Stanford University's founding matriarch died by poisoning.

Jane Stanford, the co-founder and surviving principal benefactor of Stanford University, died in Honolulu on February 28, 1905, after becoming violently ill following the ingestion of bicarbonate of soda. An autopsy reportedly found evidence consistent with fatal strychnine poisoning, and physicians who treated or examined her supported that conclusion. Stanford University Press describes the poisoning finding while also recording the subsequent competing coroner’s verdict.smithsonianmag.comsmithsonianmag.comStanford University's Founding Matriarch Was a Travel-Loving Philanthropist Who...sup.orgsup.orgThe Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford+1 more

The poisoning theory was not the final official finding. A Honolulu coroner’s jury concluded that Stanford died from natural causes associated with a weak heart. Later accounts have argued that Stanford president David Starr Jordan and other university-connected figures helped promote that explanation and suppress or discount the poisoning evidence. Those allegations form the basis of a longstanding murder mystery, but the provided sources do not establish who, if anyone, administered the poison.latimes.comlatimes.com'Who Killed Jane Stanford?' Solving the cold case of a California founder's...kqed.orgkqed.orgWho Killed Jane Stanford? Inside a 120-Year-Old Mystery+1 more

The claim is therefore substantially grounded in the historical record if “died by poisoning” refers to the autopsy and medical interpretation. It is too categorical if presented as an uncontested, officially established cause of death. The strongest supported formulation is that Jane Stanford died under circumstances that medical evidence attributed to strychnine poisoning, while the official inquest ruled otherwise.chicagotribune.comchicagotribune.com`Great evil at the heart of the myth’smithsonianmag.comsmithsonianmag.comStanford University's Founding Matriarch Was a Travel-Loving Philanthropist Who...+1 more