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

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 money, the murder trial, and a mystery Michigan never truly solved.

#MaliceInTheMitten #MichiganTrueCrime #SparlingPoisonings #MichiganHistory #HistoricalTrueCrime

Written, edited, hosted & produced by Tracy Preston, featuring. Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources:

People v. MacGregor. 178 Mich. 436, 144 N.W. 869. Michigan Supreme Court, 5 Jan. 1914. Go Syfert, syfert.com/michigan/cases/178-mich-436/people-v-macgregor. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

“Robert MacGregor.” National Registry of Exonerations, University of Michigan Law School, 19 Aug. 2021, exonerationregistry.org/cases/4729. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

Borchard, Edwin M. Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice. Yale University Press, 1932. pp. 113–17. Justice Denied, forejustice.org/convictingtheinnocent.pdf. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

“A Wholesale Poisoning Is Alleged.” The Valdosta Times, 23 Mar. 1912, p. 8. Georgia Historic Newspapers. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

“Carrie B. Sparling Is Innocent of Wrongdoing…” Ingham County News, 30 Apr. 1914. Capital Area District Libraries, Local History Online. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

Jolliffe, David M., et al. “Fowler's Solution and the Evolution of the Use of Arsenic in Modern Medicine.” Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, 2016. PubMed, National Library of Medicine. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

National Research Council. “Therapeutic Uses of Arsenic.” Arsenic in Drinking Water. National Academies Press, 1999. NCBI Bookshelf, National Library of Medicine. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

University of Michigan Medical School. “Microbiology & Immunology History.” University of Michigan Medical School. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

University of Michigan Department of Chemistry. “Archive: Vaughan Symposium.” University of Michigan. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.