This is the follow-up to last week’s story, which may be seen here.  [Note that George Benoit’s name was spelled Bennett in the initial articles on this event.]

INDICTMENTS RETURNED
Against Mary McWilliams and George Bennett for Attempted Murder

From Wednesday’s Daily
The special grand jury summoned to investigate the McWilliams affair began their labors on the case at 9 o’clock this morning and by noon were done and returned indictments against Mary McWilliams and Geo. Bennett, charging them with an assault with intent to commit murder by poisoning. The charges were conclusive and the jury completed its work in short order. Neither of the defendants was able to give bail and they now occupy quarters in the county jail. It is thought that they will enter a plea to the charges and in less than a week they will be doing time in Joliet.¹

GIVEN THEIR REWARD
Bennett and Mrs. McWilliams Sent to Joliet Prison Yesterday

George Bennett and Mrs. Mary McWilliams were given a long season by Judge Blanchard yesterday afternoon in which to meditate upon the consequences of a double crime, that of unfaithfulness and attempted murder. They were brought before the court by the sheriff’s officials to plead to the indictments found against them on the previous day, and, as both had made confessions, she that she had placed the poison in her husband’s tea at Bennett’s suggestion, and Bennett that he had purchased the poison and given it to her for the purpose of putting McWilliams out of the way, they expressed no desire to stand trial, but threw themselves upon the mercy of the court by pleading guilty.

Judge Blanchard said that he considered Bennett the plotter and real culprit, as he had alienated the affections of the wife, while having a family of his own, and then sought to wholly possess the woman by making her the executioner of her husband. On this account he gave Bennett the full limit of the law, fourteen years in Joliet, but gave Mrs. McWilliams seven years because of the fact that she had been more a dupe and a tool than a willing criminal. Both took their sentences hard, especially the woman. Their intended victim, the husband, John McWilliams, has fully recovered, and is now as well as ever.²

MRS McWILLIAMS CONFESSES
She Admits That She Placed the Poison in the Tea

From Sunday’s Daily
Mrs. John McWilliams, wife of the man who all but expired from Strychnine poisoning Friday noon, confessed at the county jail last evening that she placed the deadly drug in her husband’s tea for the purpose of putting him out of the way. Rumors to the effect that McWilliams had poisoned himself with “Rough on Rats” are without foundation, for, though he may have made such a statement in his delirium, the fact is that the poison was strychnine. Mrs. McWilliams is closely confined in jail, while her husband, who is still very weak, is in the county asylum, on account of the lack of a city hospital.³

TELLS THE STORY
George Benoit Admits That He Figured in the Poisoning

HE IS CAPTURED AT LA SALLE
He Says That the Whole Affair Was Arranged Weeks Ago by Mrs. McWilliams and Himself and She Administered the Dose

From Monday’s Daily
But little has been said of the McWilliams affair, which occurred on Friday last, up to the present time, owing to the fact that George Benoit, one of the accessories to the crime, was not captured until last night. As soon as he heard that he was wanted he made his escape from Dayton and went to La Salle, where he remained with his sister-in-law. As stated in yesterday’s paper, Mrs. McWilliams made a confession of the whole affair on Saturday, and Sheriff Taylor lost no time in hunting up the abode of Benoit. He was captured at La Salle and brought to Ottawa this morning and placed in the county jail. This afternoon he was brought before State’s Attorney Blake and told the whole story. He said that Mrs. McWilliams made the proposition to him to do away with her husband so that they might get married, and on Saturday, Oct. 22, he purchased the strychnine in this city. Benoit took the matter very cooly. He is a man of family, and according to his own statement intended to get a divorce from his present wife after McWilliams was out of the way and marry his wife.

McWilliams has fully recovered from the effects of the poison and on Saturday did not seem desirous of prosecuting the matter. But the authorities told him it was no longer in his hands and that there would be a rigid prosecution. The case will come up at the January term of the court.⁴

1. The Ottawa Free trader, November 5, 1892, p. 1, col. 2
2. The Ottawa Free trader, November 5, 1892, p. 1, col. 3
3. The Ottawa Free trader, November 5, 1892, p. 3, col. 2
4. The Ottawa Free trader, November 5, 1892, p. 7, col. 2

A DIABOLICAL PLOT
John McWilliams Lying at the Point of Death

POISON IN HIS TEA
He Alleges That His Wife Prepared the Dose in Hopes of Putting Him Out of the Way – He Will Recover and Will Prosecute the Matter

From Friday’s Daily:
One of the most fiendish plots that we have been compelled to chronicle for many a day occurred in this city at noon today. For several days past John McWilliams, a laborer, whose home is in Dayton has been employed on our streets by the Rockford Construction Company. He worked at the Rock Island depot unloading the brick from the cars to the wagons. As stated before, his home is in Dayton, to which place he returned every evening. He carried his dinner with him in the morning and at noon he ate it at the flagman’s house on Columbus street. After quitting work this noon, he went to this little house, as usual, and proceeded to eat his dinner. He carried his tea in a small can, and after drinking probably a half a pint of it, he remarked to some of the men who were with him that the tea had a queer taste and he threw the balance of it away. He soon became sick and was seized with cramps and then became hysterical. Dr. Dyer was sent for and upon examination found that the unfortunate man had drank strychnine in his tea and administered an emetic.

McWilliams was conscious all the time and when questioned by a representative of this paper as to the manner in which the poison was placed in his tea, he had no hesitation in saying that it was the work of his wife and that she was undoubtedly prompted to do so by a married man, who resides in Dayton and with whom she has been very intimate of late. The whole circumstances tended to show that the plot was perpetrated with homicidal intentions and the poisoned man weak as he was stated that it was the work of no one save his wife and her admirer. The matter was reported to State’s Attorney Blake, who immediately issued a warrant for their arrest and the same was placed in the sheriff’s hands for service. At 3 o’clock McWilliams was resting quietly and Sr. Dyer’s opinion is that he will recover. The plot is one that should not go unrecognized by the authorities and the perpetrators should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.¹

[Stay tuned. Next week we will see the follow-up to this attempted murder.]

1. The Ottawa Free Trader, October 29, 1892, p. 5, col. 4