Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Killing Of Herman Heyder 1882
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Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

   KILLING OF HERMAN HEYDER.—From November 18 to 25, 1870, the Fifteenth
District Court was occupied with the trial of Matthew Caspar, indicted for the
murder of Herman Heyder, by poison, put into the food served to him by the
accused, when the deceased was a visitor at his house, some ten or twelve miles
southeast of Antioch. The general facts and features of the case may be briefly
summarized as follows: On the sixth or seventh of September, 1870, Heyder and
Caspar were brought into Antioch, at one or two o'clock in the morning, Heyder
lying in the bottom of the wagon and Caspar sitting upon the seat beside the
driver; both were represented to Dr. Howard to be suffering from the effects of
strychnine taken with the food they had eaten for supper at the house of Caspar,
some five or six hours before. Heyder died soon after reaching Antioch. Caspar
recovered, and from the medical testimony, and other facts subsequently
developed or considered, it appeared doubtful if he had exhibited any symptoms
of having been poisoned at all. A jury was summoned to make an inquest in the
case, and after a very patient, thorough and protracted investigation, Caspar
was held, on their finding, to answer before the Grand Jury on a charge of
poisoning Heyder. The finding of this jury, and, presumably, of the Grand Jury,
was based wholly upon strong circumstantial evidence of the guilt of the
accused. It was, in the first place, almost inconceivable that so atrocious and
diabolical a crime could have been committed without some motive of envy or
cupidity; and the most diligent inquiry failed to develop a fact or suggestion
which warranted suspicion that any one had been prompted by such motives to
enter Caspar's house in his absence and mingle strychnine with the various
condiments and articles of food, which would be eaten by him on his return, for
the purpose of killing him. Large quantities of strychnine were found in the
sugar-bowl, pepper-box, the salt upon the table, the syrup, the butter and in
the batter-pan, and the flap-jack cakes, cooked and eaten, at least by Heyder,
for supper—for he was unquestionably poisoned, exhibited all the most painful
symptons, and died within a few hours after the fatal meal. Strychnine was found
in his stomach, on chemical analysis of the contents, and in the undigested
portions of the cake he had eaten. The question then arose with the jury of
Inquest: Had Caspar any motive which would possibly have prompted him to such an
attempt to destroy the life of his visitor and guest? It was shown that Caspar
and Heyder had been acquainted for some time; had worked together in herding
sheep, that Heyder had money, and that Caspar had been trying for some time to
borrow several hundred dollars from him. His statements in relation to the
preparation of the supper when Heyder came with him to the house after having
been with him when he had been at work during the afternoon, and many other
circumstances developed in the investigation, produced a conviction of Caspar's
guilt in the minds of the Jury of Inquest; and the testimony before the Grand
Jury doubtless produced the same conviction there, to warrant his indictment for
the murder. With the strong circumstantial evidence of guilt which had warranted
the findings of the two juries, the prosecution on the trial brought in the
testimony of two prisoners confined in the jail, to prove an admission, on the
part of Caspar, to them in prison, that he did the poisoning. This was the only
testimony purporting to be of a positive character, against the prisoner; and it
probably had not the weight with the jury that the testimony of persons
unaccused of crime would have had, though these prisoners had no apparent motive
for testifying falsely against the life of another; it is therefore not
surprising that, under their solemn responsibilities, with no alternative but
condemnation to death or acquittal, the jury should have failed to find a
verdict according with the general conviction of the prisoner's guilt.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.


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