as arsenic was a common ingredient of quack medicines of the time. Loomis considered it possible that he was murdered by one of the other members of the expedition, possibly Bessels, though no charges were ever filed. Most recently, the emergence of affectionate letters written by both Hall and Bessels to Vinnie Ream, a young sculptor they both met in New York while waiting for the Polaris to be outfitted, suggests a possible motive for Bessels to eliminate Hall. References Notes Footnotes Sources Books Journals External links Charles Francis Hall Letter to Henry Grinnell at Dartmouth College Library 1821 births 1871 deaths 19th-century American newspaper founders 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century explorers American engravers American polar explorers Businesspeople from Cincinnati Businesspeople from New Hampshire Businesspeople from Vermont Date of birth unknown Explorers of the Arctic Polaris expedition Writers from Cincinnati Writers from New Hampshire Writers from Vermont People from Rochester, New Hampshire Deaths from arsenic poisoning