Alan Hynd - Authentic Cases From the Files of Alan Hynd

Dr. MacGregor also suggested they hire a nurse to keep an eye on Scyrel. Dr. MacGregor thought this was a great idea and wasted no time hiring a Miss Marguerite Gibbs. She was tall and attractive, blonde-haired and blue-eyed. She would be tending to Scyrel on an hourly basis, administering his medicines, monitoring his food and drink. In her spare time, she would also search the Sparling home for poison.

Two days later, the nurse discretely showed Dr. MacGregor a cardboard box she had found in the Sparling kitchen. It was filled with bottles of arsenic. Dr. MacGregor, showing what appeared to be deep shock, dutifully delivered the box of arsenic to the desk of Xenon Boomhower. The implications of Carrie Sparling’s involvement in the deaths of her husband and two sons lay within the flimsy walls of the cardboard box.

After Dr. MacGregor’s departure, Boomhower started to snap out of the trance that seemed to have held him during the past few months. He contacted the local sheriff, Donald McAuley, and requested that McAuley look into additional arsenic sources. Sheriff McAuley, a tall bear of a man in his 40s, began to prowl around the county. He learned a good deal more than what he had expected, hearing from the Sparling neighbors about an alleged affair between Dr. MacGregor and Mrs. Carrie Sparling, quite a scandal in these Edwardian times. Nor could the sheriff ignore the rants of Uncle John.

So Sheriff McAuley started to snoop a little further. Carrie Sparling was on his mind because of that cache of arsenic. But perhaps in addition to Mrs. Sparling, he reasoned, a closer look at Dr. MacGregor might be a beneficial idea.

Upon further investigation at the local bank, the sheriff learned each time Mrs. Sparling cashed an insurance check on the proceeds of her dead sons, Dr. MacGregor’s accounts profited quite nicely. So had Dr. MacGregor purposely thrown suspicion upon Carrie Sparling in attempt to divert the sheriff and the prosecutor?

On August 10, Dr. Conboy made an unannounced visit to the Sparling home. Mrs. MacGregor assisted the nurse in bathing Scyrel, who drifted in and out of consciousness. Dr. MacGregor comforted Carrie. Painfully obvious, Scyrel was about to meet his Maker.

On August 14, Dr. MacGregor called his physician comrades back to Scyrel’s bedside. Drs. Conboy and one Dr. Willett Herrington arrived, as did one Dr. Eugene Holdship, the local medical examiner. A man Jay S. Corcoran came as well. All present agreed Scyrel Sparling would die before dawn. The doctors departed, save Drs. MacGregor and Holdship. Dr. Conboy reminded Dr. MacGregor to summon him and Dr. Herrington in regards to the autopsy.

A few hours later, Scyrel gasped for the final time.

Always a man of action, Dr. MacGregor made the suggestion to Dr. Holdship they should perform an autopsy immediately. Dr. Holdship was unaware that Prosecutor Xen Boomhower had his own ideas of just who should do the honors.

Outside, Ubly’s undertaker, Mr. Hector McKay lounged on the Sparling hammock as he grieved yet another Sparling boy’s death. Dr. MacGregor approached Hector, asking him for his knife. Hector obliged. Dr. MacGregor promptly handed the blade to his acquaintance, informing Dr. Holdship he would make the cuts.

In the dark of night, Carrie Sparling held the lantern with as steady a hand as she could manage while Dr. Holdship sliced away, following the direction of Dr. MacGregor. Dr. Holdship removed a few vital organs: the liver, spleen, pancreas and part of the upper intestine, placing them in jars as he removed them from their original owner. The liver appeared swollen and ruptured. Dr. MacGregor diagnosed his death as cancer of the liver, promptly asking Dr. Holdship if the organ appeared diseased to him, also.

Dr. Holdship nodded his agreement. When Dr. Holdship inquired as to whether he should dissect the stomach, Dr. MacGregor indicated Scyrel’s stomach looked fine.

“No need to disturb it,” MacGregor said. “We have our answers. Let’s just stitch him back up.”

At the break of dawn, Dr. MacGregor hopped in his new auto. He drove to Bad Axe, the jars containing Scyrel’s organs clanking together in an eerie tune in the back seat along the way. Boomhower, who had been preparing to leave for the Sparling farm so he could be present during the autopsy, was shocked when Dr. MacGregor drove up to the local courthouse and announced what he was carrying. Dr. MacGregor handed the jars filled to the brim with Scyrel’s organs to his friend, who had previously indicated the contents would be shipped to the University of Michigan for analysis.

Dr. Charles B. Morden, the Huron County coroner, along with Sheriff McAuley and Drs. Herrington and Conboy, stood in the street before the courthouse with their mouths open in surprise.

“Why had Dr. MacGregor performed the autopsy,” asked Boomhower.

“Didn’t want to trouble you,” MacGregor said. “I was happy to help.”

But before all three doctors could agree on a diagnosis, the youth qualified for a place in the family burial grounds. It was night when he passed away, not quietly in his sleep but noisily while awake. Doctor MacGregor and the third physician were at the bedside.

And so the fourth Sparling died, the fourth in three years. A speedy funeral followed.

Time passed and the stew began to come to a boil. Mrs. MacGregor’s condition didn’t seem to respond to treatment and the doctor was always sending her away to Canada. The woman seems to have been considerably less suspicious than some women whose husbands cheat on them but it must be said for Doctor MacGregor that he was, on the surface anyway, the soul of attention to his wife when she was around.

Mrs. Sparing and the doctor made their first mistake when one night Mrs. MacGregor was out of town, Mrs. Sparling decided to remain all night in the house she rented to the doctor. One of the village gossips, a spinster lady naturally, saw Mrs. MacGregor sneaking out of the house in the early hours of the morning to drive back to the farm. The gossip ran straight to Old John and told him what was going on. So Old John rented a room in the old maid’s house, remaining under cover by day, so that he could keep an eye on what went on at Doc’s at night.

One night the Widow Sparling checked into the Doc’s place in the afternoon and was still there when all the lights went out that night. Old John bided his time until around midnight. Then, carrying a lantern and a ladder, he sneaked up to Doc’s house, climbed up the ladder, peeked in a second-story window and got a pretty good view of what was going on between the good doctor and the bereaved widow.

Similarly, Dr. Daniel Conboy, still bothered by the events at the Sparling ranch, paid a visit to Xen Boomhower in Bad Axe. Dr. Conboy had had time to come to some conclusions. He now alleged Carrie Sparling had poisoned Scyrel, the motive: insurance money.

Old John, having seen plenty, dropped in on Prosecutor Boomhower next day.

“I know people think I’m nuts,” said Old John, fixing Boomhower with a belligerent stare, “but you won’t think I’m nuts if you dig up them Sparling boys.”

Boomhower was opening his mouth to respond when who should come in the door but Dr. Daniel Conboy, still bothered by the events at the Sparling ranch. Dr. Conboy had had time to come to some conclusions. He now alleged Carrie Sparling had poisoned Scyrel, the motive: insurance money.

“See?” said Old John, as soon as Conboy piped down. “Told you so!”

There was something so sincere about the bellicose old auctioneer that Boomhower, who had heard gossip, too, decided he had nothing to lose by digging up at least one body. Secretly, of course. So, Boomhower hired a couple of gravediggers. They dug up Scyrel and took him to the office of a doctor in the next county.