Behind The Mysterious Incident That Still Haunts One Of America's Most Prestigious Universities
Stanford University nurtures some of the brightest young minds in the world, but there's a dark secret buried beneath its pristine campus. The mysterious demise of Jane Stanford, the school's co-founder, still casts a long shadow. For about a century, her death was mostly forgotten, until modern journalists delved into Jane’s tragic life. Their research uncovered more about the bizarre way Jane died — and who may have been behind it.
Interrupted evening
During Jane's final years, she was already living a lonely existence. Her husband, Leland, had been dead for a decade, and she resided in their mansion with only her team of servants to keep her company. On January 14, 1905, Jane took a drink of Poland Spring water and knew something was immediately wrong.
Bitter water
Jane called out for one of her maids. "Come and see what is the matter with the Poland water!" she said. "I drank some, and it nearly choked me. It burned me so that I ran my fingers down my throat and threw it all up." One of the housekeepers also tasted the beverage and agreed it was bitter.
Slipping in strychnine
Staff took the remaining water to Wakelee’s drug store, where a chemist tested the liquid. To everyone's horror, someone had slipped a massive dose of strychnine in the bottle. This colorless powder was used for killing pests by absorbing into their mucus membranes, and it has the same effect on people.
Fleeing to Hawaii
Jane was terrified of the poisoning attempt and decided to take a last-minute vacation to Hawaii to escape the danger and relax after such a traumatizing incident. Newspapers started reporting the story while Jane was unreachable in Hawaii. In her absence, Stanford president Dr. David Starr Jordan spoke for her.
