Bodies May Be Exhumed...

Bloomington Weekly Courier, June 11, 1915; PAGE 1

Spencer, Ind., June 8--Spencer today transferred its interest to another angle of the "Poison Plot" case following a report that several bodies might be exhumed to determine whether any murder secrets have been carried to the grave. Ever since the sensational disclosures of a poison plot growing out of the sending through the mails of bottles of quinine adulterated with strychnine, there has been much speculation whether certain deaths within recent years, some of which occurred under suspicious circumstances, might have been due to poison. Suspicion has grown to conviction in the minds of many persons and all today the town was fairly buzzing with talk that the county authorities had decided to open a number of graves... "For my part, I don't believe there would be anything gained by exhuming and examining bodies unless we have strong evidence not only that Drescher might have had a hand in the death, but that some other person aided him. We can't take criminal action against a dead person, of course, but it may be that some other person was involved. In that case, it might be necessary to exhume some bodies," (said J. L. Duncan, deputy prosecutor in charge of Owen County). ...Many sudden deaths within recent years have been recalled since Drescher was found dead in his home Wednesday evening, and of these it is said that nine died under mystifying circumstances. One of these persons, Maud Clark, died in the Drescher home. She was a domestic employed there. That death occurred before Drescher became coroner and at a time, it is said, when he and the girl were the only persons in the house. Drescher, who was an undertaker, embalmed the body before the coroner arrived, it is said, and no autopsy was performed... F. K. Mason died in Spencer two years ago, quite suddenly, it is said, and his name is another in the list of nine. Drescher, as coroner, pronounced death due to natural causes and conducted the funeral. Mrs. Baldon, a third whose sudden death has been recalled since the present poison mystery developed, died at her home near Spencer while alone in the house. Mrs. Baldon had been ill. She had taken some medicine from a bottle found on the table near her bed. The woman evidently had died in convulsions for she was lying on the floor when found having thrown herself out of bed. Drescher conducted no autopsy. As undertaker, however, he embalmed the body and conducted the funeral. No examination ever was made of the remaining contents of the bottle. Mrs. Alice McHenry is the fourth in the list...Drescher pronounced death due to cerebral hemorrhage and, as undertaker, he embalmed the body and conducted the funeral. D. H. Johnson, fifth of the nine, died in Gosport under similar circumstances...Thomas Karns died while in apparent good health. His death was declared to be due to mitral insufficiency by Drescher. Jacob S. Harris, the seventh, was said by the coroner to have died of heart disease. John W. Rivers was said to have suffered from organic heart disease. He, too, died in convulsions. The Rev. A. B. Banta, the most widely known man of the list, who was the pastor of the church of which Drescher was a member, died in bed, also while in the throes of convulsions. In none of these cases was an autopsy performed... (Justice and Acting Coroner James) McClure is continuing his investigation but declines to reveal what has developed. It has become known, however, that one point brought out was that just before his death Drescher visited a shed in the rear of his home and was heard hammering something. This gave rise to a rumor that some of the quinine packages might be hidden in the shed, and it is likely that a thorough search will be made of the premises tomorrow...

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