{"id":101834,"date":"2025-02-10T10:11:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=101834"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:20:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:20:58","slug":"tainted-tonic-a-whodunit-mystery-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/tainted-tonic-a-whodunit-mystery-in-georgia.html","title":{"rendered":"Tainted Tonic: A \u2018Whodunit\u2019 Mystery in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> Genealogy discovery: while researching this story, James Pylant was surprised to find that one of his relatives was the accused killer’s wife! James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the dawn of the 20th century, Lester Groover envisioned a bright future in his northwestern Georgia hometown. A dark-haired young man of medium height and build, he was ambitious and well-liked in Alpine, a Chattooga County community. He opened a mercantile store before his 23rd birthday, and in February 1901 he married Emily Hammond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That summer Lester discovered someone was continually burglarizing his store. The Groovers decided to sleep in the store so that he might catch the thief. Around 3 a.m. on 2 July, Lester, hearing someone unlock a door and step inside, grabbed his gun and fired. The burglar, struck in the darkness, begged, \u201cLester, don\u2019t shoot anymore!\u201d before making an escape. (1)<\/p>\n

Lester prospered, and in the summer of 1905 he hired a contractor for a new building in nearby Chelsea. (2) The local newspaper fawningly chronicled the young man\u2019s church attendance, visits with friends, and his service as an election official \u2013 all the while suppressing a brewing scandal that would overwhelm him.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Lizzie Hooks collapsed minutes after taking a dose from a tainted tonic. Credit: James Pylant; Shutterstock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Allegedly, 30-year-old Lester became intimately involved with Lizzie Hooks, also 30. This led to her husband, Eli Hooks, suing Lester for \u201calienation of his wife\u2019s affections.\u201d The injured party sought $10,000. (3) That\u2019s more than $350,000 in today\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Lizzie \u2013 born Anna Elizabeth Holbrooks in 1877 \u2013 became Eli Hooks\u2019s 16-year-old bride in May 1893<\/a>. \u201cHope their lives will be pleasant while they live,\u201d came the well wishes of a newspaper correspondent. (4) Within seven years of marriage, the couple had four children, and Eli supported his family by farming in Alpine<\/a>. The Hookses moved to nearby Menlo where Eli ran a gin and mill. A fifth child came in September 1905. (5)<\/p>\n

When the alleged affair began was not reported \u2013 only that by October 1906 it had been \u201csome time ago.\u201d On 7 June, in an attorney\u2019s office, Eli reportedly threatened to kill Lester. Mr. Groover and Mrs. Hooks were indicted for adultery. (6)<\/p>\n

Lizzie admitted to the affair but then denied it in an affidavit; she had done so to \u201chelp her husband obtain money from Groover<\/a>.\u201d Lizzie\u2019s affidavit led to a grand jury indictment against her for perjury. Shortly after 10 a.m., 2 October \u2013 in the midst of these looming cases \u2013 Lizzie received a package in the mail and found it contained Kodol Nerve Tonic, a medicine she took frequently. It was a cure-all \u2013 be it indigestion, insomnia, malaria, or the flu. Lizzie hadn\u2019t ordered Kodol, but thinking it was a sample bottle, took a dose and 15 minutes later she began having convulsions, writhing in agony as her small children watched in horror. Within an hour, Lizzie was dead. (7)<\/p>\n

A warrant was sworn by Eli Hooks before a justice of the peace on a murder charge against Lester Groover, who was arrested on 10 October. \u201cThe authorities have guarded the matter well<\/a>, so well in fact that the public is just learning of the matter,\u201d noted the Americus Times-Reporter<\/em> on 28 October, by which time an analysis of the murdered woman\u2019s stomach revealed it contained strychnine.<\/p>\n

\"An
Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia), 27 October 1906, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same Atlanta Journal<\/em> issue noted the Hooks murder eerily paralleled the infamous 1898 Molineux poisoning<\/a> in New York.<\/p>\n

In early November, a two-day preliminary trial held in Summerville, the county seat, ended with Lester\u2019s discharge for insufficient evidence. \u201cQuite a large number of witnesses were examined,\u201d reported the Savannah Tribune<\/em><\/a>. A courtroom spectator called the evidence \u201call or nearly all\u201d circumstantial. (8)<\/p>\n

The story was far from over; a rearrest came for Lester Groover on December 6 on the discovery of \u201cnew evidence.\u201d (9) The murder trial began in May of 1907.<\/p>\n

\"An
Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia), 28 May 1907, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

G. N. Welch<\/a> testified \u00a0he had seen Lester and Lizzie together in Chattanooga, Tennessee \u2013 45 miles from home. A Chattanooga hotel register at that same time included an entry for \u201cMr. and Mrs. G. L. Groover.\u201d A copy of an order for strychnine that Lester made to a Chattanooga firm was presented by prosecutors; however, defense attorneys countered that the order was declined. In Lester\u2019s response, he said:<\/p>\n

\"An
Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia), 1 June 1907, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a nearly 24-hour deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. (10) Newspapers, however, did not report the outcome of Eli Hooks\u2019s alienation of affection suit against Lester Groover.<\/p>\n

The Groovers relocated nearly 40 miles northeast to Whitfield County<\/a>, where Lester again worked in merchandizing. After the Groovers separated about 1931, Emily moved to Tennessee, (11) while Lester went to Florida and died there in 1962<\/a>. Emily outlived him by 11 years, dying in 1973.<\/p>\n

In researching Emily, I made a surprising discovery: she and my grandmother were third cousins through the Hammond family!<\/p>\n

Widower Eli Hooks and his children moved to Oklahoma with Lizzie\u2019s parents in December 1909. (12) The two families lived next door on adjoining farms in Murray County<\/a>. On 3 January 1941, Eli, who never remarried, was struck and killed by a car while crossing a street in Shawnee. He was 78.<\/p>\n

The murder of Lizzie Hooks remains unsolved.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Sherlock Holmes investigates a mystery.
\nIllustration credit: https:\/\/depositphotos.com\/home.html<\/a><\/p>\n

_________________<\/p>\n

(1) [Untitled], Summerville News (Summerville, Ga.), 3 July 1901, p. 3.
\n(2) \u201cMenlo,\u201d Summerville News, 27 July 1905, p. 1.
\n(3) \u201cCharges Against Groover Dismissed,\u201d Walker County Messenger, 16 November 1906, p. 7.
\n(4) \u201cMenlo,\u201d Walker County Messenger,\u201d 18 May 1893, p. 4.
\n(5) \u201cMenlo,\u201d Summerville News, 5 October 1905, p. 1.
\n(6) \u201cPoison Is Placed in Dose for Woman,\u201d (Americus, Ga.) Oct. 28, 1906, p. 1.
\n(7) \u201cStomach Sent State Chemist,\u201d Griffin Daily News (Griffin, Ga.), 13 October 1906, p. 1.
\n(8) \u201cSeminole,\u201d Summerville News, 8 November 1906, p. 1.
\n(9) \u201cG. L. Groover Rearrested,\u201d Summerville News, 6 December 1906, p. 4.
\n(10) \u201cG. L. Groover Acquitted,\u201d Summerville News, 6 June 1907, p. 1.
\n(11) Chattanooga City Directory, 1932 (Chattanooga, Tenn.: Rothberger Directory Co., 1932), p. 823.
\n(12) \u201cMenlo,\u201d Summerville News, 16 December 1909, p. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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