S13 E25 - Four Graves and a Pardon - The Sparling Family Poisonings

Podcast: Malice in the Mitten · Tracy Preston

Opublikowano: 2026-09-28

Between 1908 and 1911, four men from Michigan's Sparling family died after suffering eerily similar illnesses. When arsenic was discovered, suspicion fell on their family physician, Dr. Robert MacGregor. In 1912, MacGregor was convicted of murdering twenty-year-old Scyrel Sparling and sentenced to life in Michigan State Prison. Four years later, Governor Woodbridge Ferris declared MacGregor innocent and granted him a full pardon—after conducting a secret investigation whose findings were never made public. Then came one final unbelievable twist: MacGregor returned to the same prison as its physician. Malice in the Mitten investigates the Sparling family poisonings, the disputed toxicology, the insurance mo...