Digging up the Family Tree

The first News Clippings from the Past Book was a Christmas present. We found old advertisements for a mercantile store ran by a great great grandfather. There were tales of dances and harvests, ball games there seems to always be ball games. As we turned this into a business we discovered intriguing facts. The number of poisonings seems very high rather accidental or suicide. Just listing the numbers of death notices from strychnine would fill an entire book. The cause of death may have completely missed the poisoning being diagnosed as a heart of abdominal issue. How common was the use of strychnine? It was used to kill rats, mice, dogs and people. Then a distant cousin charged with murder using strychnine! Please remember that these news articles are nearly a hundred years old and some may be a bit hard to read - thanks for your understanding.