Winfield S. Carpenter
50 YOA
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
August 12, 1904
At midday on Friday, August 12, 1904, 50-year-old Iowa City resident Winfield S. Carpenter took a meal break at his carpet weaving job.
He washed down the lunch he brought from home with coffee his wife brewed and placed in a can.
Shortly afterwards, Carpenter became ill, quickly deteriorated, and expired.
His dying words were an accusation that he was poisoned by something in his coffee.
His death after eating a homemade lunch seemed suspicious to investigators, more so because — according to the Emmetsburg Democrat — “Carpenter recently figured in a lawsuit in which his wife was one of the chief witnesses against him.”
A grand jury was convened to hear evidence in the death, which was attributed to strychnine.
Carpenter’s wife Cora, who took in washing to supplement the family’s income, testified the coffee she put into her husband’s lunch was the same the family drank that morning.
Her assertion was given credence by the testimony of Dr. E.W. Rockwood, who claimed his analysis of the coffee that Carpenter drank showed no trace of strychnine.
Although some in Iowa City believed Carpenter committed suicide, the grand jury’s official report read:
“We the jury, find that the deceased came to his death by strychnine poison, the same being administered to him by some person or persons to this jury unknown.”
The suspicious death of Winfield Carpenter, deemed “puzzling” by regional newspapers, was never satisfactorily explained.
Winfield S. Carpenter was born in Pennsylvania in September 1853 to Martha J. Wall and Martin Carpenter. He had four brothers — John, Walter, Willis, and Franklin Carpenter — as well as two sisters, Annie and Clara.
By the time Winfield was seven, the Carpenter family had moved to Warsaw, Illinois.
Courtesy photo Ancestry.comCarpenter relocated to Iowa City before 1880 and, in 1882, married Cora D. Hess.
He was survived by Cora and their six children, who ranged in age from 2 to 19: Oscar S., James, Mabel, Edith, Beulah, Clara, and Mary E. Carpenter.
Burial took place in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City.
At the time of the murder, the Carpenter family lived at 935 Johnson Street in Iowa City.
Almost exactly a year after Carpenter’s death, his widow Cora was bitten on the arm by a neighbor woman.
In reporting the incident, the Iowa City Press-Citizen wrote:
“[She] will recover, if neither tetanus, blood poisoning, nor rabies ensues.”
Clara married Jacob Goering after Winfield’s death. When Goering died, she married George Crippen, who passed away in April 1912 shortly before her children Clara and James died.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1904 murder of Winfield S. Carpenter should be directed to the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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