DATELINE CROWELL , TEXAS

By Jim Rich

July 21, 2012

Way back on July 21, 1928 an article appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES with the dateline CROWELL , TEXAS . It told of a Foard County farmer named J. B. Lassater and his five year old daughter, Mary Helen, who had died from eating a can of poison beans which had been improperly sealed. Five other members of the family were "seriously ill" according to the NEW YORK TIMES article.

It seems that a two year old baby in the family was the only one spared; the infant had gone to bed without supper.

Very shortly after the death of the father and daughter, the family moved away never to be seen around here again, until now, when the baby girl who was two years old at the time of her father's death returned to Crowell.

Now after 84 years we have "The Rest of The Story".

The Think Tank members, along with Shaw's employees Lydia Christopher and Cheyenne Collier had some interesting visitors today that provided us with some history from long ago.

 First a little background. Back in February and March of 2009, Mr. Hundley ran a couple of articles in the Foard County News about an article that appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES way back in July 21, 1928 with the dateline Crowell , Texas . It told of a Foard County farmer named J. B. Laseter and his five year old daughter, Mary who died from eating a can of poison beans which had been improperly sealed. The New York Times made several mistakes, and so Mr. Hundley passed some of those mistakes on in his article. They had Mr. Laseter spelled incorrectly, and he thought that the Woodmen of the world and the people of Foard County had taken up a collection for the tombstone.

 Well now we have "The Rest Of The Story". Our visitors were Mrs. Matty Laseter Johnston and her son Sam Johnston. Matty is now 86 years old and the last surviving member of that family. At the time of her sister's death she was only 2 years old, but she remembers that time and now she relates it to us as it was:

  She says that her mother had just cooked a pot of beans and it was not canned beans, they had no canned beans back then, they left them on the stove and went to the field, when they came in from the field all but her ate some of the beans. Soon all of them were sick and her father and sister ended up dying from the beans. There were five other children that got sick also. Her mother told her that a man had came to the house earlier and wonted to borrow their car, but they would not loan it to him and he got very mad about it. Dr. Hines Clark came out and made several house calls to treat them, and then when the two died the Dr. told them that the beans had strychnine in them, however this was never confirmed and no one was ever caught or tried for the murder.

Another thing that Matty wonted to get straight was that Mr. Laseter was a member of the Woodmen of the World, so they provided the tomb stone. Another thing that the New York Times had incorrect was the age of the girl that died; they had her as five years old when she was actually six years old.

 We would all like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Matty and Sam for coming all the way up here and giving this information to the Think Tank. I hope everything here is to their liking.