100 years ago in Spokane: Stomach pump purchase causes suspicion in strychnine death

Several new developments cast more suspicion on Henry M. Delaney in the strychnine poisoning death of Rosa Kempf.

A Spokane drug store reported that a man resembling Delaney attempted to purchase a stomach pump, of the kind used by undertakers, on the day after the girl’s death. This was significant, since the autopsy on Kempf had not yet been performed. Detectives suspected that Delaney wanted to pump out the contents of her stomach before tests were made.

Delaney had previously stated that he had experience as an undertaker.

Police also discovered that Delaney had a shady past. One of his cousins informed police that Delaney robbed the Lolo, Mont., post office in 1903 and was sentenced to six months in jail. In another incident, he stole a registered letter containing $50 from the post office and spent two years in the reform school at Miles City, Mont.

His cousin, now living in Spokane, told police that Delaney had been “wild in his youth and had a bad reputation.”

Delaney was being held on a forgery charge and was being grilled by detectives daily about the poisoning.

From the school beat: Spokane’s high schools resumed classes for the first time in six weeks, after closing because of the flu epidemic.

Officials reported only a few students and teachers absent for illness.

Among the returning students were a number of boys who had served in the armed forces and had been released from service after the armistice.