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The Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford
Jane Stanford, the co-founder of Stanford University, died in Honolulu in 1905, shortly after surviving strychnine poisoning in San Francisco. The inquest testimony of the physicians who attended her death in Hawaii led to a coroner’s jury verdict of murder―by strychnine poisoning. Stanford University President David Starr Jordan promptly issued a press release claiming that Mrs. Stanford had died of heart disease, a claim that he supported by challenging the skills and judgment of the Honolulu physicians and toxicologist. Jordan’s diagnosis was largely accepted and promulgated in many subsequent historical accounts. In this book, the author reviews the medical reports in detail to refute Dr. Jordan’s claim and to show that Mrs. Stanford indeed died of strychnine poisoning. His research reveals that the professionals who were denounced by Dr. Jordan enjoyed honorable and distinguished careers. He concludes that Dr. Jordan went to great lengths, over a period of nearly two decades, to cover up the real circumstances of Mrs. Stanford’s death.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 25, 2021
Jane Stanford, the co-founder of Stanford University, died in Honolulu in 1905, shortly after surviving strychnine poisoning in San Francisco. The inquest testimony of the physicians who attended her death in Hawaii led to a coroner’s jury verdict of murder—by strychnine poisoning. Stanford University President David Starr Jordan promptly issued a press release claiming that Mrs. Stanford had died of heart disease, a claim that he supported by challenging the skills and judgment of the Honolulu physicians and toxicologist. Jordan’s diagnosis was largely accepted and promulgated in many subsequent historical accounts.
In this book, the author, a distinguished Stanford neurologist, reviews the medical reports in detail to refute Dr. Jordan’s claim and to show that Mrs. Stanford indeed died of strychnine poisoning. His research reveals that the professionals who were denounced by Dr. Jordan enjoyed honorable and distinguished careers. He concludes that Dr. Jordan went to great lengths, over a period of nearly two decades, to cover up the real circumstances of Mrs. Stanford’s death. He had motive.
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The story...
On the evening of January 14, 1905, at her Nob Hill mansion in San Francisco, Mrs. Stanford drank a glass of Poland Spring mineral water from a bottle placed in her room, as it was every night, by a household servant. Detecting a bitter taste, she immediately induced herself to vomit and called for her secretary and her maid. They each tasted the water and agreed that it had a “queer” and “bitter” taste. It was sent to the pharmacy for analysis, and some weeks later the verdict was returned. The Poland water had been poisoned with enough strychnine to prove fatal in a matter of minutes. Mrs. Stanford decided to sail for Hawaii, where she could rest and recuperate.
On the night of February 28, before retiring to bed at the Moana Hotel in Honolulu, Mrs. Stanford requested bicarbonate of soda as a digestive aid, which her personal secretary, Bertha Berner, prepared. At 11:15 p.m., Mrs. Stanford woke her servants with cries of “I am so sick!” and “Run for the doctor! I have no control of my body! I think I have been poisoned again!”
“As local doctor Humphris tried to administer a solution of bromine and chloral hydrate, Mrs. Stanford, now in anguish, exclaimed, “My jaws are stiff. This is a horrible death to die.” Whereupon she was seized by a tetanic spasm that progressed relentlessly to a state of severe rigidity: her jaws clamped shut, her thighs opened widely, her feet twisted inwards, her fingers and thumbs clenched into tight fists, and her head drew back. Finally, her respiration ceased”.
An autopsy and an inquiry by a coroner’s jury followed. After reviewing the autopsy report and hearing three full days of testimony, the jury took only two minutes to reach its conclusion: “... Jane Lathrop Stanford came to her death ... from strychnine poisoning
By this time, Jordan was en route to Honolulu with a party of his own—and apparently with a mission. Upon his arrival, he quickly hired a local physician, Ernest Coniston Waterhouse, to dispute the cause of death. How he chose Waterhouse is not certain, but with that doctor’s brief report in hand, and Mrs. Stanford not yet laid to rest, Jordan made a pronouncement to the press. Contrary to the earlier reports of poisoning, Mrs. Stanford had died of heart failure, he said.
Jordan paid Waterhouse the present-day equivalent of $7,000 for a four-page report slapped together without much independent investigation. Confronted by Humphris, who accused him of unethical conduct for consulting on the case without any firsthand knowledge, Waterhouse sought an attorney. Then, within days of receiving his payment from Stanford, he sailed for Ceylon.
“The relationship between Jane Stanford and Jordan, despite a veneer of civility, was a vexed one.” Jordan, the book author observes, “could hardly have enjoyed being under the thumb of Jane Stanford.”
By 1904, it appears that Mrs. Stanford had lost her toleration for Jordan and was prepared to fire him.
The author discovered that Stanford University archivists preferred the heart attack story rather than the certified poisoning cause.
Who poisoned Stanford is uncertain, that there was a cover up is pretty clear.
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more on Jordan....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In this book, the author, a distinguished Stanford neurologist, reviews the medical reports in detail to refute Dr. Jordan’s claim and to show that Mrs. Stanford indeed died of strychnine poisoning. His research reveals that the professionals who were denounced by Dr. Jordan enjoyed honorable and distinguished careers. He concludes that Dr. Jordan went to great lengths, over a period of nearly two decades, to cover up the real circumstances of Mrs. Stanford’s death. He had motive.
=========
The story...
On the evening of January 14, 1905, at her Nob Hill mansion in San Francisco, Mrs. Stanford drank a glass of Poland Spring mineral water from a bottle placed in her room, as it was every night, by a household servant. Detecting a bitter taste, she immediately induced herself to vomit and called for her secretary and her maid. They each tasted the water and agreed that it had a “queer” and “bitter” taste. It was sent to the pharmacy for analysis, and some weeks later the verdict was returned. The Poland water had been poisoned with enough strychnine to prove fatal in a matter of minutes. Mrs. Stanford decided to sail for Hawaii, where she could rest and recuperate.
On the night of February 28, before retiring to bed at the Moana Hotel in Honolulu, Mrs. Stanford requested bicarbonate of soda as a digestive aid, which her personal secretary, Bertha Berner, prepared. At 11:15 p.m., Mrs. Stanford woke her servants with cries of “I am so sick!” and “Run for the doctor! I have no control of my body! I think I have been poisoned again!”
“As local doctor Humphris tried to administer a solution of bromine and chloral hydrate, Mrs. Stanford, now in anguish, exclaimed, “My jaws are stiff. This is a horrible death to die.” Whereupon she was seized by a tetanic spasm that progressed relentlessly to a state of severe rigidity: her jaws clamped shut, her thighs opened widely, her feet twisted inwards, her fingers and thumbs clenched into tight fists, and her head drew back. Finally, her respiration ceased”.
An autopsy and an inquiry by a coroner’s jury followed. After reviewing the autopsy report and hearing three full days of testimony, the jury took only two minutes to reach its conclusion: “... Jane Lathrop Stanford came to her death ... from strychnine poisoning
By this time, Jordan was en route to Honolulu with a party of his own—and apparently with a mission. Upon his arrival, he quickly hired a local physician, Ernest Coniston Waterhouse, to dispute the cause of death. How he chose Waterhouse is not certain, but with that doctor’s brief report in hand, and Mrs. Stanford not yet laid to rest, Jordan made a pronouncement to the press. Contrary to the earlier reports of poisoning, Mrs. Stanford had died of heart failure, he said.
Jordan paid Waterhouse the present-day equivalent of $7,000 for a four-page report slapped together without much independent investigation. Confronted by Humphris, who accused him of unethical conduct for consulting on the case without any firsthand knowledge, Waterhouse sought an attorney. Then, within days of receiving his payment from Stanford, he sailed for Ceylon.
“The relationship between Jane Stanford and Jordan, despite a veneer of civility, was a vexed one.” Jordan, the book author observes, “could hardly have enjoyed being under the thumb of Jane Stanford.”
By 1904, it appears that Mrs. Stanford had lost her toleration for Jordan and was prepared to fire him.
The author discovered that Stanford University archivists preferred the heart attack story rather than the certified poisoning cause.
Who poisoned Stanford is uncertain, that there was a cover up is pretty clear.
=====
more on Jordan....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 2, 2018
It is an interesting story. Seems the author believes David Jordan had something to do with her death but it is very inconclusive since any documentation of proof either didn't exist or was lost in the earthquake fires. Her death does sound suspicious.
January 31, 2018
A bit scientific, but Cutler makes a good case for strychnine poisoning ...
June 17, 2015
Strange historical episode's details fleshed out, but the underlying and all-consuming question of who might have murdered her is completely ignored.
September 8, 2015
Very academic and dry. Good if you want the facts, but less entertaining as a story.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews