___________________

Leonidas Campbell Houk was a lawyer, Judge, and Congressman. He was born in Sevier County on June 8, 1836, and moved to Knoxville in 1870. He was elected to Congress in 1879, and was serving his seventh consecutive term in 1891.

On May 24, 1891, Congressman Houk was said to have been in the best of health. It was a Sunday afternoon. After taking an afternoon walk with his wife, he dropped into Allen DePue's Drug Store, at the corner of Park Avenue (now Magnolia) and Crozier Street (now Central). Houk purchased a few cigars, then asked the prescription clerk, a Mr. Lobenhoffer, for a glass of water. The clerk walked to the prescription desk, drew the glass of water, and placed in on the counter and briefly walked to the front of the store to assist a customer. Not noticing that a second glass had been placed on the counter, Houk picked up that glass and drank the contents. Unfortunately, that glass was filled with arsenic. Lobenhoffer returned to the rear of the drug store, where Houk immediately inquired "What was in that glass ?". Realizing that the glass filled with water was where it had been place, he quickly asked "You didn't drink that, did you ? hastily adding "That glass had enough poison to kill a dozen men." Fear and panic was obviously in the minds and hearts of both men as Houk answered "Yes ".

An emetic was quickly given to Houk, and medical aid was immediately summoned. Houk soon vomited and apparently felt somewhat better. Two local physicians were summoned, and two Doctors, named Price and Cawood, soon arrived at the drug store. After examining Houk, they accompanied the Congressman to his home on Fifth Avenue, near the corner of McClung (now Luttrell Street). It was a relatively short walk to Houk's home from the drug store. He was promptly put to bed.

Houk seemingly rested comfortably until around 10 o'clock that evening, then fell asleep. He awoke briefly around 3 A.M., then again slept. At Houk's bedside through the night had been his son, Elmer, who was called to breakfast shortly before 6 A.M., at which time a cousin, a Mrs. McClellan, took the son's place by the bedside. Soon afterwards, Houk was again awake, but this time he was in a distressed state, coughing and gasping for breath. Unfortunately, no medical assistance could save the Congressman from the inevitable end, which came quickly. He died at 6:20 A.M. on the morning of May 25, 1891. Through an ironic happenstance of fate, by accidentally reaching for and drinking what he thought was a simple glass of water but which in fact was filled with deadly arsenic, the Tennessee Congressman met his death in Knoxville in 1891.

References :

Life and Character of Leonidas C. Houk. Washington. 1891

Knoxville Journal, May 26, 1891

______________________________