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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The chemical analysis was in: John Knicesky, of Elk, died of strychnine poisoning.

His widow, Anna, 22, told police that he simply “got sick and died.” Yet she was in custody on suspicion of poisoning her husband. She was an immigrant from Bohemia who met Knicesky through a matrimonial agency and had been married to him for six months.

The state chemist in Pullman said he found 12 milligrams of strychnine in Knicesky’s stomach. Police were checking pharmacy records to see if Anna had recently purchased strychnine. 

From the convict beat: Gill Splaine, 21, was pardoned by Gov. Ernest Lister after serving about five months of a 10-month sentence for burglary.

Splaine was a free man for only two hours. As soon as he arrived at his Spokane home, his brother-in-law summoned police over the phone with the cry of “Murder!”

Splaine didn’t murder anyone but he was accused of assaulting his wife and brother-in-law. When police arrived, Splaine ran from the house, jumped a fence and was captured after an officer fired a warning shot into the air.

His wife had a swollen mouth, yet she denied her husband assaulted her and blamed it on a fall.