FORMER RESIDENTS LOSE BABY BY A MYSTERIOUS POISONING

The following taken from the Mitchell, S.D. Republican of March 12th has reference to the child of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Erickson, who were raised in Washington county and have many acquaintances here. Mrs. Erickson was formerly Fannie Morrison, and lived with her parents on the bottom north of Blair. She was married to Harry Erickson July 17, 1912, and then moved to Mitchell, S.D. where they have since resided.

“Mysteriously poisoned by medicine which physicians believe she found in a bottle which had been thrown away, Margaret Erickson, the two year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Erickson living near Mitchell, died early this morning at her home.

“The child was taken suddenly ill while playing in the yard outside her home about 10 o’clock Thursday morning. Two physicians who held a consultation diagnosed the case as poisoning from some medicine, the nature of which has not yet been determined.

“Little Margaret had been playing in the yard since early in the morning and had apparently been in the best of health. Most of the time she was in sight of her father and her grandfather who were working in the barnyard.

“About ten o’clock she went into the house where her mother was at work and at once became delirious.

“ ‘Margaret probably picked up something in the yard that poisoned her, although we have been unable to find any bottles or anything about the place that contained poison,’ Mrs. Erickson stated this afternoon.

“ ‘The child died of poisoning from some kind of medicine,’ one of the physicians declared. ‘We are not positive what kind of medicine it was and have no idea where the child got it. No autopsy will be held.’

“Funeral services will be held at three o’clock Sunday afternoon at the First Presbyterian church of this city. The body will be interred at Graceland cemetery."

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~