He
might live to pay over the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; long
enough to give further testimony in the Holt litigation, and thus expose
the whole fraudulent scheme of pretended settlement and of friendly
relations with the lawyer, and finally, perhaps, even to make a new
will. The success of the conspiracy demanded that Rice should die that
night. Did he die naturally? Was his death caused by any further act of
the conspirators? Did Jones kill him by means of chloroform?
Jones's story is that Patrick supplied him with some oxalic acid which
was to be mixed with powdered ammonia and diluted in water, on the
theory that it was preferable to chloroform since it would not require
Jones's presence in the room at the moment of death. Jones said that he
endeavored to administer the mixture to the old man, but that he refused
to take it. Jones had already procured the chloroform from Texas, as has
been stated, and had turned it over to Patrick. He says that that
afternoon he procured this from Patrick, who told him how to administer
it. This was a few moments after six o'clock.
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