John Robert Dinsmore

The Atlanta Journal, Friday, February 25, 1927 Widow and Neighbor Indicted for Murder of Cumming Planter. Cumming, Ga., Feb 25. - The death of James R. Dinsmore, 67, wealthy Forsyth county farmer, who died under mysterious circumstances December 15, was charged to his wife, Mrs. Mary Dinsmore, 33, and Jim Hall, 69, a neighbor, in a murder indictment returned here Thursday after evidence submitted to grand jury tended to show that Dinsmore had been poisoned by biscuits that contained a large amount of calcium arsenate. Relatives of Mr. Dinsmore, who were said to have become suspicious immediately after his death, employed a private detective to investigate the circumstances. The body was disinterred late in December and the viscera sent to Dr. Edgar Everhart, Atlanta chemist, who appeared Tuesday before the grand jury. Dr. Everhart declared he found a small amount of arsenic trioxide in the dead man's stomach, liver and kidneys, and that he discovered a large amount of calcium arsenate in the biscuits submitted to him as having been on the Dinsmore table the night Mr. Dinsmore became ill. Sausage and cake, also said to have been a part of the supper menu that night, were found to be without traces of poison, the chemist said. Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore, despite the great difference in their ages, were married after a whirlwind courtship about five years ago. There were no children from that marriage. Mr. Dinsmore had three children by a former marriage. No will was left. NOTE: James R. Dinsmore was the son of Commodore Porter Dinsmore and Harriett Williams.