William Marsh Rice
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William Marsh Rice (March 14, 1816 – September 23, 1900) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and made his fortune in Texas by trading cotton, and investing in land and railroads. He left the bulk of his estate to the founding of a free institute of higher learning in Houston, Texas. Opening 1912 as William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Art, and Science, it is known today as Rice University.
Rice was the victim of one of the earliest sensational crimes of the 1900s. On September 23rd 1900, Rice was found dead by his valet, and was presumed to have died in his sleep. Shortly thereafer, a bank teller noticed a suspiciously large check bearing the late Rice's signature and made out to Rice's lawyer, Albert T. Patrick, but with his name misspelled. Soon, Patrick made an announcement that Rice had changed his will right before his death, leaving the bulk of his fortune to Patrick rather than to his Institute. A subsequent investigation led by the District Attorney of New York resulted in the arrests of Patrick and of Rice's butler/valet Charles Jones, who had been persuaded to administer chloroform to Rice while he slept. Jones turned state's evidence and Patrick was convicted of murder and sent to Sing-Sing. Because of doubts raised about evidence admitted in the trial, Patrick's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1906 and he was released with a full pardon in 1912.
