Benjamin Franklin Hughes was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1890 and represented DeKalb county for one term. Twenty years later he was in the news for being a bigamist. Judge Latshaw really laid into Mr. Hughes at sentencing.
Judge Ralph Steele Latshaw was a prominent man in the Kansas City area until his death. He gained national publicity as presiding judge during the sensational murder trial of Bennett Clark Hyde, charged with strychnine poisoning of Col. Thomas H. Swope, Chrisman Swope, Moss Hunton and eight others for whom the poison was not fatal. Hyde was married to Col. Swope's niece. Giles Fowler (he used to do movie reviews for the Kansas City Star and later was a professor of journalism at Iowa State University) published a book about the Hyde trial last year. I bet the research was a hoot -- at least the newspaper accounts.
Well, OK then.When the exposure comes they must suffer the same as you. When the name of Hughes is held up for ridicule, made the subject of ribald jest, not you alone suffer, but your wife and family also. No wonder the woman whom you swore to cherish and love, despises and hates you. No wonder you are a disgusting sight to her eyes.
But I think this one experience has cured you. If you fall again you must end with a suicide's grave or the felon's cell.
Judge Ralph Steele Latshaw was a prominent man in the Kansas City area until his death. He gained national publicity as presiding judge during the sensational murder trial of Bennett Clark Hyde, charged with strychnine poisoning of Col. Thomas H. Swope, Chrisman Swope, Moss Hunton and eight others for whom the poison was not fatal. Hyde was married to Col. Swope's niece. Giles Fowler (he used to do movie reviews for the Kansas City Star and later was a professor of journalism at Iowa State University) published a book about the Hyde trial last year. I bet the research was a hoot -- at least the newspaper accounts.