkuecher & Co. are the manufacturers of the match or toothpick holders was brought to light yesterday through their trademark, a crescent and a letter L stamped on the underside... Lebkuecher & Co., like all other makers of silverware, keep a record of the retail firms and brokers or jobbers to whom they send their wares. They have not sold a single holder to a department store, and because of this fact the buyer can be more easily traced... The firm manufactured the holders as a novelty and for that reason turned out but a few of them. The retail price is about $5. There were two patterns, but differing only in the size of the "beads" on top of the bowl. The first batch, of which there were seven made, were ornamented with the smaller beads, and the one sent to Cornish through the mails was of this pattern. The base of the holder is about two inches in diameter, and the bowl two inches in height...

Lebkuecher's Statement

"I recognized the holder as soon as I saw it," said Frank A. Lebkuecher at Newark, yesterday. "There was no mistaking our 'hall mark.' The number, '814', is that which we place on the lower side of the article to enable manufacturers to order by catalogue, as is customary in the trade. The statements calling the article a vial holder is wrong. It is intended for a match or a toothpick holder, and is a man's article and not a woman's, as I have seen stated. The saucer or tray is for cigar ashes. The holder would not ordinarily have been purchased by a woman unless she intended it for a present to some man..."

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Quite a number of silver manufacturers and retailers were investigated in connection with this high-profile murder case, among them the Middletown Plate Company, E.L. White of Guthrie, OK, James Amriger Company of Baltimore, C. Hartdegen & Co. of Newark, Black, Starr & Frost, and even Tiffany & Co.

A Roland B. Molineux was eventually charged with the murder, and though pronounced guilty, his attorney successfully appealed for a re-trial wherein he was acquitted. The benchmark case, in fact, led to limits to the admissibility of uncharged misconduct testimonies and even an amendment to the Federal Rules of Evidence which govern it.

The silver match- or toothpick-holder, by the way, appears to not have been very consequential to the investigation or trial.

If anyone cares to learn more, below are some links.

• NY Times: Clue to Poison Mystery
  
• NY Times: Duplicates of the Silver Box
  
• NY Times: The Adams Poisoning Case
  
• NY Times: Inquest in Adams Case
  
• [gone from the internet -3501687-1.html]People v. Molineux and other crime evidence: 100 years and counting
  
• Forensic Science: Document Examination