I came across an incredible story about the death of my 4x great grandfather. My paternal grandmother’s father was Ray Myers. His maternal grandfather was George J Byars Jr. George died on 12 Oct 1873 in Steen Township in Knox County, Indiana.
George had come to Indiana from Smyth County, Virginia with his new wife Mary Minerva Thomason about 1840. He was a farmer in Knox County, Indiana. Minerva died in 1842 after the birth of their daughter Caroline. He remarried in 1844 and he and Mary Steele had at least 8 more children by 1866 (including my 3x great grandmother Laura) after the birth of her 8th child she also died. He married his third wife, Huldah Horrall 5 years later in 1871.
Which brings us to October of 1873. From news reports I’ve gathered George died of arsenic poisoning. The arsenic was put into his medication bottle. He had written a suicide note. But the sheriff’s office didn’t believe it. They decided Huldah had killed him and the note was a fake. They exhumed his body. They arrested Huldah and held her without bail. They put the trial off from February to May. Newspaper articles were published repeating gossip about her obvious guilt. But the jury acquitted her after only deliberating for 30 minutes.
After her acquittal the newspaper printed letters written to George’s daughter from prisoners in the local jail. They claimed Huldah had admitted to the murder to them and further stated they had forged the suicide note for her.
It seems Huldah’s lawyers must have brough suit against the paper, because eventually they walked back their assertions of her guilt in a rather backhanded way while also mentioning her poor behavior in her youth.
Huldah continued living in Knox County for thirty years after her acquittal. She died on Xmas Eve 1906 at the age of 86.
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