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POISON  MYSTERIES 

IN 

HISTORY,  ROMANCE  AND  CRIME 


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NATIVES    OF    THE    FRENCH    SUDAN,    SOUTH    OF    THE    NIGER,     PREPARING 
THEIR    ARROW    POISON    AND    DIPPING    THEIR    WEAPONS. 

(From  a  drawing  by  A.  Forestier.) 
Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Illustrated  London  News. 


[Frontispiece. 


HSON    MYSTERIES 

IN 

HISTORY,  ROMANCE 
AND   CRIME 


\t^  ^  J:      BY 

C.'j?  si" THOMPSON,  M.B.E. 

Author  of  "The  History  and  Romance  of  Alchemy 
and  Pharmacy,"  etc.,  etc. 


LONDON : 
THE   SCIENTIFIC  PRESS,   LTD. 

28  &  29  SOUTHAMPTON   STREET 

STRAND,  W.C.2. 

1923 


TO 

SIR  WILLIAM  H.   WILLCOX, 

K.C.I.E.,  C.B.,  C.M.G.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.  Lond. 

As  a  slight  appreciation  of  the  eminent 

services  he  has  rendered  to 

Toxicology  and 

Medicine. 


CONTENTS 

Part    I 
POISONS  IN  HISTORY  AND  ROMANCE 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I     Poisons  used  by  Ancient  and  Primitive  Races       15 
Poisoned  Weapons — Poisons  employed  by  Primitive 
Peoples — Malay,  African  and  Indian  native  Poisons 
— The  Upas  Poison— Ordeal  Poisons. 

II  Poisons  used  by  the  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
Romans,  Hebrews,  Chinese,  Persians,  and 
Hindus  in  Ancient  Times  ...       26 

A  Babylonian  Poison  Goddess — Poisons  in  Mytho- 
logy— Poisons  in  Ancient  Egypt — The  State  Poison 
of  the  Greeks — The  Death  of  Socrates. 

III  Antidotes  to  Poison  in  Ancient  Times  .       40 

Poison  Laws  in  Ancient  Times — Antidotes  and  Alexi- 
pharmica — Theriaca  and  its  History. 

IV  Preventive    Methods    and    Substances    used 

AGAINST  Poisons         .....       49 
Terra  Sigillata — How  it  was  Tested — Toad  Stones 
— Unicorn's    Horn — Rhinoceros    Horn    and    Assay 
Cups — Bezoar  Stones. 

V    Superstitions     connected     with     Poisonous 

Plants      .  .  .  .  .  .  .       63 

Mandrake  —  Aconite  —  Hellebore  —  Opium  — 
Henbane. 

VT     The  Poison  Lore  of  Toads  and  Spiders         .       84 
Poison  extracted  from  the  Toad — How  an  Italian 
Doctor    proved    his     knowledge    of    Medicine — A 
Mysterious  Chinese  Poison  prepared  from  Toads — 
Venomous  Spiders — A.Romany  Poison. 

VII     Some  Classical  Poisons  and  their  Histories    .       88 
Arsenic — Mercury — Antimony. 
7 


;  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

VIII  Royal  and  Historic  Poisoners  .  .  .  loi 
.  King  John  and  Maud  FitzWalter— The  Abbot  of 
Westminster  poisoned — The  murder  of  Sir  Thomas 
Overbury — The  Earl  of  Leicester  and  his  Victims — 
Mysterious  death  of  the  son  of  Peter  the  Great — The 
Gaekwar  of  Baroda  tried  for  attempt  to  poison 
Colonel  Phayre. 

IX     Poisons  tried  on  Human  Beings  .  .     109 

Vivisection  of  Criminals— Poisons  and  Antidotes 
administered  to  Criminals — Brassavola  and  Fallopius 
— A  Charlatan's  Challenge  at  Oxford — English 
Experimenters. 

X     The    Slow    and    Time    Poisons    of    Mediaeval 

Times         .......     113 

Early  Records  of  "Slow"  Poisons — Attempt  to 
poison  Queen  Elizabeth — Death  of  Macchiavelli — 
Death  of  Elisabetta  Sirani. 

XI     The  Italian  School  of  Poisoners  .         .         .120 
The  Venetian  Poisoners — A  Professional  Poisoner's 
Fees — The  Poisoners  of  Rome — Toffana — La  Spara. 

XII     The  Mystery  of  the  Borgias  .  .  .128 

History  of  the  Family — Pope  Alexander  VI — Cesare 
— Lucrezia — Preparing  the  Poison — Death  of  Alex- 
ander— Death  of  Cesare — The  Borgia  Poison. 

XIII  Poison  Mysteries  in  Early  Scottish  History     142 

Earl  of  Moray — The  Duke  of  Albany  and  Margaret 
Drummond — Jean  Douglas  and  James  V — Mys- 
terious death  of  the  Earl  of  Atholl — The  death  of 
Robert  Stewart,  Earl  of  Orkney — The  Earl  of  Dun- 
bar and  Secretary  Cecil. 

XIV  Historic  Poison  Cases  in  France  .         .         .145 

Francis  II  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots — Catharine  de' 
Medici — Mysterious  death  of  Gabrielle  D'Astr^es — 
Death  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans — Glaser  and  Exali 
— The  Mania  for  Poisoning  in  France — The  Marquise 
de  Brinvilliers  and  her  Crimes — Sainte-Croix — 
Chambre  de  Poisons — Le  Vigoreux,  La  Voisin  and 
Le  Sage — Marechal  de  Luxembourg,  Duchesse  de 
Bouillon  and  Comtesse  de  Soissons  tried— Attempted 
Poisoning  of  Louis  XVIII — Poisons  employed  in 
France  in  the  XVIIth  and  XVIIIth  centuries. 

XV     The  Mystery  of  Amy  Robsart's  Death  .     164 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 
XVI 

XVII 


XVIII 


XIX 


XX 


XXI 


XXII 


XXIII 


XXIV 


XXV 


XXVI 


A  Poison  Mystery  of  the  XVI Ith  Century 
The  strange  case  of  Sir  Euseby  Andrew. 

A  Mystery  of  the  Austrian  Court  in  the 
XVIIth  Century  ..... 
Leopold,  Emperor  of  Austria  and  Giuseppe  Fran- 
cesco Borri. 

Poison  Plots 

Dread  of  Wholesale  Poisoning — The  Poisoning  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rochester's  Guests — The  Act  of  Henry 
Vlll  making  poisoning  equivalent  to  High  Treason 
— Poisoners  to  be  boiled  alive — Poison  Plot  at  Malta 
— Attempted  Wholesale  Poisoning  at  Lima — Plot  to 
poison  Ministers  of  State — Austrian  Army  Poison 
Plot — Plot  to  Poison  the  Commissioner  of  Police. 

Curious  Methods  Employed  BY  Secret  Poisoners 
Poisoned  Food  and  Wine — ^Women  Poisoners — The 
Poisoned  Goblet — Poisoned  Shirts — Poisoned  Robes 
— Poison  in  Boot-Blacking — Poison  Rings — Poison 
by  Injection — Poison  in  a  Wooden  Leg — Poisoned 
Torch — Poisoned  Candle  —  Poisoned  Flowers — 
Poisoned  Bed. 

Love-Philtres  and  Poisons  .... 
Pocula  A  matoria  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans — Ovid 
on  the  Love-Philtre — Mysterious  Substances  em- 
ployed— Love-Philtre  used  by  Eastern  Nations — 
Belief  in  Love-Philtres  at  the  Present  Day — ^Love- 
Philtres  used  by  African  native  Tribes. 

Poisons  in  Food      ...... 

Poison  in  Beer — Poison  in  Food — Poison  in  Honey — 

Poison  in  Cocoa  and  Chocolate. 
Poisons  used  in  Warfare        .... 

Poison  Gas — Poison  and  pisease  Organisms  dropped 

by  Aircraft. 
Criminal  Poisoning  with  Bacteria 

A  Petrograd  Poison  Mystery — Criminal  use  of  Diph- 
theria, Typhoid  and  Cholera  Organisms. 
Poison  Habits  ...... 

Opium  —  Morphine  —  Chloroform  —  Ether  — 

Chlorodyne — Cocaine. 
Hashish  and  Hashish-Eaters. 

Ganja  and  Bhang — Use  in  Antiquity — Hashish  and 

its  Effects. 
Poisons  in  Fiction  ..... 


PAGE 
171 

178 
186 


211 


216 
223 
230 
238 
248 
254 


10 


CONTENTS 


Part  II 
POISON   MYSTERIES 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I     The  Mystery  of  Lawford  Hall — The  Curious 
Case  of  Elizabeth  Fenning 

II  The  Case  of  Madame  Lafarge 

III  The  Case  of  Madeline  Smith 

IV  The  Bravo  Mystery 
V  The  Rugeley  Mystery  . 

VI  The  Case  of  Dr.  Pritchard 

VII  The  Case  of  Dr.  Lamson 

VIII  The  Pimlico  Mystery 

IX  The  Maybrick  Case 

X  The  Lambeth  Poison  Mysteries 

XI  Some  Poison  Mysteries  in  P' range 

XII  The  Horsford  Case 

XIII  American  Poison  Mysteries    . 

XIV  The  Southwark  Poison  Mystery 
XV  Some  Irish  Poison  Mysteries 

XVI  The  Devereux  Case 

XVII  The  Crippen  Case   . 

XVIII  The  Mystery  of  the  Seddons 

XIX  The  Dalkeith  Coffee  Poison  Case 

XX  The  Agra  Poisoning  Mystery 

XXI  A  Cornish  Poison  Mystery    . 

XXII  The  Armstrong  Case 

XXIII     Some  Poison  Aspects  of  the  Ilford  Murder 
Case     .... 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Natives  of  the  French  Sudan,  south  of  the  Niger,  preparing 

their  Arrow  Poison  and  dipping  their  Weapons    Frontispiece 

TO    FACE 
PAGE 

DrinkingCupof  Unicorn's  Horn  (XVI It h  Century)       .  .       58 

Assay  Cups  of  Rhinoceros  Horn  used  to  detect  Poison  in 

Wine  (XVIth  Century)    .  .  .  .  .  .58 

Bezoar  Stones        ........       61 

A  Bottle  with  Representation  of  St.  Nicholas  of  Bari  used 

for  Aqua  Toff  ana    .  .  .  .  .  .      page  123 

Pope  Alexander  VI         .  .  .  .  .  .  .128 

Cesare  Borgia         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .      132 

Lucrezia  Borgia     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .139 

"  A  Cup  of  Wine  with  Cesare  Borgia  "  .  .  .141 

Marguerite  D'Aubray,  Marquise  de  Brinvilliers  .  .  .      156 

Bottle  of  Meat  Juice  and  a  Bottle  containing  Meat  Juice  and 

Water  exhibited  in  the  May  brick  Case     .  .  .312 

Stethoscope  and   Pocket  Medicine  Case  carried   by  Neill 

Cream  .  .  .......     316 


11 


PART  I 
POISONS  IN  HISTORY  AND  ROMANCE 


CHAPTER  I 

POISONS  USED  BY  ANCIENT  AND  PRIMITIVE  RACES 

POISONS,  those  silent  weapons  capable  of  destroying  life 
mysteriously,  secretly  and  without  violence,  have  ever 
had  a  peculiar  fascination  for  mankind.  They  have  played 
so  large  a  part  in  history  at  various  periods,  in  romance  as 
well  as  in  crime,  that  the  subject  is  one  which  claims  the 
attention  of  every  student  of  human  nature. 

A  poison  may  be  generally  described  as  any  substance 
which,  in  a  small  quantity,  when  introduced  into  or  absorbed 
by  a  living  organism,  destroys  life  by  rapid  action.  In  another 
sense  a  substance  may  be  termed  a  poison  that  has  a  cumu- 
lative effect  if  administered  for  a  length  of  time  so  that  it 
ends  fatally.  Substances  of  this  description  were  called 
Venim,  venyn,  venum  or  bane  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  also 
termed  "  slow  poisons." 

It  is  probable  that  many  substances  which  had  the  effect 
of  destroying  life  were  observed  and  used  by  primitive  man 
from  a  period  of  remote  antiquity.  When  injured  in  a  tribal 
battle,  by  perhaps  a  flint  arrow-head  or  stone  axe,  he  no  doubt 
sought  for  something  to  revenge  himself  on  his  enemy.  In  his 
search  for  curative  substances  he  also  found  noxious  ones, 
which  produced  unpleasant  effects  when  applied  to  the  point 
of  a  weapon  destined  to  enter  the  internal  economy  of  an 
opponent.  He  doubtless  observed  that  the  arrow-head  and 
spear  on  which  the  blood  of  former  victims  had  dried  caused 
wounds  which  often  proved  fatal,  owing  to  the  action  of  what 
we  now  term  septic  poisons.  This  may  have  led  him  to 
experiment  with  the  juices  of  plants  till  he  discovered  some- 
thing of  a  more  deadly  character.  The  observations  of 
primitive  man  as  to  the  poisonous  effects  of  plants  on  animal 
life  is  evident  from  some  of  the  names  which  he  gave  to  them 

15 


i6  POISON   MYSTERIES  ^ 

in  early  times.  Instances  of  these  are  perpetuated  in  cowbane 
(the  water  hemlock),  which  often  has  a  fatal  effect  on  cattle  ; 
sowbane,  so  called,  says  Parkinson  in  his  Herbal,  as  it  was 
observed  to  kill  swine  ;  wolf's  bane,  leopard's  bane,  henbane, 
and  many  others  which  might  be  mentioned,  showing  that 
primitive  man  must  have  observed  the  evil  effects  on  the 
animal  whose  name  he  associated  with  them. 

In  primeval  times  both  the  poisonous  and  medicinal  pro- 
perties of  plants  appear  to  have  been  first  discovered  and 
kept  secret  by  the  most  observant  and  intelligent  members  of 
pastoral  and  nomadic  tribes.  The  possessor  of  such  secrets 
wielded  an  immense  power  over  his  fellows  and  often  com- 
bined the  office  of  medicine  man  and  priest.  He  reserved  to 
himself  as  much  as  possible  the  knowledge  which  he  had 
acquired  of  plants  and  their  uses,  and  particularly  those  which 
would  produce  stupor,  delirium  and  death,  for  by  these  means 
he  was  enabled  to  exert  a  greater  influence  over  others. 

The  study,  therefore,  of  the  poisons  employed  by  primitive 
races  for  destroying  life  in  animals  and  man  is  one  of  con- 
siderable interest.  Arrow-heads  and  spear-heads,  worked 
with  depressions,  probably  for  holding  poisons,  have  been 
found  in  cave  remains  of  the  palaeolithic  period  in  France. 
Laigneau  is  of  the  opinion  that  these  weapons  were  first  used 
to  destroy  large  animals,  such  as  the  bison  and  reindeer,  and 
were  probably  also  used  in  tribal  warfare. 

xo^iKov,  the  Greek  word  used  to  denote  poison,  takes  its 
origin  from  a  word  signifying  a  bow,  which  probably  sym- 
bolized a  poison-tipped  arrow,  a  custom  still  practised  by 
savage  tribes  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  It  seems  but  a 
natural  sequence  that  man  should  have  turned  to  his  own 
account  the  knowledge  he  acquired  of  the  effects  of  the  sub- 
stances which  proved  deadly  when  introduced  into  the  body 
by  either  external  or  internal  means,  as  in  them  he  found  a 
more  secure  and  secret  weapon  by  means  of  which  he  could 
rid  himself  of  the  objects  of  his  jealousy,  hatred  or  revenge. 

The  Greek  toxican,  from  which  the  word  toxicology  is 
derived,  is  believed  to  have  been  used  for  the  poisonous  sub- 
stance into  which  the  arrow-heads  were  dipped. 

Poisoned  arrows  are  mentioned  by  several  of  the  early 
writers,  including  Homer,  Horace  and  Ovid.     The  latter  tells 


POISONS  USED   BY   ANCIENT  RACES  17 

how  the  blood  of  vipers  was  used  to  poison  weapons,  and  there 
was  a  general  belief  that  disease  and  death  were  caused  by 
poisoned  arrows  shot  by  an  offended  deity,  as  instanced  in 
the  mythical  story  of  Apollo,  whose  darts  were  supposed  to 
smite  man  with  pestilence. 

The  Scythians  are  known  to  have  used  poisons  and  mixed 
the  venom  they  employed  with  human  blood.  Certain  tribes  of 
the  Caucasus  are  said  to  have  employed  viper-venom  mixed 
with  decomposed  human  blood  serum.  Aristotle  and  Strabo 
state  that  the  Celts  were  accustomed  to  poison  their  arrows 
and  weapons,  while  Pliny  and  Celsus  refer  to  the  practice 
among  the  Gauls.  As  late  as  the  seventh  century  poisoned 
arrows  were  used  by  the  Dacians  and  the  Dalmatians  on  the 
shores  of  the  Danube,  and  among  the  Goths  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  common  custom.  Almost  every  savage  tribe  and 
people  throughout  the  world  have  been  found  to  have  their 
own  particular  poison  for  this  purpose,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  this  method  of  making  the  wound  caused  by  the 
weapons  more  deadly,  has  been  practised  from  a  period  of 
remote  antiquity. 

Although  most  of  the  substances  employed  and  the  methods 
of  preparation  are  now  known  to  us,  there  are  others  about 
which  little  or  no  information  can  be  obtained.  The  secret  of 
the  poison  used  by  many  barbaric  tribes  is  still  most  jealously 
guarded  and  is  only  known  to  certain  chiefs  and  their  families, 
or  the  medicine  men  of  the  tribe,  who  pass  on  the  knowledge 
to  their  successors.  The  substances  used  for  lethal  purposes 
are  both  of  animal  and  vegetable  origin,  and  include  poisonous 
insects  and  fish,  snake  venoms  and  poisonous  plants,  which  are 
used  alone  or  mixed  together.  These  substances  are  not  equally 
effective,  as  the  active  principle  by  age  tends  to  decompose, 
but  if  the  poison  be  freshly  prepared,  as  it  often  is,  it  generally 
proves  fatal.  Lewin,  however,  states  that  he  found  an  arrow 
poison  used  by  the  Bushmen  in  Australia  still  active  after 
remaining  for  ninety  years  in  a  Berlin  museum. 

The  poisons  used  by  the  various  tribes  of  Bushmen  of  Africa 
vary  according  to  the  district  in  which  they  live.  Livingstone 
states,  that  those  who  inhabited  the  Kalahari  district  used 
the  entrails  of  a  small  caterpillar  for  poisoning  their  spears 
and  arrows.     When  drawn  over  a  sore,  this  insect,  which  is 

B 


i8  POISON  MYSTERIES 

known  to  the  natives  as  "  Nga,"  causes  the  most  excruciating 
agony,  and  those  wounded  by  arrows  smeared  with  this  poison 
die  slowly  in  a  condition  of  violent  delirium. 

Baines  says  the  Bushmen  squeeze  the  grub  gradually  be- 
tween the  forefinger  and  thumb,  when  a  colourless  fluid  exudes 
which  is  smeared  over  the  arrow-head,  forming  an  imper- 
ceptible coating.  Modern  investigators  who  have  studied 
the  properties  of  this  curious  poison ,  state,  that  its  action 
strongly  resembles  some  of  the  snake  venoms  and  that  it 
will  retain  its  properties  for  an  indefinite  time.  Livingstone 
also  mentions  a  curious  fact  that  the  natives  consider  that 
the  best  antidote  to  the  poison  is  to  swallow  the  grub. 

A  very  powerful  poison  employed  by  other  tribes  of  Bush- 
men for  their  arrow-  and  spear-heads  is  said  by  Burchell  to 
be  prepared  from  Amaryllis  disticha,  various  species  of 
Euphorbium  and  Acocanthera,  alone  or  mixed  with  snake 
venom,  and  a  species  of  black  spider  or  beetle  poison. 

The  Bushmen  or  "  Bosjermans  "  of  the  South  African  dis- 
trict called  "  Kalahari  "  use  the  juice  of  the  leaf  beetle,  or  the 
Diamphidia  simplex.  Lewin,  who  examined  the  insect,  found 
in  its  body  besides  inert  fatty  acids,  a  toxalbumin  which 
causes  paralysis  and  finally  death.  Boehm,  after  examin- 
ation, states  that  the  poison  from  the  larva  also  belongs  to  the 
toxalbumins.  The  poison  grubs  are  of  a  pale  flesh  colour, 
similar  to  the  silkworm  and  are  about  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  in  length.  When  a  wound  is  made  by  an  arrow  poisoned 
with  this  exudation  the  most  intolerable  agony  is  caused, 
which  proves  fatal. 

The  Somali  prepare  a  very  deadly  poison  from  various 
species  of  Acocanthera  which  they  call  Waba,  Wabayo  or 
Ouabaio,  to  which  they  sometimes  add  snake  venom. 

The  Ovambos  of  South- West  Africa  employ  a  species  of 
Adenium  as  an  arrow  poison,  while  the  seeds  of  the  stro- 
phanthus  (Strophanthus  hispidus  or  kombe)  are  largely  used 
by  the  tribes  who  inhabit  the  districts  near  the  Congo  and  the 
Zambezi. 

The  arrow  poison  of  the  Pygmies  of  Central  Africa,  in  which 
the  red  ant  forms  an  ingredient,  is  described  by  Stanley,  and 
is  so  very  deadly  that  a  single  arrow  has  been  known  to  kill 
an  elephant. 


POISONS  USED   BY  ANCIENT  RACES  19 

According  to  a  recent  writer  on  Malay  poisons/  native 
poisoners  frequently  use  narcotic  plants  to  stupefy  their 
victims  as  a  preliminary  to  robbing  them.  They  also  employ 
sand,  powdered  glass,  quicklime  and  other  powders  to  dis- 
concert their  pursuers.  Some  of  them  claim  to  be  able  to 
know  a  method  of  causing  loss  of  voice  lasting  seven  or  eight 
days,  by  the  administration  of  certain  poisons  by  the  mouth. 

Gimlette  asserts  that  two  or  three  clinical  cases  have 
occurred  in  Kelantan  in  which  it  was  alleged  that  the  witnesses 
in  court  could  not  give  evidence  for  this  reason. 

Malay  cunning  is  proverbial,  but  it  is  not  generally  known 
that  the  natives  are  accustomed  to  use  poison  in  the  same 
manner  as  employed  in  ancient  times,  namely  by  mixing  it 
with  honey  which  is  sometimes  smeared  on  the  under  surface 
of  a  knife.  The  poisoner  then  shares  a  meal  with  his  enemy 
and  divides  a  water-melon  in  half  with  the  poisoned  blade, 
but  is  careful  to  eat  only  the  upper  and  harmless  portion  as 
his  share  of  the  fruit.  This  method  is  said  to  be  common  in 
Tregganu,  where  potassium  cyanide  is  employed  for  the 
purpose. 

The  Malays  are  said  to  have  a  knowledge  of  slow  poisons 
which  they  call  "  time-poisons,"  by  means  of  which  they  can 
give  a  single  dose  of  poison  and  time  the  death  of  the  victim 
within  three,  six,  or  even  twelve  months,  according  to  the  dose 
and  the  particular  combination  used.  Native  experts,  how- 
ever, say  that  the  idea  of  this  "  time-poison  "  is  unfounded, 
but  they  know  that  the  effect  of  certain  deadly  poisons  is 
greatly  accelerated  or  delayed  if  certain  fruits  or  vegetables, 
such  as  water-melon  or  cucumbers  happen  to  be  eaten  soon 
after  the  ingestion  of  the  poison. 

Some  of  the  Malays  believe  that  poisoned  food  can  be  recog- 
nized by  the  shadow  of  the  right  hand  and  fingers  not  being 
cast  on  eating  rice.  Others  believe  that  a  stirring  rod  of  ivory 
will  become  darkened  if  poison  has  been  put  into  the  food, 
and  in  Perak  a  spoon  made  of  the  beak  of  a  horn-bill  ^  is  said 
to  turn  black  if  touched  by  anything  of  a  poisonous  nature. 

1  Malay  Poisons  and  Charm  Cures,  John  D.  Gimlette,  M.R.C.S. 
1923. 

2  For  the  use  of  horns  as  antidotes  or  indicators  of  poison,  see 
page  55. 


20  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  Malays  use  many  different  vegetable  poisons  for  theii 
blow-pipe  darts,  some  of  which  are  extremely  powerful,  but 
curiously  enough  some  are  poisonous  to  certain  animals  and 
not  to  others,  and  many  of  the  poisons  which  destroy  human 
life  may  be  eaten  with  impunity  by  graminivorous  animals. 
Thus,  opium  does  not  poison  pigeons,  tobacco  and  hemlock 
do  not  injure  goats,  and  henbane  can  be  eaten  by  rabbits. 
The  Malay  jungle  natives  have  special  markings  on  their 
blow-pipe  darts,  by  means  of  which  they  differentiate  their 
various  poisons.  That  of  the  upas  tree  is  specially  marked 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  others. 

The  sap  of  the  upas-tree  {Antiaris  toxicaria),  the  active 
principle  of  which  is  called  Antiarin,  is  used  as  a  poison  for 
their  darts  by  the  natives  throughout  the  Eastern  Archi- 
pelago, including  Java  and  Borneo.  It  is  extremely  powerful 
and  will  sometimes  cause  death  in  thirty  minutes  after  a  wound 
is  received.  It  is  often  mixed  with  the  venom  of  snakes, 
scorpions  or  centipedes  and  occasionally  with  arsenic. 

The  upas-tree  sap  is  collected  in  primitive  vessels  fashioned 
from  palm  leaves,  which  are  then  suspended  a  few  feet  above 
the  hre.  The  boiling  process  is  somewhat  protracted  and 
during  the  whole  time  the  sap  is  continually  stirred.  During 
this  operation  the  liquid  is  transformed  into  a  thick  viscid 
mass  and  in  this  condition  it  is  withdrawn  from  the  fire. 
When  cold  the  sap  is  a  solidj  hard,  yet  brittle  substance, 
so  before  it  is  set,  the  leaf  is  rolled  up  with  its  soft  contents, 
the  two  ends  tied  with  rattan  and  the  poison  thus  kept  till  it 
is  required. 

The  darts,  which  are  projected  by  the  natives  with  blow- 
pipes, consist  of  strips  of  palmwood  from  20  to  30  cm.  in  length ; 
they  are  pointed  at  one  end  and  a  quantity  of  poison  is  then 
removed  from  its  palm-leaf  receptacle  and  ground  up  until 
it  is  of  the  consistency  of  flour.  It  is  then  mixed  with  water 
and  stirred  up  until  it  becomes  a  thin  paste,  which  is  smeared 
upon  the  points  of  the  darts.  The  process  of  preparation 
takes  place  before  a  fire,  and  when  completed  they  are  placed 
with  their  points  towards  the  fire  until  the  upas  sap  has  dried 
into  the  wood.  In  the  case  of  the  darts  that  are  required  for 
larger  game,  the  point  of  the  weapon  is  split  open  and  a  thin 
metal  wedge  or  plate  is  inserted  and  the  whole  point  is  then 


POISONS   USED   BY  ANCIENT  RACES  21 

smeared  oyer  with  the  poison.  The  opposite  end  of  the  dart 
comprises  a  small  conical  butt  made  of  the  soft  pith  of  the 
sago  palm.  The  darts  are  carried  in  small  bamboo  quivers, 
which  are  fixed  into  the  loin-cloth  of  the  native,  the  points 
being  protected  by  a  piece  of  animal  skin. 

North  American  Indians  employ  a  poison  called  "  Caramari," 
which  they  prepare  from  the  roots  of  a  plant  found  along  the 
sea  coast.  It  is  prepared  by  being  burnt  in  earthen  pipkins 
and  to  the  residue  is  added  a  species  of  spider,  hairy  worms, 
bats'  wings,  the  head  and  tail  of  a  fish  called  "  Teborino," 
toads  and  mancanillas.  These  substances  are  set  over  a  fire 
and  heated  in  pots  till  they  come  to  the  consistency  of  a  paste. 

The  Choco  Indians  of  Colombia,  South  America,  use  a 
poison  which  they  extract  from  a  tree  frog  which  they  hold 
on  a  stick  near  a  fire,  when  the  heat  causes  the  glands  of  the 
skin  to  secrete  the  poisonous  fluid. 

The  Jivaro  Indians  of  the  Amazon  use  a  vegetable  poison 
called  "jambi"  for  their  arrows,  which  is  said  to  be  made 
from  a  species  of  vine  which  grows  in  great  profusion  through- 
out the  Upper  Amazon  zone.  The  process  for  extracting  the 
poison  as  described  by  Up  de  Graff  ^  is  simple. 

"  The  vine  is  cut  into  sections  a  foot  in  length,  and  the  thin, 
hard  outer  crust  of  bark  is  carefully  removed  by  scraping. 
The  m^ain  bark,  white  when  first  exposed  to  the  air,  turns 
brown  in  just  the  same  way  as  an  apple.  This  inner  bark  is 
scraped  into  fine  shavings  by  means  of  shells  and  flints,  and 
these  are  placed  in  a  colander  which  rests  upon  a  pot  in  which 
water  is  boiling.  The  water  is  poured  over  the  contents  of 
the  colander  repeatedly,  until  the  constant  action  on  it  has 
drawn  out  the  alkaloid,  when  the  lifeless  shavings  are  thrown 
away  and  the  residue  is  boiled  down  until  it  resembles, 
both  in  consistency,  colour  and  smell,  plain  chocolate.  While 
still  warm,  it  is  poured  into  a  bamboo  receptacle  and  when  cool 
it   becomes   semi-solidified." 

The  head  of  the  arrow  is  dipped  in  the  "  jambi  "  and  dried 
in  the  sun  or  before  the  fire. 

These  arrows  have  a  swift  and  painless  effect  on  animals 
and  birds  of  the  forest,  and  after  a  wound  from  the  poisoned 
dart  projected  from  a  blow-gun,  so  long  as  the  skin  is  broken 

^  Head  Hunters  of  the  Amazon,  F.  W.  Up  de  Graff.     1922. 


22  POISON  MYSTERIES 

at  any  point,  they  are  killed  within  about  two  minutes. 
Experiments  carried  out  on  domestic  animals  have  proved 
that  the  poison  acts  painlessly,  the  effect  being  much  the  same 
as  an  overdose  of  morphine,  but  despite  its  proved  deadliness 
"  jambi "  is  never  used  by  the  Head  Hunters  in  warfare. 

One  of  the  most  curious  preparations  in  use  among  the 
North  American  Indians  is  the  so-called  "  Black  Poison," 
the  effects  of  which  are  well  known  around  the  lakes  of  the 
Winnipeg  basin  and  in  the  Swan  River  district.  Some  time 
after  administration  it  changes  the  colour  of  the  skin  from 
brownish  yellow  or  copper  colour  to  a  sooty  black  and  at  the 
same  time  causes  hair  to  grow  on  unusual  parts,  such  as  the 
cheek  bones.  Its  first  effects  are  sickness,  headache,  and  pain  in 
the  back  and  limbs.  Afterwards,  ulceration  and  sores  break  out 
in  various  parts  of  the  body,  chiefly  over  the  joints  and  more 
particularly  the  knuckles.  When  prepared,  the  poison  is 
said  to  be  a  brown  snuff-like  powder  with  a  slight  and  rather 
sickening  smell.  A  small  quantity  administered  in  food 
appears  to  be  sufficient  to  produce  these  effects.  It  is  said  to 
be  partly  composed  of  Rhus  toxicodendron  mixed  with  a 
dried  acrid  matter  secreted  by  the  glands  in  the  skin  of  a 
species  of  toad. 

The  Indian  tribes  indigenous  to  California  have  a  curious 
method  of  using  certain  plants  to  stupefy  or  poison  fish.  One 
of  the  most  effective  is  "  soap  root  "  (Chlorogalum  pomer- 
idianum.)  Besides  providing  a  substitute  for  soap  the  crushed 
pulp  is  dropped  into  the  water,  generally  into  a  small  pool 
or  stream,  and  then  stirred.  The  fish  are  stupefied  by  the 
poison,  float  to  the  surface  and  are  captured  either  by  hand 
or  in  a  basket.  Another  plant  employed  for  this  purpose  is 
known  as  "  blue-curls,"  or  vinegar  weed  {Trichostemma  lancer- 
latum) . 

Other  tribes  of  Indians  in  South  America  use  curare,  which 
they  extract  from  a  certain  species  of  strychnos  and  other 
plants,  which  were  first  brought  to  England  by  Sir  Walter 
Ralegh  in  1595.  Although  a  deadly  poison  when  introduced 
into  a  wound  or  injected  under  the  skin,  curare  is  practically 
harmless  when  swallowed ;  indeed  Humbolt  states  the  Indians 
lick  it  off  their  fingers  and  use  it  as  a  stomachic  tonic. 

The  Ainos  of  Japan  are  said  to  have  used  a  preparation  made 


POISONS  USED  BY  ANCIENT  RACES  23 

from  aconite  and  tobacco,  while  the  natives  of  the  New  Hebrides 
are  stated  to  smear  their  arrows  with  damp  earth  containing 
the  tetanus  bacillus  which  infects  the  person  wounded  by 
them. 

Besides  the  use  of  poisons  for  offensive  purposes,  the  insti- 
tution of  trial  by  ordeal  still  exists  among  barbaric  tribes 
to-day,  especially  in  Africa.  The  substances  employed  vary 
with  the  locality  inhabited  by  the  tribe.  Muavi,  which  is 
used  by  several  tribes  in  Western  Africa,  is  prepared  by  scrap- 
ing the  bark  of  a  poisonous  tree,  known  only  to  the  witch- 
doctors. A  decoction  of  the  scrapings  is  made  with  water  and 
the  resulting  draught,  which  is  of  a  highly  poisonous  nature, 
is  administered  to  the  suspected  person.  The  action  of  muavi 
is  generally  rapid;  vomiting  is  quickly  caused,  followed, by 
convulsions  and  death.  When  both  the  accuser  and  the 
accused  are  seized  with  vomiting  the  natives  declare  that  the 
draught  has  been  badly  prepared,  and  should  the  result  not 
prove  fatal  to  either  party  the  test  is  repeated.  When  the 
guilt  of  one  of  the  parties  has  been  established  by  death,  his 
property  is  at  once  confiscated  and  his  wife  and  children  are 
killed.  So  great  is  the  belief  of  the  natives  in  the  infallibility 
of  the  Muavi  test  that  they  never  hesitate  to  submit  them- 
selves to  the  trial  and  are  said  frequently  to  volunteer  to  go 
through  the  ordeal  in  order  to  prove  their  innocence. 

The  Balantes  and  other  tribes  who  inhabit  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa  employ  Sassy  bark  (Erythroplceum  Guineense)  for  their 
trial  by  ordeal.  They  prepare  the  poison  by  mixing  the  finely 
scraped  or  powdered  bark  with  powdered  glass,  together  with 
the  dried  and  powdered  viscera  of  the  victims  of  the  preceding 
trial.  When  required  for  use  the  mixture  is  made  into  a  paste 
with  water,  about  two  spoonsful  being  administered  for^  a 
dose. 

It  is  customary  for  the  chief  of  another  tribe  to  preside  at 
the  ordeal  trial,  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  it  is  properly 
carried  out.  Each  person  who  undergoes  the  trial  has  to 
pay  him  a  fee  in  cash  or  in  kind,  the  latter  being  in  the  form 
of  rice,  chickens  or  goats.  The  preparer  of  the  poison  and 
his  assistants  also  receive  an  honorarium.  When  one  of  the 
Balantes  is  accused  of  a  crime  or  witchcraft  he  must  undergo 
the    trial,   as   after   once   being   suspected   he   is  no   longer 


24  POISON   MYSTERIES 

protected  by  the  ties  of  bbod  and  friendship,  and  a  father 
may  even  denounce  his  son  or  a  husband  his  wife. 

Other  West  African  tribes  use  the  Calabar  bean,  commonly 
called  the  Ordeal  bean,  which  contains  a  powerful  poisonous 
principle  called  Physostigmine,  a  drug  which  is  of  great 
value  to  ophthalmic  surgeons  to-day  in  the  treatment 
of  the  eyes.  It  is  so  powerful  that  a  fiftieth  part  of  a  grain 
is  considered  a  poisonous  dose.  It  was  customary  at  one 
time,  in  Old  Calabar  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niger,  where  the 
plant  grows,  to  destroy  it  whenever  found,  a  few  only  being 
preserved  to  supply  seeds  for  judicial  purposes,  and  of  these 
seeds  the  store  was  kept  in  the  custody  of  the  native  chief. 
Now  it  is  preserved  and  the  beans  exported  to  Europe  on 
account  of  the  value  of  their  active  principle  in  medicine. 

Witchcraft  plays  an  important  part  in  the  daily  life  of  most 
African  natives  and  to  witchcraft  they  attribute  every  ill  that 
befalls  them.  One  kind  is  practised  secretly  by  evil-doers 
and  the  other  by  the  witch-doctors  with  the  view  of  destroying 
the  effects  of  the  evil-doers.  The  witch-doctors  or  medicine- 
men are  undoubtedly  the  most  powerful  individuals  in  their 
tribes  ;  they  hold  the  lives  of  all  in  their  hands,  and  are  daily 
employed  to  satisfy  the  passions  of  their  neighbours.  Accord- 
ing to  native  ideas,  death  or  sickness  never  occurs  through 
natural  causes,  but  is  always  the  result  of  somebody's  act. 
Whenever  anyone  is  accused  of  having  practised  witchcraft 
or  of  having  committed  any  other  crime,  the  Calabar  bean  or 
the  trial  by  ordeal  is  used  to  decide  the  case,  except  when  the 
accuser  is  a  witch-doctor,  when  both  the  accuser  and  the 
accused  have  to  submit  to  the  test. 

Roscoe  in  his  book,  The  Soul  of  Central  Africa,  alludes 
to  a  mysterious  poison  prepared  by  the  medicine-men  of 
Ankole.  It  is  a  tribal  custom  that  should  the  king  feel  ill, 
or  through  age  find  his  strength  failing  him,  it  is  his  duty 
to  end  his  life  by  taking  a  dose  of  poison.  The  ingredients 
'for  the  fatal  draught  are  always  kept  at  hand  by  the  royal 
medicine-man,  who  stores  them  in  a  crocodile's  egg.  "  It 
must  have  been  a  strong  poison,"  says  the  explorer,  "  for  it 
took  effect  rapidly,  ending  the  king's  life  in  a  few  moments. 
I  could  not,  however,  discover  the  ingredients  ;  the  man  abso- 
lutely refused  to  divulge  the  secret.     The  king  thus  experi- 


POISONS  USED  BY  ANCIENT  RACES  25 

enced  no  lengthened  illness,  but  passed  away  in  a  few  minutes 
after  swallowing  the  fatal  potion  and  his  body  was  at  once 
prepared  for  the  ceremony." 

Thus  to  primitive  and  barbaric  people  in  various  parts  of 
the  world  we  owe  much  of  our  knowledge  of  the  properties 
of  many  powerful  vegetable  poisons. 


CHAPTER   II 

POISONS  USED  BY  THE  EGYPTIANS,  GREEKS, 
ROMANS,  HEBREWS,  CHINESE  AND  HINDUS  IN 
ANCIENT  TIMES 

MANY  mysterious  poisons  are  referred  to  in  the  legends 
and  sagas  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  dim 
ages  of  the  past. 

The  earliest  deity  associated  with  poisons  is  Gula,  whose 
name  was  revered  by  the  Sumerians  about  4500  B.C.  She 
was  known  as  "  The  Mistress  of  Charms  and  Spells,"  the 
"Terrible  Goddess,"  "  ControUer  of  noxious  poisons,"  and 
was  the  deified  form  of  the  sorceress.  Medical  schools  at 
Borsippa  and  Sirpurra  were  under  her  protection.  She  is 
described  on  a  cuneiform  tablet,  said  to  have  been  written 
about   1400   B.C.,   as  : — 

"  Gula,  the  woman,  the  mighty  one,  the  prince  of  all  women. 
His  seed  with  a  poison  not  curable 
Without  issue  ;    in  his  body  may  she  place 
All  the  days  of  his  life. 
Blood  and  pus  like  water  may  he  pour  forth." 

Ages  ago  a  mysterious  country  in  the  far  North  was  sup- 
posed to  be  ruled  and  dominated  by  sorcerers  and  kindred 
beings,  all  of  whom  were  said  to  be  children  of  the  Sun.  Here 
dwelt  yEetes,  Perses,  Hecate,  Medea  and  Circe.  To  Hecate  is 
ascribed  the  foundation  of  sorcery  and  the  discovery  of 
poisonous  plants.  Her  knowledge  of  magic  and  spells  was 
supposed  to  be  unequalled.  She  transmitted  her  power  to 
Medea,  whose  wonderful  exploits  are  described  in  early  Greek 
mythology,  and  who  by  her  magic  arts  subdued  the  dragon 
that  guarded  the  golden  fleece  and  assisted  Jason  to  perform 
his  famous  deeds.  Hecate's  garden  is  described  by  the  poets 
as  being  enclosed  in  lofty  walls  with  thrice-folding  doors  of 

26 


POISONS  USED   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES  27 

ebony,  which  were  guarded  by  terrible  forms,  and  only  those 
who  bore  the  leavened  rod  of  expiation  and  the  concealed 
conciliatory  offering  could  enter.  Towering  above  was  the 
temple  of  the  dread  sorceress,  where  the  ghastly  sacrifices 
were  offered  and  all  kinds  of  horrible  spells  worked. 

According  to  tradition,  after  Medea's  adventures  with  Jason 
she  returned  with  him  to  Thessaly,  and  on  their  arrival  they 
found  ^son,  the  father  of  Jason,  and  Pelias,  his  uncle,  who 
had  usurped  the  throne,  both  old  and  decrepit.  Medea  was 
requested  to  exert  her  magical  powers  to  make  the  old  man 
young  again,  an  operation  which  she  is  said  to  have  speedily 
performed  by  infusing  the  juice  of  certain  potent  plants  into 
his  veins,  and  thus  foreshadowing  a  recent  operation  for 
rejuvenating  the  old  by  means  of  injecting  the  solution  of  a 
certain  gland. 

Medea  became  the  wife  of  ^geus,  king  of  Athens,  whose  son, 
Theseus,  had  been  brought  up  in  exile  and  who  resolved  to 
return  to  Athens  to  claim  his  rights.  Medea,  hearing  of  this, 
and  for  some  reason  greatly  resenting  it,  prepared  a  poisoned 
goblet  and  gave  it  to  .Egeus  at  an  entertainment  which  he 
gave  to  Theseus,  with  the  intent  that  he  should  hand  it  to  his 
son.  At  the  critical  moment  the  king  cast  his  eyes  on  the 
sword  of  Theseus,  recognizing  it  as  the  weapon  which  he  had 
given  to  his  son  when  a  child,  directing  that  it  should  be 
brought  by  him  when  a  man  as  a  token  of  the  mystery  of 
his  birth.  The  king  at  once  threw  the  goblet  from  him  and 
embraced  his  son,  and  as  tradition  has  it,  Medea  fled  from 
Athens  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  dragons. 

Circe's  charms  were  more  seductive  and  romantic.  She 
is  said  to  have  been  endowed  with  exquisite  beauty,  which  she 
employed  to  allure  travellers  to  her  territory.  On  their  land- 
ing she  entreated  and  enticed  them  to  drink  from  her  enchanted 
cup,  but  no  sooner  was  the  draught  swallowed  than  the 
unfortunate  stranger  was  turned  into  a  hog  and  driven  by 
the  magician  to  her  sty,  where  he  still  retained  the  conscious- 
ness of  what  he  had  been  and  lived  to  repent  his  folly. 

These  mythological  stories  tend  to  show  that  some  know- 
ledge of  poisonous  substances  existed  at  a  very  remote  period. 

In  ancient  Egypt  a  certain  crude  scientific  knowledge 
probably  existed  from  a  period  of  great  antiquity,  and  some 


28  POISON   MYSTERIES 

of  the  earliest  deities,  especially  the  god  Thoth,  are  associ- 
ated with  the  genesis  of  science,  arts  and  magic,  Thoth 
is  reputed  to  have  been  the  author  of  six  divine  works  dealing 
with  these  subjects.  He  was  identified  by  the  Greeks  with 
Hermes  Trismegistos,  or  the  "  Thrice  Great,"  to  whom  they 
attributed  the  foundation  of  the  science  of  chemistry.  Menes, 
the  earliest  Egyptian  king  of  whom  we  have  record,  was  said 
to  have  studied  the  properties  of  plants,  and  other  Egyptian 
rulers  cultivated  the  art  of  medicine,  probably  through  the 
priests,  who  were  the  chief  practitioners  in  the  art  of  healing 
in  those  early  times.  They  apparently  gathered  knowledge 
of  certain  poisonous  bodies,  both  vegetable  and  mineral. 
They  were  learned  in  the  art  of  alchemy  and  initiated  votaries 
into  its  mysteries  in  their  schools  of  science.  The  secrets 
taught  were  forbidden  to  be  revealed  under  penalty  of  death, 
and  therefore,  probably,  many  of  the  discoveries  they  made 
were  lost,  but  there  is  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that  they 
were  conversant  with  crude  arsenic,  opium,  mandrake,  lead  and 
other  poisonous  substances.  This  knowledge  was  probably 
handed  down  by  oral  tradition  as  part  of  the  priestcraft  for 
centuries  before  it  was  committed  to  writing. 

The  earliest  known  record  of  the  actual  preparation  of  a 
substance  of  a  lethal  nature  is  mentioned  in  an  Egyptian 
papyrus,  now  in  the  Louvre,  in  which  the  following  sentence, 
as  translated  by  Duteuil,  occurs  :  "  Pronounce  not  the  name 
of  I.A.O.  under  the  penalty  of  the  peach." 

The  Egyptians  were  probably  the  first  to  practise  dis- 
tillation, and  from  the  stones  of  certain  fruits  they  apparently 
discovered  that  they  could  extract  a  powerful  poison  which 
we  now  know  as  prussic  acid. 

The  Hebrews  in  ancient  times  were  also  acquainted  with  the 
use  of  poisonous  substances.  Arsenic  was  known  to  them  as 
"  Sam,"  aconite  as  "  Boschka,"  and  they  are  said  to  have 
known  of  the  poisonous  properties  of  ergot  which  they  called 
"  Son." 

Coming  to  times  of  early  culture  in  Greece,  the  knowledge 
of  poisons  had  made  a  considerable  advance.  The  Greeks 
knew  of  arsenic  in  the  form  of  realgar  and  orpiment,  antimony, 
mercury,  gold,  silver,  copper  and  lead,  and  they  probably 
had  a   knowledge   of  their    poisonous  properties,   as   they 


POISONS   USED   IN   ANCIENT  TIMES  29 

recommend  hot  oil  as  an  antidote  in  a  case  of  poisoning  and 
mention  other  means  to  promote  vomiting  and  prevent  a 
poison  being  absorbed  into  the  system. 

Of  the  vegetable  poisons  known  and  used  by  the  Greeks 
hemlock  appears  to  have  been  chiefly  employed.  They 
looked  upon  suicide  under  certain  conditions  as  a  noble  act, 
and  sanctioned  the  use  of  the  poison  cup  by  those  who  desired 
to  terminate  their  existence  on  earth.  They  also  employed 
poison  as  a  means  of  execution.  The  State  Poison  was  chiefly 
composed  of  a  species  of  hemlock  called  cicuta,  the  seeds  of 
which  were  pounded  in  a  mortar  as  the  first  step  in  prepar- 
ation. Several  of  the  early  historians,  including  Plato,  de- 
scribe the  action  of  the  plant  used,  but  its  identification  has 
long  been  a  matter  of  dispute.  From  all  Accounts  the  poison 
draught  does  not  appear  to  have  been  either  very  powerful 
or  rapid  in  its  action,  as  a  second  dose  was  often  found  to 
be  necessary  before  death  ensued. 

At  the  death  of  Phocion  it  is  recorded  that  "  having  drunk 
all  the  hemlock  juice,  the  quantity  was  found  insufficient  and 
the  executioner  refused  to  prepare  more  unless  he  was  paid 
twelve  drachmas."  When  Seneca  also  wished  to  end  his 
life,  a  friend  and  physician,  at  his  request,  procured  for  him 
some  of  the  Athenian  State  Poison,  but  when  he  took  it  the 
effect  was  inadequate. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  Socrates,  which 
happened  in  the  year  402  B.C.,  are  thus  recounted  by  Plato : 

"  When  the  fatal  cup  was  brought  he  asked  what  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  do.  '  Nothing  more,'  replied  the  ser- 
vant of  the  judges,  '  than  as  soon  as  you  have  drunk  of  the 
draught,  to  walk  about  until  you  find  your  legs  become  weary 
and  afterwards  lie  down  upon  your  bed.' 

"  He  took  the  cup  without  any  emotion  or  change  in  his 
countenance  and,  looking  at  him  in  a  steady  and  assured 
manner, 

"  '  Well !  '  said  he,  '  what  say  you  of  this  drink  ?  ' 

"  '  May  a  libation  be  made  out  of  it  ?  ' 

"  Upon  being  told  that  there  was  only  enough  for  one  dose, 
'  At  least,'  said  he,  '  we  may  pray  to  the  gods  as  is  our  duty 
and  implore  them  to  make  our  exit  from  this  world  and  our 
last  stage  happy,  which  is  what  I  most  ardently  beg  of  them.' 


30  POISON   MYSTERIES 

"  Having  spoken  these  words  he  remained  silent  for  some 
time  and  then  drank  off  the  whole  draught. 

"  After  reproving  his  friends  for  indulging  in  loud  lamenta- 
tions, he  continued  to  walk  about  as  he  had  been  directed 
until  he  found  his  legs  grow  weary.  Then  he  lay  down  upon 
his  back  and  the  person  who  had  administered  the  poison 
went  up  to  him  and  examined  for  a  little  time  his  feet  and  legs, 
and  then  squeezing  his  foot  strongly,  asked  whether  he  felt 
him  ?  Socrates  replied  that  he  did  not.  He  then  did  the 
same  to  his  legs,  and  proceeding  upwards  in  this  way,  showed 
us  that  he  was  cold  and  stiff,  and  he  afterwards  approached 
him  and  said  to  us  that  when  the  effect  of  the  poison  reached 
the  heart  Socrates  would  depart.  And  now  the  lower  parts 
of  his  body  were  cold,  when  he  uncovered  himself  and  said, 
which  were  his  lasl^  words,  '  Crito,  we  owe  iEsculapius  a  cock. 
Pay  the  debt  and  do  not  forget  it.' 

" '  It  shall  be  done,'  replied  Crito.  '  But  consider  whether 
you  have  anything  else  to  say.' 

"  Socrates  answered  in  the  negative,  but  was  in  a  short 
time  convulsed.  The  man  then  uncovered  him  ;  his  eyes 
were  fixed  and  when  Crito  observed  this  he  closed  his  eyelids 
and  his  mouth." 

The  poison  which  is  given  the  general  name  of  (paQ/uaHov 
by  Plato,  is  termed  hcovelov  by  Xenophon  in  relating  the 
execution  of  Theramenes,  whose  death  occurred  but  forty 
years  after  Socrates.  The  same  word  is  again  used  by  Plut- 
arch in  describing  the  State  Poison  by  which  Phocion  fell  a 
victim  to  the  Athenians  in  the  year  B.C.  317. 

Aristophanes,  who  was  contemporary  with  Socrates,  fur- 
nishes further  evidence  that  the  State  Poison  was  commonly 
known  in  Athens  by  the  name  xcbvetov,  for  in  "  The  Frogs," 
which  was  acted  many  years  before  his  death,  the  following 
allusion  to  the  poison  occurs  : — 

Hercules  :  Then  there  is  a  short  and  beaten  road — that  by 
the  mortar. 

Bacchus  :  Speakest  thou  of  hemlock,  then  ? 

Hercules  :    Most  certainly. 

Bacchus  :  A  journey  cold  and  winterly  forsooth,  for  it  im- 
mediately congeals  the  shins. 

Pliny  and  the  other  Latin  authors  use  the  word  cicuta  when 
alluding  to  the  State  Poison  of  the  Greeks.     Dioscorides  {circa 


POISONS  USED   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES  31 

A.D.  40)  in  his  work  on  Materia  Medica,  describing  the  cicuta, 
says  it  has  a  knotted  stem  and  likens  it  to  fennel.  "  Its  branches 
shoot  with  umbels  at  their  summits,  while  it  bears  a  whitish 
flower  with  a  heavy  smell  and  a  fruit  like  that  of  anise,  but 
whiter."  From  this  it  was  evidently  an  umbelliferous  plant. 
Pliny  refers  to  the  spots  on  the  stem,  which  further  identifies 
the  plant  as  the  Conium  maculatum,  or  hemlock. 

According  to  Sibthorpe,  Conium  maculatum  grows  in 
various  parts  of  Greece  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Athens,  and  no 
other  poisonous  umbelliferous  plant  grows  in  that  country. 
This  seems  conclusive  evidence  that  the  cicuta  of  the  Greeks 
was  the  plant  we  know  as  Conium  maculatum. 

In  addition  to  this,  Pliny  states  that  the  cicuta  (described 
by  him  as  the  Athenian  State  Poison)  grows  in  Attica  and  at 
Megara,  and  describes  the  seeds  and  leaves  as  particularly 
fatal  when  drunk  in  wine,  the  former  producing  the  most 
deadly  effects. 

The  clinical  effects  of  the  drug  as  graphically  described  by 
Plutarch  are  identical  with  those  produced  by  conium  or 
hemlock.  He  mentions  the  coldness  of  the  extremities,  con- 
cluding with  its  influence  on  the  brain,  which  would  account 
for  the  strangeness  of  the  last  words  of  Socrates,  referring 
to  a  sacrifice  to  the  deity  who  presided  over  the  Medical  Art. 

It  is  probable  that  opium  was  sometimes  combined  with 
hemlock,  judging  from  the  statement  of  Theophrastus,  who 
was  born  only  twenty-eight  years  after  the  death  of  Socrates. 

He  says  :  "  Thrasyas,  the  Mantinian,  stated  that  by  making 
use  of  the  juices  of  cicuta,  the  poppy  and  such  other  things, 
he  had  discovered  a  substance  which  occasioned  death  easily 
and  without  pain,  and  so  portable  and  minute  that  the 
weight  of  a  dgaxji^'f]  (about  sixty  grains)  was  sufficient  and 
absolutely  irremediable."  Further,  that  it  was  capable  of 
being  preserved  for  any  time  without  alteration.  That  a 
powerful  preparation  and  certain  in  effect  was  required  at  the 
time  of  the  death  of  Socrates,  is  evident  from  the  caution  of 
the  executioner,  who  states  that  none  of  the  contents  of  the 
cup  could  be  spared.  Judging  from  all  accounts,  and  the 
evidence  afforded  by  the  description  of  its  action,  there  seems 
little  doubt  that  the  Athenian  State  Poison  consisted  of 
hemlock,  probably  in  the  form  of  the  concentrated  juice  of 


32  POISON   MYSTERIES 

the  leaves,  to  which  a  proportion  of  poppy  juice  was  added 
to  render  its  action  more  certain. 

A  curious  custom  prevailed  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  of  Ceos  in  which  poison  played  a  part.  When  the 
old  men  found  they  were  no  longer  of  service  to  the  State 
and  began  to  feel  life  a  burden,  they  assembled  at  a  banquet 
of  death  and,  with  their  heads  crowned  with  chaplets,  cheer- 
fully drained  the  poison  cup.  A  relic  of  this  ancient  custom 
was  once  practised  at  Marseilles,  where  a  poison  was  kept  by 
the  public  authorities,  of  which  hemlock  was  an  ingredient. 
A  dose  of  this  was  allowed  by  the  magistrates  to  anyone  who 
could  bring  a  sufficient  reason  why  he  should  deserve  death. 
Valerius  Maximus  observes,  "  This  custom  came  from  Greece, 
particularly  from  the  island  of  Ceos,  where  I  saw  an  example 
of  it  in  a  woman  of  great  quality  who,  having  lived  very 
happy  ninety  years,  obtained  leave  to  die  in  this  way,  lest  by 
living  longer  she  should  happen  to  see  a  change  of  her  good 
fortune." 

The  reputed  poisonous  property  of  bull's  blood  is  recorded 
by  various  ancient  writers,  and  it  is  stated  that  ^Eson,  Midas 
King  of  Phrygia,  Plutarch  and  Themistocles  the  Athenian 
leader  employed  it  as  a  means  of  suicide.  It  is  probable  that 
some  strong  poisonous  vegetable  substance  such  as  cicuta  was 
mixed  with  it. 

The  symptoms  and  signs  which  were  accepted  in  early 
times  as  evidence  of  poisoning  are  sufficiently  crude  to  inspire 
us  with  considerable  doubt  as  to  the  reliability  of  many  of  the 
cases  narrated.  That  there  were  certain  post-mortem  appear- 
ances which  were  generally  considered  as  evidence  of  death 
by  poison  is  recorded  by  Cicero,  Tacitus  and  other  early 
writers.  In  the  account  given  by  Suetonius  of  the  death  of 
Germanicus,  who  was  poisoned  by  Piso  at  the  instance  of 
Tiberius,  they  are  enumerated  as  "  livid  spots  on  the  face  and 
body,  and  foam  at  the  mouth."  It  was  further  generally 
believed  that  worms  could  not  generate  in  the  bodies  of  persons 
who  had  died  from  the  effect  of  poison. 

Dioscorides  throws  a  further  light  on  the  poisons  of 
antiquity  in  his  work  on  Materia  Medica,  which  for  fifteen 
centuries  or  more  remained  the  chief  authority  on  that  subject. 
He  mentions  cantharides,  copper,  mercury,  lead  and  arsenic. 


POISONS  USED   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES  33 

Among  the  animal  poisons  he  includes  toads,  salamanders, 
poisonous  snakes,  a  peculiar  kind  of  honey,  and  the  blood 
of  the  ox,  probably  after  it  had  decomposed.  The  sea-hare 
is  frequently  alluded  to  by  the  ancient  Greeks,  and  was 
evidently  regarded  by  them  as  capable  of  producing  a  very 
powerful  poison.  Domitian  is  said  to  have  administered  it 
to  Titus.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  the  genus 
Aplysia,  among  the  gasteropods,  and  is  described  by  the  old 
writers  as  a  dreadful  object  which  was  neither  to  be  touched 
nor  looked  upon  with  safety. 

Among  the  poisonous  plants  enumerated  by  Dioscorides  are 
the  poppy,  black  and  white  hellebore,  henbane,  mandragora, 
hemlock,  elaterium,  the  juices  of  a  species  of  euphorbia,  and 
apocynae.  The  black  and  white  hellebore  were  known  to 
the  Romans  and  used  by  them  as  an  insecticide,  and  Pliny 
states  that  the  Gauls  used  a  preparation  of  veratrum  to  poison 
their  arrows.  Arsenic,  in  the  form  of  the  native  realgar  and 
orpiment,  was  employed  by  the  Greeks  as  a  caustic  and 
for  removing  hair  from  the  face ;  but  no  mention  is  made  of 
it  being  used  internally  or  as  a  poison.  Copper,  mercury, 
and  lead  were  also  used  in  their  medical  treatment.  The 
study  of  poisons  was  forbidden  for  a  long  period,  and  Galen 
mentions  the  fact  that  only  a  few  philosophers  dared  treat  the 
subjects  in  their  works. 

Theophrastus  states  that  the  poison  of  most  subtle  oper- 
ation of  his  time  was  extracted  from  wolf's  bane  (aconite)  ; 
no  antidote  had  been  discovered  to  this  poison  and  it  was  a 
capital  crime  to  have  in  one's  possession  the  plant  from  which 
it  was  extracted.  He  tells  us  that  in  Ethiopia  "  there  grows 
a  certain  deadly  root,  with  which  the  people  smear  their 
arrows,"  and  "  In  Scythia  there  are  others  some  of  which 
kill  at  once  those  who  eat  them,  some  after  an  interval  shorter 
or  longer,  so  that  in  the  latter  case  men  have  a  lingering 
death."  He  thus  relates  the  story  of  one  Thrasyas  of 
Mantineia,  who  had  discovered 

"  a  poison  which  produces  an  easy  and  painless  end  ;  he  used 
the  juices  of  hemlock,  poppy,  and  other  such  herbs,  so  com- 
pounded as  to  make  a  dose  of  conveniently  small  size,  weigh- 
ing only  somewhat  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  ounce.  For  the 
effects  of  this  compound  there  is  absolutely  no  cure,  and  it 

c 


34  POISON  MYSTERIES 

will  keep  any  length  of  time  without  losing  its  virtue  at  all. 
He  used  to  gather  his  hemlock,  not  just  anywhere,  but  at 
Susa,  or  some  other  cold  and  shady  spot  ;  and  so  too  with 
the  other  ingredients.  His  pupil  Alexias  was  also  clever  and 
no  less  skilful  than  his  master,  being  also  versed  in  the  science 
of  medicine  generally. 

"  At  last  Eudemus,  the  vendor  of  drugs,  who  had  a  high 
reputation  in  his  business,  after  making  a  wager  that^he  would 
experience  no  effect  before  sunset,  drank  quite  a  moderate 
dose,  and  it  proved  too  strong  for  his  power  of  resistance  : 
while  the  Chian  Eudemus  took  a  draught  of  hellebore  and  was 
not  purged.  And  on  one  occasion  he  said  that  in  a  single  day 
he  took  two  and  twenty  draughts  in  the  market-place  as  he 
sat  at  his  stall,  and  did  not  leave  the  place  till  it  was  evening, 
and  then  he  went  home  and  had  a  bath  and  dined,  and  was 
not  sick.  However,  this  man  was  able  to  hold  out  because  he 
had  provided  himself  with  an  antidote  ;  for  he  said  that  after 
the  seventh  dose  he  took  a  draught  of  tart  vinegar  with 
pumice-stone  dust  in  it,  and  later  on  took  a  draught  of  the 
same  in  wine  in  like  manner  ;  and  that  the  virtue  of  the  pumice- 
stone  dust  is  so  great  that  if  one  puts  it  into  a  boiling  pot  of 
wine  it  causes  it  to  cease  to  boil,  not  merely  for  the  moment, 
but  altogether,  clearly  because  it  has  a  drying  effect  and  it 
catches  the  vapour  and  passes  it  off.  It  was  by  this  antidote 
that  Eudemus  was  able  to  contain  himself  in  spite  of  the  large 
quantity  of  hellebore  which  he  took." 

Livy  records  that  about  200  B.C.  several  persons  of  distinction 
died  in  a  mysterious  way  in  Rome.  At  first  it  was  thought  that 
they  had  succumbed  to  plague,  but  Quintus  Fabius  Maximus  is 
said  to  have  been  informed  by  a  female  slave,  that  the  persons 
had  been  poisoned  and  that  she  could  reveal  the  names  of  the 
guilty.  The  matter  was  laid  before  the  consuls  and  the  Senate. 
The  stipulated  pardon  was  granted,  and,  guided  by  the  slave, 
the  officers  of  justice  are  said  to  have  discovered  the  poisoners, 
among  whom  were  women  belonging  to  the  noblest  families  of 
Rome.  Twenty  in  all  were  seized  ;  two  of  them,  Cornelia 
and  Serpi,  undertook  to  speak  for  the  rest,  and  declared  that 
the  drugs  they  had  prepared  were  medicinal.  They  were  told 
that  to  prove  this,  the  preparation  they  had  made  would  be 
tried  on  themselves  and  to  this  test  they  agreed.  After 
drinking  the  draughts  it  is  said  they  all  died.  One  hundred 
and  seventy  more  of  the  noblest  ladies  of  Rome  were  seized. 


POISONS  USED  IN   ANCIENT  TIMES  35 

on  similar  information  and  condemned,  and  before  that  day, 
says  Livy,  there  was  never  an  inquest  on  poisoning.  To  mark 
this  memorable  example  of  what  had  never  been  done  before, 
it  was  resolved  to  have  a  nail  driven  into  the  temple  of  Jupiter. 
A  dictator  was  appointed  for  that  mystic  duty,  a  master  of 
the  horse,  and  he  drove  a  nail  into  the  temple  of  Jupiter, 
after  which  a  stop  was  put  to  poisoning  for  two  or  three 
centuries. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  method  of  taking  life  by 
poisons  did  not  die  out,  but  apparently  increased  and  became 
very  comrnon  in  Rome  under  the  early  Emperors.  Among 
these  nefarious  practitioners,  mostly  apparently  women, 
was  Locusta,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Nero.  She  had  been 
condemned  to  death  for  a  case  proved  against  her,  but  her 
life  was  spared,  so  that  she  might  use  her  nefarious  methods 
in  the  service  of  the  State.  She  was  employed  by  Agrippina 
to  poison  the  Emperor  Claudius  and  to  her  is  attributed  the 
death  of  Britannicus,  whom  Nero  wished  to  remove  from  his 
path.  Britannicus  was  dining  with  his  brother  and  the 
Imperial  family,  and  as  was  the  custom  of  the  Romans,  hot 
water  was  brought  round  by  slaves  to  the  table,  the  water 
being  heated  to  varied  degrees  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  drinker. 
The  cup  of  water  handed  to  Britannicus  proved  to  be  too  hot 
and  he  gave  it  back  to  the  attendant  slave,  who  added  cold 
water  to  it,  which  addition  is  supposed  to  have  contained  the 
poison,  for  no  sooner  had  he  swallowed  the  draught  than  he 
fell  back,  gasping  for  breath.  His  mother,  Agrippina,  and 
Octavia,  his  sister,  became  terror-stricken,  but  Nero,  unmoved, 
calmly  remarked  that  he  often  had  such  fits  in  his  youth 
without  danger,  and  the  banquet  proceeded. 

A  curious  tradition  which  has  survived  from  early  times, 
and  still  entertained  by  the  ignorant,  is,  that  if  a  body  after 
a  sudden  death  rapidly  decomposes,  it  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  effects  of  poison,  thus  when  Britannicus  died  it  is  recorded 
that  the  Romans  attempted  to  conceal  his  discoloured  face 
by  the  use  of  paint. 

Locusta  appears  to  have  been  appointed  a  kind  of  un- 
official poisoner-in-ordinary  to  the  Emperor,  one  of  her 
duties  being  to  train  pupils  so  that  her  secrets  should  not 
be  lost.     She  was  encouraged  to  experiment  with  her  know- 


36  POISON  MYSTERIES 

ledge  on  slaves,  who  were  liberally  supplied  for  the  purpose. 

The  Persians  in  ancient  times  are  said  to  have  studied  with 
care  the  art  of  poisoning.  Plutarch  and  Ctesias  relate  that 
Queen  Parysatis,  the  mother  of  Cyrus  the  younger,  during  the 
reign  of  Artaxerxes  II  (405-359  B.C.),  poisoned  her  daughter- 
in-law  Statira  by  means  of  a  knife,  one  side  of  the  blade  being 
smeared  with  venom.  A  bird  was  set  before  the  two  queens 
at  supper  ana  was  divided  by  the  poisoned  knife ;  Parysatis 
ate  her  half  with  impunity,  but  Statira  died.  Such  is  the 
story,  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  corroborate  it.  The  Carth- 
aginians were  apparently  also  skilled  in  the  art  of  poisons, 
and  it  is  related  that  they  killed  Regulus,  the  Roman  general, 
by  this  means. 

With  reference  to  the  use  of  poisons  in  Persia  in  early  times 
the  poet  Nizami,  in  his  Treasury  of  Secrets,  relates  a  story  of 
rivalry  between  two  court  physicians  which  finally  reached 
such  a  point  that  they  challenged  one  another  to  a  duel  or 
ordeal  by  poison.  It  was  agreed  that  each  should  take  a 
poison  supplied  by  his  antagonist,  of  which  he  should  then 
endeavour  to  counteract  the  effects  by  a  suitable  antidote. 
The  first  prepared  a  poisonous  draught  "  the  fierceness  of 
which  would  have  melted  black  stone  "  ;  his  rival  drained 
the  cup  and  at  once  took  an  antidote  which  rendered  it  inno- 
cuous. It  was  now  his  turn,  and  he  picked  a  rose  from  the 
garden,  breathed  an  incantation  over  it,  and  bade  his  antago- 
nist smell  it,  whereup(5n  the  latter  at  once  fell  down  dead. 
That  his  death  was  due  simply  to  fear  and  not  to  any  poison- 
ous or  magical  property  of  the  rose  is  clearly  indicated  by  the 
poet  : 

"  Through  this  rose  which  the  spell-breather  ha5.xgiven  him 
Fear  overmastered  the  foe  and  he  gave  up  the  ghost. 
That  one  by  treatment  expelled  the  poison  from  his  body. 
While  this  one  died  of  a  rose  from  fear." 

An  incident  which  happened  to  the  army  led  by  Mark 
Antony  against  the  Parthians,  and  described  by  Plutarch, 
is  said  to  have  been  caused  by  aconite.  At  one  time  during 
the  expedition,  the  soldiers,  being  very  short  of  provisions, 
sought  for  roots  and  pot-herbs  and  met  one  that  brought  on 
madness  and  death.     "  The  eater  immediately  lost  all  memory 


POISONS  USED  IN   ANCIENT  TIMES  37 

and  would  busy  himself  in  turning  over  every  stone  he  met 
with  as  if  on  some  important  pursuit.  The  camp  was  full  of 
unhappy  men  digging  up  and  removing  stones,  till  at  last  they 
were  carried  off  by  bilious  vomiting."  Whole  numbers,  says 
Plutarch,  perished,  and  the  Parthians  still  continued  to  harass 
them.  Antony  is  said  to  have  frequently  exclaimed  :  "  Oh  ! 
the  ten  thousand  !  "  alluding  to  the  army  which  Xenophon 
led  in  retreat  both  a  longer  way  and  through  more  numerous 
conflicts  and  yet  led  in  safety. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  Alexander  the  Great  that  after 
crossing  the  Cydenus,  he  was  seized  with  a  fever  and  was 
warned  by  Parmenio  in  a  letter  not  to  take  the  medicine  which 
his  physician  offered  to  him  for  fear  of  poison.  The  phy- 
sician's name  was  Philip,  and  Alexander  so  trusted  him  that 
he  gave  him  the  letter  to  read,  scanning  his  face  meanwhile. 
The  calm  air  of  the  physician  satisfied  the  ailing  conqueror 
and  assured  him  that  he  might  safely  drink  the  potion. 

The  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  like  that  of  many  other 
monarchs,  is  ascribed  by  some  historians  to  poison,  but 
from  Littre's  investigations  it  would  appear  that  the  great 
Emperor,  debilitated  by  his  drinking  habits,  contracted 
malarial  fever  in  the  marshes  round  Babylon  and  died  after 
an  illness  of  eleven  days. 

In  India  and  the  Far  East,  poisons  have  been  used  from 
very  early  times,  not  only  for  the  destruction  of  human  life, 
but  also  for  destroying  animals ;  arsenic,  aconite,  opium  and 
many  other  poisonous  mineral  and  vegetable  substances 
being  employed  for  the  purpose. 

The  Hindus  have  many  curious  traditions  concerning 
poisons,  and  like  the  Western  nations  attribute  to  some  the 
property  of  causing  a  lingering  death,  which  can  be  controlled 
by  the  will  of  the  poisoner.  The  knowledge  of  the  substances 
employed  is  guarded  with  great  secrecy  and  even  now  they 
are  not  fully  known.  Blyth  mentions  a  mysterious  substance 
known  in  India,  called  Mucor  phycomyces,  which  is  said  to  be 
a  species  of  fungus.  When  the  spores  are  administered  in  warm 
water  they  are  said  to  attach  themselves  to  the  throat  and 
speedily  develop  and  grow,  with  the  result  that  in  a  few  weeks 
the  respiratory  organs  are  attacked  and  the  victim  is  rapidly 
carried  off  as  if  by  a  fatal  disease.     Nine  active  or  virulent 


38  POISON   MYSTERIES 

poisonous  substances  are  mentioned  by  the  ancient  writers 
on  Hindu  medicine.  Some  of  them  are  at  present  still 
unidentified,  while  others,  there  is  little  doubt,  are  varieties  of 
aconite,  also  opium,  ganja  {Cannabis  indica),  datura  stramon- 
ium, the  roots  of  Nerium  odorum,  and  Gloriosa  superba,  the 
milky  juices  of  Calatropis  gigantea  and  Euphorbia  nerii folia, 
white  arsenic,  orpiment  and  the  poison  venom  from  snakes. 

Most  of  the  early  Sanscrit  MSS.  are  written  on  paper  pre- 
pared with  orpiment  to  preserve  them  from  the  ravages  of 
insects.  Three  varieties  of  datura  yield  atropine,  a  powerful 
poison.  These  plants  were  frequently  employed  in  India  for 
putting  a  sudden  end  to  domestic  quarrels,  and  to  this  practice 
maybe  traced  the  origin  of  the  custom  of  "  Suttee,"  or  widow- 
burning,  as  the  Brahmins  found  from  experience  that  by 
making  a  wife's  life  co-terminous  with  the  husband's,  the 
average  husband  lived  considerably  longer.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  the  diamond  was  celebrated  as  a  medicinal  agent 
by  the  Hindus,  who  prepared  it  by  roasting  it  seven  times 
and  then  reducing  it  to  powder.  It  was  given  in  doses  of  one 
grain  as  a  powerful  tonic. 

Both  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  from  ancient  times  down 
to  the  present  day,  have  paid  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the 
study  of  poisons.  From  an  early  period  the  Chinese  are  said 
to  have  used  gold  leaf  for  suicidal  purposes,  and  at  the 
present  time  when  a  high  official  puts  an  end  to  his  life  it 
is  officially  announced  that  he  has  "taken  gold  leaf." 

At  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Kwang  Su,  the 
cause  of  which  was  enveloped  in  mystery,  it  was  rumoured 
that  he  did  not  die  from  natural  causes,  but  committed  suicide 
by  request.  For  some  time  previous  to  his  death,  it  is  said 
that  the  Emperor  had  led  a  miserable  existence  and  was 
simply  a  ruler  in  name.  The  Dowager-Empress,  Tzu  Hsi, 
had  resolved  that  her  nephew  should  precede  her  to  the 
tomb.  She  therefore  convoked  the  Grand  Council  and  as 
a  result  of  this  conclave  it  was  announced  that  Kwang  Su 
was  dangerously  ill  from  heart  disease,  but  the  offers  of 
the  foreign  Legations  to  send  their  medical  officers  were 
firmly  declined. 

According  to  the  story  "  at  ten  o'clock  next  morning  the 
Chief  Eunuch,  with  two  confidential  attendants,  entered  the 


POISONS  USED   IN   ANCIENT  TIMES  39 

Little  Palace  where  the  Emperor  was  confined,  and  after 
having  ordered  everybody  out  of  the  room  he  declared  to 
Kwang  Su  that  the  Empress  was  dying,  and  that  it  was 
needful  for  him  to  predecease  her. 

"  He  then  deposited  on  a  table,  pills  of  opium,  a  packet  of 
gold  leaf,  and  some  yellow  silk  plaited  cord,  promising  to 
return  in  three  hours'  time.  If  he  found  that  neither  the 
opium  nor  the  gold  leaf  had  been  used  it  would  be  his  painful 
duty  to  call  upon  the  two  assistants  to  strangle  him  witfe  the 
silken  cord.  Meanwhile,  the  two  executioners  would  watch 
the  door  of  the  room.  It  should  be  explained  that  a  piece  of 
fine  gold-leaf  is  placed  over  the  lips,  and,  the  breath  being 
deeply  drawn,  it  is  inhaled  and  obstructs  the  glottis,  causing 
immediate  suffocation." 

When  the  Chief  Eunuch  returned  at  one  o'clock,  he  found 
the  opium  pills  had  disappeared  and  Kwang  Su  was  stretched 
unconscious  on  his  couch,  but  still  breathing.  It  was  stated 
that  he  died  at  five  o'clock,  and  the  three-year-old  Pou  Yi 
was  at  once  brought  to  the  Imperial  Palace  and  proclaimed 
Emperor. 

The  Japanese  are  said  to  import  from  China  certain  powerful 
poisons  prepared  by  the  Chinese  medicine  men,  the  secret  of 
which  is  only  known  to  them.  They  are  thought  to  be  a 
mixture  of  both  animal  and  mineral  substances  which  have  a 
very  deadly  effect,  though  their  exact  composition  is  yet 
undetermined. 


CHAPTER  III 

ANTIDOTES  TO   POISON   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES 

JUDGING  from  the  earliest  laws  on  record,  criminal  poison- 
ing does  not  appear  to  have  been  common  amongst  the 
ancient  Egyptians  or  Hebrews. 

The  first  recorded  instance  of  a  judicial  trial  for  poisoning 
at  Rome  is  stated  by  Livy  to  have  been  in  the  year  329  B.C. 
In  the  time  of  Justinian  (a.d.  483-565)  the  aid  of  the  physician 
was  called  in  specially  during  the  investigation  of  crime.  Ac- 
cording to  the  institutes  or  laws  of  that  period,  those  who  by 
odious  arts,  whether  by  poison  or  by  "magical  whispers  "  (in- 
cantations), took  away  the  life  of  another,  were  punished  with 
death.  A  contract  for  the  sale  of  a  poison  was  also  held  to 
be  void  "  on  the  analogy  of  the  contracts  of  partnership  and 
agency  which  have  no  power  to  deal  with  improper  matters." 

It  seems  appropriate  that  the  first  law  to  regulate  the  sale  of 
poisons  should  have  been  enacted  in  Italy.  Thus  as  early  as 
1365  a  statute  was  passed  in  Siena  rendering  it  illegal  to  sell 
red  arsenic  or  corrosive  sublimate  to  any  slave,  freed  or  other- 
wise, or  to  any  servant  or  person  under  twenty  years  of  age. 
These  poisons  could  only  be  sold  to  an  adult  who  was  well 
known  to  the  apothecary.  There  was  also  a  law  in  Perugia 
in  1378  which  enacted  that  a  person  could  not  obtain  a  poison 
without  the  express  permission  of  a  doctor,  which  permit 
should  state  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended  to  be  used. 
The  statutes  of  Genoa  (1488)  amongst  other  items  demanded 
that  in  no  medicament  should  substitution  be  allowed,  or  as  the 
statute  reads  "  Ponere  quid  pro  quo  "  without  the  doctor's  ex- 
press permission.  The  pharmacist  was  to  be  careful  that  honey 
was  not  substituted  for  sugar,  nor  that  the  latter  should  serve 
as  a  cover  for  the  former",  and  that  he  should  put  neither  rice 
nor  starch  in  anything  composed  of  sugar,  in  whole  or  in  part. 

In  ancient  times  there  is  little  doubt  that  many  people 

40 


ANTIDOTES  TO   POISON   IN   ANCIENT  TIMES    41 

died  from  the  effects  of  poison  without  suspicion,  al- 
though on  the  other  hand  many  more  succumbed  to  the 
sudden  effects  of  latent  and  unrecognized  diseases,  such  as 
aneurism,  peritonitis  and  others  of  which  practically  nothing 
was  known,  whose  deaths  were  wrongfully  attributed  to 
poison.  Before  the  period  of  judicial  post-mortem  examina- 
tion, the  practice  was  to  expose  the  bodies  for  inspection 
to  those  who  were  believed  to  be  able  to  form  a  sufficiently 
accurate  judgment  for  themselves  as  to  the  cause  of  deat^k^ 

It  was  believed  that  poisonous  substances  had  a  peculiar 
action  on  the  heart  and  were  capable  of  altering  its  substance 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  resisted  the  action  of  a  funeral  pyre 
and  remained  unconsumed.  When  the  heart  resisted  the  pyre 
it  was  regarded  as  unmistakable  evidence  that  the  person  had 
perished  by  poison.  If,  in  addition,  the  body  from  any  cause 
rapidly  decomposed,  such  a  sign  was  at  once  believed  to  be 
conclusive  of  death  from  poison.  This  belief  prevailed  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  extent  down  to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

From  the  time  man  first  discovered  the  effects  of 
poisonous  substances,  he  no  doubt  began  to  consider  some 
means  of  preventing  their  action  if  taken  internally  by  acci- 
dent. He  sought  also  to  find  protection  against  the  bites  of 
venomous  animals,  reptiles  and  mad  dogs.  Homer  (900  B.C.) 
in  the  "  Odyssey,"  in  the  account  of  Ulysses'  men,  alludes 
to  a  plant  which  Hermes  recommended  him  to  take  when  he 
set  out  to  rescue  his  followers  : — 

"  Then  take  the  antidote  the  Gods  provide 
The  plant  I  give  through  all  the  direful  power 
Shall  guard  thee  and  avert  the  evil  hour." 

This  is  thought  to  refer  to  a  herb  called  moli  or  molu  which 
is  often  mentioned  by  ancient  writers.  It  is  alluded  to  by 
Theophrastus,  Ovid,  Pliny,  Dioscorides  and  Galen  and  it  was 
considered  to  be  a  species  of  Allium.  It  is  described  by  some 
as  a  plant  having  an  onion  or  squill-like  odour,  and  was  said  to 
grow  in  Arcadia  and  Campania. 

The  Hindus,  like  other  ancient  peoples,  also  had  an  idea  of 
a  universal  antidote  against  poisons,  as  expressed  by  the  word 
"agada." 


42  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Apparently  the  ambition  of  the  early  Greek  physicians 
was  to  discover  a  universal  antidote  to  all  poisons,  and  many 
of  them  appear  to  have  devoted  years  and  spent  a  great  part 
of  their  lives  in  attempting  to  find  it.  These  antidotes  were 
called  by  the  Greeks  Alexipharmics,  or  Theriacs,  the  former 
word  being  derived  from  the  Greek  "Alexipharmakos,"  mean- 
ing that  which  keeps  off  a  poison,  and  the  noun  "  antiphar- 
makon,"  an  antidote. 

OSe  of  the  earliest  writers  on  the  subject  was  Nicander 
of  Colophon  (185-135  B.C.),  who  was  physician  to  Attains,  King 
of  Bithynia,  under  whom  he  is  said  to  have  secured  special 
facilities  for  studying  poisons,  being  allowed  to  experiment 
upon  condemned  criminals.  He  was  an  hereditary  priest  of 
Apollo  at  Clarus.  He  wrote  a  work  in  about  a  thousand 
hexameters  on 

Theriaca,  which  deals  with  the  bites  of  venomous  animals 
and  six  hundred  hexameters  on 

Alexipharmica,  which  treats  of  poisonous  substances  when 
swallowed  by  the  mouth,  and  the  use  of  emetics. 

Theriaca  became  an  actual  substance  and  differed  from  the 
Alexipharmica,  which  was  more  a  method  of  treatment.  This 
division  was  afterwards  adopted  by  all  the  subsequent  early 
writers  on  the  subject,  including  Dioscorides,  Galen,  Aetius, 
Paulus  Aegineta,  Avicenna  and  Rhazes. 

From  the  first  century  theriaca  was  regarded  as  a  very 
important  compound,  and  in  the  endeavour  to  secure  the 
most  effective  combination  for  the  purpose,  the  most  extra- 
ordinary formulae  containing  a  large  number  of  ingredients, 
were  devised  by  various  physicians.  The  general  treatment 
recommended  by  Nicander  for  the  bites  of  all  venomous 
animals  was  sucking  the  wound,  applying  cupping  vessels  to 
it,  cauteries  and  leeches,  and  afterwards  administering  stimu- 
lant medicines. 

Respecting  the  sucking  of  a  wound,  he  gives  an  important 
injunction  that  the  person  who  sucks  the  wound  should  not  be 
fasting,  from  which  it  may  be  gathered  that  he  was  aware  of 
the  physiological  fact  that  the  vessels  absorb  more  readily 
when  in  an  empty  state. 

Nicander's  particular  remedies  were  such  drugs  as  birth- 
wort,  alkanet,  and  theriaca  of  vipers,  which  was  prepared  with 


ANTIDOTES  TO  POISON  IN  ANCIENT  TIMES      43 

a  great  many  aromatic  roots  and  fruits,  including  ginger, 
cinnamon,  myrrh,  iris  and  gentian.  In  his  work  he  mentions 
twenty-two  poisonous  substances  including  : 

Aconite  (wolf's  bane),  litharge  (lead  oxide),  buprestis  (a 
beetle  resembling  caritharides) ,  ceruse  (white  lead),  conium 
(hemlock),  cantharides,  hyoscyamus  (henbane),  ixias  (probably 
a  species  of  chameleon),  coagulated  milk,  sea-hare,  poppy 
(opium),  pharicum  (probably  a  composition  of  agaric),  the  red 
toad  and  marsh  frog,  the  salamander,  bull's  blood,  taxus 
(yew),  and  toxicum  (an  unknown  poison).  As  antidotes  he 
recommends  warm  oil,  warm  water  and  mallow  or  linseed 
tea  to  excite  vomiting. 

From  this  list  we  have  some  idea  of  the  knowledge  of 
poisons  at  that  period.  Most  of  the  substances  enumerated 
are  of  vegetable  or  animal  origin,  few  of  the  soluble  mineral 
poisons  being  known  at  that  time. 

Galen  noticed  that  opium  dissolved  in  a  small  quantity 
of  wine  produced  stronger  effects  than  when  given  alone,  and 
that  when  a  larger  draught  of  wine  was  given,  it  proved  an 
antidote  by  counteracting  the  narcotic  powers  of  the  opium. 
He  stated  that  he  once  cured  a  person  reduced  to  the  last 
stage  of  coma  by  the  administration  of  strong  wine. 

Dioscorides  also  dealt  very  largely  with  this  subject,  and, 
like  Nicander  directs  that  "  the  person  who  sucks  the  poisoned 
wound  be  not  fasting  and  that  he  shall  keep  some  oil  in  his 
mouth."  The  wound  is  then  to  be  fomented  with  a  sponge 
and  scarified  or  cut  out,  a  method  on  which  there  is  no  improv- 
ment  at  the  present  time.  Cauterization  with  fire  is  another 
method  which  Dioscorides  recommends,  and  for  the  bite  of  a 
venomous  serpent  known  to  be  fatal,  he  advises  immediate 
amputation  to  save  life. 

According  to  Pliny  and  Galen,  the  formula  for  the  first 
theriaca  against  the  bites  of  all  venomous  animals  was  in- 
scribed in  verse  on  a  stone  in  the  temple  of  Asklepios  on  the 
island  of  Cos.  It  contained  wild  thyme,  opoponax,  aniseed, 
fennel,  parsley,  meum  and  ammi.  These  were  to  be  beaten 
up  with  meal  of  fitches  (ervum  ervilla),  passed  through  a  sieve, 
kneaded  with  wine,  cut  into  lozenges  of  the  weight  of  half  a 
denarius  (30  grammes),  one  to  be  placed  in  three  cyathi 
(about  five  ounces)  of  wine  and  swallowed. 


44  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  next  theriaca  in  antiquity  is  that  originated  by  Anti- 
ochus  the  Third,  King  of  Syria  and  Babylon,  who  flourished 
about  223  B.C.  He  is  said  to  have  devised  a  compound  that 
was  proof  against  the  bites  of  all  venomous  animals  and  reptiles 
except  the  asp. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  theriaca  was  that  of 
Mithridates  VI  (120-63  B.C.),  King  of  Pontus  in  Asia  Minor. 
From  the  constant  apprehension  of  being  poisoned  by 
his  enemies,  Mithridates  is  said  to  have  rendered  himself 
immune  from  their  effects  by  taking  small  doses  of  poisonous 
substances  daily  in  combination  with  the  antidote  he  de- 
vised, and  thus  believed  himself  poison-proof.  For  many 
years  he  carried  on  warfare  with  the  Romans,  but  was 
finally  defeated  by  Pompey,  and,  not  wishing  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  he  put  an  end  to  his  life.  After  the  con- 
quest Pompey  is  said  to  have  captured  the  coveted  formula 
among  the  secret  papers  of  the  King. 

This  compound  contained  fifty-four  ingredients,  which 
were  prepared  in  the  form  of  a  conserve  or  electuary. 
Needless  to  say  this  elaborate  remedy  would  be  quite 
useless  as  an  antidote  to  any  poisonsous  substance,  but 
judging  from  what  Pliny  tells  us  of  some  of  the  so-called 
poisons  known  to  Mithridates,  such  as  "  the  blood  of  a  duck 
found  in  a  certain  district  of  Pontus  "  which  was  supposed  to 
live  on  poisonous  food,  it  is  no  wonder  he  had  a  belief  in  its 
efficacy.  Curiously  enough,  Mithridates  employed  the  duck's 
blood  as  an  ingredient  in  the  later  modifications  of  his  theriaca, 
and  he  tells  us  that  he  did  so  because  he  observed  that  "  these 
ducks  fed  on  poisonous  plants  and  suffered  no  harm." 

Another  theriaca  is  attributed  to  Zopyros,  a  Greek  physician 
of  Alexandria,  about  80  B.C.  He  named  his  formula  "  Ambro- 
sia," and  it  contained  frankincense,  galbanum,  pepper  and 
other  aromatic  substances,  made  into  a  conserve  with  boiled 
honey.  A  piece  the  size  of  an  Egyptian  bean  was  directed  to 
be  taken,  washed  down  with  a  draught  of  wine. 

Equally  celebrated  was  the  theriaca  of  Philon  of  Tarsus,  who 
is  said  to  have  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the  first  century  and 
recorded  his  formula  in  symbolic  Greek  verse.  Galen  mentions 
that  it  had  a  great  reputation  for  a  long  time  and  was  one  of 
the  most  famous  compounds  of  the  kind.     It  contained  such 


ANTIDOTES  TO   POISON   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES    45 

curious  substances  as  "  the  red  hair  of  a  lad  whose  blood  had 
been  shed  on  the  fields  of  Mercury,"  which  was  possibly 
symbolic  language  for  suffering,  and  certain  drugs  the 
names  of  which  are  disguised  in  mystic  language.  The  whole 
of  the  mixture  was  to  be  made  into  a  conserve  with  " '  the 
work  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Bull  of  Athens  "  which  is  supposed 
to  mean  Attic  honey. 

The  Theriaca  Philonium  survived  over  1,700  years  and 
has  an  interesting  history.  It  passed  into  many  of  the 
pharmacopoeias  of  Europe,  remaining  in  the  London  Phar- 
macopma  until  1746,  when  it  was  composed  of  opium, 
pepper,  ginger,  caraway,  syrup,  honey  and  wine.  Until 
1746  it  was  called  "  Philonium  Romanum,"  but  was  then 
changed  to  "  Philonium  Londonense,"  and  syrup  of  poppies 
was  substituted  for  the  honey.  It  is  probable  that  this 
mixture  was  originally  intended  as  a  remedy  for  a  peculiar 
form  of  colic  which  became  epidemic  in  Rome  when  Philon 
flourished  there.  Philon's  formula  formed  the  basis  of  what 
was  afterwards  known  as  Confection  of  Opium  and  remained 
in  the  London  Pharmacopceia  until  1867. 

The  Theriaca  which  eclipsed  all  others  in  fame  and  popularity 
was  that  originated  by  Andromachus,  physician  to  Nero 
(A.D.  37-68).  So  much  did  the  Emperor  appreciate  his 
physician's  efforts  to  devise  a  universal  antidote  that  he 
raised  him  to  the  dignity  of  Archiatrus.  The  Theriaca  of 
Andromachus  was  claimed  to  be  an  improvement  on  that 
of  Mithridates,  until  then  the  greatest  antidote  in  Roman 
pharmacy.  He  added  vipers  to  the  compound  and  called 
his  theriaca  "  Galene."  Like  other  physicians  of  his  time 
Andromachus  wrote  his  formula  and  described  its  virtues  in 
Greek  verse,  which  he  dedicated  to  Nero.  He  claimed  that 
it  would  "  counteract  all  poisons  and  bites  of  venomous  animals 
and  that  it  would  also  relieve  all  pain,  weakness  of  the  stomach, 
asthma,  difficulty  of  breathing,  phthisis,  colic,  jaundice, 
dropsy,  weakness  of  sight,  inflammation  of  the  bladder  and 
kidneys,  and  plague."  It  was  indeed  a  panacea  for  all  com- 
plaints. 

Galen  states  that  he  tested  this  antidote  by  giving  it  to  a 
number  of  fowls  to  which  he  had  first  administered  a  poison. 
Those  to  which  the  theriaca  had  been  given  survived,  but  all 


46  POISON   MYSTERIES 

the  others  died.  He  says  that  it  resisted  poison  and  venomous 
bites  and  cured  a  great  many  diseases.  The  original  formula 
contained  no  less  than  seventy-three  ingredients,  including 
dried  vipers.  This  remarkable  preparation  remained  in 
popular  use  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  and  is  still  made 
and  sold  in  the  drug  bazaar  of  Constantinople  and  also  in 
some  parts  of  Italy. 

About  the  year  a.d.  50  the  Theriaca  of  Democrates  became 
famous.  This  was  similar  to  the  compound  of  Andromachus, 
the  formula  for  which  Democrates,  a  Greek  physician  then 
living  in  Rome,  translated  into  verse.  Other  formulae  were 
originated  by  Nicolaus  of  Salerno,  Amando,  Arnauld  and 
Abano,  each  of  whom  added  something  to  the  original 
formula.  These  preparations  may  be  said  to  have  reached 
their  zenith  in  the  sixteenth  century  when  Pietro  Andrea 
Matthiolus,  the  commentator  of  Dioscorides,  published  another 
formula  which  contained  no  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  separate  substances,  including  dried  vipers,  pearls,  red 
coral  and  emeralds.  This  formula  in  a  modified  form  was 
included  in  the  London  Pharmacopoeia  in  1618  and  remained 
an  official  remedy  until  1746. 

Several  cities  became  celebrated  for  the  manufacture  of 
Theriaca,  including  Cairo,  Florence,  Genoa,  Bologna  and 
Venice.  The  Theriaca  of  Venice  or  Treacle,  as  it  was  called, 
contained  sixty-one  ingredients,  had  a  reputation  throughout 
Europe  and  was  included  in  the  London  Pharmacopoeia  down 
to  1746.  In  Bologna  the  mixing  of  the  Theriaca  was  carried 
out  with  great  ceremony  in  the  courtyard  of  the  ancient  Archi- 
ginnasio  in  the  presence  of  the  chief  officials  of  the  city.  The 
ingredients  were  mixed  under  the  supervision  of  the  medical 
professors  of  the  University  to  ensure  of  it  being  faithfully 
and  properly  compounded.  From  the  fourteenth  to  the 
seventeenth  century  it  was  regarded  as  a  remedy  for  plague 
and  was  used  in  great  quantities.  Evelyn,  in  his  Diary, 
March  23,   1646,  thus  alludes  to  the  Theriaca  of  Venice — 

"  Having  packed  up  my  purchases  of  books,  pictures,  casts, 
treacle,  etc.  (the  making  and  extraordinary  ceremony  whereof 
I  had  been  curious  to  observe,  for  it  is  extremely  pompous 
and  worth  seeing)  I  departed  from  Venice." 

The  great  consumption  of  this  medicament    in    the    six- 


ANTIDOTES  TO   POISON   IN  ANCIENT  TIMES    47 

teenth  century  is  evidenced  by  Morgan,  Apothecary  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who  in  a  pamphlet  insists  that  a  product  that  he 
had  made  had  been  compared  with  other  "  theriacle " 
brought  from  Constantinople  and  Venice  and  had  been  com- 
mended. 

"It  is  very  lamentable  to  consider,"  he  writes  "  that 
straungers  doe  dayly  send  into  England  a  false  and  naughty 
kinde  of  Mithridatium  and  Threacle  in  great  barrelles  more 
than  a  thousand  weight  in  a  year,  and  vtter  ye  same  at  a  lowe 
price  for  3^.,  and  4^.  a  pound,  to  ye  great  hurt  of  Her 'Majesties 
subjects  and  no  small  gaine  to  .straungers  purses." 

In  1612,  it  is  recorded  that  the  Master  and  Wardens  of  the 
Grocers'  Company  of  London  marked  that  "  a  filthy  and  un- 
wholesome baggage  composition  was  being  brought  into  this 
Realm  as  Tryacle  of  Genoa,  made  only  of  the  rotten  garble 
and  refuse  outcast  of  all  kinds  of  spices  and  drugs,  hand  over- 
head with  a  little  filthy  molasses  and  tarre  to  worke  it  up 
withal."  This  was  communicated  to  the  College  of  Physicians, 
and  they  set  about  not  only  to  devise  their  own  formula,  but 
to  superintend  its  manufacture,  which  was  then  entrusted  to 
William  Besse,  an  apothecary  in  the  Poultry.  Besse  was  made 
to  take  a  "  corporal  oath  "  before  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  every 
year  when  he  made  the  confection  had  to  show  the  ingredients 
and  the  product  to  the  College  of  Physicians.  His  treacle 
was  sold  at  not  above  2s.  8d.  per  lb.  or  2d.  per  ounce. 

The  use,  however,  of  this  medicament  in  Great  Britain 
goes  back  to  a  much  earlier  period.  It  was  recommended  to 
Alfred  the  Great  by  Helia,  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  accord- 
ing to  an  Anglo-Saxon  MS.  of  the  eleventh  century.  It  is 
again  mentioned  by  Foucher  de  Chartres  in  1124,  who  states  it 
was  used  in  the  first  Crusade.  It  is  recorded  in  a  Close  Roll 
of  King  John  in  1208,  and  a  "  triacle  box  du  pere  apelle  une 
Hakette  garniz  d'or  "  is  mentioned  amongst  the  precious 
effects  of  Henry  V. 

Prosper  Alpinus,  the  physician  of  Padua,  who  travelled  in 
Egypt  in  1591,  refers  to  the  manufacture  of  Theriaca  in  Cairo 
and  states  that  it  was  only  allowed  to  be  made  in  public,  and 
that  the  ceremony  was  performed  once  a  year  in  the  Mosque 
of  Morestan  by  the  chief  apothecary  of  the  city  in  the  presence 
of  all  the  physicians.     He  states  that  at  that  time  Italians, 


48  POISON  MYSTERIES 

Germans,  Poles,  Flemings,  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  came 
to  Cairo  to  purchase  this  true  Theriaca. 

Much  more  might  be  written  describing  the  making  of  this 
ancient  and  interesting  medicament,  which  has  a  literature 
of  its  own,  but  it  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  one  more  account 
from  the  Regulations  and  Statutes  of  Montpellier,  where  the 
compounding  was  also  carried  out  with  great  ceremony. 

According  to  a  report  by  Laurens  Catelan,  Master  Apothe- 
cary in  Ordinary  to  Monseigneur  the  Prince  of  Conde,  it  was 
required  that  the  preparation  should  be  made  in  public  in 
the  presence  of  the  very  illustrious  professors  of  the  famous 
Faculty  of  Medicine  so  that  they  might  have  the  opportunity 
of  censuring  or  approving  the  ingredients  and  that  the  public 
might  therefore  be  sure  of  the  virtue  of  these  important 
medicines. 

It  may  well  be  asked  what  was  the  rationale  of  admin- 
istering these  extraordinary  compounds  which  survived  for 
centuries.  All  that  can  be  said  is,  that  these  complex 
mixtures  of  gums,  balsams  and  aromatic  substances  would 
probably  have  some  antiseptic  action  on  the  alimentary 
and  internal  organs.  They  were  generally  directed  to  be 
given  with  wine  which  would  aid  this  effect  and,  at  any 
rate,  would  have  a  reviving  and  stimulating  effect  on  the 
individual,  but  no  real  antidotal  properties  can  be  ascribed 
to  them. 

The  search  for  antidotes  to  poison  was  not  confined 
entirely  to  the  Old  World,  for  according  to  the  Carolina 
Gazette  of  May  9,  1750,  the  General  Assembly,  the  Governing 
Body  of  the  Colony,  authorized  the  publication  of  "Nig- 
ger Caeser's  cure  for  poison."  The  General  Assembly  had 
purchased  Nigger  Caeser's  freedom,  who  was  apparently  a 
slave,  and  granted  him  £100  a  year  for  life  as  the  price  of  his 
formula,  which  consisted  of  roots  of  plantain  and  wild  hore- 
hound,  3  oz.  boiled  together  in  2  quarts  of  water  down  to 
I  quart  and  strained.  Of  this,  one- third  was  to  be  given 
every  morning  fasting  for  three  consecutive  mornings. 
Certain  dieting  was  also  required,  and  it  is  stated  that  if  in 
the  three  days'  treatment  no  benefit  had  resulted,  it  was  a 
sign  that  the  patient  had  either  not  been  poisoned  at  all  or  had 
been  by  such  poisons  as  Caeser's  antidote  would  not  remedy. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PREVENTIVE    METHODS    AND    SUBSTANCES    USED 
AGAINST   POISONS 

AMONG  the  famous  medicaments  of  antiquity  reputed  to 
be  effective  in  counteracting  poisons  was  "  terra  sigillata  " 
or  "  sealed  earth,"  a  peculiar  clay  which  originally  came  from 
the  Isle  of  Lemnos.  Its  reputation  dates  from  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  and  it  continues  in  use  in  Turkey  and  some  parts 
of  the  East  to-day.  This  red  clay  was  formerly  excavated  from 
the  side  of  a  certain  hill  on  August  6,  with  great  ceremony,  in 
the  presence  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  island.  The 
ceremony  was  originally  associated  with  the  worship  of  Diana 
and  was  carried  out  on  May  6,  each  year.  This  particular 
earth  was  not  allowed  to  be  dug  by  anyone  on  any  other  day 
of  the  year  except  that  formally  set  apart  for  the  operation. 

According  to  Dioscorides,  the  clay  was  made  into  a  paste 
in  his  time  with  goats'  blood,  and  the  Greeks  stamped  or 
sealed  the  earth  with  a  representation  of  Diana,  one  of  the 
goddesses  associated  with  healing,  and  this  seal  was  regarded 
as  sacred.  It  had  a  universal  reputation  as  an  antidote  to  all 
poisons,  and  a  poisoned  liquid  drunk  from  a  cup  made  from 
the  clay  was  believed  to  be  harmless.  The  earth  was  so 
called  on  account  of  the  seal  stamped  upon  it  in  proof  of  its 
being  genuine. 

So  great  was  the  demand  for  the  famous  "  terra  sigillata  " 
of  Lemnos  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  fifteenth  century  that 
many  other  earths,  for  which  similar  properties  were  claimed, 
were  exploited  and  recommended  in  books  on  medicine  of  the 
period.  Thus  a  "  terra  sigillata  "  was  made  in  Cilicia  (Silesia), 
also  in  several  districts  of  Italy,  in  Malta  and  in  Palestine. 
In  England  a  clay  was  found  which  was  said  to  have  the  same 
properties.  It  entered  into  the  composition  of  many 
important  remedies,  including  the  Theriaca  of  Andromachus, 

49  D 


50  POISON   MYSTERIES 

and  was  regarded  generally  as  being  an  antidote  against  all 
deadly  poisons. 

On  analysis  made  some  years  ago  "terra  sigillata  "  was 
found  to  consist  of  oxides  of  iron,  aluminium,  and  mag- 
nesia, with  a  proportion  of  silicates.  The  whole  formed 
an  astringent  and  absorbent  earth,  its  chief  virtues  probably 
being,  like  many  other  ancient  remedies,  chiefly  due  to  the 
mystery  surrounding  its  origin  and  the  superstition  connected 
with  its  source.^ 

A  curious  account  of  how  its  value  was  once  tested  is 
recorded  in  the  following  grant  dated  1580,  made  by  Prince 
William,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  to  Andreas  Bertoldus  of 
Oschatz : — 

Be  it  knowen  unto  all  persons,  that  an  honest  man  called 
Bertold  of  Oschatz,  came  into  the  presence  of  the  most  noble 
Prince  and  Lord,  the  Lord  William  Landgraue  of  Hesse  Court 
of  Catzenelnbogen  Ditz,  Ziegenheim  and  Nidda  etc.,  our 
gracious  Lord  and  prince,  and  in  humble  manner  declared 
unto  him,  that  hee  had  found  in  an  olde  mine  of  Golde 
within  the  dominion  of  Schneidnitz,  a  new  kinde  of  earth, 
which  is  a  present  help  and  a  most  notable  remedie  against 
all  manner  of  poysons  and  sundrie  diseases,  which  earth 
having  a  stampe  upon  it  he  offered  to  sell  unto  his  Excellencie : 
who  not  trusting  the  man  upon  his  bare  worde,  committed 
the  matter  to  his  Phisitions  Maurice  Thauern,  and  Laurence 
Hyper  :  Commanding  them  to  make  a  perfect  tryall  of  the 
saide  earth,  whereupon  the  saide  Doctors  in  Phisicke  to  satisfie 
their  Prince,  did  make  a  double  proffe  of  the  deadliest  poysons 
that  might  be,  which  were.  Mercuric  Sublimate,  Aconitum, 
Nereum  and  Apocinum,  and  of  some  one  of  these  they  gave 
halfe  a  dramme  a  peece  to  eight  dogges,  to  four  of  them  they 
gave  the  earth,  after  the  poyson,  and  to  the  other  foure  the 
poyson  alone  :  of  these  foure  that  tooke  it  alone,  the  first 
that  tooke  Apocynum  :  dyed  within  halfe  an  houre,  the 
second  that  has  taken  Nereum  died  within  foure  houres  : 
the  third  that  swallowed  Mercuric,  died  within  nine  houres 
after.  And  although  they  all  did  call  up  some  part  of  the 
poyson,  yet  after  most  cruell  tormentes  with  crampes  and 
trembling  they  died  :    the  fourth  dogge  that  eat  Aconitum, 

^  Sec  "  Terra  Sigillata,  a  famous  Medicament  of  Ancient  Times," 
C.  J.  S.Thompson,  Proceedings  lyth  International  Congress  of  Medicine, 
London,  191 3. 


PREVENTIVE  METHODS   AGAINST   POISONS       51 

systeyned  thirteene  great  panges  of  the  crampe,  so  as  every 
man  thought  hee  woulde  have  died  with  his  fellowes,  yet 
Hved  he  the  first  day,  and  having  half  of  the  dose  of  this 
medicine  given  him,  he  thoroughly  recovered.  The  other 
foure  dogges  to  whom  the  poysons  before  named  with  the 
like  quantities  of  this  Terra  Sigillata  was  given,  for  three 
houres  after  the  receiving  of  it,  were  very  sicke  and  feeble, 
especially  one  of  them  to  whom  the  double  quantitie  of 
Aconitum  by  neghgence  was  given,  vomited  thrise  :  the  next 
day  they  were  all  well  and  did  eate  their  meate  greedily,  so  as 
there  appeared  scarse  any  token  of  poyson. 

When  thus  his  Highnesse  had  scene  the  experience  of  this 
earth  to  bee  so  present  a  remedie  against  such  deadly  poysons, 
and  that  the  saide  Andrew  Bertold  had  humbly  craved  his 
letters  of  credite,  both  in  the  favour  of  man  and  advance- 
ment of  the  truth,  that  others  might  have  knowledge,  he 
denied  not  to  graunt  them  :  But  commanded  that  his  letter, 
testiriionial  sealed  with  his  Highnesse  his  privie  scale,  and  sub- 
scribed with  the  handes  of  the  foresaid  Doctors,  in  whose 
presence  this  triall  was  made,  should  be  given  unto  him. 
Which  we  the  above  named  Doctors  upon  our  allegiance  to 
his  Highnesse,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  the  truth,  because 
we  found  it  as  hath  beene  declared  to  be  true  and  unseyned, 
most  willingly  have  done.  Given  the  XXVIII  of  July,  the 
yeare  of  our  Lorde  1580. 

Mauritius  Thauer,  D. 

Laurencius  Hyperius,  M.D. 

lOHAN   KrUG. 

Another  document  regarding  a  trial  of  the  "  terra  sigillata  " 
is  as  follows  : — 

A  copie  of  the  Letters  Pattents  which  the  noble  earle  Wolf- 
gan  earle  of  Holenhoe,  Lord  of  Langenburg,  etc.  Had 
graunted  to  Andrewe  Bertolde  Oschatz,  in  witnes  of  the 
wonderful  vertues  of  the  Terra  Sigillata,  found  latly  in  Ger- 
maine  which  hath  been  tried  to  be  an  approved  medicine 
against  the  strongest  poysons,  and  sundrie  other  grieues  : 
faithfully  translated  out  of  the  Germaine  Originall. 

We  Wolfgangus,  Earle  of  Holenhoe,  Lorde  of  Langenburge 
He.  Do  openile  make  known  unto  all  men  by  these  my  Letters, 
Testimoniall,  that  there  came  lately  before  me  at  Langenburge, 
my  well-beloved  friende  Andreas  Bertoldus  of  Oschatz,  and 
declared  unto  mee  that  he  had  a  most  excellent  kinde  of  Terra 


52  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Sigillata,  which  was  not  al  onely  of  great  force  against  sundrie 
diseases :  but  also  a  most  undouted  remedie  against  all 
manner  of  venemous  poisons,  as  had  beene  proved  by  sundrie 
witnessess  upon  a  great  number  of  dogges,  which  made  me 
also  desirous  to  see  the  triall  of  it.  It  happened  at  the  same 
time,  that  one  called  Wendel  Thumblardt  was  by  our  Lieue- 
tenant  of  Langenburg  for  certain  felonies  imprisoned,  who 
being  examined  by  our  Justices,  confessed  himselfe  guilty 
of  a  great  number  of  robberies  :  And  therefore  brought  to 
the  barre  was  condemned  to  bee  hanged.  Being  yet  detained 
in  prison,  and  coming  to  his  eare  that  there  was  such  a  medi- 
cine, so  soueraigne  against  sundrie  sicknessess,  and  the  most 
deadly  poisons,  he  made  humble  request  as  well  by  his  parents, 
as  by  other  his  friends,  of  which  there  were  present  no  small 
number,  desiring  for  the  mercie  of  God,  and  respect  of  his 
poore  life,  that  being  thus  condemned,  he  might  have  given 
unto  him  the  most  deadly  poison  that  might  be  devised,  where- 
by a  perfit  triall  might  bee  had  of  the  worthiness  of  this 
medicinable  earth.  And  in  this  respect,  not  onely  for  this 
pittiful  request  of  his  :  but  also  for  the  commoditie  and  bene- 
fite  of  all  Christendome,  (if  so  be  the  medicine  proove  answear- 
able  to  the  report)  Pardoning  the  offender,  wee  graunted  his 
life  on  that  condicion.  Therefore  the  day  of  the  date  of  these 
present,  and  our  welbeloved  Cosin  the  Countie  George  Frider- 
ick  of  Holenhoe,  and  the  Lord  of  Langenburg,  and  in  the 
presence  of  all  our  Nobilitie  and  Commons,  the  said  patient 
received  a  dram  and  a  halfe  of  Mercuric  Sublimate,  mingled 
with  Conserue  of  Roses,  and  immediately  after  it  he  drank  a 
dram  of  the  Terra  Sigillata  in  olde  wine.  And  albeit  the 
poison  did  in  the  judgment  of  our  learned  Phisition  George 
Pistor  Doctor  of  Phisicke,  and  John  Lutzen  our  Apothecarie, 
who  were  both  by  him  all  the  while,  extremely  torment 
and  vexe  him  :  yet  in  the  end  the  medicine  prevailing  over- 
came it,  whereby  the  poore  wretch  was  delivered,  and  being 
restored  to  his  health  was  commited  to  his  parents.  Whereas 
therefore  the  foresaid  Andrew  Bertold,  hath  humbly  required 
to  have  our  Letters  Testimoniall  for  his  farther  credite,  wee 
have  thought  good  for  the  furtherance  and  advancement  of 
the  truth,  to  graunt  him  these  our  Letters,  signed  with  our 
scale  Manuell.  Given  at  Langenburg  the  25th  of  Januarie, 
in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord,  1581. 

Petrus  Oponus  or  Petri  de  Abano  (1250-1303),  so  called  from 
his  birthplace,  Abano,  wrote  a  work  entitled  "  De  Remediis 


PREVENTIVE   METHODS  AGAINST  POISONS      53 

Venenorum  "  in  the  thirteenth  century  in  which  he  gives  the 
following  poisons  known  in  his  time,  many  of  which,  however, 
are  innocuous.  He  mentions  mercury,  gypsum,  copper,  iron 
rust,  magnetite  (magnetic  stone),  lapis  lazuli,  arsenic  sub- 
limate, litharge,  lead,  realgar,  cateputia  juice,  cucumber 
juice,  usnea,  coriander  juice,  mandragora,  poppy,  opium, 
scammony,  aconite,  oleander  juice,  hellebore  juice,  mezereon 
juice,  fool's-parsley,  briony,  nux  vomica,  colocynth,  laurel 
berries,   poppy,    cicuta,    serpentary  and  cantharides. 

Certain  charms  were  believed  to  act  as  antidotes  to  poison 
and  the  two  following  quotations  are  taken  from  a  MS.  by 
Petrus  Hispanus  (Pope  John  XXI)  in  the  fourteenth 
century  : — 

CONTRA  VENENUM 

Scribe  nota  nostra  i  lamina  loctonus  ut  ali6  quoque 
comodo  et  lana  et  dari  biber  et  abent  scribi 
cum  moro  ut  cumque  nio  alio  nota  sit  nota  et  sine 
scripta  7  lineis  past." 

"  Zaare.     Zaare  Zaam,  Zaare 
Zaare  ssleqer  Bohorum,  nabarayn 
Uessally — uessredaza — asseyan — Haurahe 
reamue — ayn  latinume  queue  : 
draytery,  nuyyeri,  quibari,  yeh  ay 
hahanny  ymkatrum  hanitanery  vnerym 
caruhe  tahuene  cehue  beyne 
et  Lana  cuz  aqua  .  .  .  dame  bibere." 


j\ 


^ 


The  so-called  Toadstone  has  from  early  times  been  reputed 
to  possess  the  property  of  counteracting  the  effect  of  poisons. 
These  stones  were  believed  to  be  found  in  the  heads  of  old 
toads  which,  when  caught,  were  placed  on  a  red  cloth 
and  the  stone  recovered  through  the  mouth.  Pomet,  who 
wrote  in  the  seventeenth  century,  threw  doubt  on  this  source 
of  origin  and  states  that  "  toad  stones  are  found  in  the  moun- 
tains or  plains,  although  he  would  not  dispute  that  they  might 
have  been  bred  in  the  heads  of  old  toads."  He  describes  two 
kinds,  "  the  round  and  the  long  :  the  former  being  of  a 
deep  grey  inclining  to  blue ;  the  long  being  redder  grey 
with  reddish  spots.     It  is  false  that  they  change  colour  and 


54  POISON   MYSTERIES 

sweat  when  they  approach  the  cup  wherein  there  is  poison." 
Lemery,  a  French  writer  of  the  same  period,  in  describing 
these  stones,  states,  that  when  appHed  to  the  sting  or  bite  of 
venomous  beasts,  they  draw  out  the  poison.  They  were 
usually  set  and  worn  as  rings  and  regarded  as  of  great  value. 
They  were  generally  mounted  so  that  the  back  of  the  stone 
could  touch  the  skin,  and  were  said  to  notify  the  presence 
of  poison  by  producing  a  sensation  of  heat  in  the  finger  at 
the  point  of  contact. 

A  toadstone  ring  is  described  by  Jones,  which  he  attributes 
to  the  fossil  palatal  tooth  of  a  species  of  Ray  that  is  believed 
to  be  a  specific  in  cases  of  kidney  disease  when  immersed  in 
water  and  drunk  by  the  patient.  In  the  inventory  of  the  Due 
de  Berry  mention  is  made  of  a  toadstone  in  a  ring  of  gold,  and 
similar  rings  are  alluded  to  in  the  records  of  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy. 

Fenton,  writing  in  1569,  says,  "  Toadstones  being  used  in 
rings,  give  forewarning  of  venom";  and  in  Ben  Jonson's 
"  Fox  "  they  are  referred  to  as  follows  : — 

"  Were  you  enamoured  on  his  copper  rings. 
His  saffron  jewel,  with  the  toadstone  in't  ?  " 

Lupton,  in  his  Thousand  Notable  Things,  goes  as  far  as  to 
give  a  method  of  obtaining  the  stone  from  the  toad  : 

"  Put  a  great  or  overgrown  toad  (first  bruised  in  divers 
places)  into  an  earthen  pot  ;  put  the  same  into  an  ants'  hil- 
lock, and  cover  the  same  with  earth,  which  toad  at  length  the 
ants  will  eat,  so  that  the  bones  of  the  toad  and  stone  will  be 
left  in  the  pot." 

Another  writer,  however,  states  that  the  stone  should  be 
obtained  while  the  toad  is  living,  and  this  may  be  done  by 
simply  placing  him  upon  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth,  "  where- 
withal they  are  much  delighted,  so  that,  while  they  stretch 
out  themselves  as  it  were  in  sport  upon  that  cloth,  they  cast 
out  the  stone  of  their  head,  but  instantly  they  sup  it  up  again, 
unless  it  be  taken  from  them  through  some  secret  hole  in  the 
same  cloth." 

The  scarlet  cloth,  however,  did  not  always  perform  this 
miracle,  for  Boetius  relates  how  he  watched  a  whole  night  an 


PREVENTIVE   METHODS  AGAINST  POISONS      55 

old  toad  he  had  laid  on  a  red  cloth  to  sec  him  cast  forth 
the  stone,  but  the  toad  was  stubborn,  and  left  him  nothing 
to  gratify  the  great  pangs  of  his  whole  night's  restlessness. 

In  the  Wellcome  Historical  Medical  Museum  there  is  a 
toadstone  mounted  as  a  ring  in  bronze  gilt  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  and  the  Londesborough  Collection  included  a 
specimen  described  as  being  of  metal  gilt,  having  upon  it  the 
figure  of  a  toad  swallowing  a  serpent  Another  set  with  a  large 
greyish-brown  stone  mounted  in  silver  bears  an  inscription 
on  the  inside  of  the  ring,  "  God  cureth  me." 

The  so-called  horn  of  the  unicorn,  which  was  in  reality  the 
tusk  of  the  narwhal,  has  been  associated  with  mysterious 
properties  since  the  time  of  Aristotle,  Pliny  and  other  ancient 
writers.  Ctesias  (about  390  B.C.)  was  the  first  to  record  the 
wonderful  properties  attributed  to  it.  "  Drinking  vessels," 
he  says,  "  were  made  of  the  horn  and  those  who  used  them 
were  protected  against  poisons,  convulsions  and  epilepsy, 
provided  that,  just  before  or  just  after  taking  poison,  they 
drank  wine  or  water  from  the  cup  made  from  it.  Other 
writers  declared  that  poisoned  wounds  could  be  cured  by 
merely  holding  the  horn  of  the  unicorn  close  to  the 
wound. 

These  horns  were  considered  of  great  value  and  in  the 
Middle  Ages  are  said  to  have  been  worth  about  ten  times  the 
price  of  gold.  In  1553  a  unicorn's  horn  was  brought  to  the 
King  of  France  which  was  valued  at  ,^20,000  sterling,  and  one 
presented  to  Charles  I,  supposed  to  be  the  largest  then  known, 
measured  seven  feet  long  and  weighed  13  lb. 

Edward  IV  gave  to  the  Duke  of  Biu-gundy  a  gold  cup  set 
with  jewels,  with  a  piece  of  unicorn's  horn  worked  into  the 
metal ;  and  one  large  horn  in  the  possession  of  the  City  of 
Dresden  was  valued  at  75,000  thalers.  A  piece  was  occasion- 
ally sawn  off  to  be  used  for  medicinal  purposes,  and  it  was  a 
city  regulation  that  two  persons  of  princely  rank  should  be 
present  whenever  this  operation  was  performed. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  these  horns  were  so  rare  that  Dr. 
Racq,  a  physician  of  Florence,  recorded  that  a  German  mer- 
chant sold  one  of  them  to  the  Pope  for  4.000  livres.  Ambroise 
Pare  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  unicorn's  horn  and  its  remedial 
properties,  and  Thomas  Bartholinus^  published  a   work   on 


56  POISON   MYSTERIES 

"  Observations  on  the  Unicorn  Horn  "  in  1678,  dealing  with 
its  medical  uses  only. 

Although  it  was  considered  of  such  great  value,  the  horn 
was  utilized  for  making  goblets  mounted  in  gold,  and  walking 
sticks,  to  which  were  ascribed  remarkable  virtues,  the  greatest 
of  which,  according  to  writers  on  natural  history  of  the  time, 
was  its  "  resistance  to  all  manner  of  poysons." 

Before  the  seventeenth  century  the  genuine  unicorn's  horn 
was  supposed  to  be  black  or  dark  in  colour,  and  Boetius  de 
Boodt  records  that  he  saw  a  horn  in  Venice  at  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century  which  was  said  to  be  a  genuine  unicorn 
horn,  but  he  believed  it  to  be  that  of  a  gazelle.  However, 
in  the  seventeenth  century  it  came  to  be  universally,  agreed 
that  the  genuine  so-called  unicorn's  horns  were  long,  and  of 
an  ivory-like  colour,  tapering  towards  the  tip  with  curling 
staves.  Several  of  these  horns  are  still  kept  among  the 
treasures  in  churches  and  monasteries  in  Europe.  One 
of  the  more  famous  and  frequently  mentioned  is  the 
horn  that  was  preserved  in  the  Monastery  of  St.  Denis, 
near  Paris.  Cardanus,  who  described  it  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  added  that  he  saw  it  when  he  visited  the 
monastery  while  on  a  journey  in  France.  He  states  "  it  was 
so  long  that  he  could  not  reach  the  tip  when  he  placed  it 
at  his  side  ;  it  was  not  particularly  thick,  becoming  gradually 
thinner  towards  the  tip  and  curling  like  a  snail's  shell.  The 
colour  was  that  of  a  hartshorn." 

This  horn  was  greatly  venerated  and  was  included  in  the 
inventory  of  treasures  consisting  of  gold  and  precious  stones 
and  holy  relics  of  the  monastery.  Two  unicorn's  horns  were 
preserved  at  St.  Mark's  in  Venice,  and  in  the  sixteenth  century 
were  exhibited  to  the  people  once  a  year  on  Ascension  Day, 
together  with  the  other  treasures  of  the  Duomo. 

There  is  frequent  mention  in  records  of  ducal  cups  of 
unicorn's  horn  which  were  used  as  drinking  vessels  by  those 
whose  lives  were  sought  by  poisoners.  The  effect  of  the 
poison  was  believed  to  be  neutralized  on  coming  into  contact 
with  the  horn.  A  cup  of  this  kind  is  preserved  at  Rosenberg 
which  dates  from  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Gesner  states  that  the  rich  put  a  piece  of  horn  in  their  cups 
to  protect  themselves  and  to  cure  themselves,  "  but  it  must  be 


PREVENTIVE  METHODS  AGAINST  POISONS      57 

a  fresh  piece  and  not  one  the  properties  of  which  have  been 
exhausted  by  often  being  placed  in  drinks.  It  loses  its  virtue 
like  plants  do." 

Pomet,  writing  in  the  seventeenth  century,  says  :  "  We 
ought  to  undeceive  those  who  believe  what  we  now  call  the 
unicorn's  horn  was  the  horn  of  a  land  animal  whereof  mention 
was  made  in  the  Old  Testament,  since  it  is  nothing  but  the 
horn  of  the  Narwhal  and,  as  to  the  choice  of  it,  ought  to  be  the 
whitest,  largest  and  finest." 

It  is  recorded  in  1650  that  a  certain  well  in  Venice  was 
remarkable  for  its  fresh  water  on  account  of  two  pieces  of 
unicorn's  horn  being  concealed  at  the  bottom. 

In  all  probability  horns  were  used  in  early  times  as  drinking 
vessels,  not  only  on  account  of  their  suitability  in  shape,  but 
also  with  the  idea  that  they  could  impart  their  supposed 
health-giving  properties  to  the  liquid  placed  in  them. 

In  Denmark,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  unicorn's  horn 
was  sold  in  the  apothecaries'  shops  and  was  much  esteemed 
by  Danish  physicians  on  account  of  its  medicinal  properties. 
In  1593  there  is  a  record  that  some  physicians  in  Vienna 
in  order  to  prove  the  efficacy  of  unicorn's  horn  as  an 
antidote  to  poisons,  experimented  on  a  dog  who  was  first 
given  a  dose  of  arsenic  followed  by  one  of  unicorn's 
horn,  and  the  dog  subsequently  recovered,  while  dogs  to 
which  arsenic  had  been  given  alone  died  from  the  effects. 
Similar  tests  were  said  to  have  been  carried  out  in  Copenhagen 
in  1636,  as  the  result  of  which  it  was  recorded  that  "  unicorn's 
horn  is  an  antidote  against  poisons,  just  as  those  seen  at  Paris 
and  elsewhere." 

On  October  31  of  that  year,  Drs.  Fincke,  Worm  and  Scheele 
met  in  the  house  of  an  apothecary  called  Johannes  Woldenberg 
in  Copenhagen  and  undertook  the  following  experiment. 
Two  pigeons  and  two  cats  were  dosed  with  arsenic  and  cor- 
rosive sublimate.  Unfortunately  for  the  experiment,  the  pigeon 
which  received  both  the  poison  and  the  antidote  of  unicorn's 
horn,  vomited  the  latter  and  died  some  hours  afterwards. 
The  cat  which  was  given  sublimate  but  no  antidote,  is  said  to 
have  died  after  a  short  interval,  while  the  cat  which  in  addition 
to  the  poison  was  given  a  small  dose  of  imicom's  horn  lived 
until  the  middle  of  the  night.    These  and  similar  attempts 


58  POISON   MYSTERIES 

to  prove  the  value  of  the  horn  were  made  in  Europe  during 
the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  said  to  be  efficacious  in 
plague  and  fever  because  they  had  certain  symptoms  in 
common  with  those  produced  by  poisons  and  were  called 
"poisonous  diseases." 

The  Coronation  Chair  of  the  royal  house  of  Denmark  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  partly  composed  of  unicorn's  horns, 
which  are  said  to  have  been  used  on  account  of  their  great 
value,  and  as  being  more  precious  than  gold.  The  making  of 
this  curious  chair  was  commenced  by  Frederick  III,  "  the 
columns  supporting  it  being  composed  of  narwhal's  teeth 
and  the  chair  covered  with  the  horn  wherever  possible, 
the  same  being  used  for  the  supports  for  the  arms."  In  the 
time  of  Frederick  III  and  Christian  V  this  chair  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  wonderful  and  valuable  objects  in 
the  kingdom,  and  was  celebrated  both  in  history  and  story. 
On  June  7,  1671,  Christian  V  in  magnificent  robes  was  crowned 
in  it,  and  the  feet  of  the  throne  were  guarded  by  two  silver 
lions.  The  bishop  who  crowned  the  king  in  the  Castle  of 
Fredericksborg  in  his  address  said,  "  Of  mighty  King  Solomon, 
history  bears  witness  that  he  built  a  throne  of  ivory  and 
covered  it  with  the  finest  gold  ;  Your  Majesty  is  also  sitting 
on  a  costly  throne  which  in  the  glory  of  its  material  and  shape 
is  like  unto  King  Solomon's  throne,  and  the  like  thereof 
cannot  be  found  in  any  kingdom." 

From  a  time  of  great  antiquity,  the  horn  of  the  Indian 
rhinoceros  has  been  reputed  to  possess  the  power  of  absorbing 
poisonous  substances  brought  into  contact  with  it. 

The  Chinese  fashioned  these  horns,  which  they  still 
value  very  highly,  into  cups  which  are  sometimes  orna- 
mented with  beautiful  carving.  The  tradition  in  China 
concerning  the  horn  was,  not  so  much  that  it  acted  as 
an  antidote  to  poison,  but  that  it  gave  a  sure  indication 
when  any  liquid  placed  in  it  contained  some  poisonous 
substance.  When  a  poisoned  liquid  was  allowed  to  stand  in 
the  horn  the  latter  was  said  to  sweat  and  change  colour. 
It  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  great  emperors 
of  the  East,  whose  lives  were  frequently  attempted  by  poison, 
chose  these  horns  as  drinking  cups. 

Rudolf  II  of  Germany   (1575-1612)   fashioned  a  cup  of 


i 

m 

1^ 

i  '"^^^Jr 

DRINKING    CUP    OF    UNICORN  S    HORN 

(xvii  century). 


[Copyright  to  the  Wellcome  Historical  Medical  Museum. 

ASSAY   CUPS   OF   RHINOCEROS   HORN    USED   TO   DETECT   POISON 
IN   WINE    (XVITH    CENTURY). 


PREVENTIVE   METHODS   AGAINST  POISONS      59 

rhinoceros  horn  for  his  own  use,  which  is  now  preserved  in  the 
National  Museum  at  Copenhagen.  Several  other  vessels  of 
rhinoceros  horn  are  mentioned  in  Danish  records,  one  being 
described  as  "  a  little  flat  dish  of  rhinoceros  horn  with  a  gilt 
foot  and  then  gilded,  with  an  Indian  underneath." 

Lemery  says  :  "  The  horn  and  nails  of  the  animal  are  both 
used  in  medicine  and  contain  in  them  a  good  deal  of  volatile 
salt  and  oil  which  are  useful  to  resist  poison." 

Pomet  declares  that  "  the  horn  is  highly  alkalescent  and 
is  also  good  against  malignant  fevers  and  destroys  malignant 
acids  which  stir  up  the  most  pernicious  diseases." 

There  have  been  certain  periods  in  the  world's  history  when 
every  eminent  personage,  king,  prince,  minister  or  favourite, 
was  deemed  in  danger  of  poison,  and  when  not  a  pa.rticle  of 
food  was  swallowed  by  them  until  it  had  been  first  tasted. 

The  traditions  attached  to  the  horn  of  the  rhinoceros  must 
have  come  to  Europe  at  an  early  period,  as  we  find  that  cups 
made  from  the  horn,  called  "  assay  cups  "  were  used  in  England 
as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century  in  the  time  of  Edward  V. 

The  earliest  allusion  to  the  assay  cups,  which  were  made 
both  from  the  horn  of  the  rhinoceros  and  the  unicorn,  is  in 
Russell's  Book  of  Nurture,  1480,  in  which  it  is  stated  : — 

"  Credence  and  tastynge  is  used 
for  drede  of  poysenynge 
to  all  officers  ysworne  and  grete 
othe  by  chargynge." 

It  was  customary  for  the  esquire  in  attendance  on  a  dis- 
tinguished person  to  first  test  the  wine  by  drinking  some 
from  his  assay  cup.  Hall,  in  his  Chronicle  (1550),  refers  to 
this  custom  as  follows  : — 

"  The  esquier  whiche  was  accustomed  to  sewe  and  take 
the  assaye  before  kyng-  Ry chard." 

"  The  Maior  of  London  claymed  to  serue  the  quene  with  a 
cuppe  of  golde  and  a  cuppe  of  assay  of  the  same." 

Gutch  in  1530  alludes  to 

"  Two  little  Cuppis  of  asseye  silvar  and  gilt." 

An  assay  cup  of  rhinoceros  horn  with  a  silver  rim  about 


6o  POISON   MYSTERIES 

i|-  in.  deep,  with  a  bishop's  mitre  and  the  initials  T.T.  crudely 
engraved  upon  it,  is  in  the  Wellcome  Historical  Medical 
Museum  with  other  specimens  of  the  kind.  It  is  believed 
to  date  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

On  account  of  its  association  with  medicine,  the  rhinoceros 
was  adopted  as  the  crest  of  the  Apothecaries'  Society  of 
London  when  it  was  founded  in  1617. 

The  Chinese,  who  appear  to  have  ever  been  suspicious  of 
being  poisoned,  also  made  little  cups  of  glass  about  ij  in. 
high  which  they  believed  would  crack  if  a  poisoned  liquid 
were  poured  into  them. 

There  is  an  early  tradition  in  India  connected  with  bowls 
of  pottery  with  a  light  greenish  glaze,  called  Gherian  ware. 
They  are  supposed  to  break  into  pieces  if  touched  by 
poisoned  food  or  liquid,  and  are  said  to  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Northern  India  by  Mohamed  Ghori  in  the  twelfth 
century  from  whom  they  take  their  name. 

Another  substance  which  was  regarded  with  great  vener- 
ation as  an  antidote  to  poisons,  especially  in  the  East,  was  the 
bezoar  stone,  a  calculus  found  in  the  intestines  of  Persian 
wild  goats,  cows,  a  species  of  ape  and  other  animals.  These 
stones  vary  much  in  size  from  that  of  a  small  egg  down  to  a 
hazelnut,  and  are  of  a  yellowish  brown  colour. 

Pomet  says,  "  If  you  would  have  the  finest  and  best  oriental 
bezoar,  you  must  choose  that  which  is  shining,  of  a  pleasant 
scent,  tending  to  that  of  ambergris.  The  shape  is  of  no 
consequence,  whether  round,  smooth  or  rough,  and  whether 
white,  yellow  or  grey,  but  the  principal  colour  is  usually  an 
olive." 

It  was  introduced  into  Eastern  medicine  by  the  Arabs,  but 
its  reputation  is  of  much  greater  antiquity.  The  name  is 
said  to  be  of  Persian  origin  and  derived  from  the  word 
"  pad-zahr,"  "  an  expeller  of  poisons/'  and  is  mentioned  first 
by  Avenzoar,  an  Arab  physician  of  Seville,  about  the  year 
A.D.  1140. 

It  was  known  to  the  Hebrews  in  ancient  times  as  "Bel  Zaard" 
which  means  the  "Master,"  or  ''every  cure  for  poisons." 

There  are  several  varieties  of  these  stones,  the  most  esteemed 
being  the  Oriental,  which  come  from  Persia.  On  dividing  the 
calculus,  it  appears  to  have  been  formed  by  a  deposit  of  calcium 


Oriental  Bozoar. 


Orion  tal  Bezoar. 


[Copyright. 


Occidental  Bezoar. 
BEZOAR    STONES. 


PREVENTIVE   METHODS  AGAINST  POISONS      6i 

phosphate  round  some  nucleus,  such  as  hair  or  the  stone  of  a 
fruit.  One  that  is  still  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  St.  Bartho- 
lomew's Hospital  has  a  date  stone  as  the  nucleus.  It  was 
believed  that  the  special  virtues  of  the  stone  were  due  to  some 
unknown  plant  on  which  the  animal  had  fed. 

The  Occidental,  another  variety  of  bezoar  stone,  is  said  to 
be  obtained  from  the  llamas  of  Peru,  and  a  European  variety 
is  got  from  the  chamois  of  the  Swiss  mountains,  but  these 
varieties  never  commanded  the  great  value  as  did  those  from 
the  Orient,  which  are  said  by  early  writers  to  have  been  sold 
for  ten  times  their  weight  in  gold.  The  Occidental  bezoar 
stone  is  usually  much  larger  than  the  Oriental  and  has  a 
dull  surface. 

Lemery  mentions  a  bezoar  stone  obtained  from  the  hog, 
which  is  of  a  whitish  colour  inclining  to  green.  It  is  said  to  be 
produced  in  the  gall  of  certain  swine  in  India  and  is  very 
highly  esteemed  by  the  natives. 

All  varieties  of  bezoar  had  a  reputation  for  counteracting  the 
effects  of  poison.  They  were  generally  preserved  in  elaborate 
cases  of  piefced  gold  with  a  chain  attached  so  that  they  could 
be  suspended  in  the  wine  or  liquid  before  it  was  drunk.  "  The 
Portuguese  above  all  nations,"  says  a  writer  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  "drive  a  great  trade  with  bezoar,  because 
they  are  always  on  their  guard  and  watching  one  another  for 
fear  of  poison." 

As  well  as  an  antidote  to  poison,  the  bezoar  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  valuable  remedy  for  fevers  and  was  also  applied 
externally  in  skin  diseases.  It  was  given  internally  in  doses  of 
4  to  i6  grains  and,  in  Portugal,  in  time  of  plague,  the  stones 
were  loaned  to  sufferers  at  about  the  equivalent  of  los.  a  day. 

Three  bezoar  stones  were  sent  by  the  Shah  of  Persia,  as  a 
royal  gift,  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  a  little  over  a  century 
ago. 

Ambroise  Pare,  when  surgeon  to  Charles  IX  of  France,  relates 
that  one  day,  when  the  king  was  at  Clermont,  a  Spanish  noble- 
man brought  him  a  bezoar  stone  which  he  assured  him  was  an 
antidote  to  all  poisons.  The  king  sent  for  Pare  and  asked 
him  if  he  knew  any  substance  which  would  annul  the  effects 
of  any  poison.  Pare  said  that  could  not  be,  for  there  were 
many  sorts  of  poisons  which  acted  in  very  different  ways. 


62  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  Spanish  nobleman,  however,  maintained  that  this  stone 
was  a  universal  antidote  and  as  the  king  was  eager  to  test 
the  question,  the  Provost  of  the  Palace  was  sent  for  and  asked 
if  he  had  any  criminal  in  his  charge  condemned  to  death.  He 
replied  that  he  had  a  cook  who  had  stolen  two  silver  dishes, 
who  was'to  be  hanged  the  next  day.  The  offer  was  there- 
upon made  to  the  cook  that  he  should  take  a  poison  and  the 
alleged  antidote  immediately  afterwards,  and  if  he  escaped 
with  his  life  he  should  go  free.  The  cook  gladly  consented,  and 
an  apothecary  was  ordered  to  prepare  a  deadly  draught  and 
administer  it,  to  be  followed  by  a  dose  of  the  bezoar.  This  was 
done.  The  poor  wretch  lived  for  about  seven  hours  in  terrible 
agony  which  Pare  tried  in  vain  to  relieve.  After  his  death 
Pare  made  an  autopsy  which  showed  that  the  antidote  had 
no  effect  at  all.  It  was  sublimate  which  had  been  given. 
"And,"  the  writer  concludes,  "the  king  commanded  that 
the  stone  should  be  thrown  into  the  fire ;   which  was  done." 

A  stone  called  Draconites,  described  by  Albertus  Magnus 
( 1 193-1280)  as  a  shining  black  stone  of  pyramidal  shape, 
was  also  believed  to  be  antidote  to  all  kinds  of  poisons. 

A  cup  or  goblet  made  of  electrum,  an  alloy  composed  of 
gold  and  silver  known  to  the  ancients,  according  to  Pliny, 
had  the  property  of  revealing  any  poisonous  liquid  which 
was  placed  in  it,  by  exhibiting  certain  circles  like  rainbows 
in  the  liquid,  which  it  also  kept  sparkling  and  hissing  as  if 
on  fire. 


CHAPTER   V 

SUPERSTITIONS  CONNECTED  WITH   POISONOUS 
PLANTS 

MANY  strange  superstitions  are  associated  with  certain 
poisonous  plants  which  have  been  handed  down  to 
us  from  past  ages.  The  mysterious  properties,  especially 
of  those  which  caused  sleep  or  by  supposed  magical  powers 
concealed  in  them  produced  delirium,  were  attributed  by  the 
ancients  to  a  spirit  or  demon  which  dwelt  in  the  roots  of 
the  plants,  and  various  rites  and  ceremonies  were  connected 
with  their  gathering.  The  real  cause  of  their  physiological 
effect  oti  the  body  was  of  course  unknown,  but  the  narcotic 
effects  which  from  experience  were  found  to  produce  insen- 
sibility, dreams,  and  frenzy  made  a  deep  impression  on  the 
mind. 

The  hallucinations  of  the  witches  which  we  read  about  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  may  be  compared  with  those  of  the  medicine- 
men of  many  savage  tribes  to-day.  In  all  probability  they 
were  not  entirely  fictitious,  but  these  effects  were  produced 
by  the  taking  of  various  drugs  which  had  the  effect  of  caus- 
ing hallucinations  and  temporary  insanity.  Weak-minded 
women,  who  probably  formed  the  greater  part  of  the  class 
known  as  witches,  made  use  of  an  unguent  with  which  they 
anointed  themselves  in  preparation  for  the  so-called  "witches' 
Sabbath."  Johannes  Wierius,  who  was  a  witness  of  such  a 
gathering,  recorded  in  1566  the  composition  of  the  witches'  oint- 
ment and  states  it  contained  such  powerful  narcotic  poisons  as 
mandrake,  belladonna,  henbane  and  stramonium.  The  ab- 
sorption of  this  unguent  was  followed  by  unconsciousness  and 
sleep,  and  on  being  awakened  the  person  so  anointed  was 
fully  assured  that  she  had  visited  the  "  Sabbath." 

The  frenzies  into  which  the  sorcerers  of  the  Middle  Ages 

63 


64  POISON   MYSTERIES 

worked  themselves  may  also  no  doubt  be  attributed  to  the 
action  of  various  substances  with  similar  properties. 

There  is  probably  no  plant  around  which  clusters  more 
legendary  lore  and  tradition  than  the  mandrake  [Atropa 
mandragora) .  Sufficient  has  been  recorded  about  it  to  fill 
volumes,  and  between  the  years  1510  and  1850  no  less  than 
twenty-two  treatises  are  known  to  have  been  written  on  the 
subject. 

It  was  known  to  the  Babylonians  over  3,000  years  ago,  and 
their  women  carried  a  mandrake  root  as  a  charm  against 
sterility.  The  ancient  Egyptians  called  it  "  The  Phallus  of 
the  Field  "  and  held  it  in  the  highest  esteem.  The  Greeks 
surrounded  it  with  strange  traditions,  and  in  Eastern  Europe, 
Arabia,  Palestine  and  Syria,  it  has  been  associated  with 
mysterious  rites  and  customs  from  time  immemorial. 

Theophrastus  (300  B.C.)  the  earliest  writer  on  botany, 
alludes  to  the  mandrake  and  records  its  property  of  inducing 
sleep  and  its  use  in  the  composition  of  love  philtres.  Demos- 
thenes, the  Athenian  orator,  is  stated  to  have  compared  his 
lethargic  hearers  to  those  who  had  eaten  it.  The  early  Greeks 
bestowed  on  it  the  name  of  Circeium,  derived  from  the  name 
of  the  witch  Circe,  as  they  believed  that  an  evil  spirit  dwelt 
in  the  root.  Pliny,  in  alluding  to  the  mandrake,  states  that 
"he  who  would  undertake  the  office  of  uprooting  it  should 
stand  with  his  back  to  the  wind,  and  before  he  begins  to  dig 
make  three  circles  round  the  plant  with  the  point  of  a  sword, 
and  then  turning  to  the  west  proceed  to  dig  it  up."  In  other 
countries  the  gathering  of  the  root  was  believed  to  be  attended 
with  great  danger  to  the  individual  who  was  sufficiently  daring 
to  pull  it  from  the  ground. 

The  Greeks  believed  that  when  dragged  from  the  earth 
the  root  gave  a  dreadful  shriek  and  struck  dead  the  person 
who  had  the  presumption  to  pull  it  up.  They  therefore 
adopted  the  following  ingenious  method  of  obtaining  it.  A 
dog  was  allowed  to  fast,  and  was  then  brought  near  the  plant 
round  which  was  fastened  a  cord,  the  end  of  which  was  tied  to 
the  tail  of  the  dog.  The  gatherer  would  then  place  some  food 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  hungry  animal,  who  in  his  struggles 
to  reach  it  would  uproot  the  plant  and  be  killed  by  the  evil 
spirit   in   consequence.     At   the   moment   of   uprooting   the 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS   PLANTS      65 

gatherer  generally  sounded  a  horn,  which  was  supposed 
to  drown  the  shriek  of  the  demon  that  dwelt  in  the 
plant. 

It  is  believed  by  some,  that  the  mandrake  is  the  plant 
alluded  to  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  which  was  called  by  the 
ancient  Hebrews  "  Dudaim,"  and  is  stated  to  have  been  found 
by  Reuben,  who  carried  it  to  his  mother.  The  inducement 
which  tempted  Leah  to  part  with  it  proves  the  value  set  upon 
the  plant  at  this  time.  Maundrell  found  it  used  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Aleppo  as  described  in  the  Bible  and  states  that 
the  Arabs  call  it  "  tuphac  el  sheitan."  The  Greeks  sometimes 
alluded  to  Venus  as  Mandragoritis  and  the  fruit  of  the  plant 
was  popularly  termed  "  place  of  love."  Pythagoras  calls  the 
mandrake  "  Anthropomorphum,"  and  Columella  terms  it 
"semihomo." 

Dioscorides  refers  to  it  in  the  first  century,  and  mentions 
that  it  is  used  for  love  charms  and  philtres.  In  the  earliest 
MS.  of  his  work,  written  in  the  fifth  century,  and  which  is  still 
preserved  in  Vienna,  there  is  a  drawing  in  colour  depicting 
Euresis,  the  goddess  of  discovery,  presenting  the  author  with  a 
mandrake  root.  The  root  is  in  human  form  with  five  leaves 
growing  out  of  the  head,  and  near  by  on  the  ground  is  a  dog 
in  the  agonies  of  death. 

Josephus  records  the  custom  in  a  Jewish  village  of 
pulling  up  the  root  by  means  of  the  dog,  which  was  killed 
by  the  shriek  from  the  demon  which  resided  in  it.  This 
tradition  appears  to  have  been  attached  to  the  gather- 
ing of  the  mandrake  in  nearly  every  country  where  it  was 
grown. 

Many  of  the  traditions  and  superstitions  connected  with 
the  plant  appear  to  have  arisen  from  the  curious  natural 
shape  of  the  root,  which  often  bears  a  strong  resemblance 
to  the  human  form.  This  similitude  was  turned  to  ac- 
count by  those  who  dealt  in  the  plant,  as  they  found  they 
obtained  a  greater  value  after  manipulating  it  to  make  the 
features  and  limbs  more  perfectly  resemble  a  man  or  a 
woman. 

Beyond  the  effects  attributed  to  it  by  tradition,  the 
mandrake  has  undoubted  powerful  narcotic  properties.  Its 
active  principle,   discovered  by  Ahrens,    is  called  mandra- 

E 


66  POISON   MYSTERIES 

gorine,  and  is  said  to  be  a  mixture  of  bases  of  wliich 
hyoscyamine  is  the  chief,  mixed  with  scopolamine.  The 
ancients  attributed  powerful  aphrodisiacal  virtues  to  the 
root  and  claimed  that  it  could  produce  a  condition  of 
sexual  excitement  which  was  often  attributed  to  natural  and 
magical  powers,  and  for  this  reason  included  it  in  the  com- 
position of  their  love  philtres.  It  was  among  the  more 
important  narcotic  drugs  employed  by  the  ancients  for  pro- 
ducing anaesthesia,  and  Dioscorides  gives  the  formula  for  a 
wine  made  by  infusing  the  root  in  Cyprus  wine,  which  was 
directed  to  be  administered  before  amputation  of  a  limb  or 
before  the  application  of  hot  cautery. 

Pliny  remarks  that  mandrake  "  is  taken  against  serpents 
and  before  cutting  and  puncture,  lest  they  be  felt.  Sometimes 
the  smell  is  sufficient, "  and  Apuleius,  writing  in  the  second 
century,  claims  that  half  an  ounce  with  wine  is  sufficient 
to  make  a  person  insensible,  even  to  the  pain  of  amputa- 
tion. 

Lyman  believes  it  was  mandragora  wine  mixed  with  myrrh 
that  was  offered  to  Christ  on  the  Cross,  as  it  was  commonly 
given  to  those  who  suffered  death  by  crucifixion  to  allay  in 
some  degree  their  terrible  agonies. 

In  Shakespeare's  time  the  mandrake  still  kept  its  place  in 
estimation  as  a  narcotic.  Thus  we  have  Cleopatra  asking  for 
the  drug  that  she  may  "  sleep  out  this  great  gap  of  time," 
while  her  Antony  is  away,  and  lago,  whilst  the  poison  begins 
to  work  in  the  mind  of  Othello,  exclaims 

"  Not  poppy,  nor  mandragora 
Nor  all  the  drowsy  syrups  of  this  world 
Shall  ever  medicine  thee  to  that  sweet  sleep  " 

In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Germans  called  these  human- 
like roots  Abrunes  or  Alraun,  considering  them  very  valuable 
and  treating  them  with  the  greatest  veneration.  After 
fashioning  them  as  near  as  possible  to  the  form  of  a  man 
or  woman,  they  dressed  them  every  day  and  consulted  them 
as  oracles.  They  were  introduced  into  England  in 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  and  met  with  ready  purchasers. 
To  increase  their  value  and  importance,  the  roots  were  said 
by  the  vendors  to  be  produced  from  the  flesh  of  criminals 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND  POISONOUS  PLANTS      67 

which  fell  from  the  gibbet,  and  that  they  only  grew  beneath 
the  gallows  : — 

Lord  Bacon  notices  their  use  in  the  following  words : — 

"  Some  plants  there  are,  but  rare,  that  have  a  morsie  or 
downie  root  and  likewise  that  have  a  number  of  threads  like 
beards,  as  mandrakes,  whereof  witches  and  impostours  make 
an  ugly  image,  giving  it  the  form  of  a  face  at  the  top  of  the 
root,  and  these  strings  to  make  a  broad  beard  down,  to  the 
foot." 

Madame  de  Genlis  states  that  "  the  mandrake  roots  should 
be  wrapped  in  a  sheet,  for  that  then  they  will  bring  increasing 
good  luck." 

The  plant  is  still  used  medicinally  in  China,  where  it  is  said 
to  be  largely  used  by  the  Mandarins,  who  believe  it  will  give 
them  increased  intellectual  powers  and  prolong  their  lives. 

The  origin  of  Alraun,  the  German  name  for  the  mandrake 
root,  has  been  variously  explained.  Tacitus  speaks  of  a 
formidable  people  among  the  Germans  called  Aurinia,  believed 
to  be  endowed  with  magical  powers,  and  "  some  attribute 
Allrun  to  their  name  on  account  of  their  use  of  the  plant  in 
sorcery.  They  are  the  same  of  whom  Aventinus  speaks  as 
loose-haired,  bare-legged  witches  who  would  slay  a  man, 
drink  his  blood  from  his  skull  and  divine  the  future  from  his 
mangled  remains."  There  is  some  reason  to  believe,  how- 
ever, that  the  word  is  simply  a  later  form  of  the  Gothic 
Allrune,  and  that  it  is  related  to  rune.  The  French  word 
Mandragloire  is  simply  a  part  of  the  Greek  word  Mandragora, 
blended  with  the  name  of  the  old  French  fairy  Magloire.  In 
Germany  and  France  the  superstition  took  the  following  form. 
The  mandrake  was  said  to  spring  up  where  the  presence 
of  a  criminal  had  polluted  the  ground.  It  was  sure  to  be 
found  near  a  gallows,  and  so  was  popularly  called  in  Germany 
Galgemannlein.  It  was  to  be  obtained  generally  in  the  way 
described  by  Josephus,  but,  it  was  added,  one  must  sign  the 
cross  three  times  over  the  plant  before  pulling  it  up.  Having 
got  the  root  it  must  be  bathed  every  Friday,  kept  in  a  white 
cloth  in  a  box  and  then  it  would  procure  manifold  benefits. 
There  is  a  letter  still  preserved  from  a  burgess  of  Leipzig  to 
his  brother  at  Riga  written  in  1675,  which  shows  the  popular 


68  POISON   MYSTERIES 

notion  of  the  mandrake  at  that  time  and  its  varioas  names. 
It  reads  : — 

"  Brotherly  love  and  truth  and  all  good  wishes  to  thee 
dear  brother.  I  have  thy  letter  and  have  made  out  from  it 
enough  to  understand  that  thou  dear  brother  in  thy  home 
affairs  hast  suffered  great  sorrow  ;  that  thy  children,  cows, 
swine,  sheep  and  horses,  have  all  died  ;  thy  wine  and  beer 
soured  in  thy  cellar,  and  thy  provender  destroyed  and  that 
thou  dWellest  with  thy  wife  in  great  contention  ;  which  is 
all  grievous  to  hear.  I  have  therefore  gone  to  those  who 
understand  such  things  to  find  what  is  needed  and  have 
asked  them  why  thou  art  so  unlucky.  They  have  told  me 
that  these  evils  proceed  not  from  God  but  from  wicked  people  ; 
and  they  know  what  will  help  thee.  If  thou  hast  a  Mandrake 
(Allruniken  oder  Erdmannikin)  and  bring  it  into  thy  house, 
thou  shalt  have  good  fortune.  So  I  have  taken  the  pains  for 
thy  sake  to  go  to  those  who  have  such  things  and  to  our  exe- 
cutioner have  paid  64  thalers  and  a  piece  of  gold  drinkgelt 
to  his  servant,  and  this  (Mandrake)  dear  brother  I  send  thee, 
and  thou  must  keep  it  as  I  shall  tell  in  this  letter.  When  thou 
hast  the  Erdman  in  thy  house  let  it  rest  three  days  without 
approaching  it  ;  then  place  it  in  warm  water.  With  the 
water  afterwards  sprinkle  the  animals  and  sills  of  the  house 
going  all  over,  and  soon  it  shall  go  better  with  thee  and  thou 
shalt  come  to  thy  own  if  thou  serve  Erdmannikin  right. 
Bathe  it  four  times  every  year  and  as  often  wrap  it  in  silk 
cloth  and  lay  it  among  thy  best  things  and  thou  need  do  no 
more.  The  Bath  in  which  it  has  been  bathed  is  especially 
good.  If  a  woman  is  in  child  pain  and  cannot  bear,  if  she 
drinks  a  spoonful  she  will  be  delivered  with  joy  and  thankful- 
ness. And  when  thou  goest  to  law  put  Erdman  under  thy 
right  arm  and  thou  shalt  succeed  whether  right  or  wrong. 
Now  dear  brother  this  Erdmannikin  I  send  with  all  love  and 
faith  to  thee  for  a  happy  new  year.  Let  it  be  kept  and  it  may 
do  the  same  for  thy  childrens  children.  God  keep  thee — 
Leipzig,  Sunday  before  fastnight,  75  Hans,  N." 

It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  in  1675  so  much  as  seventy- 
five  thalers  could  be  obtained  for  one  of  these  little  figures,  but 
is  probable  that  the  dealing  in  them  had  become  very  secret 
on  account  of  the  danger  incurred  of  being  suspected  of 
witchcraft.  In  1630  three  women  were  executed  in  Hamburg 
on  this   account.     Matthiolus,  in  his   commentary  on  DioL- 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS  PLANTS      69 

corides,  describes  the  great  ingenuity  which  had  been  reached 
in  the  carving  of  the  root  into  the  human  semblance  and  the 
training  of  little  shoots  from  seeds  planted  in  it  which  were 
manipulated  so  as  to  look  like  hair  The  same  ingenuity  was 
employed  to  invest  each  figure  with  a  marvellous  legend  of 
its  origin  or  potency. 

A  haunted  spot  is  shown  in  Lower  Wiirtemberg  where  a 
merchant  of  Ulm  tried  vainly  to  get  rid  of  his  Galgemannlein, 
and  for  a  long  time  a  house  stood  in  Frankfort  which  was 
avoided  because  it  was  related,  that  there  a  baker  woman 
had  perished  horribly  with  a  mandrake  in  her  possession, 
which  she  had  long  tried  to  be  rid  of. 

This  diabolical  phase  of  the  superstition  was  especially 
strong  in  France  and  England.  It  was  believed  by  many 
that  Joan  of  Arc  had  one  of  the  mandrake  figures  in  her 
possession,  and  she  was  even  asked  by  the  jud^e  at  her 
trial  whether  this  was  not  the  case  ;  but  she  disclaimed  any 
knowledge  of  the  mandrake.  At  Romorantin,  Margaret 
Ragum  Bouchery,  the  wife  of  a  Moor,  was  hanged  as  a  witch 
in  1603,  the  charge  against  her  being  that  she  kept  and  fed 
daily  a  living  mandrake  fiend  which  was  stated  to  be  in 
the  form  of  a  female  ape. 

Superstitions  concerning  the  mandrake  were  strong  through- 
out the  South  of  England,  the  belief  being  that  it  had  a  human 
heart  at  its  root.  It  was  believed  that  in  some  places  it 
was  perpetually  watched  over  by  Satan,  and  if  pulled  up  at 
certain  holy  times  and  with  certain  invocations,  the  Evil  Spirit 
would  appear  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  practitioner.  In  the 
mining  regions  of  Germany  the  mandrake  was  supposed  to 
reach  down  to  the  cobolds  beneath  the  earth,  and  shrieked 
when  it  was  torn  up.  In  Silesia,  Thuringia,  the  Tyrol  and 
Bohemia,  it  is  still  connected  with  the  idea  of  subterranean 
treasures,  and  in  the  Hartz,  mandrake  decoction  is  poured 
on  animals  to  prevent  swellings. 

In  1429  the  use  of  mandrakes  as  amulets  was  so  general  in 
France  that  Friar  Richard  furiously  denounced  them  and 
vast  numbers  were  burned.  La  Fontaine's  fable  "  La  Man- 
dragore,"  copied  from  Machiavel's  comedy  of  the  same  title, 
turns  upon  the  supposed  potency  of  the  plant  to  produce 
children.     Xhe  Tyrolese    believe   that    it  not    only   reveals 


70  POISON   MYSTERIES 

treasures,  but  prevents  wicked  possessions,  and  renders  the 
possessor  proof  against  blows.  In  the  Alpine  regions  it  is 
laid  on  the  bed  to  prevent  nightmare,  and  carried  to  secure 
the  mountaineer  against  robbers  and  bad  weather. 

The  mandrake  is  called  in  Iceland  thjofarot  (thieves'  root) 
and  is  believed  to  spring  from  the  froth  of  the  mouth  of  one 
who  has  been  hanged  or  the  cairn  where  he  has  been 
buried. 

In  Kent  the  mandrake  may  be  occasionally  found  kept 
by  women  to  prevent  sterility,  and  the  superstition  still  sur- 
vives in  Greece,  where  pieces  of  the  root  are  worn  by  young 
people  as  love  charms.  Mandrake  roots  are  also  carried 
in  Syria  and  Turkey  by  women  against  sterility  and  are  sold 
to-day  in  the  bazaars  of  Constantinople. 

Of  the  poisonous  plants  known  to  the  ancients,  aconite 
may  rightly  be  claimed  to  be  one  of  the  most  important.  It 
has  been  called  the  "  Queen  Mother  of  Poisons  "  and  has  been 
a  matter  of  comment  and  note  by  early  historians  for  over 
two  thousand  years.  Species  of  the  plant  were  known  as  wolf's 
bane,  leopard's  bane,  and  women's  bane.  IttTroot  was  com- 
pared by  some  of  the  ancient  botanists  to  sea  crabfish,  by  others 
to  a  scorpion  ;  "for,"  says  one  writer,  "the  root  doth  turn 
and  crook  inward  in  manner  of  a  scorpion's  taile."  Various 
origins  are  given  to  the  name  aconite  ;  some  attribute  it  to 
the  fact  that  it  grows  quite  naturally  upon  bare  and  naked 
rocks,  which  the  Greeks  call  Aconas.  Theophrastus  says  the 
name  is  derived  from  Aconae,  "  a  certain  towne,  neer  to 
which  it  groweth  abundantly."  It  is  also  said  to  have  been 
derived  from  the  Greek  word  for  javelin  or  arrow,  because 
"  some  barbarous  nations  employed  the  juice  to  poison 
their  arrows  and  spears." 

In  ancient  times  apparently  quite  a  number  of  poisonous 
plants  were  described  under  the  name  of  aconite,  as  well  as 
the  Aconitum  napellus,  the  species  now  employed  in  medi- 
cine. Its  deadly  effects  are  alluded  to  by  Ovid,  Virgil  and 
Juvenal.  Plutarch,  in  referring  to  the  death  of  Orodes,  says  : 
"He  fell  into  a  disease  that  became  a  dropsie  after  he  had 
lost  his  son  Pacorus  who  was  slain  in  a  battle  by  the  Romans. 
Phraates,  his  second  son,  thinking  to  set  his  father  forwards 
gave  him  a  drink  of  the  juice   of  Aconitum.     The  dropsie 


SUPERSTITIONS   AND   POISONOUS   PLANTS      71 

received  the   poison  and   the   one    drave   the   other  out  of 
Orodes'  body  and    set  him  on  foot  again." 

Hanbury  says  the  ancients  were  well  aware  of  the  poisonous 
properties  of  aconite,  though  the  various  species  were  not 
more  exactly  distinguished  until  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
It  was  used  by  the  Chinese  in  ancient  times  and  is  still  employed 
by  the  less  civilized  of  the  hill  tribes  of  India  as  an  arrow 
poison.  It  is  said  also  to  have  been  used  for  the  same  purpose 
by  the  aborigines  of  ancient  Gaul,  It  is  mentioned  in  the 
well-known  ancient  Welsh  MS.  of  "  The  Physicians  of  Mydd- 
vai,"  written  in  the  thirteenth  century,  as  "one  of  the  plants 
that  every  physician  is  to  grow." 

Matthiolus,  in  his  commentary  on  the  Materia  Medica 
of  Dioscorides,  relates  the  results  of  certain  experiments 
carried  out  by  order  of  Pope  Clement  VII,  on  the  persons 
of  two  criminals  condemned  to  death,  for  the  purpose  of 
testing  the  value  of  an  antidote  to  aconite,  which  he 
describes  as  the  most  deadly  of  all  known  poisons.  One  of 
the  criminals  was  used  as  a  test  and  the  other  for  control 
experiment. 

The  root,  which  contains  the  largest  proportion  of  the  active 
principle  called  aconitine,  has  often  caused  fatal  results  in 
being  mistaken  for  that  of  horse-radish.  It  had  rarely  been 
used  for  criminal  purposes  until  Lamson  in  1881  employed 
the  alkaloid  to  take  the  life  of  Percy  Malcolm  John.  In 
connection  with  aconitine  it  is  related  that  Christison,  the 
famous  toxicologist,  who  was  professor  of  Medical  Juris- 
prudence at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  when  giving  evidence 
in  a  certain  case  as  to  the  recognition  of  poisonous  substances 
sought  for  in  the  body  after  death,  said  to  the  judge,  "  My 
Lord,  there  is  but  one  deadly  agent  of  this  kind  which  we 
cannot  satisfactorily  trace  in  the  human  body  after  death, 
and  that  is — "  when  the  Judge  sharply  interrupted  him  with, 
"  Stop,  stop,  please.  Dr.  Christison.  It  is  much  better  that 
the  public  should  not  know  it."  Years  afterwards  it  was 
vividly  recalled  to  the  memory  of  his  then  student  class,  that 
Lamson,  who  was  a  member  of  his  audience  as  a  medical 
student,  and  exceptionally  assiduous  in  note-taking,  was 
present  on  one  of  the  occasions  when  Professor  Christison 
was  explaining  to  his  class  that  the  real  name  of  the  poison 


72  POISON   MYSTERIES 

which  the  Court  had  prevented  him  from  naming  was  "  aconi- 
tine." 

It  is  satisfactory  to  record  that  toxicology  has  advanced 
since  the  days  of  Christison,  for  Sir  Thomas  Stevenson,  who 
gave  evidence  for  the  Crown  at  Lamson's  trial,  was  able  to 
prove  by  clinical  tests  that  the  boy  John  had  been  poisoned 
by  aconitine,  and  his  murderer,  Dr.  Lamson,  suffered  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  law. 

The  aconite  now  used  for  medicinal  purposes  is  derived  from 
the  Aconitum  napellus,  chiefly  grown  in  Britain.  It  is  also 
found  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  temperate  parts  of 
the  northern  hemisphere.  It  grows  on  the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees, 
the  mountains  of  Germany  and  Austria  and  also  in  Denmark 
and  Sweden.  On  the  Himalayas  it  is  found  at  10,000  to 
16,000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  Both  the  root  and  the  leaves 
are  used  medicinally.  Aconite  contains  several  alkaloids,  all 
of  which  are  powerful  poisons,  the  chief  of  these  being  aconi- 
tine— one  of  the  most*  deadly  poisons  known — the  fiftieth 
part  of  a  grain  of  which  has  nearly  caused  death.  Indian 
aconite  known  as  "  Bish  "  is  chiefly  derived  from  Aconi- 
tum ferox — a  native  of  high  altitude  in  the  Himalaya 
regions — and  is  mentioned  by  the  Persian  physician,  Alhervi, 
in  the  tenth  century,  and  also  by  many  early  Arabian  writers 
on  medicine.  Ali  Ben  Isa  pronounced  it  to  be  the  most  rapid 
of  deadly  poisons,  and  describes  the  symptoms  with  tolerable 
correctness.  The  chief  symptoms  of  poisoning  by  aconite  are 
heat,  numbness  and  tingling  in  the  mouth  and  throat,  giddi- 
ness, and  loss  of  muscular  power.  The  pupils  become  dilated, 
the  skin  cold  and  pulse  feeble,  with  oppressed  breathing  and 
dread  of  approaching  death.  Finally,  numbness  and  para- 
lysis come  on,  rapidly  followed  by  death  in  a  few  sudden  gasps. 
The  poison  being  extremely  rapid  in  effect,  immediate  action 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  save  life. 

Several  species  of  aconite  grow  plentifully  in  India,  where 
it  has  been  used  for  centuries.  It  is  found  growing, 
among  other  places,  in  the  Singalilas,  a  mountain  range 
which  forms  the  watershed  boundary  between  Nepal 
and  British  territory,  north-west  of  Darjiling.  Aconitum 
palmatum  is  collected  in  abundance  at  Tongloo,  the  southern 
termination  of  the  Singalilas,  but  Aconitum  napellus,  which 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS  PLANTS      73 

is  more  poisonous,  requires  a  higher  elevation  in  which  to 
thrive.  The  natives,  especially  the  hill  tribes,  take  aconite 
in  the  crude  state  as  a  remedy  for  various  ailments,  and  every 
Bhotiah  has  a  few  dried  roofs  put  away  in  some  secure  corner 
of   his   hut. 

Early  in  October,  when  the  aconite  root'  has  matured, 
the  collecting  begins,  and  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
village  organizes  a  party  composed  of  both  sexes.  He,  for 
the  time,  becomes  their  leader,  settles  all  disputes  and 
quarrels  while  out  in  camp,  and,  while  keeping  an  account 
of  general  expenses,  supplies  to  each  all  necessaries  in  the 
way  of  food.  Before  starting  he  has  to  obtain  a  'permit' 
from  the  Forest  Department,  the  charge  for  which  is  fif- 
teen rupees.  Carefully  wrapping  the  permit  in  a  rag  and 
placing  it  in  his  network  bag  of  valuables,  he  collects  his 
band  together,  and  they  set  out  for  the  higher  ranges.  As 
soon  as  they  arrive  at  the  slopes  where  aconite  is  growing 
plentifully,  they  set  to  work  to  build  bamboo  huts  about 
five  feet  high,  roofing  them  with  leaves.  After  the  morn- 
ing meal  they  all  set  off  for  the  lower  slopes,  each  with  his 
basket  and  spade  over  his  shoulder.  But  before  the  actual 
work  is  commenced,  a  ceremony  has  to  be  performed.  The 
Bhotiahs,  like  the  Nepalese,  have  a  belief  that  the  presiding 
demon  of  the  hills  imprisons  evil  spirits  in  the  aconite  plant, 
which  fly  out  as  soon  as  it  is  dug  up,  and  inflict  dire  calamtiy 
on  the  digger.  In  order,  therefore,  to  counteract  this,  every 
morning  before  the  digging  commences,  the  lama  or  headman, 
standing  on  a  convenient  hill  with  his  followers  around  him, 
makes  a  fire  and  burns  some  dhuna,  a  native  resin,  then, 
inserting  two  fingers  in  his  mouth,  blows  several  shrill  whistles. 
All  wait  in  breathless  silence  till  an  answering  whistle  is  heard, 
which  may  be  an  echo  or  the  cry  of  some  bird.  Whatever  it 
may  be,  it  is  taken  as  the  dying  dirge  of  the  evil  spirits,  and 
digging  begins  at  once. 

The  roots,  after  being  shaken  from  the  soil,  are  placed  in 
the  baskets,  which  on  return  to  the  encampments  are  emptied 
and  formed  into  heaps,  and  covered  with  bamboo  leaves  to 
protect  them  from  the  frost.  During  the  day  they  are  spread 
out  in  the  sun  to  dry.  When  a  sufficient  quantity  has  been 
collected  and  dried  thus,  bamboo  frames  are  fixed  up  with  a 
fire  below,  on  which  the  aconite  is  placed  when  the  flame  has 
died  out.  The  one  who  looks  after  the  drying  process  has  a 
cloth  tied  round  his  head  covering  the  nose,  as  the  constant 


74  POISON   MYSTERIES 

inhalation  of  the  fumes  causes  a  feeHng  of  heaviness  and  dizzi- 
ness in  the  head.  This  process  is  carried  on  three  or  four  days 
until  the  roots  are  dried.  When  sufficient  have  been  col- 
lected and  dried  they  are  packed  in  baskets.  These  are 
shouldered,  and  with  their  cooking  utensils  and  blankets  on 
the  top,  the  whole  band  set  their  faces  homeward.  On 
arrival  at  the  commercial  centre  at  the  termination  of  their 
march  the  results  of  the  expedition  are  soon  sold,  and  each 
man  is  handed  his  share  of  the  profits,  according  to  the  amount 
of  aconite  he  has  collected. 

Hemlock,  or  cicuta,  was  a  classical  poison  well  known 
to  the  ancients.  References  are  made  to  it  in  Greek  literature 
as  early  as  the  fourth  or  fifth  century  B.C.  The  old  Roman 
name  of  Conium  was  Cicuta,  but  it  was  applied  in  the 
sixteenth  century  by  Gesner  to  other  varieties  of  the  plant,  such 
as  cicuta  virosa,  which  is  of  a  non-poisonous  nature.  Its 
use  by  the  ancient  Greeks  as  a  State  poison  has  already  been 
fully  described  in  a  preceding  chapter.  It  was  used  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  medicine,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  vocabulary  of  Alfric 
as  early  as  the  tenth  century.  The  name  "  Hemlock  "  is 
derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  words  "  hem,"  border  or  shore, 
and  "  leac."  Its  chief  active  principle,  conine,  is  a  colourless 
oily  liquid,  which  resembles  nicotine  in  its  action.  It  is 
to  Linnaeus  we  owe  the  use  of  the  classical  Greek  name 
Conium  macula  turn  in  1737. 

Another  plant  around  which  clustered  many  superstitions 
in  ancient  times  was  black  hellebore,  called  Melampus 
root,  or  Christmas  Rose.  It  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name 
from  Melampus,  a  traditionary  physician,  who  is  said  to 
have  flourished  at  Pylus  about  1530  B.C.  He  is  reputed 
to  have  cured  the  daughters  of  Proetus,  King  of  Argus, 
of  mental  derangement  and  leprosy  with  hellebore.  Pliny 
states  that  the  daughters  of  Proetus  were  restored  to  their 
senses  by  drinking  the  milk  of  goats  which  had  fed  on 
hellebore.  Black  hellebore  root  was  used  by  the  ancients 
to  hallow  their  dwellings,  and  they  believed  that  by  strew- 
ing it  about  it  would  drive  away  evil  spirits.  This  ceremony 
was  performed  with  great  devotion,  and  accompanied  with 
the  singing  of  solemn  hymns.  They  also  blessed  their  cattle 
with  hellebore  in  the  same  manner  to  keep  them  free  from  the 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS  PLANTS      75 

spells  of  the  wicked.  For  these  purposes  it  was  dug  up  with 
many  religious  ceremonies — such  as  drawing  a  circle  round 
the  plant  with  a  sword ;  then,  turning  to  the  East,  a  humble 
prayer  was  finally  offered  up  by  the  devotee  to  Apollo  and 
Aesculapius  for  leave  to  dig  up  the  root.  The  flight  of  the 
eagle  was  particularly  attended  to  during  the  ceremony,  for 
should  this  bird  approach  near  the  spot  during  the  cele- 
bration of  the  rite,  it  was  considered  so  ominous  as  to  predict 
the  certain  death  of  the  person  who  uprooted  the  plant  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  Others  ate  garlic  previous  to  the  rite, 
which  was  supposed  to  counteract  the  poisonous  effluvia  of 
the  plant.  Dioscorides  relates  that  when  Carneades,  the 
Cyrenaic  philosopher,  undertook  to  answer  the  books  of 
Zeno,  he  sharpened  his  wit  and  quickened  his  spirit  by  purg- 
ing his  head  with  powdered  hellebore,  and  it  is  of  this 
plant  Juvenal  sarcastically  observes  "Misers  need  a  double 
dose  of  hellebore."  It  is  stated  that  the  Gauls  never  went 
to  the  chase  without  rubbing  the  point  of  their  arrows  with 
this  herb,  believing  that  it  would  render  the  game  killed  with 
them  all  the  more  tender. 

Hyoscyamus,  commonly  called  henbane,  is  a  herb  which 
has  been  employed  in  medicine  from  early  times.  Benedictus 
Crispus,  Archbishop  of  Milan,  in  a  work  written  shortly  before 
A.D.  681,  alludes  to  it  under  the  name  of  hyoscamus  and  sym- 
phoniaca,  and  in  the  tenth  century  its  virtues  are  recorded  in 
the  works  of  Macer  Floridus.  In  the  early  Anglo-Saxon 
manuscripts  it  is  called  henbell  and  sometimes  belene.  In  a 
French  herbal  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  is  called  hanibane  or 
hanebane.  From  ancient  times  it  has  been  employed  as  a 
sedative  and  anodyne  for  producing  sleep,  although  hallu- 
cinations sometimes  accompany  its  use.  Its  chief  active 
principles  are  hyoscyamine  and  hyoscine,  both  of  which 
are  very  powerful  poisons.  An  old  tradition  states,  that 
once  in  the  refectory  of  an  ancient  monastery,  the  monks 
were  served  in  error  by  the  cook  with  henbane  instead 
of  some  harmless  vegetable.  After  partaking  of  the  dish 
they  were  seized  with  the  most  extraordinary  hallucinations. 
At  midnight  one  monk  sounded  the  bell  for  matins,  while 
others  walked  in  the  chapel  and  opened  their  books,  but 
could  not  read.     Others  sang  roystering  drinking  songs  and 


76  POISON   MYSTERIES 

performed  mountebank  antics,  which  convulsed  the  others 
with  uncontrollable  laughter,  and  the  pious  monastery  for 
the  nonce  was  turned  into  a  lunatic  asylum. 

There  are  few  drugs  used  to-day  with  a  more  interesting 
history  than  opium.  It  figures  not  only  in  history  but  also 
in  romance  and  crime.  It  has  been  associated  with  the 
acquisition  of  wealth  and  prosperity  and  with  the  most  terrible 
degradation.  Opium  has  been  the  cause  of  war,  of  bitter 
feeling  and  punishments,  and  whilst  it  has  enslaved  many 
with  the  most  pleasurable  hallucinations,  and  relieved  the 
most  agonizing  pains,  it  is  capable  of  reducing  human  beings 
to  the  level  of  the  beasts. 

It  is  mentioned  in  the  Papyrus  Ebers,  one  of  the  earliest 
known  records  of  medicine,  as  having  been  known  and  used 
by  the  Egyptians  about  1550  years  B.C.  It  is  described  by 
Theophrastus  as  having  been  used  by  the  Greeks  300  years 
B.C.  and  is  supposed  to  have  formed  the  chief  ingredient  in  the 
potion  known  as  "  Nepenthe  ''  which  Helen  of  Troy  gave  to 
the  guests  of  Menelaus  to  drive  away  their  care.  This  con- 
jecture receives  support  from  Homer,  who  states  that  Nepenthe 
was  obtained  from  Thebes,  the  ancient  capital  of  Egypt. 
According  to  Prosper  Alpinus,  the  Egyptians  were  practised 
opium  eaters  and  were  often  faint  and  languid  through  the 
want  of  it.  They  prepared  and  drank  it  in  the  form  of 
"  Cretic  Wine,"  which  they  flavoured  and  made  hotter  by 
the  addition  of  pepper  and  other  aromatics.  Scribonius 
Largus  (a.d.  40)  mentions  the  method  of  preparing  opium 
and  points  out  that  the  true  drug  is  derived  from  the  capsules 
of  the  poppy  and  not  from  the  foliage  of  the  plant. 

Dioscorides,  in  the  same  century,  describes  how  the  capsules 
from  which  the  drug  is  collected  should  be  cut  and  the  milky 
juices  collected,  and  one  can  infer  from  his  statements  that 
the  collection  of  opium  was  at  that  time  a  source  of  industry 
in  Asia  Minor.  Pliny  gives  an  account  of  "  opion,"  while  it 
is  also  mentioned  by  Celsus,  a  Roman  medical  writer  of  the 
first  century,  and  by  several  other  Latin  authors,  who  allude 
to  it  by  the  quaint  name  of  "  poppy  tears." 

It  was  well  known  to  the  Arabs,  who  transmitted  their 
knowledge  of  its  properties  first  to  the  Persians  and  then  to 
other  nations  of  the  East.     In  India  its  introduction  would 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS   PLANTS      77 

appear  to  be  connected  with  the  spread  of  Mahommedanism, 
and  may  have  been  favoured  by  their  prohibition  of  the  use 
of  wine.  The  earhest  mention  of  opium  in  connection  with 
India  occurs  in  the  travels  of  Barbosa,  who  visited  CaHcut 
and  the  Malabar  Coast  in  1511,  and  who  gives  it  a  prominent 
place  with  other  valuable  drugs.  Pyres,  the  first  ambassador 
from  Europe  to  China  in  1516,  speaks  of  the  opiiun  of  Egypt, 
Cambay,  and  the  kingdom  of  Cous  (Kus  Bahar,  S.W.  Bhotan 
in  Bengal),  and  states  it  was  eaten  by  "  the  kings  and  lords, 
and  even  the  common  people,  though  not  so  much  because  it 
costs  dear."  In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  its 
praises  were  sung  by  poets  of  the  Far  East. 

It  is  believed  that  opium  was  introduced  by  the  Arabs  into 
both  India  and  China,  as  they  are  known  to  have  traded  with 
the  southern  parts  of  the  empire  as  early  as  the  ninth  century. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  the  Chinese  marketed  the  drug  in 
their  junks  as  a  return  cargo  from  India,  and  it  was  at  that 
time  almost  exclusively  used  as  a  remedy  for  dysentery,  but 
the  trade  grew,  and  in  1787  the  importation  reached  a  thousand 
chests,  for  some  years  most  of  the  trade  being  in  the  hands  of 
the   Portuguese. 

The  East  India  Company  in  1780  opened  an  opium  depot 
with  two  small  vessels  at  Lark's  Bay,  Macao.  The  Chinese 
authorities  began  to  complain  of  these  two  ships  in  1793,  but 
the  trafiic  still  increased,  until  they  issued  an  edict  forbidding 
any  vessel  having  opium  on  board  to  enter  the  Canton  River. 
This  led  to  political  differences  which  culminated  in  the  war 
that  was  called  the  "  Opium  War."  It  was  concluded  by 
the  Treaty  of  Nankin,  after  which  five  ports  of  China  were 
opened  to  foreign  trade,  opium  being  admitted  as  a  legalized 
import  in  1858. 

Opium  smoking  does  not  appear  to  have  been  known  in 
China  until  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  but 
within  a  hundred  years  it  spread  like  the  tentacles  of  an 
octopus  over  the  entire  empire.  At  this  time  the  authorities 
became  greatly  alarmed  at  the  injurious  effects  among  the 
people  following  the  abuse  of  opium.  Suicides  became  fre- 
quent and  the  high  officials  and  all  classes  were  becoming 
rapid  slaves  to  the  habit ;  the  sale  rose  from  2,300  chests  in 
1788  to  17,500  in  1836.     The  first  edict  was  issued  in  1796 


yS  POISON  MYSTERIES 

and  since  that  time  they  have  been  innumerable,  but  the 
traffic  increased  and  is  still  almost  universally  carried  on. 
In  1879  i^  the  State  of  Amoy  and  its  adjacent  towns  the 
proportion  of  opium  smokers  was  estimated  at  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  total  population. 

With  regard  to  the  introduction  of  opium  into  India,  the 
Mahommedans,  once  having  established  its  use,  began  to 
make  it  a  source  of  income.  The  Great  Mogul  monopolized  the 
opium  production  and  trade,  and  derived  an  immense  income 
from  its  sale.  From  reliable  reports  it  appears  that  in 
India  "  the  largest  amount  of  opium  is  produced  in  the 
central  tract  of  the  Ganges,  extending  from  Dinapore  in  the 
east  to  Agra  in  the  west,  and  from  Gorakhpur  in  the  north 
to  Hazaribagh  in  the  south,  comprising  an  area  of  about 
six  hundred  miles  long  and  two  hundred  miles  broad."  In 
the  district  of  Bengal,  the  Government  has  the  monopoly  of 
the  opium  industry,  and  the  districts  are  divided  into  two 
agencies,  Behar  and  Benares,  which  are  under  the  control  of 
officers  residing  in  Patna  and  Ghazipur.  In  1883  the  number 
of  acres  under  poppy  cultivation  in  Behar  was  463,829,  and 
the  Benares  district  412,625  ;  but  the  export  of  opium  has 
somewhat  diminished  since  then.  Anyone  may  undertake 
the  industry,  but  cultivators  are  obliged  to  sell  the  opium 
exclusively  to  the  Government  agencies,  at  a  price  which  is 
fixed  beforehand  by  the  officials.  The  Government  sells 
the  ready  goods  to  merchants  at  a  much  higher  price,  which 
difference  is  paid  by  the  country  to  which  the  opium  is 
exported.  In  India  itself,  the  sale  of  opium  is  restricted  to 
licensed  shopkeepers,  a  practice  which  has  proved  to  be  useful, 
because  in  some  places,  when  the  licensed  shops  have  been 
closed,  a  greater  number  of  unlicensed  and  secret  places  have 
sprung  up,  and  have  made  the  contract  insufficient. 

The  opium  question  is  so  complex  in  its  nature,  and  is  so 
largely  influenced  by  the  habits  and  constitution  of  those 
nations  who  are  addicted  to  its  use,  that  it  is  obvious  that 
only  those  with  skilled  medical  knowledge,  who  are  on  the 
spot  and  have  lived  and  had  a  daily  experience  of  the  people, 
are  in  a  proper  position  to  deal  with  the  question.  So  much 
has  been  written  by  religious  enthusiasts,  and  other  persons 
totally    ignorant    of    the    nature    and    properties    of    the 


SUMRSTITIONS  AND  I^OISONOUS  PLANTS      79 

drug,  that  one  almost  hesitates  to  touch  upon  the  sub- 
ject. 

The  following  facts  have  been  furnished  by  reliable  medical 
authorities,  who  are  really  in  a  position  to  judge  on  the 
matter. 

The  cause  which  led  to  the  use  of  this  narcotic  drug,  by  the 
races  of  the  East,  as  already  stated,  may  have  been  primarily 
due  to  the  prohibition  of  wine  by  the  Moslems,  but  more 
likely  on  account  of  its  remedial  or  protective  properties 
being  needed  by  a  race  subject  to  malaria  and  kindred  diseases, 
and  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the  hot  climate  to  which  they 
are  exposed.  It  is  a  remedy  at  hand,  and  would  seem  to  be 
one  to  which  they  at  once  fly.  The  evil  lies  more  in  the 
smoking  than  the  eating  of  the  drug,  the  former  habit  being 
more  prevalent  in  China,  and  has  the  more  demoralizing 
effect.  The  extent  of  its  use  in  the  East  varies  according  to 
the  geographical  and  social  differences  of  the  people,  and  it  is 
used  in  various  degrees  of  moderation  and  excess. 

The  drug  is  employed  in  various  forms,  according  to  the 
class  of  people  who  consume  it.  In  India  it  is  largely  used 
in  the  crude  state,  and  is  sold  at  about  two  annas  a  drachm, 
in  small  square  pieces.  The  opium  eater  will  take  two  or 
three  grains  and  roll  them  into  the  form  of  a  pill  between  his 
fingers,  and  then  chew  or  swallow  it,  often  twenty  times  in 
the  day.  It  is  also  used  in  a  liquid  form  called  Kusamba, 
made  by  macerating  opium  in  rose-water  ;  others  boil  it  with 
milk,  then  collect  the  cream  and  eat  it.  The  varieties  for 
smoking  are  known  as  Chundoo  and  Mudat,  the  former  being 
a  very  impure  extract  of  a  fairly  stiff  consistency,  and  the 
latter  made  from  the  refuse  of  Chundoo,  of  which  it  largely 
consists  ;  but  being  much  cheaper,  is  chiefly  used  by  the 
low-class  Hindus  and  Mahomedans.  From  two  to  four 
grains  a  day  may  be  called  a  moderate  use  of  the  crude  drug. 
The  poorer  people  regularly  give  it  to  children  up  to  two 
years  of  age,  to  keep  them  quiet,  also  as  a  preventive  against 
such  complaints  as  enteritis,  which  is  very  common  in  the  East ; 
and  so  before  youth  is  reached  they  become  inured  to  its 
action.  Licences  to  sell  the  drug  are  sold  to  the  highest  bidder 
at  the  opium  auctions,  the  licensee  having  the  privilege  of 
supplying  a  certain  number  of  small  dealers. 


8o  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  Chinese  smoker  usually  lays  himself  down  on  his  side, 
with  his  head  supported  by  a  pillow.  On  the  straw  mat 
beside  him  between  his  doubled-up  knees  and  his  nose,  a  small 
glass  oil  lamp,  covered  with  a  glass  shade,  is  burning.  Close 
to  this  is  a  tray,  containing  a  small  round  box,  holding  the 
drug,  a  straight  piece  of  wire  used  for  manipulating  it,  a  knife 
to  scrape  up  the  fragments,  and  the  pipe  used  for  smoking. 
The  latter  is  about  two  feet  long,  with  a  nose  of  about  half 
an  inch  in  diameter,  and  is  not  unlike  the  stem  of  a  flute 
before  it  is  fittedl  About  two  inches  from  the  bottom  of  the 
tube,  is  a  closed  cup  or  bowl  of  earthenware  or  stone,  having 
a  central  perforation.  To  charge  the  pipe,  a  small  portion 
of  the  drug  (weighing  a  few  grains)  is  picked  up  with  the  wire, 
kneaded  and  rolled  in  the  closed  surface  of  the  cup,  then 
heated  in  the  flame  of  the  lamp  till  it  swells.  This  is  rolled 
up  and  again  manipulated,  then  finally  placed  in  the  aperture 
in  the  surface  of  the  bowl.  It  is  then  lighted  from  the  lamp, 
and  the  smoke  drawn  into  the  lungs  through  the  tube  till  the 
first  charge  is  exhausted. 

In  a  report  made  by  the  British  Medical  Journal  concerning 
the  use  of  opium  in  India,  from  the  evidence  of  medical  men 
long  resident  in  that  country,  there  seems  a  general  consensus 
of  opinion  that  opium  eating,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  exer- 
cises, no  unfavourable  influence  on  the  people  who  indulge  in 
the  habit,  and  that  it  is  a  prophylactic  against  fever,  and 
prevents  the  natives  from  malaria  and  excessive  fatigue. 
There  is  no  comparison  between  the  effects  of  the  opium 
habit  and  the  habitual  use  of  alcohol.  English  people  cannot 
judge,  from  thfeir  own  standard,  the  manners  and  customs  of 
people  living  Tmder  conditions  with  which  they  are  unac- 
quainted. While  we  look  upon  opium  as  a  narcotic,  the 
Hindu  uses  it  as  a  stimulant  to  enable  him  to  go  through 
hard  work  on  the  smallest  quantity  possible  of  food.  With 
reference  to  the  measures  suggested  by  the  Committee  of  the 
League  of  Nations  for  the  suppression  of  the  use  of  opium 
in  India,  the  Jam  Sahib  of  Nawanagar  has  recently  declared 
that  it  would  be  impossibile  to  carry  them  out.  It  was  a 
habit  among  working  men  who  needed  opium,  just  as  the 
European  wanted  tobacco.  In  Persia,  at  the  present  time, 
according  to  Wills,  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  aged,  take  from  one 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND  POISONOUS  PLANTS      8i 

to  five  grains  of  the  drug  daily.  It  is  largely  used  by  the 
native  physicians.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  moderate 
use  of  Persian  opium  in  the  country  itself  is  deleterious. 
Opium  smoking  is  almost  unknown,  and  when  it  is  smoked,' 
it  is,  as  a  rule,  by  a  doctor's  orders.  The  opium  pill- 
box— a  tiny  box  of  silver — is  as  common  in  Persia  as  the 
snuffbox  was  once  with  us.  Most  men  of  forty  in  the 
middle  and  upper  classes  take  from  a  grain  to  a  grain  and 
a  half,  divided  into  two  pills,  one  in  the  afternoon  and 
one  at  night.  The  majority  of  authorities  agree  that  opium 
smoking  as  a  habit  is  much  more  harmful  and  attended  with 
much  more  demoralizing  influences  than  opium  eating  ;  but 
either  habit  is  undoubtedly  harmful  to  Eiuopeans,  and  when 
once  formed,  is  extremely  difficult  to  break. 

Paracelsus  is  generally  credited  with  being  the  originator 
of  the  word  "  laudanum,"  the  name  by  which  tincture  of 
opium  is  commonly  known.  Yet  there  seems  little  doubt 
the  word  was  first  applied  to  the  gum  of  the  cistus.  Clusius, 
in  his  Rariorum  Plantar nm  Historia,  states  :  "  The  gum  of 
the  cistus  is  called  in  Greek  and  Latin,  ladanum,  and 
in  shops  laudanum."  It  is  therefore  very  likely  that  the 
secret  preparation  originated  by  Paracelsus  which  he  called 
laudanum,  was  composed  of  the  gum  of  the  cistus  as  well 
as  opium,  and  that  he  adopted  the  title  from  the  former 
ingredient. 

Sir  Henry  Holland,  in  his  Recollections,  ^  relates  that 
Mehemet  AH,  whom  he  visited,  brought  the  conversation 
round  to  poisons.  It  ended  by  Mehemet  Ali  asking  him 
point-blank  whether  he  knew  of  any  poison  which,  put  on  the 
mouthpiece  of  a  pipe  or  given  in  coffee,  might  slowly  and 
silently  kill,  leaving  no  note  behind.  Holland  instantly 
answered  that  "  as  a  physician  he  had  studied  how  to  save 
life,  not  destroy  it."  This  reply,  he  added,  was  probably 
faithfully  translated  to  Mehemet  Ali,  for  he  dropped  the 
subject  abruptly,  and  never  afterwards  reverted  to  it.  Des- 
genettes,  when  it  was  suggested  to  him  by  Napoleon  that  he 
should  poison  the  plague-stricken  soldiers  at  Jaffa,  curtly 
answered  that  it  was  his  business  to  prolong  life,  not  to  kill. 
When  he  was  driven  from  Leipzig  in  defeat  and  disaster, 

1  Recollections  of  Past  Life,  Sir  Henry  Holland. 

F 


82  POISON   MYSTERIES 

culminating  in  his  abdication  at  Fontainebleau,  it  is  said 
Napoleon  attempted  to  end  his  life  by  means  of  opium. 
During  the  retreat  from  Moscow  the  Emperor  requested  his 
physician  to  provide  him  with  means  to  prevent  his  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  alive,  and  was  supplied  with  a 
drug  which  he  carried  in  a  small  packet  suspended  round  his 
neck.  Either  from  the  poison  losing  its  properties  or  having 
become  innocuous,  it  is  said  only  to  have  thrown  Napoleon, 
after  he  took  it,  into  a  deep  sleep,  from  which  he  awoke  in 
spasms. 

The  Kiowa  and  other  Mexican  Indians  use  the  fruit  of  the 
Anhelonium  Lewinii,  which  they  call  "mescal  buttons,"  to 
produce  a  species  of  intoxication  and  stimulation  during 
certain  of  their  religious  ceremonies.  The  effects  of  this  fruit, 
which,  like  Indian  hemp,  varies  considerably  in  different 
individuals,  are  very  peculiar,  and  have  been  described  by 
Lewin,  Prentiss  and  Morgan. 

The  eating  of  the  fruit  first  results  in  a  state  of  strange 
excitement  and  great  exuberance  of  spirits,  accompanied  by 
volubilit}^  in  speech.  This  is  shortly  followed  by  a  stage  of 
intoxication  in  which  the  sight  is  affected  in  a  very  extra- 
ordinary manner,  consisting  of  a  kaleidoscopic  play  of  colours 
ever  in  motion,  of  every  possible  shade  and  tint,  and  these 
constantly  changing.  The  pupils  of  the  eyes  are  widely 
dilated,  cutaneous  sensation  is  blunted  and  thoughts  seem  to 
flash  through  the  brain  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  The 
colour  visions  are  generally  only  seen  with  closed  eyes,  but 
the  colouring  of  all  external  objects  is  exaggerated.  Some- 
times there  is  also  an  indescribable  sensation  of  dual  existence. 

Some  years  ago  Havelock  Ellis  published  an  account 
of  the  use  and  his  personal  experiences  of  the  properties  of 
mescal  buttons.  The  Mexican  Indians  treat  this  cactus 
with  great  veneration,  gathering  it  with  uncovered  heads 
and  amid  clouds  of  incense. 

The  celebration  of  the  rite  is  usually  held  on  a  Saturday 
night,  when  seated  in  a  circle  around  a  large  camp  fire,  for  the 
visions  are  said  to  be  most  intense  by  flickering  firelight. 
The  men  pray  for  "  a  good  intoxication,"  and  then  the  leader 
passes  the  drug  around.  Throughout  the  night  the  men  sit 
quietly  round  the  fire  in  a  state  of  reverie,  absorbed  in  colour 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND   POISONOUS  PLANTS      83 

visions,  amid  continual  singing  and  beating  of  drums  by 
assistants.  The  effects  do  not  pass  off  till  the  following  noon, 
when  they  get  up  and  go  about  their  business  with  apparently 
no  depression  or  other  after-effects. 

After  taking  three  of  the  buttons  in  small  fragments  by 
pouring  boiling  water  on  them  twice  and  drinking  the  in- 
fusion thrice  at  intervals  of  an  hour,  Ellis  states  that  the 
phenomena  of  mescal  intoxication  are  merely  the  saturnalia 
of  the  specific  senses  and  chiefly  an  orgy  of  vision. 

After  a  transient  consciousness  of  energy,  he  felt  faint  and 
giddy,  pale  violet  shadows  floated  before  him,  suggesting, 
without  any  definite  form,  pictures.  The  air  seemed  to  be 
filled  with  a  vague  perfume,  then  he  saw  glorious  fields  of 
jewels  which  sprang  into  flower-like  shapes  before  his  gaze, 
and  then  turned  into  butterfly  forms. 

"I  was  further  impressed,"  he  says,  "not  only  by  the 
brilliance  and  delicate  beauty  of  their  colours,  but  even  more 
by  their  lovely  and  various  textures." 

A  friend,  to  whom  he  gave  some  of  the  drug,  experienced  a 
pain  at  the  heart  and  a  sensation  of  imminent  death,  then 
with  the  suddenness  of  a  neuralgic  pain  the  back  of  his  head 
seemed  to  open  and  emit  streams  of  bright  colour.  "  I  had 
the  sensation  of  the  skin  disappearing  from  the  brow ;  any 
movement  sent  out  streams  of  blue  flames  of  wondrous 
beauty." 

The  Mexicans  also  make  a  drink  from  the  mescal,  which 
is  distilled  from  the  juice  of  the  plant,  and  during  their  social 
entertainments  swallow  it  in  copious  draughts.  Its  effects 
are  said  to  be  highly  intoxicating,  and  according  to  the  reports 
of  authorities  90  per  cent,  of  the  crimes  perpetrated  in  the 
ranches  and  villages  are  due  to  this  poisonous  liquid. 

Recent  investigation  into  the  pharmacology  of  the  mescal 
plant  prove  it  to  be  a  poison  of  a  very  powerful  natui'e. 
Large  doses  produce  complete  paralysis,  and  death  is  caused 
by  respiratory  failure. 


CHAPTER    VI 
THE   POISON   LORE   OF  TOADS  AND   SPIDERS 

FROM  early  times  the  toad  has  had  an  unenviable  reputation 
and  has  been  suspected  of  poisonous  properties.  Some 
of  the  early  historians  attribute  the  death  of  King  John  of  Eng- 
land to  a  friar  who  placed  a  toad  in  his  cup  of  wine.  The 
story  is  no  doubt  fictitious,  but  there  is  some  ground  for  the  evil 
reputation  that  has  so  long  been  associated  with  this  unlovely 
reptile.  The  venom  of  some  toads  is  believed  to  possess 
poisonous  properties  in  certain  countries  throughout  the  world, 
and  some  species  are  said  to  be  particularly  virulent.  A  few 
years  ago  Phisalix  and  Bertrand  undertook  an  investigation 
to  ascertain  if  there  was  any  truth  in  the  story  of  the  poisonous 
properties  attributed  to  toads.  They  succeeded  in  extracting 
two  powerful  principles  from  the  parotid  gland  and  skin 
of  the  common  toad.  One  of  these  was  found  to  act  on 
the  heart  in  a  similar  manner  to  digitalis,  and  the  other 
known  as  bufotenine  exercises  a  powerful  paralysing  action 
on  the  nerve  centres. 

The  Ceratophrys  ornata,  a  toad  found  in  South  America, 
is  of  a  very  poisonous  nature.  It  will  bite  anything  that 
comes  in  its  way  and  then  hang  on  with  the  tenacity  of  a 
bulldog,  poisoning  the  blood  with  its  glandular  secretion. 
Death  may  follow  its  bite,  and  it  has  been  known  to  kill  a 
horse  by  gripping  him  by  the  nose,  while  the  animal  was 
cropping  grass. 

Shakespeare  alludes  to  the  evil  reputation  of  the  toad  in  two 
of  his  plays  and  the 

"  Toad,  that  under  cold  stone, 
Days  and  nights  went  thirty-one 
Swelter' d  venom  sleeping  got," 

formed  an  ingredient  in  the  witches'  hell-broth  in  "  Macbeth." 

84 


THE  POISON  LORE  OF  TOADS  AND  SPIDERS  85 

When  dropped  into  the  wine  cup  it  was  beUeved  to   act 
with  deadly  effect  on  those  who  drank  its  contents. 

In  connection  with  the  poison  of  the  toad  there  is  an  inter- 
esting record  on  a  medical  diploma  at  present  in  the  Library 
of  Ferrara,  which  was  granted  to  one  Generoso  Marini  in  1642. 
Marini  appears  to  have  made  an  application  for  a  diploma  of 
medicine  and  the  judges  who  had  the  power  of  granting  such 
degrees,  ordered  him  to  produce  some  efficient  proofs  of  his 
capability  to  practise  the  healing  art.  Marini  agreed  to 
comply  with  their  demand  and  the  result  is  recorded  on  his 
diploma,  which  was  discovered  by  Cittadella  among  the 
archives  of  Ferrara  some  years  ago  ;  it  reads  as  follows  : — 

"  Having  publicly  examined  and  approved  the  science  and 
knowledge  of  medicine  of  Signor  Generoso  Marini,  and  his 
possession  of  the  wonderful  secret  called  '  Orvietano,'  which 
he  exhibited  on  the  stage  built  in  the  centre  of  this  our  city 
of  Ferrara,  in  presence  of  its  entire  population,  so  remarkable 
for  their  civilisation  and  learning,  and  in  presence  of  many 
foreigners  and  other  classes  of  people,  we  hereby  certify  that, 
also  in  our  presence,  as  well  as  that  of  the  city  authorities,  he 
took  several  living  toads,  not  those  of  his  own  providing,  but 
from  a  great  number  of  toads,  which  had  been  caught  in  fields 
in  the  locality  by  persons  who  were  strangers  to  him,  and 
which  were  only  handed  to  him  at  the  moment  of  making  the 
experiment.  An  officer  of  the  court  then  selected  from  the 
number  of  toads  collected,  five  of  the  largest,  which  the  said 
Generoso  Marini  placed  on  a  bench  before  him,  and  in  presence 
of  all  assembled  spectators,  he,  with  a  large  knife,  cut  all  the 
said  toads  in  half.  Then,  taking  a  drinking  cup,  he  took  in 
each  hand  one  half  of  a  dead  toad,  and  squeezed  from  it  all 
the  juices  and  fluids  it  contained  into  the  cup,  and  the  same 
he  did  with  the  remainder.  After  mixing  the  contents 
together,  he  swallowed  the  whole,  and  then  placing  the  cup 
on  the  bench  he  advanced  to  the  edge  of  the  stage,  where  for 
some  minutes  he  remained  stationary.  Then  he  became  pale 
as  death  and  his  limbs  trembled  and  his  body  began  to  swell 
in  a  frightful  and  terrible  manner  ;  and  all  the  spectators 
began  to  believe  that  he  would  never  recover  from  the  poison 
he  had  swallowed,  and  that  his  death  was  certain.  Suddenly 
taking  from  a  jar  by  his  side  some  of  his  celebrated  'Orvie- 
tano,' he  placed  a  portion  of  it  in  his  mouth  and  swallowed  it. 
Instantly  the  effect  of  this  wonderful  medicine  was  to  make 


86  POISON   MYSTERIES 

him  vomit  the  poison  he  had  taken,  and  he  stood  before  the 
spectators  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  health. 

"  The  populace  applauded  him  highly  for  the  indisputable 
proof  he  had  given  of  his  talent,  and  he  then  invited  many 
of  the  most  learned  of  those  present  to  accompany  him  to 
his  house,  and  he  there  showed  them  his  dispensary  as  well 
as  his  collection  of  antidotes,  and  among  them  a  powder 
made  from  little  vipers,  a  powerful  remedy  for  curing  every 
sort  of  fever,  as  he  had  proved  by  different  experiments  he 
had  made  on  people  of  quality  and  virtue,  all  of  whom  he  had 
cured  of  the  fever  from  which  they  were  suffering,  etc. 

"  In  consequence  of  the  rare  talent  exhibited  by  Signor 
Generoso  Marini,  and  as  a  proof  of  our  love  and  respect  for 
his  wisdom,  we  have  resolved  by  the  authority  placed  in  our 
hands  publicly  to  reward  him  with  a  diploma  so  that  he  may 
be  universally  recognised,  applauded  and  respected.  In 
witness  thereof  we  have  set  our  hands  and  the  public  seal  of 
the  municipality  of  Ferrara. 

"  Data  in  Ferrara  con  grandissimo  applauso  il  di  26  Luglio, 
1642. 

"  Joannes  Cajetanus  Modoni, 
Index  sapientum  Civitatis  Ferrari. 
"  Franciscus  Altramari, 
Cancellarius." 

But  although  the  toad  under  certain  conditions  was  credited 
with  poisonous  properties,  during  the  Middle  Ages  it  was 
esteemed  a  valuable  remedy  for  the  plague  and  was  employed 
for  that  purpose  in  Austria  as  late  as  the  year  1712. 

The  country  people  of  Brazil  believe  the  milky  secretion  of 
the  common  toad  possesses  wonderful  curative  properties  and 
use  it  externally  as  a  cure  for  shingles.  In  these  cases  living 
toads  are  generally  applied  to  the  part  affected. 

The  poisonous  drug  known  as  "  Senso  "  in  China  and  Japan 
is  said  to  be  composed  of  the  dried  poison  from  a  species  of 
toad.  It  has  been  found  to  contain  cholesterol,  the  bufagin 
of  Abel  and  Macht ;  bufotenine,  and  a  base  resembling  epine- 
phrine. Bufagin  causes  a  marked  rise  of  blood  pressure,  and 
acts  as  a  diuretic.  It  is  toxic  in  small  doses.  Bufotenine 
acts  as  a  local  anaesthetic,  causes  convulsions  of  the  medullary 
type,  and  is  pharmacologically  allied  to  picrotoxin.  The 
base,  resembling  epinephrine,  is  a  powerful  sympathicomi- 
metic  poison. 


THE  POISON   LORE   OF  TOADS  AND   SPIDERS  8y 

Certain  species  of  spider  possess  poisonous  properties, 
notably  the  Chiracanthium  nutrix  and  the  Epeira  diadema. 
The  bite  of  the  female  of  the  former  is  distinctly  venomous, 
r.nd  one  milligramme  of  the  juice  of  the  latter  variety  injected 
into  a  cat  resulted  in  death. 

Some  curious  methods  of  the  manner  in  which  some  Indian 
tribes  of  South  America  utilize  a  poisonous  grass  as  a  method 
of  defence  have  been  investigated  by  Bomain.  He  found  that 
a  belt  of  this  plant  formed  a  natural  barrier  between  the 
Indian  tribes  who  lived  on  each  side  of  a  range  of  moun- 
tains, where  it  flourished.  Animals  died  a,s  soon  as  they 
ate  the  poisonous  grass,  and  thus  a  hostile  tribe  was  prevented 
from  encroaching  on  the  territory  of  another. 

On  scientific  investigation,  it  was  discovered  that  a  few 
hundred  grains  of  the  grass  would  kill  a  horse  or  a  mule  in  an 
hour  or  two,  the  deadly  effect  being  due  to  the  production  of 
prussic  acid,  which  was  caused  by  the  decomposition  of  a 
glucosive  under  the  influence  of  a  ferment. 

A  mysterious  poison  is  said  to  be  known  among  some  of 
the  gipsy  tribes  of  Europe  which  is  supposed  to  consist  of  tlie 
germs  of  a  certain  poisonous  fungus.  When  mixed  with  food 
it  causes  death  in  from  two  to  three  weeks  after  administra- 
tion. The  symptoms  produced  are  said  to  be  similar  to  those 
of  tj^phoid  fever.  A  case  of  poisoning  with  this  substance, 
whicli  is  known  to  the  gipsies  by  the  name  of  "  Dri  "  or 
"  Drei,"  was  reported  in  London  in  1864. 


CHAPTER   VII 
SOME  CLASSICAL  POISONS  AND  THEIR    HISTORIES 

ARSENIC  appears  to  have  had  an  extraordinary  fascina- 
tion for  the  poisoner  for  centuries  past  and  has,  perhaps, 
been  more  frequently  used  than  any  other  substance  for 
criminal  purposes.  Through  its  history  runs  a  vein  of 
mystery  and  romance  which  has  continued  until  the  present 
day. 

It  was  known  to  the  Greeks  as  early  as  the  fifth  century 
before  Christ.  Hippocrates,  the  father  of  medicine,  who 
flourished  460-377  B.C.,  used  it  as  an  external  remedy  for 
ulcers  and  similar  disorders.  It  was  known  to  the  Greeks 
in  that  time  in  the  form  of  sulphuret  of  arsenic  or  realgar, 
also  as  arsenic  sulphide  or  orpiment,  which  is  found  native 
in  Greece  and  Hungary.  Dioscorides  knew  it  in  its  later  form 
and  also  mentions  its  properties  when  applied  externally. 
There  is  no  allusion  at  this  period  to  its  employment  either 
as  a  poison  or  for  internal  treatment  of  disease. 

The  golden  colour  of  orpiment  caused  many  of  the  early 
alchemists  to  consider  it  the  key  to  the  philosophers'  stone, 
and  this  is  said  to  be  grounded  on  some  enigmatical  phrase 
attributed  to  the  Sibylline  oracles.  The  Emperor  Caligula 
(a.d.  12-41),  according  to  Pliny,  ordered  a  large  quantity  of 
orpiment  to  be  melted  and  manipulated  so  that  the  gold  it 
was  supposed  to  contain  could  be  extracted  from  it,  but  he 
was  no  doubt  disappointed  by  the  result. 

Diocletian  (a.d.  260)  is  said  to  have  collected  all  the  books 
dealing  with  the  transmutation  of  metals  possessed  by  the 
Egyptians  whom  he  had  conquered,  and  destroyed  them  ;  but, 
when  the  Arabs  overran  Egypt,  the  Jews  who  fled  to  Europe, 
carried  with  them  the  knowledge  of  chemistry  they  had 
acquired  from  the  Arabs  who  kept  the  lamp  of  alchemy  alive. 

88 


SOME  CLASSICAL  POISONS  89 

In  the  eighth  century  there  arose  a  great  Arab  alchemist 
called  Jabir  ibn  Hayyan,  whose  writings  were  known  under 
the  name  of  Geber:  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Tarsus 
and  believed  to  have  been  the  first  in  Europe  to  obtain  what 
is  now  known  as  white  arsenic  (arsenious  acid)  by  heating 
realgar.  He  gave  it  the  name  which  it  still  bears  to  distin- 
guish it  from  orpiment  or  yellow  arsenic.  From  his  works 
we  know  that  he  was  acquainted  with  metallic  arsenic  and 
apparently  knew,  that  under  certain  conditions,  it  deposited 
a  dull  silver  coat  when  in  contact  with  bright  copper.  This 
discovery  was  not  without  its  disadvantages  to  mankind,  as 
from  this  period  probably  dates  the  time  it  became  used  for 
criminal  purposes.  On  the  other  hand,  its  medicinal  pro- 
perties, when  properly  administered,  became  known  and 
recognized  by  physicians. 

Before  white  arsenic  or  arsenious  acid  was  known,  most 
of  the  poisons  recorded  by  the  early  writers  had  something 
peculiar  in  regard  to  their  taste,  smell  or  colour,  but  white 
arsenic  put  a  new  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  cunning 
poisoner  who  sought  for  something  powerful  and  tasteless  for 
his  evil  designs,  which  we  shall  see  later  developed  into  a 
diabolical  art  in  several  parts  of  Europe. 

In  India,  arsenic  has  been  commonly  used  for  criminal  pur- 
poses from  ancient  times  down  to  the  present.  The  reports 
of  the  Analyst  of  the  Bombay  Government  throw  consid- 
erable light  on  the  methods  pursued  by  native  poisoners. 
In  most  cases  the  poison  is  introduced  into  sweetmeats 
and  generally  distributed  by  a  "  strange  woman  "  who  has 
been  met  in  the  bazaar  or  street  and  who  mysteriously  dis- 
appears. This  "  strange  woman  "  is  found  in  nearly  every 
analyst's  report  for  the  past  fifty  years  and  under  much  the 
same  circumstances.  Most  of  the  cases  are  typical  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  occur,  as  instanced  in  the  account ' 
of  a  man  who  went  into  a  shop  one  day  and  entered  into 
friendly  conversation  with  a  stranger  he  met  there.  By  way 
of  thanking  him,  the  stranger  presented  him  with  some  sweets 
for  distribution  among  his  friends.  The  result  was  that  five 
men  and  a  boy  were  poisoned,  and  the  obliging  stranger  has 
never  been  heard  of  since. 

It  is  difficult  to  account  (or  the  rationale  in  such  cases,  but 


90  POISON   MYSTERIES 

still  they  occur  and  the  professional  poisoner  in  India — for 
there  are  many  such' — 'is  rarely  caught  or  even  suspected. 
In  many  instances,  crimes  of  this  kind  are  taken  little 
notice  of  by  the  community  and  sometimes  the  criminal 
apparently  thinks  nothing  of  poisoning  a  whole  family  in 
order  to  make  sure  of  his  victim.  The  utter  absence  of  motive 
in  many  cases  would  point  to  the  conclusion  that  they  are 
largely  the  result  of  homicidal  mania. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  a  prevalent  idea  that  all 
poisonous  substances  possessed  a  powerful  and  mutual  elec- 
tive attraction  for  each  other,  and  if  a  portion  of  the  sub- 
stance was  worn  suspended  round  the  neck  it  would  intercept 
and  absorb  all  other  noxious  matter  and  even  preserve  the 
body  from  contagion  of  disease.  During  the  Great  Plague 
of  London  amulets  containing  arsenic  were  worn  suspended 
over  the  region  of  the  heart  and  were  believed  thus  to  preserve 
the  wearer  from  infection. 

It  is  characteristic  of  arsenic,  antimony  and  mercury  that  their 
presence  may  be  detected  and  demonstrated  years  after  they 
have  been  taken  into  the  body.  Many  cases  might  be  cited 
in  corroboration  of  this,  but  the  following  is  one  of  peculiar 
interest.  A  wealthy  farmer  died  and  was  buried  in  the  grave 
where  his  father  had  been  interred  thirty-five  years  pre- 
viously. An  examination  of  certain  of  the  bones  of  the  father 
revealed  particles  of  a  metallic-looking  substance  which  was 
collected,  and  on  analysis  proved  to  be  mercury.  It  had  thus 
been  preserved  in  the  remains  for  more  than  a  third  of  a 
century,  the  probability  being  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  taking  it  medicinally  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life. 
Another  case  worthy  of  record  came  under  the  notice  of  a 
Bristol  analyst,  in  which  he  found  abundant  traces  of  arsenic 
in  the  remains  of  young  children  after  they  had  been  buried 
for  eight  years. 

A  curious  case,  proving  how  the  advance  of  science  may 
influence  the  rendering  of  justice,  is  shown  in  a  striking  way 
by  a  decision  of  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  revision  of 
trials  in  France  in  February,  1904.  Twenty-five  years  pre- 
viously one  Dauval,  a  chemist,  had  been  found  guilty  of  the 
murder  of  his  wife  by  poisoning  her  with  arsenic,  and  was 
sentenced    to    transportation    for    life.     Scientific    evidence 


SOME  CLASSICAL   POISONS  91 

having  since  come  to  light,  tending  to  show  that  he  was 
innocent  of  the  crime,  he  was  granted  a  free  pardon  eighteen 
months  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  Judicial  Committee. 
The  evidence  on  which  Dauval  was  f cund  guilty  was  purely 
scientific,  and  later  investigation  showed  the  evidence  in 
question  to  be  open  to  doubt.  At  the  trial  in  1879,  ^.H  the 
expert  witnesses  swore,  that  the  quantity  of  arsenic — nam.ely 
one  milligrammc-^fourid  in  the  body  of  Dauval's  wife  after 
the  post-mortem  examination,  could  net  possibly  have  existed 
in  the  system  under  natural  circumstances.  It  was  held  to 
be  proved  thsit  the  presence  of  such  a  quantity  of  the  poison 
was  incompatible  with  life.  Since  the  trial  Gautier  and 
Bertrarid  and  other  seiejitific  workers  have  demonstrated  that 
the  quantity  of  arsenic  mentioned  can,  and  frequently  does, 
exist  in  the  hunrtan  body  in  a  normal  condition.  The  pre- 
sumption thus  set  up  in  Dauval's  defence  was,  that  the 
presence  of  arsenic  in  his  wife's  remains  was  owing  to  her 
having  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  the  drug  in  medicinal  doses. 

A  strange  story  is  related  by  the  late  Sir  Richard  Quain 
that  came  under  his  notice,  and  one  which  would  have  proved 
a  profound  mystery  to  this  day  but  for  his  practical  knowledge 
and  acumen.  He  was  asked  to  make  a  post-mortem  examin- 
ation on  the  body  of  a  man  who  was  by  trade  a  stone-mason. 
To  continue  the  story  in  his  own  words  ;  "  One  day,  on  coming 
in  to  his  dinner,  he  went  into  the  scullery,  washed  his  hands, 
and  going  into  the  kitchen  he  said  to  his  wife,  '  It  is  all 
over ;  I  have  taken  poison.'  '  What  have  you  taken  ?  ' 
'  Arsenic,'  he  replied,  and  she  at  once  took  him  off  to  the 
Western  General  Dispensary. 

"  The  senior  surgeon  was  out  when  they  got  there,  but  two 
young  students  of  his  happened  to  be  in,  who  thought  it  was  a 
very  important  case,  and  they  would  treat  it  pretty  actively. 
So  they  gave  him  tartar  emetic,  pumped  out  the  stomach,  and 
pumped  oxide  of  iron  into  it,  and  performed  a  gcod  many 
other  operations.  The  poor  man  was  extremely  ill  and  died 
in  twenty-four  hours.  The  coroner's  beadle  went  to  the 
chemist  and  said  :  '  How  did  you  come  to  sell  this  man 
poison?  '  He  replied,  '  I  scld  him  no  poison;  I  thought  he 
was  off  his  head  when  he  came.'  '  What  did  you  give  him  ?  ' 
'  Oh,  I  gave  him  some  alum  and  cream  of  tartar  and  labelled 


92  POISON  MYSTERIES 

it  poison.'  "  "  He  swallowed  this  in  the  belief  it  was  arsenic," 
says  Sir  Richard.  "  When  I  made  the  post-mortem  examin- 
ation, to  my  amazement  I  found  a  great  deal  of  arsenic  in  the 
stomach.  This  was  rather  puzzling.  I  said,  if  it  is  in  the 
stomach  it  ought  to  go  farther  down.  So  I  searched  the 
intestines,  but  there  was  no  trace  of  arsenic  anywhere.  The 
simple  explanation  of  it  was  this,  these  two  young  fellows, 
horrified  to  find  the  man  had  died  without  taking  arsenic  after 
all,  pumped  some  into  the  stomach." 

Another  instance  that  terminated  in  a  less  tragic  manner, 
in  which  a  would-be  suicide  was  frustrated  by  a  watchful 
chemist,  happened  some  years  ago.  One  morning  a  tall, 
decently-dressed  man,  of  seafaring  aspect,  entered  a  chemist's 
shop  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  docks  of  a  northern  seaport, 
and  in  a  solemn  and  confidential  manner  asked  for  a  shilling's 
worth  of  strong  laudanum. 

"  For  what  purpose  do  you  require  it  ?  "  asked  the  chemist. 

"  Well,  you  see,  sir,"  the  man  explained,  "  I've  just  come 

off  a  voyage  from  'Frisco,  and  I  find  my  sweetheart  has  gone 

off  with  Jim,  you  see,  sir,  and  now  it's  all  up  with  me.     Give 

me  a  strong  dose  please,  and  if  you  don't  think  a  shilling's 

worth  will  be  enough " 

"  But,  my  good  man — — "  interrupted  the  chemist. 
"  I'U  shoot  myself  if  not,   sir,   I  will,"  replied  the  man, 
thrusting  his  hand  into  his  pocket. 

"  All  right,  then,"  said  the  chemist  ;  and  seeing  that 
argument  was  useless,  he  proceeded  to  mix  an  innocent  but 
nauseous  draught  of  aloes. 

"  Now  put  in  a  shilling's  worth  of  arsenic." 
"  Very  well,"  replied  the  chemist,  adding  some  harmless 
magnesia. 

"  And  you  might  as  well  throw  in  a  shilling's  worth  of 
prussic  acid,"  said  the  broken-hearted  lover. 

The  chemist  carefully  measured  a  little  essence  of  almonds 
into  the  glass  and  handed  it  to  the  would-be  suicide.  He  paid, 
swallowed  it  at  one  draught,  and  solemnly  walked  out  of  the 
shop.  Crossing  the  street,  which  was  quiet  at  the  time,  he 
deliberately  laid  himself  fiat  on  his  back  on  the  footpath  and 
closed  his  eyes.  A  group  of  children  gathered  round,  and 
stood  gazing  with  their  eyes  and  mouths  open  in  wonderment, 


SOME  CLASSICAL   POISONS  93 

and  an  occasional  passer-by  stopped  a  moment,  cast  a  glance 
at  the  unwonted  sight  and  then  passed  on.  After  lying  thus 
quite  motionless  for  about  five  minutes,  he  suddenly  raised 
his  head,  took  a  look  round,  then  with  one  bound  jumped  to 
his  feet  and  made  off  as  hard  as  he  could  run. 

A  parallel  case  occurred  quite  recently  at  Dartmouth, 
when  a  naval  stoker  after  a  quarrel  with  his  fiancee,  entered 
a  chemist's  shop  and  asked  for  an  ounce  of  strychnine.  The 
chemist,  noting  his  excited  manner  and  becoming  suspicious, 
to  pacify  him  gave  him  an  ounce  of  borax  which  he  took 
away,  and  obtaining  a  glass,  mixed  it  with  water  and  went 
out  on  the  cliffs  and  drank  it.  Finding  it  only  made  him 
feel  very  unwell  he  resolved  to  throw  himself  over  the  cliffs 
into  the  sea,  but  the  police  arrived  just  in  time  to  prevent  him 
and  found  the  glass  with  the  remains  of  borax  in  it  at  his  side. 
In  this  case  it  ended  in  a  charge  of  attempted  suicide. 

Arsenic  has  been  the  favourite  medium  of  female  poisoners 
from  early  times,  and  in  two  celebrated  poison  cases  of  recent 
years,  in  which  women  were  accused  of  murder  by  the 
administration  of  arsenic,  it  has  been  pleaded  that  the  poison 
had  been  used  by  them  for  cosmetic  purposes.  The  effect 
of  arsenic  on  the  skin  is  weU  known,  and  also  that  it  is  fre- 
quently used  by  women  both  internally  and  externally  to 
improve  the  complexion.  That  this  practice  may  lead  to  the 
taking  of  ai  senic  as  a  confirmed  habit  there  is  also  evidence  to 
prove,  and  there  are  many  cases  recorded  where  the  habit 
of  taking  arsenic  in  solution  has  been  contracted  by  women. 

Formerly,  many  cases  of  chronic  arsenical  poisoning  have 
resulted  from  arsenic  which  at  one  time  was  used  in  making 
cheap  green  wall-papers  and  green  sweets  (both  coloured  by 
Scheele's  green  or  hydrogen  copper  arsenite),  the  arsenic  in  the 
wall-papers  being  given  off  in  gaseous  form  during  warm  damp 
weather.  It  is  also  found  in  some  artificial  flowers,  in  carpets, 
furs,  dress  fabrics  dyed  with  aniline  dyes,  and  in  black  stock- 
ings. Murrell  examined  a  number  of  coloured  tobacco  and 
cigarette  covers  and  found  arsenic  in  one-third  of  them. 
Used  as  an  insecticide  for  spraying  fruit,  it  remains  on  the 
skins  and  is  sometimes  eaten.  In  these  minute  doses  it 
seldom  does  any  harm,  but  may  produce  chronic  poisoning, 
with  loss  of  hair,  neuritis  and  other  harmful  results. 


94  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Arsenic  is  poisonous  to  all  animals  with  a  central  nervous 
system  (brain  or  spinal  cord)  and  to  most  of  the  higher  plants. 
Mice  show  the  greatest  resistance  and  next  come  hedgehogs, 
rabbits,  dogs  and  cats. 

In  1903  an  analysis  of  sweets  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  revealed 
the  presence  of  i/i5th  of  a  grain  of  arsenic  per  pound. 
When  arsenic  is  taken  for  some  time  it  finds  its  way  into  the 
hair  within  about  two  weeks  and  remains  there  for  years. 

The  alleged  practice  of  eating  arsenic  or  taking  it  as  a  habit 
has  long  been  a  matter  of  discussion,  and  as  far  back  as  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century  toxicologists  were  sceptical  as 
to  the  statement  that  the  inhabitants  of  Styria,  and  other 
parts  of  Hungary  where  arsenic  is  formd,  had  contracted 
the  regular  habit  of  taking  the  drug  until  they  had  almost 
become  immune  to  its  effects. 

In  1865,  Maclagan  of  Edinburgh  visited  Styria  for  the 
purpose  of  investigating  these  statements,  and  he  affirms  in 
an  account  of  his  visit  given  in  the  Edinburgh  Medical  Journal, 
1865,  that  while  he  was  staying  at  the  village  of  Legist  in 
Middle  Styria,  two  men  were  brought  to  him,  and  in  his  pres- 
ence one  took  about  4I  and  the  other  6  grains  of  white  arsenic. 
He  brought  back  samples  of  what  they  had  swallowed,  and 
on  testing  it  found  it  to  be  undoubtedly  white  arsenic.  It 
was  taken  by  one  man  on  a  piece  of  bread,  and  by  the.  other 
was  washed  down  with  a  draught  of  water.  How  extensively 
the  habit  existed  in  the  district  Maclagan  was  not  able  to 
ascertain,  but  he  mentions  that  the  peasants  called  it  Hydrach 
or  Huttereich.  One  of  the  men  took  a  dose  about  twice  a 
week,  the  other ,  generally  once  a  week,  and  he  learned  they 
had  commenced  the  habit  with  dos,es  of  less  than  a  grain. 
The  effect  was  said  to  be  tonic  and  stimulant  and  was  believed 
to  aid  the  respiration  when  climbing.  Once  having  acquired 
the  habit,  like  that  of  other  poisons,  an  occasional  dose  is 
much  missed  if  omitted. 

Arsenic  has  been  a  subject  of  interest  to  some  of  our 
most  eminent  chemists,  one  of  whom  at  least,  has  fallen  a 
victim  to  it.  The  first  to  make  an  accurate  investigation  of 
its  chemical  nature  was  Georg  Brandt,  a  Swede,  in  1773.  The 
famous  Swedish  chemist  Scheele  (1742-1786)  also  worked  on 
the  subject,  and  discovered  arsenic  acid  in  1775,  and  impure 


SOME  CLASSICAL   POISONS  95 

arseniuretted  hydrogen.  Soubeiran,  the  French  chemist, 
together  with  Pfaff,  succeeded  in  obtaining  pure  arseniuretted 
hydrogen,  but  so  httle  was  known  of  its  deadly  nature  that 
in  1815  Gehlen,  the  professor  of  chemistry  at  Munich,  died 
owing  to  inhahng  a  minute  quantity  of  the  pure  gas.  Both 
BerzeUus  (1779-1848)  and  Bunsen  contributed  much  to  the 
scientific  knowledge  of  arsenic,  and  the  latter  in  1842  dis- 
covered an  organic  radical  containing  arsenic  and  methyl, 
which  became  known  as  cacodyl,  the  salts  of  which  have 
since  been  introduced  into  medicine  for  certain  diseases  with 
satisfactory  results. 

From  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  founders  of 
the  modern  science  of  toxicology,  Orfila,  Raspail,  Christi- 
son,  Taylor  and  Thomas  Stevenson,  devoted  the  best  part  of 
their  lives  to  the  discovery  of  new  and  accurate  tests  for 
poisons.  Orfila  (1787-1853)  did  his  best  to  make  their  detec- 
tion a  matter  of  certainty  by  insisting  that  poisons  should  be 
looked  for  in  other  parts  of  the  body  and  not  only  in  the 
alimentary  canal.  It  was  in  his  time  that  the  three  principal 
tests  by  liquid  reagents  became  known. 

Robert  Christison  (i 797-1 882)  worked  under  Orfila  in  Paris, 
and  devoted  much  attention  to  methods  of  testing  for  arsenic. 
He  was  professor  of  medical  jurisprudence  in  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  until  1882,  and  was  called  as  toxicological  expert 
at  the  trial  of  Madeleine  Smith  and  in  other  famous  cases. 

Reinsch,  who  developed  the  test  of  the  deposition  of  metallic 
arsenic  on  a  bright  copper  plate,  published  his  results  in  1842, 
and  this  was  followed  by  Marsh  with  his  still  more  important 
test  with  nascent  hydrogen  in  1846.  Fresenius  and  von  Babo 
discovered  a  method  for  the  systematic  search  of  the  organic 
matter  of  the  viscera  in  1844,  and  in  1850  Stas  published  his 
process  by  which  alkaline  poisons  could  be  extracted  from 
the  viscera. 

As  the  science  of  toxicology  has  progressed,  so  the  chances 
of  the  criminal  poisoner  have  grown  smaller  and  smaller,  till 
at  the  present  day  there  is  a  very  slight  chance  of  the  arsenical 
poisoner  going  undetected. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  distinguished  medical  professor  who 
used  to  impress  on  his  students  that  they  should  never  dismiss 
from  their  minds  the  possibility  of  murder  in  the  case  of  a 


96  POISON   MYSTERIES 

mysterious  illness,  however  little  suspicious  the  circumstances 
might  be.  He  used  to  give  an  illustration  from  his  own 
experience  in  a  case  where  he  was  called  in  consultation  by  a 
local  practitioner,  who  was  baffled  by  the  illness  of  the  wife 
of  a  clergyman.  The  professor,  after  the  consultation,  asked 
the  husband,  "  Has  the  possibility  of  poisoning  occurred  to 
you  ?  "  "It  has,"  was  his  reply,  "  and  I  have  been  so  care- 
ful to  guard  against  it  that  I  have  actuall}/  made  it  a  practice 
to  prepare  my  wife's  food  myself.''  "  Then  I  dismiss  the 
thought,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  but  as  I  have  already  taken  a 
sample  of  the  food  in  the  bedroom,  I  may  as  well  have  it 
analysed  as  a  matter  of  form."  The  clergyman  thanked  the 
physician  for  his  scrupulous  care,  the  latter  returned  to  Lon- 
don, and  the  former  shot  himself.  According  to  the  story, 
the  truth  of  which  is  not  vouched  for,  the  wife  recovered  and 
erected  a  memorial  to  her  husband  in  the  parish  church. 

Mercury,  one  of  the  most  fascinating  of  all  the  elements, 
has  traditions  that  carry  it  back  to  an  unknown  period  of 
antiquity.  In  the  form  of  sulphide  it  is  recorded  in  the 
Papyrus  Ebers  (1550  B.C.)  as  being  used  by  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  but  it  is  said  to  have  been  known  at  an  even 
earlier  date  in  the  form  of  quicksilver  in  China  and  India. 

The  metal  was  probably  named  after  the  Roman  divinity 
Mercury  on  account  of  its  volatile  nature  and  its  elusive 
properties  when  handled.  It  has  the  peculiar  property  of 
absorbing  other  metals  and  forming  amalgams.  As  well  as 
being  found  native,  it  was  obtained  by  the  ancients  by  sub- 
limation from  cinnabar  the  oxide.  By  the  alchemists  it  was 
represented  by  the  same  sign  as  the  planet  Mercury.  It  is 
alluded  to  by  Theophrastus  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  but  it 
is  to  Dioscorides  in  the  first  century  a.d.  it  owes  the  name  of 
hydrargyrum  or  fluid  silver. 

For  a  long  time  the  liquid  metal  was  believed  to  bp  poison- 
ous and  the  native  quicksilver  was  thought  to  be  different 
from  hydrargyrum  obtained  from  the  sulphide.  Berthelot  has 
shown  that  the  protochloride  of  mercury  was  prepared  and 
known  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Democritus  in  the  fifth 
century  B.C.  In  1386  Chaucer  alludes  to  it  as  "  quick-silver 
yclept  mercuric." 

The  Arabs,  who  doubtless  derived  their  knowledge  of  the 


SOME  CLASSICAL   POISONS  97 

metal  from  the  Greeks,  v/ere  much  attracted  by  it,  and  Geber 
describes  perchloride  of  mercury,  also  the  red  oxide  from 
which  Priestley  afterwards  prepared  oxygen.  Avicenna,  the 
Arab  physician,  was  the  first  to  doubt  the  poisonous  properties 
of  the  metal  itself,  and  noted  that  many  persons  swallowed 
it  without  any  ill  effects,  as  it  passed  through  the  body 
unchanged.  Fallopius  (1523-1562)  records  that  shepherds 
gave  quicksilver  in  his  time  to  sheep  and  cattle  to  expel  worms, 
and  Brassavola  (1500-1555)  says  that  he  had  given  it  to 
children  in  doses  from  two  to  twenty  grains  for  the  expulsion 
of  worms. 

About  1497  it  was  first  used  in  the  treatment  of  syphilis, 
in  the  form  of  inunction,  plasters  and  fumigation.  Beringario 
de  Carpi  of  Bologna,  who  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  is  said  to  have  made  large  sums  of  money 
from  his  treatment  of  syphilis  by  inunction  with  mercurial 
ointment.  John  Vigo  advised  fumigation  in  obstinate  cases. 
The  first  to  record  its  use  internally  was  Peter  Matthiolus, 
the  commentator  of  Dioscorides  (1501-1577).  Paracelsus 
popularized  its  use,  and  since  the  sixteenth  century  mercury 
has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  valuable  medicine  throughout 
the  world. 

Robert  Boyle,  who  was  born  in  1627,  and  is  regarded  as 
the  father  of  chemistry  in  Great  Britain,  commenced  his 
experiments  in  a  little  laboratory  in  Oxford  in  1653.  He 
afterwards  founded  the  Royal  Society,  and  used  to  make  the 
oxide  by  heating  mercury  in  a  bottle  fitted  with  a  stopper 
provided  with  a  narrow  tube  by  which  air  was  admitted. 
The  product  was  known  as  "  Boyle's  Hell,"  on  account 
of  the  belief  that  it  caused  the  metal  to  suffer  extreme 
agonies. 

The  many  ways  in  which  mercury  can  be  transformed  and  the 
numerous  products  which  can  be  made  from  it,  have  had  a  fasci- 
nation TOr  chemists  throughout  the  ages.  Homberg  (c.  1675), 
a  German  chemist,  found  that  by  putting  a  little  mercury  into 
a  bottle  and  attaching  it  to  the  wheel  of  a  mill  that  the  metal 
was  turned  into  a  blackish  powder  (protoxide).  It  is  to  Sir 
Theodore  Turquet  de  Mayerne  that  we  owe  the  popularity  of 
calomel,  another  product  of  mercury,  for  medicinal  purposes. 
Mayerne  was  the  favourite  physician  of  Henry  IV  of  P>ance, 

G 


98  POISON   MYSTERIES 

but  being  compelled  to  leave  Paris,  he  settled  in  London  and 
served  in  the  same  capacity  to  James  I  and  Charles  I. 

Mercury  has  been  credited  with  certain  occult  properties, 
and  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  it  was  a 
common  practice  in  London  to  carry  in  the  pocket  a  quill 
filled  with  quicksilver  and  sealed  at  the  end,  as  a  protection 
against  rheumatism.  This  superstition  has  survived  to  the 
present  day,  and  in  some  chemists'  shops  in  the  City  little 
glass  tubes  containing  mercury,  sealed  and  placed  in  wash- 
leather  bags,  are  still  sold,  and  carried  in  the  belief  that 
they  will  ward  off  attacks  of  rheumatism  while  the  phial 
is  on  the  person. 

Antimony  has  played  an  important  part,  both  in  medicine 
and  chemistry,  from  a  very  early  period.  Known  to  the 
ancients  as  "  stibium  "  or  "  stimmi,"  the  native  sulphide  was 
used  by  women  in  Egypt  and  in  the  East  over  three  thousand 
years  ago,  for  darkening  the  eyebrows  and  eyelids.  Arab 
women  still  use  it  in  the  form  of  "kohl,"  finely  ground  for 
making  lines  between  the  eyelids,  which  they  regard  as  an  aid 
to  beauty.  It  was  a  favourite  metal  with  the  alchemists, 
who  hoped  to  obtain  from  it  a  remedy  for  all  ills.  They  soon 
discovered  how  readily  it  formed  alloys  with  other  metals, 
and  found  it  a  simple  matter  to  make  salts  of  the  metal. 
They  knew  that  by  simply  heating  crude  antimony  in  a 
crucible  they  would  sometimes  get  a  vitreous  substance,  in 
consequence  of  some  of  the  silica  of  the  crucible  combining 
with  the  antimony.  They  found  that  by  digesting  it  in  wine, 
the  tartar  of  the  wine  formed  a  tartrate  of  antimony,  and  by 
other  processes  they  got  various  salts  which  they  discovered 
had  medicinal  properties. 

The  white  oxychloride  which  was  called  "  Algaroth's  powder  " 
or  the  "  mercury  of  life  "  was  one  of  the  most  popular  emetics 
in  the  sixteenth  century ;  it  was  introduced  by  Victor  Algar- 
otti,  a  physician  of  Verona.  Another  celebrated  jMtimony 
compound  was  Kermes  Mineral,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
discovered  by  Glauber  about  1651.  The  process  for  making 
this  orange-red  powder  was  kept  secret,  and  wonderful  cures 
are  declared  to  have  been  effected  by  it. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  probably  one  of  the 
most  popular  remedies  in  France  for  ague,  dropsy,  smallpox. 


SOME  CLASSICAL   POISONS  99 

syphilis  and  other  diseases.  Louis  XV  bought  the  formula 
for  its  preparation  for  a  considerable  sum  in  1720  from  La 
Ligerie. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Mynsicht  is 
said  to  have  re-discovered  the  properties  of  tartar  emetic, 
which  has  probably  been  more  frequently  used  in  medicine 
than  any  other  salt  of  antimony.  It  was  regarded  at  one  time 
as  a  specific  for  fevers,  but  used  more  especially  for  its  emetic 
properties. 

In  the  sixteenth  a.nd  seventeenth  centuries  cups  were  made 
of  an  alloy  of  antimony  and  tin,  called  "  antimony  cups  " 
{pocida  emeticj).  The  cup  was  filled  with  wine,  which  was 
allowed  to  stand  in  it  for  some  little  time  and  become  slightly 
impregnated  with  tartar  emetic,  so  that  the  liquid  when 
drunk  produced  vomiting.  These  cups  were  frequently  found 
in  monasteries,  where  it  is  said  they  were  kept  in  order  that  the 
monks  who  took  too  much  wine  could  be  punished  by  having 
to  drink  some  more  which  had  been  kept  in  the  poculum 
emeticum. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  Basil  Valentine,  a  German 
monk,  whose  identity  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute,  published 
a  work  entitled  the  "  Triumphal  Chariot  of  Antimony,"  in 
which  he  describes  its  virtues  as  a  remedy,  and  the  forms  in 
which  it  could  be  prescribed.  It  was  translated  into  English 
and  published  in  London  in  1678. 

Antimony  has  several  times  been  employed  as  a  poison 
for  criminal  purposes,  and  the  cases  of  Dr.  Pritchard  and 
Chapman  or  Klosowski,  who  used  it,  are  described  in  later 
chapters. 

A  curious  case,  which  shows  how  by  accidental  means  a 
poison  may  find  its  way  into  human  remains  after  death,  came 
to  light  some  months  ago  in  Yorkshire.  After  the  death  of  a 
young  man,  who  was  certified  to  have  died  of  gastrc-enteritis, 
his  friefts  found  that  they  could  not  obtain  an  order  to 
cremate  the  body  until  a  partial  post-mortem  examination 
had  been  made.  This  was  done  and  a  small  quantity  of 
antimonious  oxide  was  found,  which  was  supposed  to  have 
contributed  to  the  cause  of  death. 

A  further  examination  was  therefore  ordered,  and  the 
organs  of  the  body  were  sent  to  the  Home  Office  analyst.     He 


100  POISON  MYSTERIES 

found  that  these  were  entirely  free  from  antimony,  but  he  dis- 
covered that  antimonious  oxide  was  present  in  the  rubber  rings 
of  old  pickle  jars  which  had  been  used  to  send  the  remains  to 
London  for  examination.  From  this  source  the  organs  had 
become  contaminated  and  the  certificate  that  death  resulted 
from  natural  causes  was  confirmed. 

It  is  probable  that  in  this  case  if  the  analyst  had  not 
found  antimony  present  in  the  rubber  bands  of  the  stoppers 
of  the  glass  jars— which  of  course  should  not  have  been  used 
— it  might  have  been  declared  that  the  man  had  died  from 
the  effects  of  antimonial  poisoning,  as  presumably  he  had 
been  actually  taking  antimony  in  the  form  of  medicine  and 
the  result  would  have  been  another  unsolved  poison  mystery. 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  antimony  when  given  in  large 
doses  is  its  property  of  preserving  the  tissues  of  the  body 
after  death.  In  the  Klosowski  case  the  body  of  one  of  his 
victims,  whom  he  had  poisoned  with  antimony,  was  exhumed 
after  five  years,  and  was  found  to  be  completely  mummified 
and  as  well  preserved  as  if  it  had  only  been  buried  a  few  days. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
ROYAL  AND  HISTORIC   POISONERS 

POISON  appears  to  have  been  employed  as  a  political 
agent  from  an  early  period  of  history,  and  many 
stories,  probably  more  legendary  than  correct,  have  been 
handed  down  of  royal  personages  who  used  this  secret  and 
deadly  method  of  ridding  themselves  of  troublesome  indi- 
viduals and  removing  enemies  from  their  path.  In  the  same 
way,  they  themselves  sometimes  became  the  victims  of  jealous 
rivals  by  similar  nefarious  means.  The  greatest  craft  and 
cunning  were  exerted  in  order  to  introduce  poison  into  the 
human  body,  and  there  are  many  stories  concerning  the  curious 
and  subtle  methods  said  to  have  been  employed. 

There  are  but  few  authenticated  records  of  the  use  of  poison 
in  England  for  the  purpose  of  taking  life  until  the  sixteenth 
century,  although  according  to  tradition  King  John  is  said  to 
have  compassed  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  Maud  Fitz- 
Walter  by  m.eans  of  a  poisoned  egg. 

The  story  is  a  romantic  one,  and  is  related  by  Hep\yorth 
Dixon  in  Her  Majesty's  Tower.  In  the  reign  of  King  John 
the  White  Tower  received  one  of  the  first  and  fairest  of  a  long 
line  of  female  victims,  in  the  person  of  Maud  FitzWalter,  who 
was  known  to  the  singers  of  her  time  as  Maud  the  Fair.  The 
father  of  this  beautiful  girl  was  Robert,  Lord  FitzWalter,  of 
Castle  Baynard  on  the  Thames,  one  of  John's  most  powerful 
and  greatest  barons.  The  King,  it  is  said,  during  a  fit  of 
violence  or  temper  with  the  Queen,  fell  madly  in  love  with 
the  fair  Maud.  As  neither  the  lady  herself  nor  her  father 
would  listen  to  his  disgraceful  suit,  the  King  is  said  to 
have  seized  her  by  force  at  Dunmow  and  brought  her  to  the 
Tower.  FitzWalter  raised  an  outcry,  on  which  the  King 
sent  troops  into  Castle  Baynard  and  his  other  houses,  and 

101 


102  POISON   MYSTERIES 

when  the  baron  protested  against  these  wrongs  his  master 
banished  him  from  the  realm.  FitzWalter  fled  to  France 
with  his  wife  and  other  children,  leaving  poor  Maud  in  the 
Tower,  where  she  suffered  a  daily  insult  in  the  King's  unlawful 
suit.  She  remained  obdurate,  however,  and  refused  his  offers. 
On  her  proud  and  scornful  answer  to  his  overtures  being 
heard,  John  carried  her  up  to  the  roof  and  locked  her  in  the 
round  turret,  standing  on  the  north-east  angle  of  the  keep. 
Maud's  cage  was  the  highest  and  chilliest  den  in  the  Tower, 
but  neither  cold,  solitude  nor  hunger  could  break  her  resolve, 
and  at  last,  in  a  rage  of  disappointed  love,  the  King  sent 
one  of  his  minions  to  her  room  with  a  poisoned  egg,  of  which 
the  brave  girl  ate  and  died. 

According  to  the  French  Chronicles,  "  After  the  death  of 
Gaultier  Giffard,  Count  Buckingham,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
twelfth  century,  Agnes  his  widow  became  enamoured  with 
Robert  Duke  of  Normandy,  and  attached  herself  to  him  in  an 
illicit  manner,  shortly  after  which  time  his  wife  Sibylle  died 
of  poison." 

Probably  the  earliest  recorded  case  of  secret  poisoning  in 
England  is  that  of  Sir  Walter  de  Scotiney,  who  was  convicted 
of  poisoning  the  Abbot  of  Westminster  and  William,  brother 
of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester.  According  to  Leland's  account, 
this  happened  during  the  meeting  of  a  parliament  which  had 
been  convened  at  Winchester  by  Henry  the  Third  about  1230. 
The  story  is  told  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  The  Abbot  of  Westminster  and  William  brother  of  the 
Earl  of  Gloucester,  a  person  of  great  worth  and  spirit,  were 
both  destroyed.  The  Earl  of  Gloucester  himself  languished 
under  the  effects  of  the  poison  and  only  escaped  death  with 
extreme  difficulty,  for  the  hair  fell  from  his  head  and  the  nails 
from  his  fingers.  They  are  said  to  have  received  into  their 
bowels  the  deadly  drug  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  Edward,  King 
Henry's  eldest  son,  during  breakfast.  The  Earl  escaped 
destruction  merely  by  the  strength  of  his  constitution  with 
the  loss  of  his  hair,  nails,  skin  and  great  injury  to  his  teeth. 
These  atrocious  deeds  struck  the  people  with  Horror.  The 
villainy  was  imputed  to  a  certain  knight,  Walter  de  Scotiney, 
and  at  the  appeal  of  the  Countess  de  LTsle  he  was  seized, 
judged  and  drawn/' 


ROYAL   AND   HISTORIC   POISONERS  103 

"In  the  same  year  and  the  latter  end  of  February,"  the 
chronicler  continues, 

"  was  apprehended  at  London  Walter  de  Scotiney,  the  Chief 
Councillor  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  and  his  seneschall,  being 
suspected  of  having  given  the  poisonous  potion  to  the  Earl, 
who  was  himself  hardly  saved  from  the  gate  of  death,  and  to 
his  brother  William  de  Clare  who  was  really  killed  by  it  ;  also 
was  taken  William  de  Bussey  whose  villanies  if  related  must 
excite  horror  and  astonishment.  He  was  the  seneschal  and 
principal  councillor  of  William  de  Valence.  These  men, 
although  they  had  been  under  the  safe  custody  of  sureties, 
being  now  seized  and  brought  before  the  judges  were  com- 
mitted to  a  viler  prison  and  put  in  chains." 

In  the  records  of  LIugh  de  Bigot,  the  High  Justiciar,  it  is 
stated  : 

"  Coming  to  Winchester  they  brought  Walter  de  Scotiney 
steward  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  to  his  trial  for  poisoning 
William  de  Clare  the  preceding  year.  Scotiney  was  con- 
victed,  condemned   and  executed." 

Henry  VIII  at  one  period  of  his  life  was  apprehensive  of 
being  poisoned,  and  it  was  commonly  stated  that  Anne 
Boleyn  attempted  to  administer  poison  to  him  surreptitiously. 
It  is  recorded  that  the  King,  in  an  interview  with  young  Prince 
Henry,  burst  into  tears,  saying  that  "he  and  his  sister,  the 
Princess  Mary,  might  thank  God  for  having  escaped  from  the 
hand  of  that  accursed  and  venomous  harlot,  who  had  intended 
to  poison  them." 

The  story  of  the  Countess  of  Somerset,  who  was  tried  with 
others  for  the  murder  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  in  the  reign 
of  James  I,  forms  an  interesting  episode  in  the  history  of 
romantic  poisoning.  Robert  Earl  of  Essex,  son  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  favourite,  and  who  afterwards  became  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Parliamentary  forces,  married,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  Frances  Howard,  a  younger  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Suffolk,  the  bride  being  just  a  year  younger  than  her 
husband.  The  match  had  been  arranged  and  brought  about 
through  the  influence  of  relatives,  who  thought  it  expedient 
that  the  youthful  bridegroom  should  be  sent  off  to  travel  on 
the   Continent   immediately  after   the   marriage   had   taken 


104  POISON   MYSTERIES 

place,  and  he  remained  away  for  three  or  four  years.  During 
this  period  the  countess,  who  was  brought  up  at  Court,  deve- 
loped into  a  very  beautiful  woman,  but  seems  to  have  been 
equally  unprincipled  and  capricious.  On  the  return  of  the 
earl  from  his  travels,  she  shrank  from  all  advances  on  his  part, 
and  showed  the  utmost  repugnance  to  her  husband  on  all 
occasions.  Their  dispositions  were  entirely  different.  He 
loved  retirement,  and  wished  to  live  a  quiet  country  life, 
while  she,  who  had  been  bred  at  Court,  and  accustomed  to 
adulation  and  intrigue,  refused  to  leave  town.  The  King 
about  this  time  had  a  number  of  young  men  of  distinguished 
appearance  and  good  looks  attached  to  the  Court,  and  of 
these,  one  Robert  Carr,  at  length  became  an  exclusive  favour- 
ite. Between  him  and  the  self-willed  young  countess  there 
sprang  up  an  attachment,  which,  at  least  on  her  side,  amounted 
to  infatuation.  Her  opportunities  for  meeting  her  lover 
were  short  and  rare,  and  in  this  emergency  she  applied  to  a 
Mrs.  Turner,  who  introduced  her  to  Dr.  Form.an,  a  noted 
astrologer  and  magician  at  that  time,  and  he,  by  images  made 
of  wax  and  other  devices  of  the  black  art,  undertook  to  pro- 
cure the  love  of  Carr  for  the  lady.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
also  to  practise  against  the  earl  in  the  opposite  direction. 
These  measures,  however,  were  too  slow  for  the  wayward 
countess,  and  having  gone  to  the  utmost  lengths  with  her 
inamorato,  she  insisted  on  a  divorce  from  her  husband,  and 
a  legal  marriage  with  her  lover. 

One  of  Carr's  greatest  friends  was  Sir  Thomas  Overbury, 
a  young  courtier  and  a  man  of  honour  and  kindly  disposition. 
He  was  much  against  this  intimacy,  and  besought  his  friend 
to  break  it  off,  assuring  him  it  would  ruin  his  prospects  and 
reputation  if  he  married  the  lady.  Carr  unwisely  made  this 
known  to  the  countess,  who  at  once  regarded  Overbury  as 
a  bitter  enemy,  and  resolved  to  do  what  she  could  to  over- 
throw him.  The  pair  plotted  together  with  evident  success, 
for  the  unfortunate  Sir  Thomas  was  shortly  afterwards  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower  by  an  arbitrary  mandate  of  the  King, 
and  was  not  allowed  to  see  any  visitors.  Finally,  his 
food  was  poisoned,  and,  after  several  unsuccessful  attempts 
on  his  life,  he  at  last  died  from  the  effects  of  poison.  Canthar- 
ides,  nitrate  of  silver,  spiders,  arsenic,  and  last  of  all,  corrosive 


ROYAL  AND   HISTORIC   POISONERS  105 

sublimate,  are  said  to  have  been  administered  in  turn  to  this 
unfortunate  individual.  Meanwhile,  the  countess  obtained 
a  divorce  from  her  husband  on  the  ground  of  impotency, 
and  married  Carr,  who  was  soon  after  made  Earl  of  Somerset 
by  King  James. 

Two  years  elapsed  before  the  murder  of  Sir  Thomas  Over- 
bury  was  brought  to  light,  when  the  inferior  criminals,  Mrs. 
Turner  and  others,  were  convicted  and  executed  ;  but  the 
Earl  of  Somerset  and  his  countess,  although  found  guilty 
with  their  accomplices,  received  the  royal  pardon.  The 
happiness  of  the  earl  and  countess,  however,  was  not  of  long 
duration,  as  it  is  stated  they  afterwards  became  so  alienated 
from  each  other,  that  they  resided  for  years  under  the  same 
roof  with  the  most  careful  precautions  that  they  might 
not  by  any  chance  come  into  each  other's  presence.  Mrs. 
Turner,  implicated  in  the  crime,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
to  introduce  into  England  the  yellow  starch  that  was  then 
applied  to  ladies'  ruffs.  Her  last  request  was  that  she  should 
be  hanged  in  a  ruff  dyed  with  her  own  yellow  starch,  and 
her  wish  is  said  to  have  been  carried  out. 

Whether  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  Prime  Minister 
and  favourite  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  as  black  as  he  is  painted 
by  some  of  the  historians  of  his  time,  it  is  difficult  to  judge. 
His  ambition  to  marry  his  royal  mistress,  who,  shrewd  woman 
as  she  was,  appears  to  have  had  no  insight  into  his  unscrupu- 
lous character,  was  apparently  the  cause  of  his  attempting 
to  move  every  human  obstacle  from  his  path  by  insidious 
methods.  The  death  of  Amy  Robsart,  a  mystery  which  has 
never  been  completely  solved  and  a  description  of  which  is 
given  in  a  following  chapter,  is  attributed  to  Leicester's 
machinations.  He  was  suspected  of  causing  the  death  of 
Lord  Sheffield,  and  the  Earl  of  Essex,  another  rival,  is  stated 
to  have  been  also  the  victim  of  his  hatred. 

The  death  of  the  latter  peer  is  said,  in  the  language  of  a  con- 
temporary chronicler,  as  having  been  due  to  "an  extreme 
flux  cause  by  an  Italian  Receit,  the  maker  whereof  was  a 
surgeon  that  was  then  newly  come  to  my  Lord  from  Italy,  a 
cunning  man  and  sure  in  operation."  The  inventor  of  this 
recipe  was  known  as  Dr.  Julio,  who  was  said  to  be  able  "  to 
make  a  man  dye  in  what  manner  of  sickness  you  will."     Essex 


io6  POISON   MYSTERIES 

died  when  on  his  way  back  to  England  from  Ireland,  with  the 
object,  it  is  said,  of  revenging  himself  on  Leicester  for  his 
domestic  wrongs.  "  With  the  Earl  of  Essex,  one  Mrs.  Alice 
Drakott,  a  godly  gentlewoman,  is  also  said  to  have  been 
poisoned."  This  lady  happened  to  be  accompanying  the 
earl  on  her  w^y  towards  her  own  house,  when  after  partaking 
of  the  same  cup  she  was  also  seized  with  violent  pain  and 
vomiting,  which  continued  until  she  died,  a  day  or  two  before 
the  earl  succumbed.  "  When  she  was  dead,"  says  the  chron- 
icler, "  her  body  was  swollen  into  a  monstruous  bigness  and 
deformity  ;  whereof  the  good  earl,  hearing  the  day  following, 
lamented  the  case  greatly,  and  said  in  the  presence  of  his 
servants,  '  Ah  !  poor  Alice,  the  cup  was  not  prepared  for  thee, 
albeit  it  was  thy  hard  fortune  to  taste  thereof.'  " 

According  to  all  accounts,  Leicester's  list  of  victims  did 
not  cease  here,  and,  rightly  or  wrongly,  the  death  of  Cardinal 
Chatillian,  who  was  taken  suddenly  ill  and  died  in  Canterbury,- 
is  also  attributed  to  him.  The  Cardinal  had  accused  the 
earl  of  preventing  the  marriage  of  the  Queen  to  the  King  of 
France,  and  was  journeying  back  to  Dover  when  he  was  taken 
ill  and  died  in  a  mysterious  manner. 

Another  mysterious  death  at  this  time  that  occasioned  con- 
siderable sensation  was  that  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton, 
a  wealthy  city  magnate  of  Elizabeth's  time,  whose  name: 
is  still  perpetuated  in  the  City.  Sir  Nicholas  is  said  to 
have  been  an  associate  of  Leicester's  and  the  one  who  was 
ready  to  do  his  bidding  in  thwarting  the  doings  of  the  Lord 
Treasurer,  Sir  William  Cecil,  who  was  thought  by  Leicester  to 
be  playing  him  false.  He  invited  him  one  night  to  a  supper  at 
his  house  in  London,  and,  just  as  the  meal  was  served,  hurriedly 
left  for  Court,  to  which  he  said  he  had  been  called  suddenly 
by  her  Majesty.  Sir  Nicholas  was  told  to  proceed  with  the 
meal  in  his  absence,  which  he  did,  but  soon  after  was  seized 
with  violent  vomiting,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  The 
story  continues,  that  the  day  before  his  death  he  declared  to  a 
dear  friend  "  all  the  circumstances  and  causes  of  his  com- 
plaint, which  he  affirmed  plainly  to  be  poison  given  him  in  a 
sallet  at  supper,  inveighing  most  earnestly  against  the  earl's 
cruelty  and  bloody  disposition,  and  affirming  him  to  be  the 
wickedest,  most  perilous  and  perfidious  man  under  heaven." 


ROYAL   AND   HISTORIC   POISONERS  107 

Whether  Leicester  was  the  unscrupulous  villain  he  was 
made  out  to  be  or  not,  there  is  no  evidence  to  prove.  Many 
writers  aver  that  he  kept  his  professional  poisoners  ready  to  do 
his  will  and  carry  out  his  designs.  There  seems  little  doubt 
that  he  had  some  needy  physicians  in  his  pay.  His  personal 
doctor,  one  Bayly,  is  said  to  have  boasted  of  the  fact  that 
"  he  knew  of  poisons  which  might  be  so  tempered  that  they 
should  kill  the  party  afterwards  at  what  time  it  should  be 
appointed."  This  method,  which  is  alluded  to  by  many 
writers  of  the  fifteenth  century  as  slow  poisoning,  was  probably 
due  to  the  effect  of  administering  some  poison,  such  as  arsenic 
or  antimony  in  small  doses  until  the  cumulative  effect  of  the 
substance  proved  fatal. 

An  Italian  doctor  whom  Leicester  brought  home  from  his 
travels  in  Italy,  is  mentioned  in  several  stories  as  one  of  the 
unscrupulous  physicians  employed  by  him  who  were  ready 
to  administer  the  "  Italian  Comfortive,"  as  the  poison  was 
called,  at  his  bidding.  Those  whose  sudden  deaths  were 
attributed  to  Leicester's  instrumentality  were  commonly  said 
to  have  succumbed  to   "  Leicester's  cold." 

There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  Leicester  was  suspected 
of  being  the  instigator  of  many  murders  which  probably  he 
may  have  had  nothing  to  do  with,  as  he  made  many  enemies. 

His  name  is  also  associated  with  the  sudden  demise  of 
Lord  Sheffield,  whose  death  is  said  to  have  been  due  to  "  Leices- 
ter's cold."  A  short  time  afterwards  the  earl  married  his 
widow,  but  under  pretence  that  the  Queen  would  be  offended 
at  the  marriage,  compelled  her  to  keep  it  secret.  After  some 
time,  the  more  effectually  to  conceal  the  connection,  he 
required  her  to  marry  Sir  Edward  Stafford.  This  she  refused 
to  do,  till  under  the  gentle  discipline  of  Leicester  it  is  recorded 
that  "  her  hair  fell  off  and  her  nails  fell  out,  and  she  did  what 
was  demanded  of  her  to  save  her  life."  This  story  is  certified 
by  her  own  testimony  on  oath,  and  recorded  by  Sir  William 
Dugdale. 

The  Earl  of  Sussex,  his  great  rival,  is  also  said  to  have  been 
one  of  his  victims.  On  his  death-bed  he  is  said  to  have  warned 
his  friends  in  the  following  words  :  "I  am  passing  into 
another  world  and  must  now  leave  you  to  your  good  fortunes 
and  to  the  Queen's  grace  and  goodness  ;    but  beware  of  the 


io8  POISON   MYSTERIES 

gipsy's  son  [Leicester]  for  he  will  be  too  hard  for  you  all. 
You  know  the  beast  as  well  as  I  do." 

Camden,  the  historian,  who  does  not  discredit  many  of 
these  stories,  asserts  that  Leicester  actually  proposed  in 
Council  that  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  should  be  removed  by  poison. 

There  was  a  curious  mystery  about  the  death  of  Prince 
Alexander,  the  son  of  Peter  the  Great,  the  story  of  which  is 
related  by  Henry  Bruce,  an  Englishman  in  Peter's  service  in 
1782.  Bruce  states  that  he  was  at  the  citadel  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  where  the  Tsarevitch  was  imprisoned  on  a  charge 
oilesc-majeste,  the  Tsar  and  Marshal  Veide  being  also  present. 
The  latter  ordered  Bruce  to  go  to  the  apothecary  Beer,  who 
lived  close  by,  and  tell  him  "  the  potion  must  be  made  strong, 
for  the  Prince  was  very  bad  indeed."  The  apothecary  trem- 
bled and  turned  pale  at  the  message,  but  refused  to  explain 
to  Bruce  why  he  was  thus  agitated.  The  Marshal,  who  had 
sent  Bruce,  followed  him,  and  told  Beer  to  "  hurry,  for  the 
Prince  had  had  an  apoplectic  fit."  The  apothecary  handed 
him  a  silver  cup,  which  the  Marshal  carried  to  the  Prince, 
"  staggering  all  the  time  like  a  drunken  man."  Half  an  hour 
after  the  Tsar  left  the  citadel,  gloomy,  like  all  his  retinue. 
Bruce  was  ordered  to  stay  and  dine  at  a  table  set  for  the 
Tsarevitch.  "  Two  doctors  and  two  surgeons  dined  apart. 
They  were  called  in  to  the  Prince  ;  he  was  in  convulsions, 
and  died  at  5  p.m.,  after  atrocious  suffering.  Bruce  informed 
the  Marshal,  who  told  the  Tsar.  The  viscera  were  removed 
by  Peter  the  Great's  orders  before  the  body  was  coffined." 

In  India,  when  powdered  glass  is  employed  for  lethal  pur- 
poses, it  is  generally  given  with  sherbet  or  some  kind  of 
food.  It  acts  as  a  powerful  irritant  to  the  coats  of  the 
stomach  or  intestines  and  produces  gastro-enteritis. 

A  celebrated  case  in  which  this  substance  was  used  occurred  in 
India  in  1874,  when  the  Gaekwar  or  reigning  prince  of  Baroda, 
was  tried  for  attempting  to  kill  the  British  political  resident. 
Colonel  Phayre,  by  administering  powdered  glass  to  him  in 
sherbet.  He  was  brought  to  trial  before  a  court  composed 
of  three  Indian  and  three  English  judges,  and  after  a  trial 
lasting  thirty-five  days  the  English  judges  pronounced  for  a 
conviction  and  the  three  Indian  ones  for  an  acquittal.  In 
the  end  the  Gaekwar  was  deposed  and  deported  to  Madras. 


CHAPTER   IX 
POISONS  TRIED   ON   HUMAN   BEINGS 

FROM  an  early  period  science  has  been  gradually  built 
up  by  experimental  methods  and  even  the  ancients  were 
cognizant  of  the  fact  that  the  remedial  properties  of  a  substance 
could  only  be  proved  by  actual  experiment.  Not  only  animals 
but  human  beings  were  utilized  for  this  purpose  by  many 
famous  physicians  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Criminals  who  had  been 
condemned  to  death  were  generally  sejected  when  available. 

It  is  stated  by  Pierre  Fabre,  in  the  History  of  the  Apostles, 
that  the  Apostle 'John  was  present  at  the  execution  of  two 
criminals  by  poison  in  the  public  forum  at  Ephesus. 

Vivisection  of  the  live  human  subject  was  practised  by  the 
Alexandrian  school  in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies.  Erasistratos 
and  Herophilos,  pupils  of  Chrysippos  of  Cnidos,  are  said  to 
have  experimented  upon  600  condemned  criminals  handed 
over  to  them  by  Ptolemy  Soter.  They  opened  the 
abdomens  of  some  of  these  men  to  study  the  movements 
of  the  colon  and  those  of  the  muscle  of  the  diaphragm  on 
the  inspiration  of  air  ;  they  also  opened  the  chests  of  the 
others  to  study  the  cardiac  movements.  Their  conduct, 
however,  met  with  the  reprobation  of  their  contemporaries. 
Celsus  and  Galen  reproached  Herophilos  with  "cruel  and 
useless  sacrifices  "  and  of  "inhuman  feeling,"  while  Tertullian 
called  him  roundly  "  an  executioner  who  gave  lingering  death 
with  refined  cruelty."  The  Court  physicians  of  Attalus, 
King  of  Pergamus,  and  Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  were 
authorized  in  virtue  of  their  ofhce  to  try  poisons  upon 
criminals,  and  were  accused  by  their  jealous  colleagues  of 
pluming  themselves  upon  their  privileges,  while  less  favoured 
practitioners  were  compelled  to  be  content  to  experiment 
upon  cocks  and  dogs. 

109 


110  POISON  MYSTERIES 

An  allusion  to  the  use  of  animals  for  the  purpose  of 
physiological  experiment  is  to  be  found  in  a  document 
still  preserved  in  the  Venetian  secret  archives,  which  bears 
the  date  1432.  It  states  :  "Trial  has  been  made  on  three 
porcine  animals  of  certain  venoms  found  in  the  chancery 
sent  very  long  ago  from  Vicenza  which  have  been  proved  not 
to  be  good." 

This  document  affords  interesting  proof  that  the  Italians 
at  that  early  period  were  much  in  advance  of  other  European 
nations  in  their  knowledge  of  poisonous  substances. 

Brassavola  of  Ferrara  studied  little  known  and  doubtfiil 
remedies  by  testing  their  effects  on  criminals,  and  Fallopius, 
his  pupil,  who  eventually  made  such  important  physiological 
discoveries,"  followed  his  master's  example.  It  is  recorded 
that  Cosimo  de  Medici,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  on  one  occasion 
ordered  the  magistrates  of  Pisa  to  hand  over  -two  men  to 
Fallopius,  "  in  order  that  he  may  put  them  to  death  in  what- 
ever way  he  pleases,  and  then  anatomize  them."  Fallopius, 
however,  seeing  the  men  "were  condemned  to  death,  seems  to 
have  acted  with  both  dignity  and  humanity.  He  gave  them 
each  eight  grains  of  opium  ;  one  died  and  the  other  recovered. 
Cosimo  pardoned  him,  but,  if  we  may  believe  contemporary 
records,  Fallopius  did  not  :  he  gave  the  man  eight  grains  more, 
and  this  time  he  died. 

At  Bologna,  poisons  were  habitually  administered  to 
criminals  without  their  knowledge  to  obviate  the  perturbing 
influence  of  fear  upon  natural  toxic  effects.  Arsenic  was 
employed  in  the  same  way  at  Mantua  and  Florence.  Even 
princes  of  the  Church  did  not  show  themselves  above  taking 
part  in  these  experiments.  The  Cardinal- Archbishop  of 
Ravenna,  with  the  permission  of  Duke  Ercole  II,  tried  the 
effects  of  corrosive  sublimate  (!)  as  an  antidote,  though 
this  seems  rather  like  cutting  off  a  child's  head  to  cure  it  of 
squinting.  Pope  Clement  VII's  experiment  with  a  secret  oil 
which  was  given  to  certain  unfortunate  Corsicans  as  an  antidote 
to  the  aconite  they  administered  judicially,  may  be  cited  as 
a  more  humane  effort  in  the  cause  of  science,  and  was,  no 
doubt,  considered  to  have  been  partially  successful,  as  one 
of  the  victims  survived  the  aconite  and  received  a  freie 
pardon. 


POISONS  TRIED  ON  HUMAN  BEINGS        in 

Dr.  Harris,  who  was  physician-in-ordinary  to  Charles  II, 
gives  an  account  of  one  Pontaeus,  apparently  a  contemporary, 
who  is  described  as  the  first  mountebank  who  ever  appeared 
on  a  stage  in  England.  This  performer  issued  a  challenge  to 
the  physicians  of  Oxford  to  prepare  the  rankest  poison  they 
could  contrive,  and  he  undertook  that  one  of  his  servants 
should  take  it  and  recover.  Thus  would  he  demonstrate  the 
marvellous  virtues  of  the  orvietan  he  had  for  sale.  The 
medical  practitioners  of  Oxford  accepted  the  challenge, 
and  decided  on  aqua  fortis.  Pontaeus's  man  drank  off  on 
the  stage  what  they  brought  him,  fell  down  as  dead,  was 
carried  off,  and  reappeared  the  next  day  no  worse  for  his 
experience.  Dr.  Plarris  explains  that  previous  to  the  test 
he  had  well  greased  his  mouth  and  gullet  with  2  or  3  lb.  of 
fresh  butter,  and  that  after  getting  him  behind  the  scenes  a 
lot  more  butter  was  adrninistered,  and  then  warm  water, 
which  m.ade  him  sick.  Another  member  of  the  charlatan's 
staff  next  washed  his  hands  in  molten  lead  before  the  spec- 
tators. Plis  hands  were  immediately  violently  inflamed,  and 
his  sufferings  were  obvious  to  the  crowd,  if  not  appreciated 
by  himself.  Some  of  the  professor's  famous  green  ointment 
was  then  applied  to  the  almost  skinless  flesh,  and  the  hands 
were  carefully  bandaged.  Next  day  the  bandages  were 
removed,  and  the  hands  were  scarcely  even  inflamed.  It 
transpired  afterwards  that  the  molten  lead  was  warm  quick- 
silver placed  in  a  ladle  painted  red,  and  when  the  man 
dipped  his  hands  in  the  metal  he  was  concealing  in  them 
some  vermilion,  which  he  rubbed  over  the  flesh  under  the 
quicksilver. 

Fran9ois  Ranchin,  Professor  and  Chancellor  of  the  Faculty 
of  Montpcllier  in  the  eighteenth  century,  wrote  that  experi- 
ments upon  human  beings  were  worthy  of  approval  and 
had  been  held  in  high  honour  by  the  ancients. 

English  surgeons  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  also  willing 
to  avail  themselves  when  the  opportunity  offered  to  experi- 
ment on  a  condemned  criminal. 

In  1731  a  man  named  Charles  Ray  was  reprieved  on  con- 
dition that  William  Cheselden,  the  famous  anatomist  and 
surgeon,  should  perforate  the  drum  of  his  ear  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain if  it  would  cause  deafness.     The  unfortunate  subject, 


112  POISON   MYSTERIES 

however,  was  taken  ill  with  fever  before  the  experiment 
could  be  performed,  and  the  operation  was  abandoned. 

Again,  in  1763  another  condemned  man  was  offered  a 
reprieve  on  condition  that  he  consented  to  have  one  of  his 
legs  amputated  to  test  the  power  of  a  new  styptic.  Fortun- 
ately, perhaps,  for  him,  he  died  before  the  experiment  could 
be  performed.  Four  years  later  one  John  Benham  is  reported 
to  have  been  reprieved  for  a  similar  purpose,  but  when  Pierce, 
the  inventor  of  the  styptic,  waited  upon  the  Secretary  of  State 
to  make  arrangements,  he  was  informed  that  His  Majesty  the 
King  was  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  quite  improper  to  try 
such  an  experiment. 

In  more  recent  times  seven  condemned  criminals  in  France 
were  inoculated  with  the  plague,  but  only  one  contracted  the 
disease,  and  a  certain  German  professor  inoculated  a  man 
with  carbuncle,  which  brought  upon  him  the  denunciations 
of  his  professional  brethren. 

On  the  ethics  of  such  experiments  much  diversity  of  opinion 
exists,  but  only  when  the  subjects  voluntarily  submit  them- 
selves, as  was  recently  done  in  connection  with  the  researches 
on  yellow  fever,  can  this  course  be  in  any  way  justified. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  SLOW  AND  TIME  POISONS   OF  MEDIEVAL 

TIMES 

THE  belief  that  certain  slow  and  secret  poisons  could 
be  so  prepared  that  their  administration  could  be 
controlled  with  such  a  degree  of  precision  as  to  cause  death 
at  any  given  period,  according  to  the  will  of  the  poisoner, 
has  existed  from  ancient  times.  This  idea  was  encouraged 
and  fostered  by  the  practitioners  of  alchemy  and  astrology, 
and  others  who  professed  to  exercise  magical  powers.  They 
also  claimed  a  knowledge  of  certain  lethal  bodies  which 
could  be  administered  to  the  victims  that  would  leave  no 
trace  behind  them. 

"Truly,"  says  a  writer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  "  this 
poisoning  art  called  '  veneficium  '  of  all  others  is  most  abomin- 
able, as  whereby  [crime]  may  be  committed  where  no  suspicion 
may  be  gathered  nor  any  resistance  be  made  ;  the  strong 
cannot  avoid  the  weak  ;  the  wise  cannot  prevent  the  foolish, 
the  godly  cannot  be  preserved  from  the  hands  of  the  wicked  ; 
children  may  thereby  kill  their  parents,  the  servant  the 
master,  the  wife  her  husband  so  privily,  so  uncurably  that 
of  all  other  it  hath  been  thought  the  most  odious  kind  of 
murther." 

The  origin  of  the  time  or  slow  poison  tradition  may  be 
found  in  the  cunning  which  is  usually  associated  with  the 
poisoner.  In  order  to  avoid  suspicion,  the  poison  was  probably 
first  administered  to  the  victim  in  minute  quantities,  then 
gradually  increased,  from  time  to  time,  until  it  was  finally 
decided  to  give  the  lethal  dose,  and  so  the  culminating  time 
was  determined  by  the  poisoner. 

Theophrastus  refers  to  a  poison  prepared  from  aconite 
which,  he  states,  would  produce  its  effects  after  two,  three  or 

113  H 


114  POISON   MYSTERIES 

six  months,  or  even  years,  after  it  had  been  administered. 
Plutarch  records  that  one  of  the  PhiHps  of  Macedon  caused 
such  a  poison  to  be  given  to  Aratus  King  of  Sicyon,  which  is 
said  to  have  produced  a  gradual  wasting  of  the  whole  body, 
accompanied  by  bleeding  from  the  nose. 

In  Italy,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  the  highest  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  did  not  scruple  to  employ  this  evil  method  of 
gaining  their  ends,  and  statesmen  used  it  as  an  instrument  of 
diplomacy.  Princes  and  nobles  became  adepts  in  devising 
the  most  cunning  methods  of  administering  a  lethal  dose  to 
those  whom  they  wished  removed  from  their  paths.  This 
subtle  method  for  the  destruction  of  human  life  seems  to  have 
specially  appealed  to  the  Latin  races  of  all  classes.  When 
they  desired  to  dispose  of  a  dangerous  enemy  or  an  incon- 
venient rival,  they  saw  no  distinction  between  using  poison 
and  the  dagger.  Many  notable  personages  are  said  to 
have  fallen  victims  to  the  poisoner's  craft,  including  Pope 
Victor  II,  Christopher  I,  King  of  Denmark,  and  Henry  VII 
of  Germany. 

With  respect  to  the  latter  monarch,  it  is  stated  that  on  his 
return  from  Italy,  where  he  had  made  many  enemies  both 
in  Church  and  State,  he  stopped  at  the  small  town  of  Buon- 
conventis  to  celebrate  the  festival  of  Easter.  After  receiving 
the  sacrament  he  fell  suddenly  ill  and  died  in  terrible  agony. 
The  sacred  elements  of  the  Eucharist  are  said  indeed  to  have 
been  often  utilized  as  a  medium  for  this  evil  purpose.  A  case 
occurred  within  recent  years  when  the  same  method  was 
employed,  proving  that  even  to-day,  in  some  remote  parts  of 
Italy,  the  old  craft  of  the  poisoner  still  survives.  A  few 
years  ago,  an  aged  priest  named  Donato  Marulli,  while  cele- 
brating mass  in  his  church  in  the  village  of  Villamagua  in 
Abruzzi,  fell  writhing  in  agony  on  the  altar  steps.  Consterna- 
tion ensued  among  the  congregation  present,  who  crowded 
round  the  sacristan  demanding  explanations.  Hearing  sus- 
picions of  poisoning  mentioned,  he  seized  the  chalice  and 
drained  the  contents  to  demonstrate  that  the  priest's  seizure 
was  not  due  to  the  consecrated  cup,  but  in  a  few  moments  he 
collapsed  in  the  same  manner.  Suspicion  afterwards  fell  on  a 
young  priest,  who  was  subsequently  arrested.     It  was  found 


"TIME   POISONS"   OF  MEDIEVAL  TIMES     115 

that  he  had  mixed  corrosive  sublimate  with  the  wine  just 
before  the  celebration,  the  motive  being  to  get  promoted  as 
parish  priest  in  the  old  man's  stead. 

The  extent  to  which  the  belief  in  the  extraordinary  power 
of  poisons  grew  is  instanced  in  the  story  of  an  association  of 
women  that  flourished  at  Cassalis  in  Italy  in  the  year  1536. 
The  members  are  said  to  have  poisoned  whole  families  by 

"  smearing  the  posts  and  doors  of  their  houses  with  a  noxious 
ointment  and  powder  of  which  they  prepared  about  forty 
crocks  for  the  purpose.  The  like  villainy  was  practised  at 
Genoa  and  execution  was  done  upon  the  offenders.  Their 
art  consisted  in  poisoning  cattle  as  well  as  men,  for  it  is 
written  by  divers  authors  that  if  wolves'  dung  be  hidden  in 
the  mangers,  racks,  or  else  in  the  hedges  about  the  pastures 
where  cattle  go  (through  the  antipathy  of  the  nature  of  the 
wolfe  and  other  cattle)  all  the  beasts  that  favour  the  same  do 
not  only  forbear  to  eat  but  run  about  as  though  they  were 
mad." 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  this  story  is  simply  a  phase 
of  the  witchcraft  superstition  so  commonly  believed  at  this 
period. 

On  carefully  investigating  the  cases  recorded  of  so-called 
secret  and  slow  poisonings  mentioned  by  writers  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  substance  employed  in  the  majority  of  such  cases 
was  probably  arsenic  in  some  form.  La  Spara's  mysterious 
elixir,  that  was  the  cause  of  so  many  deaths  in  Rome  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  a  preparation  of  arsenic,  and  so  also 
was  the  famous  Aqua  Toffana,  which  is  said  to  have  put  an 
end  to  no  less  than  six  hundred  persons.  It  is  very  improb- 
able that  any  substances  of  a  toxic  nature  were  used  in 
mediaeval  or  earlier  times  that  are  unknown  to  science  to-day, 
and  most  of  the  stories  of  slow  and  secret  poisoning  can  be 
explained  by  the  manner  in  which  the  poison  was  given.  A 
common  phrase  used  by  historians  of  this  period  in  closing 
the  account  of  some  personages  of  note  was,  "  he  died  not 
without  suspicion  of  venom." 

According  to  the  Burghley  papers,  there  was  great  dread  of 
secret  poisoning  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time. 

On  June  27,  1572,  one  Richard  Bexley,  writing  to  Burghley, 
advises  him  not  to  take  any  physic  of  Dr.  Gyfford,  recently 


ii6  POISON  MYSTERIES 

from  Rome,  lest  he  might  be  "  Italianated  "  (a  phrase  actually 
coined  to  express  secret  poisoning).  As  early  as  1561  it 
became  necessary  to  surround  the  Queen  with  precautions 
against  poisons.  Not  an  untasted  dish  was  allowed  to  be 
brought  to  her  table,  not  a  glove  or  a  handkerchief  might 
approach  her  person  which  had  not  been  scrutinized,  and  she 
was  dosed  weekly  with  antidotes. 

Another  story  which  shows  the  extraordinary  credulity 
respecting  the  power  of  poisons  that  existed  in  the  sixteenth 
century  is  related  in  a  rare  tract  published  in  1652,  that  pur- 
ports to  be  an  account  of  an  attempt  on  the  life  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  It  states,  in  "  Anno  Dom.  1596  one  Edward  Squire 
sometime  a  scrivener  at  Greenwich,  afterwards  a  deputy 
purveyor  for  the  Queen's  stable,  in  Sir  Francis  Drake's  last 
voyage  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  into  Spaine,  and  being 
set  at  liberty,  one  Walpole  a  Jesuite  grew  acquainted  with 
him  and  got  him  into  the  Inquisition  whence  he  returned  a 
resolved  Papist,  he  persuaded  Squire  to  undertake  to  poyson 
the  pommell  of  the  Queen's  [Elizabeth's]  saddle,  and,  to 
make  him  constant,  made  Squire  receive  the  Sacrament  upon 
it ;  he  then  gave  him  the  poyson  chusing  that  he  should  take 
it  in  a  double  bladder  and  should  prick  the  bladder  full  of 
hoales  in  the  upper  part,  when  he  should  use  it  (carrying  it 
within  a  thick  glove  for  the  safety  of  his  hand)  should  after 
turne  it  downward  pressing  the  bladder  upon  the  pommell  of 
the  Queen's  saddle.  This  Squire  contest.  Squire  is  now  in 
Spaine,  and  for  his  safer  dispatch  it  was  devised  that  two 
Spanish  prisoners  taken  at  Cales  should  be  exchanged  for 
Squire  and  one  Rawles,  that  it  might  not  be  thought  that 
Squire  came  over  but  as  a  redeemed  captive. 

"  The  Munday  sennight  after  Squire  returned  into  England, 
he  understanding  the  horses  were  preparing  for  the  Queen's 
riding  abroad  laid  his  hand  and  crushed  the  poyson  upon  the 
pommell  of  the  Queene's  saddle  saying,  '  God  save  the 
Queene,'  the  Queene  road  abroad  and  as  it  should  seem  laid 
her  hand  upon  the  place  or  els  received  no  hurt  (through  God's 
goodness)  by  touching  it.  Walpole  counting  the  thing  as 
done,  imparted  it  to  some  principall  fugitives  there,  but  being 
disappointed  of  his  hope,  supposing  Squire  to  have  been  false, 
to  be  revenged  on  him  sent  one  hither  (who  should  pretend 


"TIME   POISONS"   OF   MEDIEVAL  TIMES     117 

to  have  stolne  from  thence)  with  letters  wherein  the  plot  of 
Squire  was  contained  ;  this  letter  was  pretended  to  be  stolne 
out  of  one  of  their  studies. 

"  Squire  being  apprehended  confessed  all  without  any  rigor, 
but  after  denied  that  he  put  it  into  execution,  although  he 
acknowledged  he  consented  to  it  in  the  plot,  at  length  he 
confessed  the  putting  it  in  execution  also." 

The  death  of  Niccolo  Macchiavelli,  whose  abbreviated  Chris- 
tian name  according  to  Macaulay  was  the  origin  of  the  term 
"  Old  Nick  "  commonly  applied  to  the  universal  enemy  of 
mankind,  is  said  to  have  been  due  to  a  magic  potion.  Henry 
Morley,  however,  gives  another  version,  and  states  that, 
"  having  failed  in  health  after  his  last  reverses,  Macchiavelli 
increased  his  ailment  by  an  overdose  of  castor  oil,  a  medicine 
then  in  particular  repute,  and  died  two  days  afterwards  on 
June  22,  1527." 

This  statement  is  evidently  an  error,  as  castor  oil  (the  oil 
expressed  from  the  seeds  of  the  Ricinis  communis)  was  not  in 
use  as  a  medicinal  agent  until  more  than  200  years  after 
Macchiavelli's  death.  The  drug  that  Macchiavelli  may  have 
taken  is  the  oil  of  castor,  a  product  of  the  animal  of  that 
name  which  was  often  used  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries.  An  interesting  light  is  thrown  on  the  composition 
of  the  so-called  magic  potion  in  a  letter  written  by  him  to  his 
friend  Guicciardini  on  August  17,  1525,  nearly  two  years 
before  his  death.     He  states  : 

"  I  send  you  twenty-five  pills  made  for  you  already  four 
days  since  ;  you  will  find  the  receipt  for  them  at  the  end  of 
my  letter.  I  tell  you  they  have  resuscitated  me.  Begin  by 
taking  one  after  supper  ;  if  it  has  any  effect  you  will  cease  ; 
if  not,  you  will  take  two  or  three,  but  not  beyond  five.  As 
for  myself,  two  have  always  sufficed,  and  that  only  once  a 
week,  except  when  my  head  is  heavy  or  my  stomach  loaded. 
.  .  .  But  let  us  return  to  the  receipt  for  the  pills  : — 

Aloes  .......     drachm  ij 


Carman,  deos  ?   (Cardamom  sem.] 

Saffron 

Myrrh 

Betony 

Pipinella 

Armenian  bole 


I 

i 


ii8  ^    POISON   MYSTERIES 

Such  was  the  medicine  of  which  MacchiaveUi  ordinarily 
made  use,  and  which  Paul  Jove  entitles  an  enchanted  potion, 
saying  that  MacchiaveUi,  after  having  taken  it,  died  mocking 
God,  and  pretending  that  he  was,  so  to  speak,  become  immortal. 

These  pills  are  a  strong  purgative  taken  in  the  dose  pre- 
scribed, and  it  is  possible  MacchiaveUi,  while  in  a  weakened 
condition,  may  have  overdosed  himself  with  them,  and  so 
hastened  his  end. 

Elisabetta  Sirani,  one  of  the  famous  women  painters 
of  the  Bolognese  school  in  the  seventeenth  century,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  poisoned  by  her  maid,  and  an  inter- 
esting account  of  her  illness  and  death  is  recorded  in  a 
manuscript  in  the  Archives  of  Bologna.  It  states,  that, 
"  In  Lent  1665,  she  was  seized  with  pains  in  her  stomach. 
She  grew  thin  and  lost  her  colour  so  that  every  one 
wondered  at  it,  for  before  she  was  healthy  and  robust.  In 
the  summer,  about  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  a  redness  with  a 
little  swelling  appeared  under  her  chin  and  jaw.  These  were 
cured  with  an  ointment  in  a  few  days.  On  August  12  or  13 
she  was  again  seized  with  pain  which  was  worse  after  eating. 
Pier  sister  was  in  bed  stricken  with  fever  and  the  family 
physician  Doctor  Gallerati  was  attending  her.  Elisabetta 
complained  to  him.  He  said,  '  it  was  no  time  to  take  medicine 
for  the  Sun  was  in  Leo  and  that  the  pain  was  due  to  a  little 
catarrh.'  Pie  advised  her  to  take  a  little  acid  syrup  early  in 
the  morning.  Pier  aunt  made  the  syrup  and  she  took  it  two 
or  three  times,  four  teaspoonsful  for  a  dose  and  seemed 
relieved. 

"  But  the  pains  returned.  Nevertheless,  she  went  with  her 
mother  on  August  24  to  the  Feast  of  the  Porchetta,  and  when 
asked  how  she  was,  said  she  'was  all  right  when  she  didn't 
think  about  it.'  On  August  27  about  two  in  the  afternoon 
the  pain  returned  with  violence.  She  became  ghastly  and  was 
bathed  in  cold  perspiration.  Her  aunt  with  difficulty  put  her 
to  bed.  She  could  not  lie  flat,  but  was  easier  in  a  half  sitting 
posture. 

"  She  felt  sick,  but  the  emetics  and  clysters  given  had  little 
effect.  All  through  the  night  her  relations  applied  hot  cloths 
to  her  cold  body.  The  pain  continued  and  the  extremities 
turned  black. 


"TIME   POISONS"    OF   MEDIiEVAL   TIMES       119 

"A  little  while  before  her  death  the  pain  seemed  to  lessen 
and  go  lower  ;  she  began  to  move  in  bed,  then  fainted  and 
died  about  eleven  o'clock  after  being  ill  about  thirty-three 
hours.  After  death  her  body  swelled.  The  nose  thickened, 
the  features  changed.  She  looked  like  a  woman  of  sixty 
albeit  she  was  but  twenty-six  years  of  age.  She  was  given  by 
her  relatives  :  i,  Teriaca  ;  ^  2,  Spetie  di  Elescoff  in  broth  ; 
3,  Bezoar  and  oil  of  the  Grand  Duke  against  poison." 

At  her  father's  urgent  request  a  post-mortem  examination 
was  made  the  day  following  Elisabetta's  death  !  This,  it  is 
recorded,  was  carried  out  by  Master  Ludovico,  Surgeon  of 
the  Ospedale  della  Morte,  in  the  presence  of  six  other  phy- 
sicians. Perforations  were  found  in  the  stomach,  which  five 
out  of  the  seven  doctors,  attributed  to  the  action  of  a  "  cor- 
rosive poison."  A  Doctor  Fabri  introduced  his  finger  into 
one  of  these  perforations  and  found  the  circumference  was 
surrounded  by  hardened  tissue,  and  Dr.  Gallerati,  the  family 
physician  who  had  attended  her,  was  of  the  opinion  there  was 
evidence  of  a  "corrosive  poison." 

Suspicion  fell  upon  a  maidservant  called  Lucia  Tolomelli, 
on  the  assertion  of  another  domestic,  that  she  had  seen  her 
place  a  "  brown  powder "  in  some  food.  So  Lucia  was 
arrested  on  September  i,  1665,  and  charged  with  the  murder 
of  Elisabetta  Sirani.  After  a  protracted  trial,  the  evidence 
was  deemed  insufficient  and  she  was  released,  it  being  con- 
cluded that  death  had  been  due  to  natural  causes. 

There  seems  little  doubt  that  this  conclusion  was  correct, 
and  this  gifted  lady  probably  died  from  peritonitis. 

In  this  case,  as  in  many  others  where  the  physician  was 
unable  to  diagnose  the  disease  and  was  puzzled  to  account 
for  a  patient's  death,  it  was  generally  deemed  to  be  the  result 
of  a  slow  poison,  which  deduction  formed  a  ready  solution 
of  the  difficulty. 

1  A  purgative  electuary  composed  of  scammony,  cream  of  tartar 
and  salt  of  tartar. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE   ITALIAN   SCHOOL  OF   POISONERS 

THE  study  of  the  criminal  methods  of  using  poisons 
developed  into  a  cult  in  Italy  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  Italian  school  of  poisoners  became  known  throughout 
Europe.  There  is  authentic  record  that  its  members  were 
ready  on  receipt  of  certain  fees  to  carry  out  murder  by  poison 
to  order. 

A  document  drawn  up  by  Charles  King  of  Navarre  throws 
some  light  on  the  systematic  manner  in  which  the  poisoning 
of  obnoxious  persons  was  carried  out.  It  is  in  the  form 
of  a  commission  to  one  Wondreton  to  poison  Charles  VI, 
the  Duke  of  Valois,  brother  of  the  King,  and  his  uncles, 
the    Dukes   of   Berri,    Burgundy   and   Bourbon.     It  reads : 

"  Go  thou  to  Paris  ;  thou  canst  do  great  service  if  thou 
wilt.  Do  what  I  tell  thee  ;  I  will  reward  thee  well.  There 
is  a  thing  which  is  called  sublimed  arsenic  ;  if  a  man  eat  a 
bit  the  size  of  a  pea,  he  will  never  survive  ;  Thou  wilt  find  it 
in  Pampeluna,  Bordeaux,  Bayonne,  and  in  all  the  good  towns 
thou  wilt  pass  at  the  apothecaries'  shops.  Take  it,  and 
powder  it  ;  and  when  thou  shalt  be  in  the  house  of  the  King, 
of  the  Count  de  Valois  his  brother,  and  the  Dukes  of  Berri, 
Burgundy  and  Bourbon,  draw  near  and  betake  thyself  to 
the  kitchen,  to  the  larder,  to  the  cellar,  or  any  other  place 
where  thy  point  can  best  be  gained,  and  put  the  powder  in 
the  soups,  meats,  or  wines  ;  provided  that  thou  canst  do  it 
secretly.     Otherwise  do  it  not." 

It  is  satisfactory  to  learn  that  the  miscreant  who  was 
entrusted  with  this  diabolical  commission  was  detected  in 
time,  and  executed  in  1384. 

From  the  fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  century  there  were 
schools  of  poisoners  both  in  Venice  and  Rome.     The  Venetian 

120 


THE   ITALIAN   SCHOOL   OF   POISONERS        121 

poisoners  who  first  came  into  notoriety  began  their  operations 
early  in  the  sixteenth  century.  At  that  period  the  mania  for 
poisoning  had  risen  to  such  a  degree  that  the  governments  of 
the  States  were  formally  recognizing  secret  assassination  by 
poison,  and  considering  the  removal  of  emperors,  princes  and 
powerful  nobles  by  this  method.  This  is  not  a  myth,  as  record 
of  the  notorious  Council  of  Ten,  which  met  to  consider  such 
plans,  and  an  account  of  their  proceedings  still  exists.  It 
gives  the  number  of  those  who  voted  for  and  who  voted 
against  the  proposed  removal  of  certain  persons,  the  reasons 
for  their  assassination  and  the  sums  paid  for  their  execution. 
Thus  these  conspirators  quietly  and  secretly  arranged  to  take 
the  lives  of  many  prominent  individuals  who  displeased  them. 
When  the  deed  was  executed  it  was  registered  on  the  margin 
of  their  official  record  by  the  significant  word  "  Factum." 

On  December  15,  1543,  John  of  Ragusa,  a  Franciscan 
brother,  offered  the  Council  a  selection  of  poisons,  and  declared 
himself  ready  to  remove  any  person  whom  they  deemed 
objectionable  out  of  the  way.  Fie  openly  stated  his  terms, 
which  for  the  first  successful  case  were  to  be  a  pension  of  1,500 
ducats  a  year,  to  be  increased  on  the  execution  of  future 
services.  The  Presidents,  Guolando  Duoda  and  Pietro 
Guiarini,  placed  this  matter  before  the  Council  on  January  4, 
1544,  and  on  a  division  it  was  resolved  to  accept  this  patriotic 
offer,  and  to  experiment  first  on  the  Emperor  Maximilian. 
John,  who  had  evidently  reduced  poisoning  to  a  fine  art, 
submitted  afterwards  a  regular  graduated  tariff  to  the  Council, 
which  reads  as  follows :  ■ — 

For  the  great  Sultan,"  500  ducats. 

For  the  King  of  Spain,  150  ducats,  including  the  expenses 
of  the  journey,  etc. 

For  the  Duke  of  Milan,  60  ducats. 

For  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  50  ducats. 

For  the  Pope,  100  ducats. 

He  further  adds  at  the  foot  of  the  document,  "  The  farther 
the  journey,  the  more  eminent  the  man,  the  more  it  is  neces- 
sary to  reward  the  toil  and  hardships  undertaken,  and  the 
heavier  must  be  the  payment." 

What  may  be  called  the  Roman  school  of  poisoners  became 
prominent  in  the  early  sixteenth  century,  and  their  operations 


122  POISON   MYSTERIES 

continued  until  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
During  this  period  the  magnitude  and  daring  of  their  crimes 
struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  chief  nobles  and  rulers  of 
the  country.  The  books  on  what  were  called  "secrets,"  pub- 
lished in  Italy  about  this  time,  which  contain  formulae  of 
various  descriptions,  contain  many  allusions  to  poisons. 
Stories  are  told  of  poisons  supposed  to  be  unknown,  whose 
secrets  died  with  their  originators. 

The  mania  for  poisoning  appears  to  have  seized  on  all 
classes  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  no  one  who  made 
an  enemj^  was  safe.  Baptiste  Porta,  who  wrote  a  book  on 
the  subject  in  1589,  made  a  careful  study  of  the  subject,  and 
describes  methods  which  were  no  doubt  used  in  his  time. 
He  mentions  various  means  for  drugging  wine,  a  favourite 
medium  for  administering  poison.  For  this  purpose  bella- 
donna root,  nux  vomica,  aconite  and  hellebore  were  employed, 
all  of  which  are  very  deadly  in  their  effects.  He  gives  a 
formula  for  compounding  what  he  calls  a  very  strong  poison 
named  "  Venenum  Lupinum,"  which  was  composed  of 
aconite,  taxus  baccata,  caustic  lime,  arsenic,  bitter  almonds 
and  powdered  glass.  These  substances  were  to  be  mixed 
with  honey  into  a  stiff  paste  and  made  into  pills  the  size  of 
hazel  nut.  His  method  of  poisoning  a  sleeping  person  was 
to  make  a  mixture  of  hemlock  juice,  bruised  stramonium, 
belladonna  and  opium,  which  was  to  be  placed  in  a  leaden 
box  with  a  perfectly  fitting  lid,  and  allowed  to  ferment  for 
several  days.  When  this  was  done  it  was  to  be  uncovered  and 
placed  under  the  nose  of  the  intended  victim  while  asleep.  So 
long  as  the  individual  only  smelt  and  did  not  swallow  the 
compound,  it  could  not  have  done  him  much  harm. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth'century  the  southern 
parts  of  Italy,  including  Sicily,  also  appear  to  have  been 
infested  by  unscrupulous  practitioners  in  the  use  of  poison, 
and  Naples  became  a  centre  for  this  nefarious  trade.  The 
rnost  notorious  of  these  criminals  whose  name  has  been 
left  on  record  is  the  woman  named  Toffana,  who,  there  is 
little  doubt,  was  responsible  indirectly  for  the  deaths  of 
hundreds  of  people.  About  1650,  when  she  was  little  more 
than  a  girl,  she  began  her  evil  career  in  Palermo,  but  in  1659, 
during  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  VII,  she  removed  to  Naples 


THE   ITALIAN   SCHOOL   OF   POISONERS       123 

and  made  it  the  centre  of  her  operations.  Whether  she 
herself  devised  the  poison  which  is  associated  with  her  name, 
or  whether  she  obtained  the  knowledge  from  a  confederate, 
is  not  known,  but  her  method  was  to  prepare  the  solution  and 
bottle  it  in  special  phials  bearing  the  representation  of  some 
saint,  generally  Saint  Nicholas  of  Bari,  who  was  connected  wiih 
a  medicinal  spring,  the  water  of  which  had  a  reputation  for 
healing.  Sometimes  she  used  other  names  for  her  poisonous 
solution,  such  as  "  Aquetta  di  Napoli,"  "  Manna  of  St.  Nicholas 


Copyright. 
A  BOTTLE  WITH  REPRESENTATION  OF 
ST.   NICHOLA3    OF  BARI    SAID  TO  HAVE 
BEEN    USED    FOR    AQUA    TOFFANA. 

di  Bari, ' '  or  gave  her  own  name  to  it,  ' '  Aqua  Toffana. ' '  These 
bottles  of  poison  were  freely  sold,  especially  to  women,  reputed- 
ly as  a  cosmetic  for  application  to  the  skin  to  improve  the  com- 
plexion, for  which  purpose,  owing  to  its  active  constituent 
being  arsenic,  it  probably  proved  effective.  Anyone  in  the 
secret  could  buy  the  poison  for  its  supposed  external  appli- 
cation, and  Toffana  took  care  only  to  deal  with  individuals 
after  due  safeguards  had  been  built  up.     She  changed  her 


124  POISON   MYSTERIES 

abode  so  frequently,  and  adopted  so  many  disguises,  that 
even  when  suspicion  actually  fell  upon  her  after  many 
mysterious  deaths,  detection  was  rendered  very  difficult. 
She  cunningly  worked  on  the  minds  of  her  clients  who  were 
susceptible  to  religious  or  superstitious  influences,  and  those 
who  were  unaware  of  the  origin  of  her  deadly  solution  were 
told  it  was  a  certain  miraculous  fluid  supposed  to  ooze  from 
the  tomb  of  St.  Nicholas,  a  saint  of  healing. 

Her  preparations  were  doubtless  bought  by  many  in  good 
faith  in  the  belief  that  the  liquid  had  miraculous  properties, 
but  those  who  knew  the  secret,  especially  women,  often 
used  it  for  criminal  purposes,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
over  six  hundred  persons  were  poisoned  by  her  preparations 
in  Naples  and  Rome.  Two  Popes  and  other  Church 
dignitaries  are  said  to  have  fallen  victims  to  the  poison, 
and  it  was  not  until  after  a  long  career,  and  when  Toffana 
had  reached  the  age  of  seventy,  that  she  was  found  to 
be  the  originator  of  these  wholesale  crimes.  In  a  letter 
addressed  to  Hoffman  ^  by  Garcelli,  physician  to  the  Em- 
peror Charles  VI  of  Austria,  he  informed  him  that  being 
Governor  of  Naples  at  the  time,  he  knew  that  the  Aquetta  di 
Napoli  was  the  dread  of  every  noble  family  in  the  city,  and 
that  the  subject  was  investigated  legally.  He  thus  had  the 
opportunity  of  examining  all  the  documents,  and  found  the 
poison  to  consist  of  a  solution  of  arsenic,  which  was  of  such 
strength  that  from  four  to  six  drops  in  water  or  wine  was  said 
to  kill  an  adult,  and  that  it  was  colourless,  transparent  and 
tasteless. 

When  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  poison  was  at  last 
traced  to  Toffana,  she  took  refuge  in  a  convent,  where,  under 
the  privileges  of  the  place,  she  bade  defiance  for  some  time 
to  the  officers  of  justice,  and  continued  to  vend  her  solution 
from  the  very  bosom  of  the  Church  until  the  scandal  became 
at  length  too  great  to  be  tolerated.  She  was  then  dragged 
from  her  refuge  and  thrown  into  prison.  A  great  outcry  was 
raised  by  the  clergy  at  this  violation  of  their  privileges,  and 
the  people,  unwilling  to  be  defrauded  of  their  right  to  use  the 
poison,  joined  in  the  clamour  of  the  priests.  It  was  only  by 
circulating  a  report  that  she  had  poisoned  the  wells  in  the 

1  Medicinia  Rationalis  Systematica,  i.   198. 


THE    ITALIAN   SCHOOL   OF   POISONERS       125 

city,  that  the  current  of  public  sentiment  could  be  turned 
against  her.  Being  put  to  the  rack  she  confessed  her  crimes, 
and  named  those  who  had  afforded  her  protection.  They  were 
immediately  arrested  in  various  churches  and  monasteries. 
It  was  stated  that  the  day  before  her  last  flight  from  justice, 
she  had  sent  two  boxes  of  her  "  manna  "  to  Rome.  They  were 
found  in  the  custom-house  in  that  city.  The  archbishop  still 
murmured  at  her  being  torn  from  a  privileged  asylum  and 
accordingly  the  authorities  contrived  to  have  her  strangled 
and  thrown  into  the  court-yard  of  the  convent  from  which 
she  had  been  taken  in  1709.  Her  practices,  however,  did 
not  cease  at  her  death,  and,  according  to  Keysler,  who 
travelled  in  Southern  Italy  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  aquetta  continued  to  be  prepared  in  great  quan- 
tities for  some  time  afterwards. 

There  was  naturally  much  mystery  at  the  time  as  to  the 
composition  of  Aqua  Toffana  and  the  most  extraordinary 
properties  were  attributed  to  it.  Its  alleged  effects  are 
described  by  Behrens,  a  contemporary  writer,  who  states 
that  on  taking  it 

"  a  certain  indescribable  change  is  felt  in  the  whole  body, 
which  leads  the  person  to  complain  to  his  physician.  The 
physician  examines  and  reflects,  but  finds  no  symptoms  either 
external  or  internal,  no  vomiting,  no  inflammation,  no  fever. 
In  short,  he  can  only  advise  patience,  strict  regimen,  and 
laxatives.  The  malady,  however,  creeps  on,  and  the  physi- 
cian is  again  sent  for.  Still  he  cannot  detect  any  symptoms 
of  note.  Meanwhile  the  poison  takes  firmer  hold  of  the 
system  ;  languor,  wearisomeness,  and  loathing  of  food  con- 
tinue ;  the  nobler  organs  gradually  become  torpid,  and  the 
lungs  in  particular  at  length  begin  to  suffer.  In  a  word,  the 
malady,  from  the  first  is  incurable  ;  the  unhappy  victim 
pines  away  insensibly  even  in  the  hands  of  the  physician, 
and  thus  he  is  brought  to  a  miserable  end  through  months  or 
years,  according  to  his  enemy's  desire." 

Father  Labat,  in  his  Travels  in  Italy,  observes  that  the 
association  of  the  name  of  St.  Nicholas  of  Bari  with  Aqua 
Toffana  was  a  great  advantage  to  her,  as  there  was  such  a 
preparation  in  reality,  a  sacred  water,  and  Toffana's  solution, 
under  the  name  "  Manna  of  St.  Nicholas  di  Bari,"  was  able 
to  pass  the  Custom-house  with  little  scrutiny. 


126  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Toffana  had  many  imitators,  who  continued  to  practise 
for  some  time  after  her  death.  A  similar  scheme  was 
attempted  with  a  poisonous  preparation  which  was  sold 
for  cosmetic  purposes,  called  "  Aquetta  di  Perugia."  It  is 
said  to  have  been  prepared  by  killing  a  hog,  disjointing 
it,  and  strewing  the  pieces  with  white  arsenic,  which  was 
well  rubbed  in,  and  finally  collecting  the  juice  which  dropped 
from  the  meat  itself. 

This  preparation  was  supposed  to  be  a  much  stronger  and 
powerful  poison  than  arsenic,  and  was  more  rapid  in  its  action. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  criminal  poisoning  was 
carried  in  Italy  may  be  gathered  from  an  account  of  a  secret 
society  of  women  that  was  formed  in  Rome  in  1659.  Many 
of  the  members  were  young  married  women  belonging  to 
some  of  the  best  and  wealthiest  families  of  that  city.  They 
apparently  met  together  with  the  chief  obfect  of  plotting 
to  destroy  the  lives  of  their  husbands  or  members  of  families 
connected  with  them.  They  gathered  at  regular  intervals  at 
the  house  of  a  woman  called  Hieronyma  Spara,  who  was 
reputed  to  be  a  sorceress.  She  provided  the  members 
of  the  Society  with  the  poison  necessary  for  their  purposes, 
and  planned  and  instructed  them  how  to  use  it. 

Operations  had  been  carried  on  for  some  time  before  the 
existence  of  the  Society  was  discovered,  "and,"  says  a  con- 
temporary writer,  "  the  hardened  old  hag  passed  the  ordeal 
of  the  rack  without  confession,  but  another  woman  divulged 
the  secrets  of  the  sisterhood,  and  La  Spara,  together  with 
twelve  other  women  implicated,  were  hanged."  Many  others 
were  publicly  whipped  through  the  streets  of  the  city. 

A  curious  story  is  told  of  D'Annunzio,  the  Italian  poet, 
who  became  prominent  in  1921  in  the  seizure  of  Fiume, 
which  he  held  as  dictator  for  some  time.  It  is  stated  that 
when  serving  in  the  Italian  Air  Force,  which  he  did  with 
distinction  during  the  war,  it  was  his  custom  to  carry  a 
small  bottle  of  a  very  powerful  poison  in  his  pocket  which 
he  used  to  allude  to  invariably  as  "My  Pharmic  Liber- 
ator." This  poison  he  is  said  to  have  had  concocted  for 
him  in  Venice,  and  it  was  made  from  a  mediaeval  recipe 
only  known  to  the  Venetian  poisoners.  It  is  said  that 
when  he  was  performing  his  memorable  raid  over  Vienna  the 


THE    ITALIAN    SCHOOL   OF   POISONERS       127 

engines  of  his  aeroplane  stopped  and  restarted  thrice  over, 
and  feeling  certain  that  a  descent  over  enemy  territory  was 
inevitable,  he  got  his  phial  ready  in  order  that  the  Austrians 
should  not  capture  him  alive.  At  that  very  moment  he  is 
said  to  have  seen  an  apparition  of  his  mother,  who  had  died 
two  years  beforehand,  who  bade  him  cast  away  all  fears  and 
he  would  get  through.  He  is  said  also  to  have  kept  his 
phial  of  poison  close  at  his  hand  during  the  bombardment  of 
Fiume,  and  his  friends  had  to  keep  perpetual  watch  upon 
him  during  those  critical  hours. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  BORGIAS 

CONSIDERABLE  mystery  has  ever  enveloped  the 
history  of  the  Borgia  family,  whose  name  historians 
have  linked  with  some  of  the  most  morbid  stories  of  crime 
and  secret  poisoning  during  the  Middle  Ages.  A  great  deal 
that  has  been  written  concerning  their  crimes  is  doubtless 
pure  fiction,  and  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  owing  to 
the  discovery  of  certain  contemporary  documents  some  light 
has  been  thrown  upon  the  darksome  deeds  they  are  said  to 
have  perpetrated.  From  an  examination  of  these  records,  on 
the  one  hand  it  would  appear  that  certain  members  of  the 
family  were  not  so  black  as  tradition  has  painted  them,  and 
on  the  other  there  seems  little  doubt  that  some  of  the  Borgias 
were  guilty  of  terrible  and  sinister  deeds,  which  were  only  too 
common  in  the  times  in  which  they  lived. 

The  Borgias,  who  were-  of  Spanish  origin,  migrated  to  Italy 
and  came  into  notoriety  in  the  time  of  Pope  Calixtus  III,  about 
the  year  1455.  The  first  member  to  come  into  prominence 
was  Rodrigo,  who  was  born  in  1431,  and  who  began  life 
as  a  soldier.  Afterwards,  through  the  influence  of  Calixtus 
he  entered  the  priesthood,  and  finally  rose  to  be  the  head  of 
the  Church  under  the  title  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  He  is  said 
to  have  had  five  children  by  his  mistress  Vanozza  de  Cattanei, 
viz.  :  Pier  Luigi,  who  died  in  infancy,  Giovanni  Duke  of 
Gandia,  Giffredo  Count  of  Cariati,  Cesare,  afterwards  Duke  of 
Valentinois,  and  Lucrezia,  who  eventually  became  Duchess 
of  Ferrara. 

Alexander  himself  is  described  by  contemporary  writers 
as  "  a  handsome  man  of  majestic  and  kingly  bearing,"  and  is 
said  to  have  looked  "  more  like  a  Caesar  returned  to  life  than 
a  Vicar  of  Christ." 

128 


POPE    ALEXANDER    VI. 

(From  the  painting  by  Pinturicchio  in  the  Vatican.) 


THE   MYSTERY   OF  THE   BORGIAS  129 

As  his  children  grew  up  he  loaded  them  with  titles  and 
honours.  When  he  came  to  the  papal  chair  Cesare  was  about 
twenty-two  years  of  age  and  Lucrezia  between  thirteen  and 
fourteen.  He  recognized  all  of  them  in  special  Bulls,  except 
Cesare,  from  whom  (in  order  to  bestow  the  purple  on  him) 
he  wished  to  remove, the  stigma  of  his  origin,  and  declared 
him  to  be  the  son  of  Vanozza  and  Domenico  d'Arignano. 
This  is  proclaimed  in  a  Bull  dated  October  17,  1480. 

In  the  early  part  of  1498  a  youth  was  introduced  to  the 
household  called  Romano,  who  the  Pope  declared  was  the 
son  of  Cesare  and  created  him  Duke  of  Nepi,  and  presented 
him  with  large  estates.  According  to  documents  discovered 
by  Gregorovius,  dated  September  i,  1501,  the  Pope  himself 
was  the  real  father,  and  the  maternity  of  this  boy  involves 
one  of  the  most  obscure  mysteries  of  the  history  of  the  Borgias. 

Before  Alexander  obtained  the  pontificate,  he  had  be- 
trothed Lucrezia  to  a  Spanish  gentleman,  but  he  broke  off 
the  engagement  with  the  evident  object  of  marrying  his 
daughter  to  a  man  of  higher  rank,  and  on  June  12,  1493, 
Lucrezia  was  espoused  to  Giovanni  Sforza,  Lord  of  Pesaro. 
The  marriage  was  not  by  any  means  a  happy  one,  and  at  the 
end  of  four  years  was  dissolved  by  the  Pope,  who  had  other 
motives  in  view,  for  he  soon  arranged  a  fresh  alliance  between 
Lucrezia  and  Alfonso  Duke  of  Bisceglie,  the  natural  son 
of  Alfonso  n.  King  of  Naples.  The  marriage  took  place, 
but  soon  after  the  birth  of  their  first  child,  the  Duke  was 
attacked  by  several  men  and  severely  wounded.  The  story 
is  thus  told  by  a  chronicler  : — 

"  On  the  night  of  July  15  (1500)  on  which  solemn  cere- 
monies were  taking  place  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  the  Pope, 
a  young  man  staggered  headlong  into  the  pontifical  apart- 
ments, endeavouring  to  stem  with  his  hands  a  stream  of 
blood  which  gushed  from  a  large  wound  in  his  chest.  It  was 
the  Duke  of  Bisceglie,  Alfonso  of  Aragon,  Lucrezia 's  second 
husband.  Consternation  was  caused  when  it  was  spread 
abroad  that  a  band  of  assassins  in  the  pay  of  Cesare  had 
attempted  to  assassinate  him  near  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's 
when  on  his  way  to  the  celebration.  The  young  man,  who  is 
said  to  have  been  of  a  kind  and  gentle  nature,  fell  unconscious 
at  the  feet  of  the  Pope.  Lucrezia  and  his  sister  Sancia,  who 
were  standing  by,  both  fainted  away  and  were  carried  into 

I 


130  POISON   MYSTERIES 

a  room  of  the  tower  behind  the  Pope's  chambers.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  nursed  by  the  two  women  and  to  have  nearly- 
recovered,  when  one  night  in  Lucrezia's  absence  he  was 
strangled  with  a  cord  in  bed  under  the  eyes  of  Cesare." 

Lucrezia  then  retired  for  a  time  to  the  estate  of  Nepi.  On 
her  return  to  Rome,  she  appears  to  have  acted  as  a  kind  of 
secretary  to  her  father  the  Pope,  and  in  about  twelve  months 
her  betrothal  to  Alfonso  d'Este,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke 
of  Ferrara,  was  announced,  and  the  marriage  took  place  by 
proxy  on  December  20,  1502.  Shortly  afterwards  she  left 
Rome  to  take  up  her  residence  in  Ferrara. 

From  father  to  children,  who  apparently  put  no  restraint 
on  their  criminal  and  sensual  instincts,  it  was  not  long  before 
the  most  extraordinary  stories  were  circulated  about  the 
Borgias.  Cesare,  in  particular,  appears  to  have  been  a 
degenerate  of  the  worst  possible  type.  Fie  was  first  made 
bishop  of  Pampeluna  and  afterwards  Cardinal  of  Valenza,  and 
appears  to  have  been  even  a  worse  character  than  his  father. 
Tragedies  in  the  family  began  in  1497  when  Giovanni  Duke 
of  Gandia,  the  second  son,  was  found  in  the  Tiber,  his  body 
being  pierced  with  ten  wounds  from  a  dagger.  According  to 
Scalona,  suspicion  rested  on  Sforza  Count  of  Pesaro. 

Cesare  conceived  a  violent  jealousy  of  an  attendant  in  his 
sister's  household,  named  Pedro  Calderon,  who  was  probably 
a  Spaniard.  In  a  fit  of  passion  he  is  said  to  have  pursued  the 
man  with  a  dagger  right  into  the  pontifical  apartments  and 
assassinated  him  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope,  "even  so," 
says  the  chronicler,  "  that  the  pontifical  garments  were 
splashed  with  blood."  According  to  Capello,  "four  hired 
ruffians  carried  his  body  to  the  Tiber,  tied  a  large  stone  to  his 
neck  and  threw  him  into  the  river." 

Public  feeling  now  began  to  be  aroused  against  the  Borgias, 
but  Alexander  kept  on  his  way  serenely,  in  spite  of  the  wave 
of  contumely  which  seethed  round  the  papal  throne  in  Rome. 
Sannazaro's  couplets,  Pontano's  epigrams,  and  the  reports 
let  drop  by  the  Mantuan  and  Venetian  ambassadors  of  the 
grave  rumours  but  whispered  in  Rome,  were  followed  by  the 
accusations  of  bishops  and  even  of  some  cardinals,  but 
nothing  was  done. 

In  justice  to  the  Borgias  one  must  try  to  visualize  the 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  BORGIAS  t3l 

condition  of  the  people  in  Rome  at  this  period.  Poison  may 
be  said  to  have  become  a  common  weapon  in  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  country.  For  the  politician  it  was  a 
weapon  which  procured  him  office,  for  the  theologian  a  secret 
method  of  removing  an  enemy  from  his  path,  and  so  on 
throughout  the  whole  social  strata.  Superstitions  were 
rampant,  and  according  to  a  writer  of  the  time,  even  the 
worst  criminals  would  make  the  sign  of  the  Cross  on  passing 
before  a  church  and  supplicate  the  Madonna  to  give  them  help 
and  profit  in  their  crimes.  Scarcely  any  value  was  attached 
to  human  life,  and  those  in  prominent  positions  lived  in  a  con- 
stant state  of  insecurity.  No  wonder  that  vendors  of  amulets, 
talismans  and  antidotes  to  poison  flourished  everywhere. 

Apollinaire  paints  a  lurid  picture  of  the  Borgias  in  his 
account  of  a  fete  held  in  the  vineyard  of  St.  Peter-in-Chains, 
in  the  following  words  : — 

"  La  Vanozza  de  Cattanei  receives  the  cardinals  and  the 
ambassadors,  and  after  being  introduced  to  one  another, 
the  guests  disperse  about  the  vineyard  and  exchange  con- 
versation and  courtesies.  Later  she  disappears  and  joins 
Cesare  in  a  room  on  the  first  floor  of  the  building.  She  finds 
him  with  his  sleeves  rolled  up,  bent  over  a  kneading  trough, 
and  absorbed  in  his  task.  This  room  was  reserved  for  Van- 
ozza and  Cesare  ;  only  the  Pope  shared  with  them  the  right 
of  entry,  no  one  else  was  allowed  to  cross  the  threshold.  On 
the  floor  lay  several  large  shallow  copper  dishes,  some  of 
which  were  entirely  covered  with  verdigris,  and  from  which 
a  colourless-looking  liquid  was  being  evaporated.  One  of 
these  dishes  was  always  placed  near  the  fire  in  order  that  the 
heat  might  hasten  the  evaporation. 

"  As  La  Vanozza  enters  Cesare  remarks  :  '  Yet  I  forbade 
you  to  make  a  fire.' 

"  '  1  only  put  a  few  live  coals  to  hasten  the  result,'  she 
replies.  '  I  did  not  make  enough  for  it  to  be  possible  for  the 
powder  to  scorch  ;  if  I  had  not  done  it  we  should  not  have 
had  the  powder  to-day  !  ' 

"  '  It  is  not  so  much  for  fear  of  its  scorching,  but  because 
of  the  cinders  which  mix  with  the  powder  and  render  it  less 
fine,'  said  Cesare.  '  Happily  Cardinal  di  Riaro  is  short- 
sighted. This  is  quite  enough  for  him  in  any  case,  but  for 
others,  hand  me  the  tart  dish,'  he  continues.  '  It  should  be  dry 
by  now.' 


132  POISON  MYSTERIES 

"  La  Vanozza  lifts  the  heavy  red  copper  dish  by  the  two 
handles,  and  on  it  may  be  noticed  a  mouldiness,  or  greenish 
spots  caused  by  a  settling  deposit.  With  a  hare's  paw  Cesare 
collects  this  powder,  then  with  an  ivory  knife  he  carefully 
scrapes  the  copper,  and  mixes  the  residue  in  a  marble  mortar. 
From  it  he  takes  in  small  pinches  some  of  the  powder  and  places 
it  in  another  mortar  of  agate,  and  reduces  it  with  a  pestle  to 
an  impalpable  dust  until  it  is  like  a  morsel  of  polished  silver. 
Give  me  the  "  manna,"  '  says  Cesare.  La  Vanozza 
hands  him  the  arsenic  which  he  calls  by  that  name,  and  he 
mixes  some  with  the  powder  in  the  mortar,  passing  the 
mixture  again  under  the  pestle  until  thoroughly  incorporated, 
and  then,  his  task  completed,  he  stands  erect  and  exclaims, 
'  God  said  "  Let  there  be  light  "  and  there  was  light.  We 
Borgias  are  able  to  say  "  Let  it  be  night,"  and  night  it  shall 
be.'  He  then  remarks  to  Vanozza,  '  It  is  time  for  luncheon.' 
La  Vanozza  leaves  him  and  retraces  her  way ;  when  she  is 
gone,  the  copper  dish  being  empty,  he  pours  urine  in  it  in 
order  to  replace  that  which  has  evaporated,  the  salts  of 
which  he  had  just  utilised.  The  salt  which  resulted,  combined 
with  the  verdigris  were  then  mixed  with  arsenic  and  this 
formed  the  famous  poison  which  the  Borgias  called  '  La 
Cantarella.'  '  That  which  the  Borgias  utihzed  in  conjunction 
Vv'ith  arsenic  without  knowing  it,'  says  ApoUinaire,  '  was 
phosphorus,  a  secret  which  had  been  divulged  to  the  Borgias 
by  a  Spanish  monk,  who  also  knew  the  antidote  for  it,  as 
well  as  an  antidote  for  arsenic  ;  one  sees,  therefore,  that  they 
were  well  armed.'  " 

There  is  no  evidence  to  prove  the  truth  of  ApoUinaire's 
statements,  and  he  may  only  have  recorded  the  reports 
common  at  the  time.  These  records  are,  however,  useful 
to  compare  with  the  statements  made  by  other  contemporary 
historians. 

An  astrologer  is  said  to  have  predicted  to  Alexander  that 
he  would  never  die  so  long  as  he  carried  on  his  person  a 
box  containing  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  This  gold  box  is 
stated  to  have  never  left  his  person.  On  a  certain  day  he  is 
said  to  have  invited  those  who  had  been  nominated  as  car- 
dinals to  supper  with  him.  Suspicious  of  their  host  the  com- 
manded guests  were  doubtful  of  acceptance,  and  only  agreed 
to  come  on  condition  that  the  supper  took  place  at  the 
house  of  the  Cardirr.'   de  Corneto.     Alexander  and  his  son 


CESARE    BORGIA. 

{From  a  pamting  ascribed  to  Raphael. 


THE  MYSTERY   OF  THE   BORGIAS  133 

Cesare  are  stated  to  have  bribed  the  chief  attendant  of  the 
Cardinal  for  a  large  sum  and  pledged  him  to  serve  certain 
wine  at  dinner  to  which  they  had  added  poison.  The  evening 
arrived,  and  Alexander,  as  he  entered  the  room,  remembered 
he  had  forgotten  the  box  containing  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 
He  at  once  ordered  Monsignor  Caraffa  to  fetch  it  ;  Apollinaire, 
who  records  the  story,  says,  "  While  Caraffa  obeyed,  the  Pope 
irritated  by  his  forgetfulness,  asked  that  a  drink  should  be 
brought  to  him  before  seating  himself  at  the  table.  The 
chamberlain  in  attendance  said  he  would  see  the  order  was 
carried  out,  but  it  happened  that  the  chief  attendant  whom 
the  Pope  had  bribed  was  absent  at  the  moment,  and  the 
chamberlain  who  came  for  the  wine  was  served  by  an  under- 
ling who  was  in  ignorance  of  the  plot.  A  goblet  was  filled 
from  the  poisoned  caraffe  which  had  been  prepared  by  Cesare 
and  taken  to  the  Pope.  Directly  after  Caraffa  arrived,  bring- 
ing wijth  him  the  missing  box.  It  was,  however,  too  late  ; 
the  Pope  had  drunk  some  of  the  wine  and  was  already  feeling 
the  effects  of  the  poison.  Cardinal  Valentinois  himself  lay 
convulsed  upon  the  ground,  surrounded  by  the  others  kneeling 
round  in  absorbed  awe  and  murmuring  Pater  Nosters.  Alex- 
ander appeared  to  suffer  greater  agonies  than  the  rest.  Sur- 
geons were  called  in  and  bled  him  without  any  effect,  and  he 
succumbed  on  the  eighth  day  afterwards." 

Sanuto  gives  another  account  of  Alexander's  death. 

"  The  death  of  Pope  Alexander  VI,"  he  states,  "  occurred 
in  the  following  manner.  The  Cardinal  Datary  Arian  de 
Corneto  having  one  morning  received  a  message  from  the 
Pontiff  stating  that  he  intended  in  company  with  his  son 
Cesare,  the  Duke  of  Valentinois,  that  evening  to  pay  the 
Cardinal  a  visit  and  to  sup  with  him,  and  that  they  would 
bring  their  supper  with  them,  was  terrified  at  the  intelligence, 
being  fully  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  His  Hohness 
or  his  son  intended  poisoning  him  to  possess  his  treasure, 
the  said  Cardinal  being  very  rich.  Thinking  rapidly  over  the 
matter  he  saw  but  one  means  of  saving  his  hfe.  He  immedi- 
ately sent  to  the  head  carver  of  the  Pope  requesting  he  would 
oblige  him  by  visiting  him  as  soon  as  possible.  The  carver 
obeyed  the  request  and  the  Cardinal  having  conducted  him 
to  a  private  room  placed  in  his  hand  ten  golden  ducats  which 
he  requested  the  said  carver  to  accept  as  a  proof  of  the  love 


134  POISON   MYSTERIES 

he  bore  him.  After  many  objections  and  simulated  repug- 
nance the  carver  accepted  the  gift,  stating  that  he  did  so 
from  obedience  to  the  orders  of  his  Eminence.  The  Cardinal 
then  finding  the  carver  willing  to  lend  a  ready  ear  to  anything 
he  might  say,  addressed  him  in  the  following  manner :  '  You 
perfectly  well  know  the  intentions  of  the  Pope  and  that  he 
and  his  son  have  determined  that  I  shall  die  by  poison,  which 
will  be  administered  to  me  this  evening  and  I  now  humbly 
beg  of  you  to  spare  my  life.' 

"  After  some  demur  the  carver  told  him  the  manner  in 
which  it  had  been  agreed  between  them  that  the  poison  should 
be  administered.  After  supper  was  over  he  had  been  ordered 
to  place  on  the  table  three  boxes  of  confectionery  one  of 
which  was  to  be  placed  before  the  Pope,  another  before  the 
Cardinal,  and  the  third  before  the  Duke  of  Valentinois,  taking 
care  to  place  the  one  containing  the  poison  before  his  Ex- 
cellency. The  Cardinal  begged  and  implored  the  said  carver 
to  change  the  manner  in  which  the  confectionaries  were  to  be 
placed  on  the  table  so  that  the  one  containing  the  poison*should 
be  put  before  the  Pope,  that  he  might  eat  of  it  and  die.  The 
carver  at  first  was  horrified  at  the  suggestion,  but  on  the 
Cardinal  offering  him  10,000  ducats  in  gold  as  a  reward  he 
relented  and  agreed  that  the  box  of  poisoned  sweetmeats 
should  be  placed  before  the  Pope. 

"  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  Pope  accompanied  by 
the  Duke  arrived  at  the  palace  of  his  Eminence,  who  as  soon 
as  his  Holiness  had  seated  himself  flung  himself  on  the  ground 
before  him  and  kissed  his  feet.  Then  with  most  affectionate 
words  he  begged  his  Holiness  would  grant  him  a  favour  say- 
ing he  would  never  rise  from  his  knees  should  his  Holiness 
refuse  to  oblige  him.  Surprised  at  the  extreme  earnestness 
of  the  Cardinal,  the  Pope  asked  him  to  rise  from  his  knees 
and  explain  his  request.  The  Cardinal  however  persisting, 
the  Pope  was  surprised  at  the  perseverance  of  his  Eminence 
and  promised  to  grant  him  any  request  he  might  make.  The 
Cardinal  then  rose  from  his  knees  and  said,  '  It  is  not  respectful 
that  when  the  lord  honours  his  servant  with  a  visit  his  servant 
should  eat  at  the  same  table  with  his  lord  and  the  favour  I 
ask  of  you  is  just  and  honest.  It  is  that  you  will  allow  me 
during  your  repast  to  wait  on  you  as  your  servant.'  His 
Holiness  to  please  the  Cardinal  granted  his  request.  After 
the  supper  was  over,  the  Cardinal  placed  on  the  table  the 
boxes  of  sweetmeats,  having  first  received  information  from 
the  carver  which  was  the  one  containing  the  poison,  and  that 


THE   MYSTERY    OF  THE   BORGIAS  135 

the  Cardinal  placed  before  the  Pope,  who  under  the  impression 
that  the  one  before  him  did  not  contain  the  poisoned  sweet- 
meats ate  one  of  them  gaily,  and  of  the  other  which  he  believed 
contained  the  poison,  the  Pope  pressed  the  Cardinal  to  eat, 
who  obeyed  him  without  hesitation.  Shortly  after  His 
Holiness  had  departed  he  fell  ill  and  the  next  morning  died  ; 
while  the  Cardinal,  who  still  having  some  fear  that  the  sweet- 
meats he  had  eaten  might  have  been  poisoned,  took  an  emetic 
and  thus  escaped  the  danger  with  which  he  had  been  threat- 
ened." 

Lecontour  agrees  with  the  account  given  by  ApoUinaire 
in  the  following  words  : 

"  It  should  be  called  to  your  notice  that  this  death  has 
been  the  subject  of  many  discussions  and  that  the  documents 
transmitted  differ  very  much.  Here  are  some  opinions  on  the 
subject,  and  first  of  all  there  is  the  description  of  the  corpse 
of  the  Pope  by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  in  a  letter  written  to 
his  wife  Isabella,  and  then  the  testimony  of  those  who  ap- 
proached the  body  and  which  is  made  to  disquiet  us.  Here 
is  one  : — 

"  Immediately  after  his  death,  the  Pope  became  black  and 
so  deformed,  so  prodigiously  swollen  that  it  was  hardly  pos- 
sible to  recognise  him,  putrefied  matter  flowed  from  his  nose, 
his  mouth  was  open  and  in  so  terrifying  an  attitude  that  one 
could  not  look  at  it  without  horror,  nor  suffer  the  stench  with- 
out fear  of  being  infected." 

In  a  further  letter  written  by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  at 
the  time,  he  says  : 

"  His  body  has  become  putrefied,  foam  comes  from  the 
mouth  as  from  a  saucepan  on  the  fire.  This  has  lasted  as 
long  as  he  has  remained  unburied.  He  has  swelled  so  enor- 
mously that  he  no  longer  has  the  form  of  a  human  being,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  length  and  the 
breadth  of  the  body. 

"  No  one  would  touch  this  mass  of  flesh  and  putrefaction. 
No  one  would  put  it  in  the  coflin.  Those  who  approached 
it  fell  asphyxiated. 

"  In  the  end  two  street  porters  were  found  who  consented 
to  drag  it,  by  means  of  cords  which  were  attached  to  the 
legs  of  the  death  bed,  as  far  as  the  vault  where  they  let  it 


136  POISON   MYSTERIES 

drop.     The  flesh  detached  itself  during  the  transit,  leaving 
a  track  of  putrefying  fragments." 

Portigliotti,  writing  of  the  death  of  Alexander  VI,  states  : 

"  There  was  no  religious  rapture  at  his  death-bed,  no  holy 
prayers  beside  his  corpse.  As  soon  as  he  had  breathed  his 
last,  Cesare,  who  was  keeping  to  his  own  rooms  on  pretence  of 
illness,  sent  his  trusted  squires  to  close  all  doors  which  gave 
access  to  the  papal  apartment.  One  of  them  (says  Burck- 
hardt)  drawing  a  dagger  threatened  Cardinal  Casanova  that 
he  would  cut  his  throat  and  throw  him  out  of  the  window  if 
he  did  not  give  him  at  once  the  keys  of  the  pontifical  treasury  ;, 
the  cardinal,  terrified,  gave  them  to  him.  The  strong-boxes 
soon  yielded  piles  of  golden  ducats,  while  the  servants  rifled 
the  wardrobes  and  rooms,  leaving  only  a  few  cloth  tapestries 
fastened  on  the  walls. 

"  The  Pope's  body,  washed  and  clothed,  was  placed  in 
a  room  between  two  wax  candles.  None  went  to  recite  over 
it  the  prayers  for  the  dead,  none  watched  it  that  night.  The 
next  morning  it  was  borne,  uncovered  according  to  rite,  into 
St.  Peter's  Church.  The  cardinal  who  presided  at  the  function 
fearing  that  some  one  would  gash  it  out  of  personal  spite, 
had  it  brought  into  a  chapel  behind  a  very  high  and  resistent 
iron  grating.  '  Vultus  erat  sicut  pannus  vel  morus  nigerrimus,' 
writes  Burckhardt, '  livori  totus  plenus,  os  amplissimum,  nasus 
plenus,  lingua  duplex  in  ore,  que  labia  tota  implebat,  os 
apertum  ed  adeo  orribile  quod  nemo  videns  unquam  ad  esse 
talem  dixerit.'  The  orator  Costabili  mentions  that  evening 
in  a  despatch  '  the  Pope's  body  has  been  all  day  in  St. 
Peter's,  an  ugly  thing  to  see,  black  and  swoUen  .  .  .  and  many 
do  not  doubt  he  has  been  poisoned.'  " 

To  counteract  the  rumours  of  poisoning  which  the  rapid 
decomposition  of  the  body  was  arousing,  it  was  thought  well 
to  keep  it  covered  by  day  and  only  to  leave  it  exposed  in  the 
evening.  But  at  night,  by  the  yellowish,  flickering  and 
smoking  light  of  the  candles,  Borgia  appeared  still  more 
horrible  and  terrifying  :  a  repulsive  fetor  emanated  from 
that  black  and  putrefying  flesh.  It  was  therefore  decided  to 
enclose  it  without  more  ado  in  the  bier.  Two  joiners  and 
six  porters  "  ludentes  et  blasfemantes  sive  contra  papam  sive 
in  spretum  cadaveris,"  "  had  no  small  difliculty  in  pushing  it 
into  the  coffin,  which  had  become  too  narrow :   and  because 


THE   MYSTERY   OF  THE  BORGIAS  137 

the  stench  and  the  heat  were  unbearable,  they  hastened  their 
task  without  any  regard,  and  forced  it  in  with  hand  and  foot. 
No  priest  was  present  at  the  funeral  operation,  not  a  candle 
was  lit." 

In  the  morning,  there  was  found  on  the  bier  these  couplets  : 

"  Quis   jacet   hie.     Sextus — Quis  funera  plangit  ?     Erymus. 
Quis  comes  in  tanto  funere  obit  ?     Vitium. 
Et  quae  causa  necis  ?     Virus  pro  homina,   virus, 
Humane  generi  vita  salusque  fuit." 

The  Venetian  Giustinian  who  attended  him  in  his  last  hours 
wrote  the  significant  words,  "  Very  near  the  end  of  the  tribu- 
lation of  Christendom,"  and  a  Bolognese  priest,  noting  the 
date  of  his  death  in  the  margin  of  a  document,  says,  "  To-day 
he  is  descended  to  hell  where  he  was  bom." 

On  the  other  hand,  Burckhardt,  whose  account  is  gener- 
ally favoured,  states  that  the  Pope  was  attacked  by 
a  fever  on  August  12,  1503,  and  on  the  i6th  he  was  bled, 
the  disorder  seeming  to  become  a  tertian.  On  the  17th  he 
took  medicine,  but  the  following  day  he  became  so  ill  that 
his  life  was  despaired  of.  He  then  received  the  viaticum 
during  mass,  which  was  celebrated  in  his  chamber,  at  which 
five  cardinals  assisted.  In  the  evening  extreme  unction  was 
administered  to  him,  and  a  few  minutes  afterwards  he  died. 

This  account  is  corroborated  by  Muratori,  who  quotes  many 
authorities  to  show  that  the  death  of  Alexander  was  not 
caused  by  poison,  and  the  balance  of  evidence  certainly 
seems  in  favour  of  the  theory  that,  despite  all  his  crimes, 
Alexander  VI  died  from  a  natural  cause,  and  that  probably 
a  fever  of  virulent  type. 

Thus  ended  Alexander  VI,  after  a  pontificate  of  eleven 
years,  on  August  18,  1503. 

According  to  a  chronicler  of  the  time  : 

"  Cesare  Borgia  survived  his  father,  and  his  life  was  saved 
because  he  had  himself  plunged  into  the  stomach  of  a  living 
mule,  but  on  his  recovery  he  lost  both  his  power  and  his 
prestige.  The  Pope  Julius  II,  after  the  very  short  pontificate 
of  Pius  III,  which  only  lasted  twenty-one  days,  ordered  his 
arrest  when  he  was  tlie  master  of  all  Central  Italy,  after  having 
arrested  Varano,  Vitelli,  the  Orsini  and  the  Baglioni.  Cesare 
resisted  for  a  year,  sustained  by  the  imimpeachable  fidelity 


138  POISON   MYSTERIES 

of  his  captains  and  soldiers.  He  yielded  at  last  in  1504,  was 
liberated  again,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  Gonzalo  di  Cordova, 
who  sent  him  to  Spain.  Having  escaped,  he  took  service 
again  in  the  capacity  of  commander  under  his  father-in-law, 
the  King  of  Navarre.  He  died  in  1507  in  a  fight,  pierced  by  a 
javelin. 

Another  historian  gives  the  following  account  of  the  end  of 
Cesare  : — 

"  At  the  time  of  his  father's  death  Cesare  Borgia  was 
sick  in  bed,  his  illness  it  is  said  being  caused  by  swallowing  a 
portion  of  the  poisoned  sweetmeats  which  cost  his  father  his 
life.  Cesare  it  is  related  partook  of  the  poisoned  sweetmeats 
in  error  and  omitted  to  carry  out  the  advice  of  Macchiavelli 
always  to  carry  an  antidote  with  him." 

It  is  probable  that  he  was  suffering  from  an  attack  of  the 
same  fever  which  his  father  had  contracted. 

On  hearing  of  the  Pope's  death,  although  unable  to  leave 
his  room,  he  at  once  sent  one  of  his  emissaries  with  several 
armed  attendants  to  take  possession  of  the  palace  and  allow 
no  one  to  enter  until  he  had  taken  away  his  father's  treasure. 

As  time  went  on  he  became  more  and  more  unpopular,  and 
public  feeling  was  very  strong  against  him.  After  some  time 
it  was  arranged  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  quit  the  Eccles- 
iastical States.  Three  days  were  given  him  to  leave  the  city, 
but  after  the  election  of  Julius  II  he  again  returned  to  Rome. 
Feeling  was  still  strong  against  him,  and  he  decided  to  journey 
to  France  to  seek  the  assistance  of  the  King.  The  King  of 
Navarre  gave  him  command  of  a  troop  of  horse,  and  in  a 
small  battle  under  the  walls  of  the  castle  of  Viana  Cesare 
was  killed. 

Remorsi  says  : — 

"  The  Duke  of  Valentinois  did  not  die,  because  God  willed 
that  as  a  greater  scourge  this  ambitious  and  cruel  spirit  should 
survive  fortune  and  grandeur  and  see  his  most  down-trodden 
enemies  in  power,  for  the  strength  of  his  temperament  and  of 
his  youth  overcame  the  poison,  being  aided  by  good  remedies 
which  the  doctors  gave  him.  Some  of  them  assert  that  the 
most  efficacious  remedy  employed  was  that  of  putting  him 
several  times  into  the  body  of  a  bull  or  mule  opened  for 
the  purpose,  like  Ladislas,  King  of  Naples,  who  was  delivered 


1 , =:i:^ -^ 

i                   '                                      ■                         '■ 

rr:- -— • 1 

P 

LUCREZIA    BORGIA. 

(From  the  painting  by  Pinturicchio  in  the  Vatican.) 


THE   MYSTERY   OF   THE   BORGIAS  139 

in  this  manner  from  the  poison  which  was  given  to  him  in  his 
youth. 

"  Others  write  of  having  heard  the  said  Cardinal  (di  Cor- 
neto)  say  in  the  villa  where  he  took  the  poison,  how  he  was 
plunged  into  a  great  vessel  of  cold  water,  from  which  he  was 
not  taken  until  his  skin  had  been  entirely  removed  in  pieces, 
because  his  intestines  were  completely  burned.  However  his 
cure  was  effected,  he  remained  extremely  oppressed  by  the 
illness  for  a  long  time  and  at  a  time  when  he  had  most  need  of 
perfect  health  in  order  to  remedy  the  revolution  of  his  affairs. 
So  that  he  constantly  had  reason  to  complain  of  his  reverses  of 
fortune." 

Cesare's  death  was  lamented  at  least  by  one  person,  and 
that  was  his  sister  Lucrezia,  who  at  once  set  out  for  the  Monas- 
tery of  Corpo  di  Christo  to  offer  prayers  for  his  soul,  where  she 
remained  for  two  nights. 

Some  of  the  entries  in  the  book  of  her  household  expenses 
are  interesting,  and  throw  a  light  on  the  remuneration  paid 
to  a  Court  physician  of  the  time. 

In  1507  is  an  entry  : — 

"  To  Maestro  Ludovico  physician  to  Her  Highness  no  lire 
for  the  balance  of  his  salary. 

"  On  the  31st  December  240  lire  as  a  year's  salary  for  her 
Highness's  physician  Maestro  Ludovico  at  the  rate  of  20  lire 
a  month." 

Patroness  of  poets  and  painters  in  her  latter  days,  Lucrezia 
made  herself  popular  in  Ferrara.  In  the  Library  of  Modeno 
is  a  list  of  her  magnificent  jewels  which  she  sold  to  free  her 
husband  from  the  debts  he  contracted  during  the  wars  in 
defence  of  his  territories.  Many  of  her  letters  still  extant  show 
that  during  these  troublous  times  the  relief  of  the  poor,  sick 
and  needy  was  Lucrezia's  constant  care.  She  died  during  her 
confinement  on  June  21,  15 19.  The  accouchement  had  been 
long  and  difficult  and  the  officers  and  servants  of  her  house- 
hold were  clustered  at  the  foot  of  the  grand  staircase  leading 
to  her  room.  Great  fears  were  entertained  of  her  recovery, 
and  they  waited  in  breathless  silence  for  every  sound  from 
the  apartment.  "At  length,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  Maestro 
Alberti,  the  Court  Apothecary,  was  seen  descending  the  stair- 
case with  an  ewer  in  his  hand.     All  pressed  forward  to  ask  him 


140  POISON   MYSTERIES 

where  he  was  going.  He  replied  significantly,  '  To  get  some 
rose  water  to  wash  the  body  of  the  duchess.'  " 

Thus  ended  Lucrezia  Borgia,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  who,  to 
quote  a  letter  written  by  a  cousin  of  Federico  Gonzaga  who 
was  present  in  Ferrara  at  the  time,  was  "one  who  appears 
to  have  been  universally  beloved  not  only  for  the  habitual 
piety  of  her  life,  but  for  her  unbounded  charity  and  kindness 
of  heart." 

Lucrezia  has  been  accused  of  being  guilty  of  the  worst 
possible  crimes,  including  that  of  poisoning,  but  there  is 
practically  no  historic  proof  of  the  truth  of  these  stories. 
It  is  probable  that  many  of  the  infamous  crimes  of  her 
brother  Cesare  were  attributed  erroneously  to  her. 

The  composition  of  the  so-called  "  Cantarella,"  the  poison 
said  to  have  been  employed  by  the  Borgias,  has  long 
been  a  subject  of  dispute.  According  to  Paolo  Jovio,  it 
was  "  a  kind  of  whitish  powder,  that-  to  a  certain  extent 
resembled  sugar,  and  which  had  been  used  on  a  great  many 
poor  innocent  people  who  died  in  a  miserable  state." 

Carelli,  physician  to  Charles  VI,  gives  the  following  account 
of  how  it  was  prepared.  Fle  states  :  "  The  abdominal  viscera 
of  a  sow  which  had  been  poisoned  with  arsenic  were  powdered 
with  arsenious  acid  ;  they  waited  until  the  putrefaction  was 
complete  and  the  liquids  which  flowed  from  it  were  then  con- 
centrated by  evaporation  and  constituted  a  white  powder 
which  was  called  '  La  Cantarella.'  "  Apollinaire's  account 
of  its  preparation  has  already  been  given,  from  which  it  may 
be  concluded  that  it  consisted  of  a  mixture  of  subacetate  of 
copper  and  crude  phosphorus. 

Several  other  contemporary  writers  claim  to  give  the  true 
method  of  its  preparation.  One  states  that  a  bear  was  killed, 
then  cut  open  and  treated  in  a  similar  manner  and  the  liquid 
that  dripped  from  it  formed  the  poison. 

It  is  evident  that  this  method  of  preparing  a  venom  was 
employed  by  some  of  the  Italian  poisoners  and  was  known  at 
the  period.  The  combination  of  the  animal  poison  contained 
in  the  products  of  putrefaction,  together  with  arsenic,  would 
no  doubt  furnish  a  poisonous  substance  of  a  very  powerful 
nature,  but  whether  the  Borgias  ever  used  such  a  prepara- 
tion there  is  no  evidence  to  prove. 


t,     >=  ^ 

I  o 

&    !^  a, 

U  « 


THE   MYSTERY   OF  THE  BORGIAS  141 

Baron  Corvo,  in  his  Chronicles  of  the  Borgias,  scouts  the 
idea  that  the  family  possessed  any  such  secret,  and  denies 
that  the  venom  ever  existed.  The  probabiUty  is,  that  when 
the  Borgias  found  it  necessary  to  use  a  poison  for  nefarious 
purposes  they  employed  arsenic,  which  was  so  commonly 
used  in  Italy  at  that  period.  The  fact  that  Cesare  Borgia's 
signet  ring  contained  a  secret  receptacle  which  might  easily 
have  been  used  to  carry  arsenic,  goes  a  long  way  to  sub- 
stantiate this  conjecture,  and  is  the  strongest  evidence  we 
have  that  he  at  least  used  a  very  powerful  poison  to  carry 
out  his  evil  designs. 

In  connection  with  the  Borgia  poison  there  is  an  interesting 
story  that  the  secret  of  its  preparation  perished  with  the  Due 
Riaro-Sforza,  who  died  in  Paris  about  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Before  his  death,  one  evening  at  the  opera 
the  Duke  is  said  to  have  confided  to  a  distinguished  critic,  who 
occupied  the  neighbouring  stall,  that  he  still  possessed  the 
secret  of  the  f amyous  poison,  although  for  centuries  it  had  lain 
idle  in  the  family  archives.  Its  composition  was,  he  added, 
simpler  than  generally  supposed,  and  not  long  afterwards  he 
told  his  friends  that,  feeling  age  advancing  and  having  no 
direct  heirs,  he  had  thought  it  best  to  burn  the  recipe  lest  it 
might  fall  into  bad  hands. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

POISON   MYSTERIES   IN   EARLY  SCOTTISH 
HISTORY 

ACCORDING  to  ancient  historical  records  Scotland 
had  its  poison  mysteries  in  early  times. 

In  the  year  1332  Thomas  Randolph,  Earl  of  Moray,  who  on 
the  death  of  Robert  Bruce  was  appointed  Regent  during  the 
minority  of  the  young  King  David  the  Second,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  victim  to  poison. 

Hector  Boece,  in  his  Cronikles  of  Scotland,  boldly  attributes 
his  death  to  the  malice  of  Edward  III,  King  of  England,  who, 
he  states,  "  tuk  purpos  to  sla  him  be  venome."  The  fatal 
draught  is  said  to  have  been  administered  to  the  Earl  by  a 
monk  who  had  been  sent  by  the  English  King  as  a  physician, 
with  the  result  that  the  unfortunate  Moray  found  "  certaine 
dolouris  ilk  day  mair  increasing  in  his  wame,"  and  died  very 
suddenly. 

The  Duke  of  Albany,  younger  son  of  James  III,  according 
to  a  chronicler,  was  also  "  posonit  in  oure  Souverane  lordis 
presens  and  palas,"  which  caused  "  a  sclandir  and  murmur 
rising  in  thecuntre,"  but  by  whom  it  was  administered  it  is 
not  known. 

In  1497  Margaret  Drummond,  mistress  of  James  the  Fourth, 
is  said  to  have  been  poisoned,  with  her  two  sisters,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  nobles  who  wished  the  king  to  marry. 

In  1536  Jean  Douglas,  Lady  Glamis,  grand- daughter  of 
"  Bell-the-Cat,"  was  tried  for  having  removed  her  husband 
some  years  before  per  intoxication  em,  and  for  having  conspired 
to  dispose  in  the  same  way  of  King  James  the  Fifth,  who  had 
put  the  whole  Douglas  family  under  ban.  She  was  convicta 
de  arte  et  parte  proditorie  conspirationis  et  imaginationis  inter- 
fectionis  sive  destructionis  nobilissime  personne  serenissimi 
domini  nostri  Regis  per  pessimum  venenum  lie  poysone,  and 

142 


EARLY   SCOTTISH   POISON   MYSTERIES       143 

condemned  to   "be  had  to  Castell   hill  of  Edinburghe  and 
their  Brynt  in  ane  fyre  to  the  deid,  as  ane  Traytour." 

Another  case  of  alleged  poisoning  famous  in  Scottish  history 
is  that  of  the  Earl  of  Atholl,  Treasurer  of  the  Kingdom,  who 
died  suddenly  after  a  reconciliation  feast  given  by  the  Regent, 
Morton.  Atholl,  a  near  kinsman  of  the  King,  was  a  Catholic  ; 
Morton  "a  licentious  man,  but  a  fervent  Protestant  "  :  the 
two  men  were,  besides,  rivals  in  the  State.  It  was  generally 
believed  at  the  time  that  Atholl  was  poisoned  by  Morton, 
and  so  clamorous  did  the  popular  indignation  become,  that 
by  order  of  the  Privy  Council  an  inquest  was  held  in  the 
presence  of  the  King  and  his  Councillors.  Six  surgeons  were 
appointed  to  make  a  post-mortem  examination.  James 
Owhegarty,  "Ireland  man  born  leiche  that  ministratis  medicine 
in  the  mouth  and  curis  outward  be  herbis,"  testified  that  the 
cause  of  death  was  "  rank  venom  "  introduced  by  the  mouth. 
The  testimony  of  Alexander  Prestoun,  "  Doctour  in  Medicine," 
and  George  Boswell,  "  Mediciner  and  Chirurgiane  in  Perty," 
was  to  the  same  effect.  Gilbert  Moncrieff  gave  a  more 
guarded  opinion  ;  he  considered  the  humour  in  the  stomach 
to  be  venomous,  but  was  unable  to  say  whether  it  was  exterior 
or  interior  grown  within  the  body.  David  Rattray,  "  Chirur- 
giane in  Conpare,"  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  death  was 
caused  by  "  ane  extraordinarie  poyson,"  adding  that  "  ane 
spune  put  in  the  humour  change  it  in  the  cullour  of  brass." 
R.  Craig,  "Burgess  of  Edinburgh,  chirurgiane,"  cautiously 
opined  that  the  Earl  "  to  all  appearance  "  had  died  of  poison. 
A  non-medical  witness  thought  that  a  red  matter  shown 
to  him  by  Dr.  Prestoun  was  "  a  cauld  poyson."  Several 
ministers  also  gave  testimony,  one  of  them  stating  that  he 
saw  "strange  and  unnatural  tokens  in  the  stomach,  black 
and  red,  as  it  were  the  dregs  of  bread  and  wine  mixed,  and 
that  he  had  heard  the  dead  man  say  "  that  he  had  got  offence, 
and  God  forgive  them  that  had  done  it."  Bernardino  de 
Mendoza,  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  writing  to  his  King,  gives 
the  following  description  of  the  inquest  : — 

They  had  opened  the  body  in  the  presence  of  five  doctors, 
three  of  whom  said  he  had  been  poisoned,  and  two  that  he  had 
not.  One  of  the  latter,  to  assure  them  that  he  was  right,  by 
proof,  took  some  of  the  contents  of  the  stomach  on  his  finger, 


144  POISON  MYSTERIES 

and  put  it  into  his  mouth.  The  effect  was  that  in  a  few  hours 
he  was  thought  to  be  dying.  It  is  not  known  whether  the 
order  to  poison  him  came  from  Morton  or  some  private  person. 

In  the  end  "  the  physicians  did  upon  their  oath  declare 
that  his  death  was  not  caused  by  any  extraordinary  means." 
The  result  of  the  inquest  did  not,  however,  allay  the  general 
suspicion,  and  Morton  thought  it  necessary,  when  he  was 
about  to  die  on  the  scaffold  in  1581,  to  make  a  solemn  declar- 
ation, that  he  "would  not  for  the  Earldom  of  Atholl  have 
either  ministered  poison  unto  him  or  caused  it  to  be  min- 
istered unto  him." 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Robert  Stewart,  Earl  of  Orkney, 
who  was  an  illegitimate  brother  of  Queen  Mary,  a  quarrel 
arose  between  his  eldest  son  Patrick  and  his  young  brothers, 
John,  James,  and  William  Stewart.  Eventually  the  latter 
were  suspected  of  conspiring  to  poison  their  brother,  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  title,  and  in  1596  we  find  the  three  brothers, 
John,  James  and  William,  were  brought  to  trial  and  accused 
of  having  "  conspyrit  and  dewysit  how  to  murthour  the  said 
Patrick  Erl  of  Orkney  his  brother,  be  poysoning  or  utherwayes 
be  craft  and  guylt  dealing,"  in  November,  1593. 

The  Earl,  it  appears,  captured  his  brother's  servant,  who 
confessed  he  was  hired  to  do  the  deed.  This  confession,  how- 
ever, was  only  extorted  from  him  after  being  tortured  eleven 
days  and  nights  in  the  "  cashie-lawis,"  put  in  the  "  buitis  " 
twice  a  day,  and  "  skargeit  with  towis." 

Tried  on  the  charge  of  plotting  to  murder  the  Earl  at  a 
banquet  in  the  house  of  David  Moncriefis  of  Kirkwell  in 
Orkney,  John  was  acquitted. 

Another  Scottish  noble,  George  Home,  Earl  of  Dunbar,  is 
said  to  have  been  poisoned  by  "  tablets  of  Sugar  given  him  for 
expelling  the  cold  "  by  Secretary  Cecil  in  161 1.  A  post- 
mortem examination  was  made  by  one  Martin  Souqir,  a 
doctor,  who  is  said  to  have  tried  the  poison  by  laying  his 
finger  on  the  subject's  heart  and  touching  it  with  his  tongue  " 
(a  curious  clinical  test  for  poison  on  which  apparently  great 
reliance  was  placed  at  that  period),  with  the  result  that  he 
died  within  a  few  days  thereafter. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
HISTORIC  POISON  CASES   IN  FRANCE 

IN  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  mania  for 
criminal  poisoning  spread  from  Italy  to  France.  The 
practice  increased  with  great  rapidity,  and  poisons  appear  to 
have  been  commonly  employed  by  those  of  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  classes  of  society,  to  get  rid  of  enemies  and  undesirable 
persons.  It  is  stated  that  the  Prior  of  Cluny  and  his  valet 
Saint-Barthelemy,  with  grim  humour,  even  poisoned  their 
physicians  in  order  to  avoid  paying  them.  It  may  be  said  of 
the  many  stories  of  poison  mysteries  in  France  that  have  come 
down  to  us  from  the  seventeenth  century,  that  though  their 
truth  maybe  doubtful  they  are  not  without  romantic  interest. 

Jeanne  d'Albret,  mother  of  Flenry  IV,  who  died  of  a  fever 
after  four  days'  illness,  was  generally  believed  to  have  met 
her  death  by  wearing  poisoned  gloves.  So  great  was  the 
credibility  of  the  stories  spread  abroad  after  the  sudden  death 
of  many  distinguished  persons,  that  in  this  case  it  was 
believed  that  the  gloves  were  placed  in  a  box  with  a  double 
bottom,  beneath  which  was  placed  a  mixture  of  opium,  bella- 
donna, hyoscyamus,  and  other  poisons.  These  were  sup- 
posed not  only  to  have  impregnated  the  gloves  but  to  have 
been  administered  to  the  victim  while  asleep,  the  box  being 
exposed  under  her  nostrils. 

Francis  II,  the  first  husband  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who 
died  in  1560,  was  supposed  to  have  succumbed  to  poison,  and 
Beaucaire  de  Peguillon  goes  so  far  as  to  charge  Ambroise 
Pare,  the  great  military  surgeon,  with  having  been  the  cause 
of  the  crime.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  proved  from  an  in- 
vestigation by  Courladon  a  few  years  ago,  that  Francis,  who 
was  born  with  an  obstruction  of  the  nose  and  mouth,  probably 
due  to  adenoids,  died  from  chronic  suppurative  otitis. 

145  K 


146  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  Due  d'Albe  asserts  that  Mary  Stuart  was  the  cause  of 
his  death,  but  John  Knox  was  nearer  the  mark  when  he  wrote 
on  hearing  of  it  :  "  The  potent  hand  of  God  from  above  sent 
unto  us  a  wonderful  and  most  joyful  deliverance  ;  for  unhappy 
Francis,  husband  to  our  Sovereign,  suddenly  perisheth  of  a 
rotten  ear  .  .  .  that  deaf  ear  that  never  would  hear  the  truth 
of  God." 

A  curious  method  of  introducing  poison  is  recorded  in 
the  story  of  the  Cardin?i  of  Lorraine,  uncle  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots,  who  is  said  to  have  died  after  touching  poisoned 
gold  coins.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  evidence  to 
show  that  his  death  was  due  to  pleurisy  caused  by  a  cold 
caught  in  walking  barefooted  at  the  head  of  a  procession 
at  Avignon.  Catherine  de'  Medici  was  credited  with  having 
poisoned  her  three  sons,  Charles  IX,  the  Due  d'Anjou  and 
Francis  II,  but  the  story  has  apparently  no  foundation. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  romantic  case 
connected  with  poison,  which  caused  great  consternation  in 
Paris,  was  that  of  the  death  of  Gabrielle  d'Astrees.  The  divorce 
proceedings  between  Henry  IV  and  Marguerite  de  Valois  were 
,  almost  complete,  when  all  preparations  for  the  marriage  of  the 
King  to  Madame  d'Astrees  were  brought  to  a  sudden  end  in 
Holy  Week,  1599,  by  her  mysterious  death.  A  post-mortem 
examination  made  by  the  doctors  threw  no  light  on  the  cause 
of  death,  and  hints  began  to  be  spread  abroad  that  she  had 
been  secretly  poisoned  by  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  Accord- 
ing to  the  story,  she  had  arrived  in  Paris  on  Tuesday,  April  6, 
and  on  the  following  Thursday,  while  in  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Antoine,  she  was  taken  ill  with  headache  and  vertigo  and  had 
to  leave  before  the  end  of  the  service.  Severe  convulsive 
attacks  followed,  which  increased  in  violence  and  frequency, 
until  she  lost  consciousness  and  died  during  the  night  of 
April  10.     The  cause  of  her  death  remains  a  mystery. 

The  seventeenth  century  saw  a  still  greater  increase  in  the 
mysterious  deaths  in  France  attributed  to  poison.  On  June 
30,  1670,  Henrietta  Anne  of  England,  Duchess  of  Orleans  and 
sister  of  King  Charles  II,  died  suddenly  in  Paris.  It  appears 
that  after  drinking  a  glass  of  cold  water  in  her  apartment  at 
St. Cloud,  she  was  said  to  have  been  seized  with  a  fit  of  shiver- 
ing, followed  by  acute  fever,  which  caused  her  great  agonies. 


HISTORIC   POISON   CASES   IN   FRANCE        147 

Consternation  was  caused  when  she  declared  to  her  ladies 
that  she  had  been  poisoned,  and  physicians  were  sent  for  in 
hot  haste.  On  their  arrival  they  were  struck  with  her  livid 
appearance,  and,  acknowledging  their  helplessness  in  giving 
her  relief,  advised  her  to  receive  the  Last  Sacraments  of  the 
Church  without  delay.  The  Duchess,  on  hearing  of  this, 
desired  that  Bossuet,  who  had  attended  her  mother  the  Queen- 
Dowager  of  England,  should  be  called  in,  and  three  couriers 
were  immediately  dispatched  to  bring  him.  Before  he  arrived 
at  St.  Cloud  between  eleven  and  twelve  at  night,  she  had 
received  the  Sacrament  from  the  hands  of  the  Abbe  Feuillet, 
who  appears  to  have  treated  her  with  considerable  harshness. 
Between  her  shrieks  caused  by  the  violent  pain,  he  told  her 
that  her  sins  were  not  punished  as  they  deserved.  On  the 
arrival  of  Bossuet,  the  Duchess  entreated  him  to  promise  not 
to  leave  until  she  breathed  her  last ;  he  fell  on  his  knees  by 
her  bedside,  holding  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  and  with  tremulous 
voice  invited  her  to  join  him  in  devotion.  She  remembered 
that  the  crucifix  which  he  held  in  his  hands  towards  her 
was  the  same  which  he  had  given  to  her  mother  the  Queen- 
Dowager,  to  hold  in  her  agony.  She  took  it  in  her  hand  and 
held  it  in  hers  till  she  breathed  her  last.  Before  she  died 
she  spoke  to  Madame  de  Lafayette  in  English,  expressing  her 
gratitude  for  the  assistance  she  had  received  from  Bossuet, 
and  requested  that  an  old  emerald  ring  set  with  diamonds  of 
great  value  might  be  presented  to  him.  The  Duchess  died  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  news  being  conveyed 
to  the  King,  he  sent  for  Bossuet  and  gave  him  the  emerald 
ring,  placing  it  on  his  finger,  and  desiring  him  to  wear  it  for 
the  rest  of  his  life. 

We  owe  this  description  to  Butler,  who  edited  the  life  of 
Bossuet.  The  Duchess  undoubtedly  believed  herself  to  have 
been  poisoned,  and  the  same  belief  appears  to  have  been  held 
by  the  English  ambassador,  the  Court  and  the  people  of  the 
city  of  Paris.  It  is  even  said  that  one  of  her  household  gave 
the  name  of  her  poisoner  to  Voltaire,  and  the  medium  was 
stated  to  be  diamond  dust  strewn  on  strawberries  with  sugar. 
Another  rumour  was  that  she  died  in  consequence  of  drinking 
a  glass  of  succory  water  which  had  been  poisoned,  but 
according  to  Voltaire  she  died  a  natural  death.     This  is  most 


148  POISON   MYSTERIES 

probable,  as  she  had  suffered  from  a  chronic  disease  of  the  liver 
for  some  time  ;  diamond  dust,  it  may  be  said,  is  without  any 
poisonous  properties,  and  could  only  act  as  a  mechanical 
irritant  in  the  stomach. 

About  this  time  a  German  apothecary  and  alchemist  named 
Glaser  settled  in  Paris  and,  together  with  Exali  and  another 
Italian,  began  work  in  a  laboratory  they  started,  reputedly  with 
the  object  of  searching  for  the  philosophers'  stone.  Plaving 
come  to  the  end  of  their  resources  in  a  very  short  time  in  the 
pursuit  of  this  chimera,  they  commenced  the  secret  sale  of 
poisons.  Through  the  confessional  their  nefarious  trade 
became  known  to  the  Grand  Penitentiary  of  Paris.  This  dig- 
nitary gave  information  to  the  Government,  and  the  two  of  the 
suspected  chemists  were  promptly  sent  to  the  Bastille,  where 
one  of  them  died.  Exali,  however,  while  still  in  prison, 
managed  to  carry  on  his  business  and  found  ready  purchasers 
for  his  secrets.  Catherine  de'  Medici  was  said  to  have  been 
instrumental  in  introducing  the  Italian  methods  into  France, 
and  deaths  in  Paris  attributed  to  poisons  now  increased  to 
an  alarming  extent.  Florentine  perfumers  were  supposed 
to  have  been-  adepts  in  mixing  the  poisons  with  sweetmeats 
and  articles  of  food. 

From  the  highest  to  the  lowest  all  seem  to  have  had 
the  dread  of  meeting  death  in  this  way,  and  it  is  said  that 
Henry  IV,  when  a  guest  at  the  Louvre,  ate  only  eggs  which  he 
cooked  himself  and  drank  only  water  which  he  drew  from 
the  Seine. 

In  1682  it  was  thought  necessary  to  devise  some  more 
drastic  method  of  dealing  with  the  secret  sale  of  poisons,  and 
a  decree  was  issued  by  Louis  XIV,  forbidding  apothecaries  to 
sell  arsenic,  sublimate,  or  any  drug  reputed  to  be  a  poison 
except  to  persons  known  to  them.  It  further  required,  that 
the  purchaser  should  sign  a  register  declaring  the  purpose  for 
which  he  was  buying  the  poison.  A  similar  condition  had 
been  imposed  by  the  local  authorities  in  MontpelHer  about 
twenty  years  previously,  but  Louis  applied  it  to  the  whole 
•country. 

The  priests  of  Notre-Dame  at  length  became  appalled  at  the 
number  of  self-accusations  of  murder  by  poison  made  to  them 
in  the  confessional,  and  conveyed  an  intimation  of  the  fact 


HISTORIC   POISON   CASES   IN   FRANCE        149 

without  names  to  Colbert  and  Louvois,  then  Ministers  of 
State.  The  authorities  were  placed  on  the  alert,  and  by  means 
of  a  clue  obtained  from  an  intercepted  letter,  they  arrested 
the  Chevalier  de  Vanens  and  the  Count  de  Bachimont,  who 
were  found  to  be  secret  purveyors  of  poisons.  On  private 
examination,  they  implicated  a  large  number  of  persons, 
insomuch  that  a  judicial  commission  was  appointed  by  Louis 
XIV,  by  which  strict  justice  was  done,  without  distinction  of 
person,  condition  or  sex.  It  sat  for  three  years  and  was 
known  as  the  Chambre  Ardente,  or  Chamber  of  Poisons,  and 
was  established  at  the  Arsenal  near  the  Bastille. 

The  stir  and  mystery  made  by  the  examinations  of  this 
Court  apparently  drew  more  attention  to  the  study  of  poisons 
than  before,  and  many  began  to  learn  how  to  employ  them, 
with  the  object  of  succeeding  to  heritages  or  of  ridding  them- 
selves of  persons  they  disliked. 

Among  those  arrested  and  brought  before  the  Court  were 
members  of  some  of  the  noblest  families  of  France,  together 
with  magistrates,  priests  and  a  number  of  women,  who  had 
practised  as  witches,  fortune-tellers,  sages-femmes  and  poison- 
ers. Confessions  which  were  extracted  from  these  people  by 
torture  showed  that  systematic  poisoning  had  for  some  time 
been  carried  out  by  the  ladies  of  the  court  of  the  Grand 
Monarque.  One  of  thedealers  in  poisons,  named  La  Voisin,  is 
said  to  have  amassed  in  a  few  years  a  sum  of  money  equivalent 
to  ;f20,ooo.  Another  is  said  to  have  earned  ;fi,6oo  a  year, 
which  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at,  when  it  was  revealed  that 
Madame  de  Montespan  had  paid  fifty  crowns  for  a  love  philtre, 
and  another  lady  one  hundred  louis  d'or  for  a  powder  to 
administer  to  her  husband.  La  Voisin  and  her  accomplices 
were  eventually  condemned  and  burned  at  the  stake,  which 
seemed  to  check  for  a  time  the  series  of  terrible  crimes  which 
spread  through  France  during  the  eighteenth  century. 

Shortly  before  this  the  whole  of  the  country  had  been  aroused 
by  the  remarkable  case  of  the  Marquise  de  Brinvilliers,  who  con- 
fessed to  having  poisoned  her  father,  two  brothers  and  a  sister, 
together  with  a  number  of  people  whose  existence  she  found 
inconvenient,  or  who  simply  bored  her.  Apparently  when 
she  had  no  serious  business  on  hand,  she  practised  her  art  on 
the  patients  in  the  hospitals  which  she  visited  under  the 


150  POISON   MYSTERIES 

pretence  of  charity.  This  woman,  who  stands  in  history 
as  the  most  infamous  of  all  poisoners  of  whom  we  have 
record,  was  named  Marie  Madeleine  D'Aubray,  the  daughter 
of  a  magistrate  named  Dreux  D'Aubray.  She  was  born  on 
July  22,  1630,  and  was  the  eldest  of  five  children,  all  of  whom 
came  to  occupy  positions  of  importance.  She  received  a 
better  education  than  most  women  of  her  time,  but  her 
religious  instruction  appears  to  have  been  wholly  neglected. 
According  to  the  priest  who  ministered  to  her  before  she  paid 
the  penalty  of  her  crimes,  she  was  destitute  of  even  a  rudi- 
mentary knowledge  of  religion,  and  she  appeared  to  have  had 
no  moral  training  whatever.  Of  a  passionate  temperament  and 
extraordinary  energy  in  anything  that  might  serve  for  the 
gratification  of  her  desires,  she  had  a  most  complex  nature, 
which  was  at  once  sensitive  to  anything  that  touched  her 
vanity  or  self-love. 

In  165 1,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  she  married  Antoine 
Gobelin,  the  Marquis  de  Brinvilliers,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
the  founder  of  the  famous  tapestry  manufactory.  He  is  said 
to  have  had  an  income  of  30,000  livres  a  year,  and  his  wife 
brought  him  another  200,000  as  a  dowry. 

The  marquise  at  that  time  is  said  to  have  been  a  particularly 
beautiful  woman,  and  both  she  and  her  husband  began  their 
married  life  with  every  prospect  of  happiness.  In  1659  they 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Captain  Sainte-Croix,  a  young 
man  of  good  family  and  who  was  an  officer  in  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment. He  became  a  constant  visitor  to  the  house,  and  so 
ingratiated  himself  with  both  the  marquise  and  her  husband 
that  he  eventually  took  up  his  residence  with  them. 

At  the  time  that  Sainte-Croix  came  to  live  with  the  Brin- 
villiers there  were  several  children  in  the  house  under  the 
care  of  a  tutor,  named  Briancourt,  who  also  was  said  to  be  one 
of  the  many  lovers  of  the  marquise .  The  marquis  himself  seems 
to  have  developed  a  distrust  of  his  wife,  and  was  ever  on  the 
watch  ;  whether  he  had  gleaned  some  knowledge  of  her  enthu- 
siasm in  the  study  of  poisons  or  not,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  it 
is  stated  that  at  dinner  he  always  took  care  that  Sainte-Croix 
sat  on  the  lady's  right,  while  he  occupied  a  place  near  the 
sideboard.  He  was  waited  on  by  a  servant  particularly 
attached  to  his  person,  whom  he  instructed  never  to  change 


HISTORIC   POISON   CASES   IN   FRANCE        151 

his  glass,  and  to  rinse  it  out  whenever  he  served  him  with 
wine. 

Although  suspicious  that  his  wife  was  making  attempts 
to  poison  him — and  there  is  little  doubt  she  was  attempting 
to  do  so — the  marquis  was  not  without  medical  care.  She 
would  occasionally  call  in  a  Dr.  Brayer,  one  of  the  most 
famous  physicians  in  Paris  of  the  day.  According  to  Madame 
de  Sevigne,  Brinvilliers  owed  his  life  on  these  occasions  not 
so  much  to  his  wife  as  to  the  fear  of  her  lover,  who  did  not 
relish  the  idea  of  marrying  her.  She  states  that  "  while  the 
marqguise  ave  her  husband  poison  Sainte-Croix  gave  him 
antidotes,  so  that  after  being  tossed  like  a  ball  from  one  to 
the  other  in  this  way  five  or  six  times,  now  poisoned,  now 
restored,  he  remained  alive." 

As  a  result  of  these  experiences  the  marquis  suffered  from 
chronic  weakness  in  the  lungs.  He  always  carried  about 
with  him  a  box  of  the  theriaca  or  treacle  of  Andromachus, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  a  powerful  antidote  against  poison. 
This  he  not  only  took  frequently  himself,  but  also  gave  it  to 
his  servants. 

Sainte-Croix  soon  became  notorious  as  the  lover  of  the  mar- 
quise, and  her  father,  on  hearing  of  this,  obtained  a  lettre  de 
cachet  and  had  him  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille. 
Now  it  so  happened  that  the  two  Italians,  Exali  and  his 
confrere,  were  confined  in  the  Bastille  at  the  same  time 
under  the  charge  of  secret  dealing  in  poisons.  As  already 
stated,  they  had  professed  to  be  working  in  Paris  in 
conjunction  with  Glaser,  a  German  apothecary.  Another 
account  states  that  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
long  before  Sainte-Croix  was  committed  to  the  Bastille, 
he  had  studied  the  art  of  poisoning  from  this  Christopher 
Glaser,  who  was  Apothecary  in  Ordinary  to  the  King, 
and  author  of  a  treatise  on  chemistry  which  had  some 
reputation.  Glaser  now  not  only  instructed  Sainte-Croix 
but  supplied  him  with  poisons  which  he  passed  on  to  the 
marquise.  On  the  death  of  the  marquis,  whose  property 
had  practically  all  vanished  owing  to  the  extravagance  and 
dissipation  of  his  wife,  Sainte-Croix,  who  had  by  that  time 
been  released  from  prison,  renewed  his  intrigue  with  the 
marquise,  who,  eager  for  revenge  on  her  father  for  having  him 


152  POISON   MYSTERIES 

imprisoned,  and  probably  impatient  to  gain  possession  of  the 
money  she  would  inherit  at  his  death,  conceived  the  idea  of 
using  poison  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  his  life. 

One  historian  states  that  after  Sainte-Croix  had  acquired 
his  knowledge  of  poisons  from  Glaser,  he  confided  it  to  the 
marquise,  while  others  say  that  she  got  into  direct  touch 
with  Glaser,  who  gave  her  the  necessary  poison  which  she  had 
made  up  her  mind  to  test  for  herself  by  experiment.  This  she 
did  with  great  cunning,  assuming  the  character  of  one  of  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  who  visited  the  hospitals  to  relieve  the 
sick  and  suffering  and  bring  them  cakes,  wine  and  other 
luxuries.  The  recipients  of  her  gifts  generally  soon  died  in 
great  suffering,  but  the  significance  of  this  apparently  passed 
unnoticed  until  some  time  afterwards.  She  also  found  sub- 
jects for  her  experiments  among  her  servants,  one  of  whom, 
Roussel,  gave  evidence  at  her  trial  at  a  later  date  and  declared 
that  her  mistress  had  one  day  given  her  some  gooseberry  jam 
on  the  point  of  a  knife  and  that  it  made  her  ill.  She  also 
affirmed  that  the  marquise  had  given  her  some  ham  "  which 
gave  her  great  pain,  and  she  felt  as  if  she  had  been  pricked  in 
the  heart,  after  which  she  was  ill  for  three  years." 

When  the  marquise  had  satisfied  herself  that  her  method 
of  administration  was  not  likely  to  be  easily  discovered,  she 
turned  her  attention  to  its  use  for  her  own  purposes,  and  her 
first  victim  was  her  father.  Apparently  she  administered 
poison  to  him  in  repeated  doses,  and  it  was  not  until  eight 
months  had  passed  that  D'Aubray  died  in  great  agony.  After 
his  death  she  lived  still  more  riotously  and  with  the  greatest 
extravagance,  contracting  very  heavy  debts  until  she  ran 
through  all  the  money  she  had  obtained. 

It  is  stated  at  this  time  that  the  marquise  developed  "  a 
demoniac  temper  and  inhuman  cunning,  such  as  perhaps  no 
mortal  ever  exhibited." 

She  next  began  to  plot  to  get  rid  of  her  two  brothers,  with 
the  result  that  one  of  them  died  after  three  months  of 
great  suffering,  and  the  other  a  few  months  later.  She 
then  tried  to  poison  her  sister  in  the  same  manner,  but 
suspicion  being  aroused,  she  gave  up  the  attempt.  On  the 
death  of  her  second  brother,  the  medical  attendants  insisted 
on  examining  the  body  after  death,  and  declared  that  he  had 


HISTORIC   POISON   CASES   IN   FRANCE        153 

been  poisoned  ;  so  little,  however,  was  his  sister  suspected, 
that  the  actual  murderer,  a  servant  named  La  Chaussee 
whom  the  marquise  bribed  and  introduced  into  her  brother's 
house  for  the  purpose  of  administering  the  poison,  had  a 
legacy  left  to  him  by  his  victim  for  his  devoted  services.  At 
length  suspicion  appears  to  have  fallen  on  the  marquise  and 
Sainte-Croix,  owing  to  an  accident  which  happened  to  him 
after  his  reimprisonment.  It  is  stated  that  when  engaged 
in  preparing  his  poisons  he  was  accustomed  to  wear  a 
mask,  presumably  to  prevent  him  inhaling  the  fumes  of  the 
chemicals  which  he  was  using.  While  thus  engaged,  he  was 
found  one  day  in  a  state  of  unconsciousness  in  his  cell  and 
never  recovered.  The  authorities,  on  examining  his  effects, 
came  across  a  small  box  to  which  a  paper  was  attached 
which  contained  a  request  that  after  his  death  it  should  be 
delivered  to  the  "  Marquise  de  Brinvilliers  who  resides  at  the 
rue  Neuve  Saint-Paul."  The  paper  was  signed  and  dated  by 
Sainte-Croix,  May  25,  1672,  and  on  the  box  being  opened  it 
was  found  to  contain  a  number  of  poisons  of  different  kinds 
with  labels  attached.  It  is  also  said  that  he  kept  in  this  box 
a  number  of  compromising  letters  which  he  had  received 
from  her,  together  with  bonds  for  large  sums  which  she  had 
given  him  as  hush-money  in  the  matter  of  her  brother's  murder. 
According  to  another  account,  as  "no  relations  of  his  were 
known,  the  authorities  proceeded  to  put  seals  upon  his  pro- 
perty. When  the  inventory  was  taken  a  casket  was  found, 
which  was  opened,  and  the  first  article  discovered  in  it  was  a 
written  document,  which  ran  thus  : — 

"  I  humbly  entreat  those  into  whose  hands  this  casket 
shall  fall  to  do  me  the  favour  to  place  it  in  the  very  hands  of 
Madame  de  BrinvilUers,  who  resides  in  the  Rue  Neuve  Saint 
Paul,  the  contents  appertaining  to  her  and  to  her  only,  and  being 
moreover  of  no  use  to  any  one  else  in  the  world.  In  the  event 
of  her  death  taking  place  before  mine,  it  is  my  desire  that  the 
casket  and  all  its  contents  be  burned,  unopened  and  undis- 
turbed ;  and  that  none  may  plead  ignorance,  I  swear  by  God 
whom  I  adore,  and  by  everything  that  is  most  sacred,  that 
nothing  is  here  said  save  what  is  most  true  ;  and  if,  by  any 
chance,  my  request  be  contravened,  just  and  proper  as  they 
are  in  this  point,  I  charge  such  contravention  upon   their 


154  POISON   MYSTERIES 

conscience,  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  next,  in  discharge 
of  mine  own  conscience.  And  this  I  say  and  sign  as  my 
last  will. 

"  Signed,  De  Sainte-Croix. 
"  Done  at  Paris,  this  afternoon  of  the  25th  day  of  May, 
1.672." 

Underneath  were  added  the  following  words  : — 

"  There  is  one  single  packet,  addressed  to  M.  Penautier, 
which  must  be  restored  to  him." 

"  Precautions  too  elaborate  frequently  produce  an  effect  the 
opposite  of  that  intended,"  says  the  historian.  "  If  in  this 
casket,  which  was  securely  locked  up,  there  had  been  the  mere 
words,  'This  casket  belongs  to  Madame  de  Brinvilliers,' 
it  is  probable  that  it  would  have  been  forwarded  to  her  un- 
opened, but  the  very  style  of  the  injunction  was  calculated 
to  arouse  suspicion.  The  casket  was  opened,  and  an  inven- 
tory made  of  its  contents,  and  the  following  is  the  description 
of  this  deposit  which  was  so  solemnly  placed  under  the 
safeguard  of  God  and  of  all  things  sacred  "  : — 

1.  A  packet,  sealed  with  eight  seals  of  various  armorial 
bearings,  and  endorsed  :  "  Papers  to  be  burned  in  the  case  of 
my  death,  they  being  of  no  value  to  any  one.  I  most  humbly 
entreat  that  they  be  burned  by  whomsoever  may  find  them. 
I  even  charge  it  upon  their  conscience  to  do  this,  and  to  do  it 
without  opening  the  packet."  In  this  packet  was  enclosed 
another,  which  contained  sublimate. 

2.  Another  packet,  secured  by  six  seals  of  various  armorial 
bearings,  similarly  endorsed,  and  enclosing  another  packet, 
consisting  of  a  pound  and  a  half  of  sublimate. 

3.  Another  packet,  secured  by  six  seals  of  different  armorial 
bearings,  in  which  were  three  other  packets,  one  containing 
half  an  ounce  of  sublimate,  a  second  containing  two  ounces 
of  Roman  vitriol,  and  the  third  calcined  and  prepared  vitriol. 

4.  A  large  square  phial  full  of  a  clear  light  liquid,  the  quality 
of  which  could  not  at  the  moment  be  ascertained. 

5.  Another  phial  of  light-coloured  liquid,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  was  a  whitish  sediment. 

6.  A  small  earthenware  jar,  in  which  was  a  quantity  of 
prepared  opium. 


HISTORIC    POISON    CASES    IN    FRANCE       155 

7.  A  folded  paper,  in  which  were  two  drachms  of  corrosive 
sublimate,  in  powder. 

8.  A  small  box  containing  "  Infernal  Stone." 

9.  A  paper  containing  an  ounce  of  opium. 

10.  A  piece  of  regulus  of  antimony,  weighing  three  ounces. 

11.  A  packet  of  powder  marked.  .  .  . 

12.  A  packet  secured  by  six  seals,  superscribed  like  those 
already  described.  This  packet  contained  twenty-seven 
pieces  of  paper,  on  each  of  which  were  the  words,  "  several 
curious  secrets." 

The  first  care  of  the  civil  authorities  was  directed  to  a  care- 
ful examination  of  these  substances,  to  have  them  analysed, 
and  to  experiment  with  them  upon  animals. 

The  result  of  that  examination  and  those  experiments  was 
very  curious,  and  the  following  is  the  report  which  was  made 
by  the  chemists  and  men  of  science  to  whom  the  examination 
was  entrusted. 

"  This  artful  poison "  [it  runs]  "  defies  the  researches 
attempted  to  be  made  into  its  nature  ;  it  is  so  disguised  that 
it  cannot  be  detected — so  subtle  that  it  defies  all  the  science 
and  ability  of  the  doctors.  Upon  this  poison  all  experiments 
blunder,  all  rules  are  false,  and  all  aphorisms  absurd. 

"  The  most  certain  and  usual  experiments  are  made  by 
means  of  the  elements,  or  upon  the  bodies  of  animals.  In 
water  the  weight  of  the  poison  precipitates  ;  it  is  the  superior 
must  needs  be  precipitated.  No  less  sure  is  the  action  of 
fire ;  it  evaporates,  it  dissipates,  it  consumes  all  that  is  inno- 
cent and  all  that  is  impure,  with  the  exception  of  a  sharp 
and  acrid  substance  which  alone  can  resist  its  effects.  Upon 
animals  the  effect  of  poison  is  even  more  obvious  ;  it  carries 
malignity  into  every  part  which  it  touches,  vitiating,  burning, 
and  \yithering  up  the  whole  internal  economy  as  with  a  strange 
fire. 

"  The  poison  of  Sainte-Croixhas  been  subjected  to  all  trials  ; 
it  defies  all  the  skill  and  science  of  the  doctors,  and  mocks 
and  baffles  all  experiments.  This  poison  swims  in  water 
instead  of  sinking,  and  it  escapes  from  the  test  of  fire,  leaving 
behind  only  a  mild  and  innocent  substance.  In  animals  it 
so  completely  hides  itself  that  it  cannot  be  detected  ;  all  the 
parts  of  the  poisoned  animal  remain  living  and  sound  even 
while  it  is  shedding  death  all  around  it. 


156  POISON   MYSTERIES 

"  All  sorts  of  experiments  have  been  tried  upon  this  poison. 
In  the  first  instance  some  drops  of  a  liquor  contained  in  one 
of  the  phials  were  poured  into  oil  of  tartar  and  water.  No. 
precipitate  was  formed  in  the  vessel. 

"  In  the  second  experiment  some  of  the  same  liquid  was 
poured  into  a  sanded  vessel,  the  sand  retained  no  acridly 
tasting  substance.  The  third  experiment  was  made  upon  a 
turkey  hen,  a  pigeon,  and  a  dog  ;  they  died  in  a  brief  space, 
and  on  their  being  opened  on  the  following  day,  only  some 
coagulated  blood  was  found  in  the  ventricles  of  the  heart. 

"  Another  experiment  was  made  with  some  white  powder, 
which  was  given,  with  some  mutton,  to  a  cat.  The  cat 
vomited  for  half  an  hour,  and  on  the  following  day  was  found 
dead  ;  it  was  opened,  and  no  interior  part  showed  marks  of 
the  action  of  the  poison.  A  second  trial  of  the  same  poison 
was  made  upon  a  pigeon,  which  died  in  a  short  time.  When 
opened  the  bird  had  only  some  red  liquid  in  its  stomach." 

"  Such,"  according  to  the  historian,  "  was  the  dying  present 
of  Sainte-Croix  to  his  mistress.  His  past  crimes  being  in- 
sufiicient  to  gratify  his  malignity,  he  was  fain  to  be  the 
accomplice  of  future  crime."  '"■ 

According  to  Dr.  Nass,  Sainte-Croix  died  a  natural  death 
after  an  illness  of  several  months.  To  continue  the  story, 
when  the  marquise  heard  of  his  death  and  the  discovery 
of  the  box,  she  at  once  made  every  effort  to  obtain  it  by 
bribing  the  officials,  but  failing  in  this  she  fled  to  England, 
and  after  much  negotiation  between  Louis  XIV  and  Charles 
II  as  to  her  extradition,  she  escaped  to  Holland,  where  she 
took  refuge  in  various  convents,  until  at  last  she  was  arrested 
at  Liege.  She  attempted  to  commit  suicide  by  swallowing 
fragments  of  broken  glass  and  pins,  and  other  methods,  which 
are  described  by  Madame  de  Sevigne. 

A  romantic  story  is  told  of  her  arrest,  which  was  made  by  an 
officer  called  Des  Grais,  who  was  sent  from  Paris  to  apprehend 
her.  Finding  he  was  unable  to  remove  her  forcibly  from  the 
convent,  he  disguised  himself  in  the  dress  of  an  abbe  and  so 
found  access  and  the  means  of  making  her  acquaintance. 
Assuming  the  character  of  a  lover  he  induced  her  in  this  way 
to  accompany  him  on  a  pleasure  excursion,  but  once  outside 
the  building  he  arrested  her  and  conveyed  her  to  Paris. 

After  the   marquise    had  fled,   La  Chaussee,  the  servant 


MARGUERITE    D  AUBRAY,    MARQUISE    DE    BRINVILLIERS. 
(By  Lebrun.) 


Drawn  from  life  at  the  time  of  her  being  taken  to  execution. 


HISTORIC    POISON    CASES   IN    FRANCE       157 

whom  she  used  as  her  tool,  fell  under  suspicion,  was  arrested, 
brought  to  trial,  and,  after  confessing  to  being  the  instrument 
of  several  murders,  was  broken  alive  on  the  wheel  in  1673. 
The  discovery  of  these  terrible  crimes  attributed  to  Brin- 
villiers,  and  the  revelations  made  in  documents  which  had 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  authorities  amounting  to  a 
confession  of  her  numerous  miurders,  caused  a  great  sensation, 
not  only  in  Paris  but  throughout  the  whole  of  France. 

The  scene  at  her  trial  was  intensely  dramatic,  and  even  the 
judges  were  greatly  moved.  The  marquise  herself  kept  up  a 
bold  front  and  showed  the  greatest  resolution,  in  spite  of  the 
evidence  stoutly  denying  all  the  charges  brought  against  her. 
She  was  confronted  with  her  former  lover  Briancourt,  the 
tutor,  to  whom  it  is  said  she  confided  all  the  secrets  of  her 
crimes.  The  evidence  was  for  the  most  part  unquestioned, 
and  she  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  on  July  16,  1676.  It 
is  recorded  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Court  has  declared  and  declares  the  said  D'Aubray 
de  Brinvilliers  duly  attainted  and  convicted  of  having  pro- 
cured the  poisoning  of  M.  Dreux  D'Aubray,  her  father,  and 
the  said  Messrs.  D'Aubray,  Civil  Lieutenant  and  Councillor 
in  the  said  Court,  her  two  brothers,  and  attempted  the  life 
of  the  late  Teresa  D'Aubray,  her  sister,  and  by  way  of  repara- 
tion has  condemned  and  condemns  the  said  D'Aubray  de 
Brinvilliers  to  make  public  apology  in  front  of  the  principal 
door  of  the  Church  of  Paris,  whither  she  will  be  taken  in  a 
cart,  with  bare  feet  and  a  rope  round  her  neck,  holding  in  her 
hands  a  lighted  torch  of  two  pounds  weight,  and  there  on  her 
knees  to  say  and  declare  that  wickedly,  and  in  order  to  possess 
their  goods,  she  procured  the  poisoning  of  her  father  and  her 
two  brothers,  and  attempted  the  life  of  her  deceased  sister, 
of  which  she  repents  and  asks  pardon  of  God,  the  King,  and 
the  law  :  this  done,  taken  and  conveyed  in  the  same  cart 
to  the  Place  de  Greve  of  this  city,  to  have  her  head  cut  off 
there  on  a  scaffold  to  be  erected  for  the  purpose  in  the  said 
place  ;  her  body  burnt,  and  the  ashes  thrown  to  the  winds. 
She  is  first  to  be  put  to  the  question,  ordinary  and  extra- 
ordinary, in  order  to  obtain  a  disclosure  of  her  accomplices." 

She  heard  the  sentence  with  courage,  and  during  the  time 
previous  to  its  being  carried  out  was  visited  by  a  Jesuit  priest 
named  Pirot,  who  was  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  and  a  man  of 


158  POISON   MYSTERIES 

great  intelligence.  It  was  his  hope  to  induce  her  to  reveal  the 
names  of  her  accomplices,  the  compositions  of  the  poisons  she 
used  and  the  antidotes  that  would  nullify  their  effects.  She 
a^ccepted  his  ministrations  with  graceful  courtesy  and  is  said  to 
have  convinced  him  of  her  penitence  and  made  a  full  con- 
fession of  the  crimes  she  had  committed.  According  to  her 
account,  the  only  poisonous  substances  she  ever  used  were 
arsenic,  vitriol  and  toad  venom. 

At  first  she  said,  "  I  do  not  know  exactly  what  they  were," 
but  shortly  before  her  death  she  remarked,  "  I  should  like  to 
know  the  composition  of  the  poisons  which  I  used  and  which 
were  used  at  my  direction,  but  all  I  know  about  them  is  that 
there  was  toad's  venom  and  that  there  were  some  that  con- 
sisted of  rarefied  arsenic." 

It  is  quite  possible  that  she  may  not  have  known  of  the 
composition  of  some  of  them,  as  they  were  probably  originally 
compounded  by  Glaser,  who  was  a  skilled  chemist  and  well 
versed  in  the  science  of  his  time. 

The  only  antidote  she  stated  that  she  knew  was  milk,  and 
her  only  accomplices  Sainte-Croix  and  certain  lackeys. 

On  July  i6,  1676,  when  she  was  taken  to  the  scene  of 
execution,  an  enormous  crowd  had  assembled.  "  Never," 
says  Madame  de  Sevigne,  "  had  any  seen  such  a  crowd,  or  Paris 
so  excited  or  so  interested."  The  marquise  drew  herself  to 
her  feet  in  the  cart  with  her  eyes  flashing  and  cried  out  in  a 
loud  voice  charged  with  contempt,  "  You  have  come  to  see  a 
fine  spectacle." 

Such  is  the  tragic  story  of  Marie  Madeleine  de  Brinvilliers. 
She  is  described  by  contemporary  writers  as  with  the  face 
that  one  might  expect,  "  degraded  by  excesses,  and  distorted 
by  evil  passions,  but  with  features  extremely  regular,  with  a 
rounded  face  that  was  full  and  beautiful  and  a  certain  look 
which  seemed  to  breathe  goodness." 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  in  France  about  her  supposed 
knowledge  of  poisons,  and  her  great  skill  in  using  them  for 
criminal  purposes  ;  in  reality,  she  was  but  a  murderess  of  the 
common  type,  in  whom  sensuality,  cunning  and  vice  were 
combined. 

The  execution  of  the  Marquise  de  Brinvilliers  did  not, 
however,  put  a  stop  to  the  extraordinary  wave  of  criminal 


HISTORIC   POISON    CASES    IN    FRANCE      159 

poisoning  that  passed  over  France  towards  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  During  the  reign  of  the  Grazd 
Monarque,  briUiant  and  ghttering  though  it  was,  the  vices 
of  avarice  and  jealousy  led  many  to  unscrupulous  practices 
and  crime.  In  this  state  of  society  it  was  little  to  be  wondered 
at  that  Paris  swarmed  with  fortune-tellers,  astrologers, 
sorcerers  and  others  of  their  kind  who  made  enormous  sums 
of  money  out  of  their  dupes.  Many  of  these  combined  the 
sale  of  poisons  with  actual  pratice,  and  claimed  to  be 
able  to  accomplish  almost  any  crime,  from  the  removal  of 
an  inconvenient  husband  to  anyone  who  stood  in  the  way 
to  an  inheritance. 

The  papers  of  one  of  these  Italian  adventurers,  named  Primi 
Visconti,  were  discovered  and  translated  a  few  years  ago,  and 
throw  some  light  on  the  methods  of  these  parasites  of  society. 
Visconti,  who  had  obtained  entry  to  the  French  court  by  his 
professed  skill  in  palmistry  and  chiromancy  and  had  become 
somewhat  popular  with  the  courtiers,  relates  that  it  had  come 
to  the  King's  knowledge  that  the  infamous  Sainte-Croix  had 
sought  to  obtain  the  position  of  maitre  d'hotel  in  the  palace 
of  Versailles,  and  had  been  recommended  to  the  position  by  a 
wealthy  and  avaricious  person  named  Penaultier,  Receiver- 
General  of  the  Clergy,  who  was  also  suspected  of  being 
concerned  in  the  recent  crimes. 

About  1677  the  Ministers  of  the  State  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  time  something  was  done  to  put  a  stop  to  these 
practices.  Colbert  and  Louvois  issued  instructions  to  the 
police  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  for  cases  of  poisoning.  An 
official  record  states  that  some  years  before  1677  and  up  to 
the  end  of  1678  the  judges  and  magistrates  of  the  city  of  Paris 
and  its  neighbourhood,  as  well  as  the  Secretary  of  State,  had 
noticed  that  of  the  number  of  criminals  and  malefactors 
whom  they  had  caused  to  be  arrested  for  ordinary  offences, 
the  greater  number  were  charged  by  declarations,  death-bed 
depositions  or  information  given  to  the  Government  "  with 
complicity  in,  or  knowledge  of  different  poisonings  carried  out 
on  different  persons  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  who  had  in 
consequence  died." 

The  Chamhre  de  Paisons  or  Chambre  Ardenie  previously 
referred  to,  sat   in   all  210   times  until  July  21,  1682,   and 


i6o  POISON  MYSTERIES 

during  that  period  dealt  with  charges  against  442  persons, 
and  ordered  the  arrest  of  367  ;  218  were  kept  prisoners,  36 
were  executed,  2  died  in  prison,  5  were  sent  to  the  gallows, 
and  23  were  banished. 

In  spite  of  this  it  is  said  that  the  worst  criminals  escaped, 
owing  to  influence  that  they  brought  to  bear  in  their  favour. 
"The  chief  culprits,"  says  Ravaisson,  "belonged  to  the 
nobility  or  the  law,  and  almost  all  of  them  had  amongst  the 
members  of  the  court  friends,  clients  or  relatives."  The  King 
had  set  a  bad  example  by  allowing  some  individuals  who 
were  compromised  to  go  free.  The  judges  had  not  the  courage 
to  be  more  severe,  and  the  weight  of  the  condemnations  fell 
almost  entirely  on  the  miserable  creatures  who  sold  the  poisons 
and  not  on  those  who  bought  and  used  them. 

An  example  of  the  class  alluded  to  were  two  women  called 
La  Vigoureux  and  La  Voisin  and  a  priest  named  Le  Sage  who 
were  first  arrested  and  then  tried  for  carrying  on  a  trade  in 
poisons.  They  made  themselves  out  to  be  practitioners  in 
necromancy,  claiming  to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  departed  for 
those  who  wished  and  to  supply  love  philtres  to  those  who 
desired  them.  Their  rooms  were  constantly  visited  by  people 
of  position  and  others,  many  probably  out  of  curiosity,  as 
has  been  the  case  with  fashionable  fortune-tellers  of  a  later 
date.  La  Voisin,  however,  kept  a  list  of  her  clients,  and  on 
her  arrest,  when  this  was  discovered,  they  were  also  arrested 
and  brought  to  private  trial  before  the  Chambre.  The  list 
contained  such  names  as  the  two  nieces  of  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons. 

At  the  trial  of  the  Duchess  nothing  could  be  proved  beyond 
her  statement  that  she  had  resorted  to  Le  Sage  to  consult  him 
as  a  fortune-teller.  Lie  also  claimed  to  be  able  to  show  her 
even  the  Devil  himself.  La  Reine,  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
court,  was  indiscreet  enough  to  ask  the  Duchess  if  this  had 
taken  place  and  if  she  had  ever  seen  the  Devil  ?  The  lady 
quickly  replied  that  she  saw  him  at  that  very  moment,  that 
he  was  extremely  ugly  and  very  hideous,  and  appeared  to  her 
in  the  guise  of  her  questioner. 

The  charge  brought  against  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  and 
the  Marshal  de  Luxembourg  was  more  serious.  The  three 
criminals  claimed  to  know  the  secret  of  a  particularly  poison- 


HISTORIC    POISON    CASES   IN    FRANCE      i6i 

ous  powder  which  they  prepared,  and  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  of  the  poudre  de  succession,  so  called  from  the 
real  or  supposed  frequency  with  which  it  had  been  used  to 
hasten  or  change  the  succession  in  the  families  of  the  rich.  The 
names  of  those  who  obtained  possession  of  it  had  been  reported 
to  the  Government.  It  is  said  that  the  King  intimated  to 
the  countess  that  if  she  was  guilty  she  had  better  escape  by 
flight.  Although  she  declared  her  innocence,  she  said  she 
could  not  endure  the  scandal  of  a  public  trial  and  fled  to 
Brussels,  where  she  died  in  1708. 

With  respect  to  the  marshal,  his  explanation  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  infamous  trio  was  that  he  had  consulted 
them  in  order  to  recover  some  lost  papers  of  value.  He  had 
done  this  through  the  medium  of  a  man  named  Bonard  ; 
Le  Sage  swore,  however,  that  the  marshal  had  applied  to  him 
to  poison  a  woman  who  had  possession  of  the  papers  and 
refused  to  give  them  up.  His  accomplices  testified  that  they 
had  accordingly  poisoned  her  and  disposed  of  the  body  into 
the  river  at  the  instigation  of  the  marshal.  The  marshal  was 
imprisoned  and  placed  in  a  dungeon  six  and  a  half  feet  long, 
where  he  fell  sick  and  remained  five  weeks  before  being 
brought  to  trial.  The  trial  of  the  marshal  was  prolonged 
fourteen  months,  when  he  was  finally  released  without  being 
condemned  or  acquitted.  La  Voisin,  La  Vigoureux,  together 
with  Le  Sage,  the  priest,  were  eventually  convicted  and 
burned  alive  in  Paris. 

The  Chambre  Ardente  came  to  an  end  after  being  criti- 
cized as  a  political  tribunal  v/hich  did  little  to  effect  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  designed. 

According  to  later  writers,  the  famous  poudre  de  suc- 
cession, consisted  of  arsenic,  sometimes  mixed  with  vegetable 
poisons  such  as  aconite,  belladonna  and  opium. 

Among  the  substances  believed  to  be  deadly  was  powdered 
diamond,  for  which  powdered  glass  was  probably  substituted. 
Another  writer  states  that  poudre  de  succession  appears  to 
have  been  composed  of  sugar  of  lead.  Nail-parings  and 
powdered  lobster  claws  were  used  for  a  similar  purpose. 
Vegetable  poisons — opium,  hemlock,  belladonna,  euphorbium, 
and  many  other  poisonous  plants — are  also  mentioned, 
and  one  enterprising   Frenchwoman,  who  had  been  to  the 

L 


i62  POISON   MYSTERIES 

West  Indies,  appears  to  have  had  the  idea  of  importing  curare 
taken  from  poisoned  arrows. 

There  seems  little  doubt  that  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  the  practice  became  almost  a  cult,  poison  was  sometimes 
secretly  administered  by  means  of  a  clyster,  the  use  of  which 
was  so  common  at  the  time.  Arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate, 
cantharides  and  opium  are  said  to  have  been  given  in  this  way. 

Louis  XVIII  of  France  is  said  to  have  narrowly  escaped 
death  by  poison  in  1804.  At  that  time  he  was  living  under  the 
name  of  the  Comte  de  Lille  near  Warsaw,  and  had  in  his  house- 
hold a  servant  named  Coulon,  a  French  adventurer,  who  had 
been  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Portsmouth  and  arrived  in  the  Polish 
city  in  1803.  He  declared  that  he  was  approached  in  July, 
1804,  by  two  emissaries  "charged  to  poison  Louis  XVIII,  his 
wife,  and  also  the  Duke  and  Duchess  d'Angouleme,"  who  were 
living  with  the  royal  couple.  The  emissaries  offered  him 
four  hundred  louis  d'or  if  he  would  place  in  the  soup  served 
to  the  King  and  his  family  some  hollow  can'ots  filled  with 
poison.  A  postchaise  would  await  Coulon  to  carry  him  at 
once  to  France,  where  the  regicide  would  be  asked  no  questions 
so  long  as  his  victim  was  a  Bourbon.  Coulon  accepted  the 
carrots,  but  denounced  the  couple.  Part  of  Poland  was 
then  subject  to  Prussia,  and  the  Prussian  police  appear  to 
have  been  singularly  averse  to  taking  action  in  the  matter, 
and  allowed  the  two  emissaries  to  escape.  This  circumstance, 
coupled  with  the  fact  that  Napoleon  was  all-powerful  at  the 
period,  and  the  supposition  that  the  man  who  ordered  the 
Due  d'Enghien  to  be  shot  was  capable  of  compassing  the 
death  of  other  Bourbons,  gave  rise  to  the  suspicion  that  the 
plot  was  really  set  on  foot  by  Napoleon's  police.  Louis 
XVIII  requested  that  Coulon  might  be  arrested  and  the 
carrots  officially  analysed,  but  the  Prussian  authorities  refused 
to  act. 

"  Seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to  rely  either  upon  the  law 
or  the  Prussian  police,"  the  narrator  continues,  "  d'Avray  went 
with  Dr.  Lefevre,  the  King's  physician,  to  call  upon  Dr. 
Gazatkiewick,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  practitioners  of 
Warsaw.  Here,  in  the  presence  of  a  second  physician. 
Dr.  Bagenzorve,  and  of  M.  Guidal,  a  local  pharmacist,  the 
seals  placed  by  the    Archbishop   on    Coulon 's   packet   were 


HISTORIC   POISON    CASES    IN    FRANCE      163 

broken.  The  three  carrots  therein  contained  were  opened 
and  found  to  be  filled  with  a  sort  of  paste  formed  of  three 
arsenics,   yellow,  white  and  red." 

A  report  was  drawn  up  and  handed  to  M.  de  Tilty,  head  of 
the  city  police,  but  he  declined  to  take  any  notice,  saying  the 
affair  was  outside  his  province. 

The  question  of  the  various  poisons  used  during  this  period 
in  France  for  criminal  purposes  has  been  ably  discussed  by 
Dr.  Lucien  Nass,  who  has  had  access  to  the  documents  relating 
to  the  various  important  trials  that  took  place.  He  says, 
that  -according  to  police  inventories  of  articles  found  in  the 
domiciliary  visits  made  by  them  in  the  course  of  their  inquiries 
into  these  poisoning  cases,  many  substances  were  employed. 
If  one  failed  another  was  tried.  The  method  of  adminis- 
tration was  varied  with  considerable  ingenuity,  and  arsenic, 
opium,  cantharides  and  lead  acetate  were  the  substances 
mostly  employed. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  MYSTERY  OF  AMY  ROBSART'S  DEATH 

THE  mystery  attending  the  death  of  Amy  Robsart,  the 
wife  of  Robert  Dudley,  who  eventually  became  Earl 
of  Leicester,  is  one  which,  owing  to  the  lack  of  detailed  docu- 
mentary evidence,  is  never  likely  to  be  entirely  solved.  So^ 
much  has  been  written  concerning  the  troubled  life  of  this 
unfortunate  lady  and  its  sad  ending,  that  a  brief  outline  of 
her  story,  which  has  been  gathered  from  the  most  reliable 
sources,  is  all  that  is  necessary  here. 

She  was  born  about  the  year  1532  and  was  the  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Robsart  of  Sidestern  in  Norfolk,  whose  wife  was  the 
widow  of  one  Roger  Appleyard. 

Where  she  first  met  Robert  Dudley  is  not  known,  but  they 
were  married  at  Sheen  (Richmond)  on  June  4,  1550.  The 
wedding  is  recorded  by  Edward  VI  (who  was  present  at  the 
ceremony)  in  his  journal.  Dudley  was  master  of  the  King's 
buckhounds  and  was  knighted  by  him.  At  the  time  of  her 
marriage  Amy  Robsart  was  probably  eighteen,  while  Dudley 
is  said  to  have  been  about  the  same  age. 

Of  the  first  ten  years  of  their  married  life  little  is  known, 
but  on  Elizabeth's  accession  Sir  Robert  Dudley,  who  was  on 
terms  of  close  friendship  with  the  young  queen,  suddenly 
became  a  personage  of  importance  and  received  his  title  from 
her.  As  the  special  favourite  of  his  sovereign  his  position 
at  Court  speedily  became  one  of  envy,  to  which  was  added  the 
jealousy  of  his  rivals.  It  was  freely  rumoured  that  but  for 
the  fact  that  he  was  already  married,  he  stood  a  good  chance 
of  becoming  the  royal  consort. 

The  close  intimacy  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  Dudley  soon 
became  a  public  scandal,  and  during  this  time  nothing  is  heard 
of  his  wife,  until  the  spring  of  1560,  when  it  was  announced 

164 


THE   MYSTERY   OF  AMY   ROBSART'S   DEATH     165 

that  she  had  gone  to  reside  at  Cumnor  Place,  a  house 
situated  a  few  miles  from  Abingdon.  Neglected  and  slighted 
by  her  husband,  whom  she  saw  had  been  weaned  from  her, 
the  unhappy  woman  no  doubt  fell  in  readily  with  Dudley's 
suggestion  that  she  should  take  up  her  residence  in  this  lonely 
country  house. 

Cumnor  Place  was  a  stone-built  residence  of  fair  size,  and 
had  formerly  belonged  to  Doctor  George  Owen,  who  was 
physician  to  Henry  VHI.  On  his  death  he  bequeathed  the 
estate  to  his  son  William,  who  had  let  it  to  one  Anthony  Foster, 
a  country  squire  who  appears  to  have  been  well  known  to 
Dudley. 

At  the  time  when  Lady  Amy  Dudley  took. up  her  residence 
at  Cumnor,  there  were  living  in  the  house  beside  Foster  and 
his  wife,  a  Mrs.  Odingselle,  his  sister-in-law,  and  Mrs.  Owen, 
who,  according  to  Adlard,  was  the  widow  of  Dr.  George  Owen, 
the  physician,  and  original  owner  of  the  property. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  very  shortly  after  Lady  Amy's 
arrival  rumours  became  current  that  her  life  was  in  danger. 
It  was  also  reported  that  she  was  ill,  a  story  which  was  prob- 
ably spread  abroad  with  an  object. 

De  Quadra,  the  Spanish  Ambassador  to  the  Court  at  the 
time,  in  an  extraordinary  letter  written  from  Windsor  to  King 
Philip  on  September  11,  1560,  bears  evidence  to  these  rumours 
in  the  following  words  :  "Lie  [Cecil]  ended  by  saying  that 
Robert  [Dudley]  was  thinking  of  killing  his  wife,  who  was 
publicly  announced  to  be  ill,  although  she  was  quite  well,  and 
would  take  every  care  they  did  not  poison  her.  The  next 
day  the  Queen  told  me  as  she  returned  from  hunting  that 
Lord  Robert's  wife  was  dead,  or  nearly  so,  and  begged  me  to 
say  nothing  about  it." 

"Since  writing  the  above,"  he  continues,  "I  hear  the 
Queen  has  published  the  death  of  Robert's  wife  and  said  in 
Italian,   '  She  broke  her  neck.'  " 

One  must  assume  from  this  letter,  which  was  written  only 
three  days  after  Lady  Amy's  death,  that  she  had  been  aware 
that  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  poison  her. 

To  return  to  the  story.  On  Sunday,  September  8,  a  fair  was 
being  held  at  Abingdon,  and  according  to  the  statement  of 
Dudley's  own  kinsman  Thomas  Blount,  Lady  Amy  insisted 


i66  POISON   MYSTERIES 

on  her  servants,  who  were  much  attached  to  her,  going  to  the 
fair.  Of  the  tragic  events  that  followed,  very  little  is  known. 
Amy  dined  alone  that  day  with  Mrs.  Owen ;  Foster,  his  wife 
and  sister-in-law  being,  it  is  presumed,  in  the  house.  When 
the  servants  returned  to  Cumnor  late  that  night,  they  found 
their  mistress  lying  dead  at  the  foot  of  a  short  staircase  that 
led  from  her  bedchamber  to  the  ground  floor.  It  was 
announced  the  next  day  that  the  unfortunate  lady  had  fallen 
down  the  stairs  and  broken  her  neck. 

The  news  was  at  once  sent  to  Dudley  at  Windsor,  who  made 
no  attempt  to  go  to  Cumnor  himself,  but  wrote  to  his  relative 
Thomas  Blount,  requesting  him  to  go  and  investigate  the 
matter  and  instructing  him  to  see  that  the  Coroner  made  a 
searching  inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  his  wife's  death. 

He  also  notified  Amy's  half-brother,  John  Appleyard,  and 
asked  him  to  proceed  to  Cumnor  to  assist  Blount. 

All  that  is  known  of  the  inquiry  that  followed  is  told  in  two 
letters  written  by  Blount  to  Dudley. 

In  one  of  these  he  suggests  that  Lady  Amy  had  become 
insane,  "  for,"  he  says,  "  the  tales  I  do  heare  of  her  make  me 
to  think  she  had  a  strange  minde."  He  further  informs 
Dudley  that  he  had  met  several  of  the  jury  who  had  been 
chosen  for  the  inquest,  and  that  "  they  be  verie  secrete  and 
yet  do  I  heare  a  whysperinge  that  they  can  find  no  presump- 
cions  of  evill." 

In  a  letter  written  by  Dudley  to  Blount,  he  mentions  having 

"  received  a  letter  from  one  Smythe,  one  that  seamethe  to 
be  foreman  of  the  jurye.  I  perseve  by  his  letter  that  he  and 
the  rest  hath  and  do  travill  verie  diligentlie  and  circumspectlie 
for  the  tryall  of  that  matter  whiche  they  have  charge  of  ; 
and  for  anything  I  hear,  that  by  any  serche  or  examinacione 
they  can  make  in  the  world  hitherto,  it  doth  plainlie  appeare 
he  saith,  a  verie  mysfortune,  which  for  my  own  parte,  cousin 
Blount,  dothe  much  satisfie  and  quiet  me." 

From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  foreman  of  the  jury  was 
in  communication  with  Dudley  and  even  foreshadowed  their 
verdict,  which  appears  to  have  been  that  Lady  Amy  Dudley 
had  met  her  death  by  accident. 

She  was  buried  with  considerable  ceremony  at  the  Univer- 
sity Church  of  St.  Mary  at  Oxford  on  September  22,  1560. 


THE   MYSTERY   OF   AMY   ROBSART'S   DEATH     167 

The  inquest  probably  lasted  several  days,  but  no  report  of  the 
proceedings  or  of  the  actual  verdict  of  the  jury  is  to  be  found. 
There  must  have  been  such  a  report,  as  it  is  recorded  that 
a  copy  was  made  for  and  received  by  John  Appleyard,  Amy 
Dudley's  half-brother,  who  on  June  4,  1567,  wrote  to  the 
Council  that  he  had  read,  and  on  June  3  had  returned  the 
document.  In  which  verdict  he  not  only  finds  such  proofs 
testified  under  the  oath  of  fifteen  persons  how  his  late  sister 
"  hy  misforti.ne  happened  of  death." 

Reports  that  Dudley  was  responsible  for  his  wife's  death 
were  soon  spread  abroad  and  discussed  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  even  in  France  public  feeling  was  strong  against  him. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Privy  Council  in  April,  1566,  called  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  giving  sanction  to  the  marriage 
between  the  Queen  and  Dudley  (then  Earl  of  Leicester)  it 
was  urged  against  the  proposal  that  Leicester  was  "  infamed 
by  the  deth  of  his  wife." 

Anthony  Wood,  who  visited  Cumnor  a  centiury  after  the 
tragedy,  records  the  local  tradition  that,  "  those  who  plotted 
against  Amy  Dudley's  life  took  advantage  to  convey  her  to 
another  chamber  where  her  bed  s  head  should  stand  against 
a  door  which  she  did  not  know  of.  In  the  middle  of  the  night 
came  a  man  with  a  spitt  in  his  hand,  open  the  privy  door  and 
run  ye  spitt  into  her  head  and  tumbled  her  downstairs." 

This  story  is  most  unlikely,  as  evidence  of  foul  play  would 
have  been  at  once  noticed,  and  the  coroner  at  the  inquest 
apparently  failed  to  discover  any  trace  of  a  blow  or  external 
injury. 

John  Aubrey,  who  next  described  the  event  after  Wood, 
states,  "she  was  either  stifiled  or  strangled  before  being 
thrown  downstairs,"  which  is  a  more  probable  theory. 

Camden's  story  of  the  event  is  as  follows  : — 

"  She  was  prevailed  upon  to  visit  Cumnor-house,  the  seat 
of  Antony  Foster,  one  of  Leicester's  creatures.  There  the 
unfortunate  lady  became  ill, — the  consequence  of  the  infernal 
practices  upon  her,— which  however  produced  their  effect 
too  slowly  to  answer  the  desired  end.  She  was  importuned 
by  Foster  and  his  tool  Vamey,  to  take  medicine  for  her  dis- 
order. They,  seeing  her  sad  and  heavy,  as  one  that  well 
knew  by  her  other  handling,  that  her  death  was  not  far  off, 


i68  POISON   MYSTERIES 

began  to  persuade  her,  that  her  present  disease  was  melan- 
choly, and  other  humours,  and  would  needs  counsel  her  to 
take  some  potion.  This  she  absolutely  refusing  to  do  (as 
suspecting  the  worst),  they  sent  a  messenger  for  Dr.  Bayly, 
professor  of  Physic,  in  Oxford  University,  and  entreated  him 
to  persuade  her  to  take  some  little  potion,  by  his  direction. 
They  would  fetch  the  same  at  Oxford,  meaning  to  have  added 
something  of  their  own  for  her  comfort,  as  the  doctor,  upon 
just  cause  and  consideration  did  suspect,  seeing  their  great 
importunity,  and  the  small  need  the  lady  had  of  physic,  and 
therefore  he  peremptorily  denied  their  request." 

Before  considering  the  probable  cause  of  Lady  Amy  Dud- 
ley's tragic  death  according  to  the  present  available  evidence, 
several  curious  and  significant  events  that  followed  must  be 
mentioned.  Antony  Foster,  who  held  Cumnor  Place  on  lease 
at  the  time,  about  twelve  months  after  the  tragedy,  became 
the  proprietor  of  the  estate,  and  on  his  death  bequeathed  it  to 
Dudley,  then  Earl  of  Leicester.  In  1567  Appleyard,  Amy 
Dudley's  half-brother,  who  was  sent  by  Dudley  with  Blount 
to  be  present  at  the  inquest,  confessed  that  certain  of  the  jury 
had  been  bribed.     He  bore  a  very  indifferent  character. 

It  is  also  another  notable  fact  that  the  Privy  Council  books 
of  this  period  and  the  report  of  the  Coroner's  inquest  and 
verdict  are  missing,  and  have  never  been  discovered. 

Dudley's  relations  with  the  Queen  formed  a  powerful  motive 
for  a  man  of  his  unscrupulous  character  to  compass  his  wife's 
life.  There  were  strong  suspicions  against  him  of  having 
been  concerned  in  the  poisoning  of  several  persons  who  he 
thought  had  stood  in  his  path.  He  carefully  refrained  from 
going  to  Cumnor  in  person  and  also  from  attending  the  funeral 
of  his  wife. 

In  reviewing  the  fragmentary  story  of  the  events  at  Cumnor, 
the  tragedy  must  have  occurred  between  dinner  time  and 
midnight,  when  the  servants  probably  returned  from  the  fair 
and  found  the  lifeless  body  of  their  mistress  with  her  neck 
broken  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase.  This  staircase  is 
said  to  have  been  a  short  winding  stone  flight  connecting  the 
first  floor  with  the  hall.  Although  her  neck  was  broken,  it 
was  remarked,  curiously  enough,  that  a  hood  or  cap  she 
wore  on  her  head  was  not  disarranged.     This  fact  is  mentioned 


THE   MYSTERY   OF   AMY   ROBSART'S   DEATH     169 

in  a  letter  printed  in  1584,  now  in  the  Bodleian  library,  entitled, 
"  The  Copie  of  a  leter  wryten  by  a  master  of  arte  of  Cambridge 
to  his  friende  in  London  ";  in  it  is  stated,  "  She  had  the 
chaunce  to  fal  from  a  paire  of  stares  and  so  to  break  her 
neck,  but  yet  without  hurting  of  her  hoode  that  stoode  upon 
her  heade." 

Presumably  there  were  in  the  house  on  the  fatal  Sunday 
night,  Foster  and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Odingselle,  Mrs.  Owen  and 
Foster's  servants,  yet  we  must  assume  that  if,  as  alleged,  the 
unfortunate  lady  did  accidentally  fall  down  the  staircase,  none 
of  these  people  were  aware  of  it.  It  was  left  for  her  own 
servants  to  find  her  body  on  their  return  from  Abingdon, 
probably  late  at  night.  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  she 
could  have  fallen  without  noise  of  any  kind. 

She  was  evidently  aware  that  attempts  had  been  made  to 
poison  her,  but  we  know  not  whom  she  specially  suspected 
or  how  these  attempts  were  made. 

Apparently  she  did  not  suspect  Mrs.  Owen,  with  whom  she 
dined  alone  on  the  fatal  night,  yet  Mrs.  Owen  had  been  the 
wife  of  a  physician  and  doubtless  had  some  knowledge  of  drugs, 
and  like  other  ladies  of  the  time  doubtless  knew  also  how  to 
prepare  them. 

Although  the  report  of  the  inquest  is  missing  and  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  proceedings  and  evidence  given,  even  if  this 
interesting  document  were  discovered  it  would  not  prove 
conclusively  how  Lady  Amy  Dudley  came  by  her  death. 

We  do  not  know  if  any  medical  evidence  was  called  at  the 
inquest  or  if  an  autopsy  was  made  to  discover  the  cause  of 
death.  There  was  probably  no  post-mortem,  as  the  broken 
neck  would  doubtless  be  considered  sufficient  evidence  as  to 
the  cause  of  death,  and  at  that  period  only  cases  of  sudden 
death  without  external  signs  of  disease  or  violence  were 
attributed  to  poison.  There  are  records  that  post-mortem 
examinations  were  sometimes  made  in  the  sixteenth  century 
on  the  bodies  of  those  who  were  suspected  of  having  been 
poisoned,  and  a  description  of  two  such  cases  is  given  in  a 
previous  chapter. 

But  although  rough  clinical  tests  are  said  to  have  been 
attempted  in  those  cases,  no  chemical  tests  were  known  at 
that  period  capable  of  proving  the  presence  of  many  poisons. 


170  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Supposing  opium  had  been  given  to  Amy  Dudley,  an 
autopsy,  therefore,  would  have  been  of  no  avail,  and  in  the 
absence  of  direct  evidence  the  poisoner  would  go  undetected. 

Taking  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  into  consideration, 
in  conjunction  with  the  meagre  details  of  the  tragedy  that 
have  come  down  to  us,  it  certainly  does  not  appear  probable 
that  Lady  Amy's  death  was  purely  accidental. 

Her  husband's  unscrupulous  character  was  known.  She 
alone  stood  in  the  way  of  the  realization  of  his  great  ambition 
to  marry  the  Queen.  Elizabeth's  words,  that  "none  of  his 
were  at  the  attempt  at  his  wife's  home,"  also  add  to  the 
strong  suspicion  that  Dudley  was  the  instigator  of  a  plot 
against  his  wife's  life. 

Let  us  suppose  that  previous  attempts  to  administer  poison 
had  been  frustrated  by  the  unfortunate  lady's  watchfulness, 
as  she  was  apparently  aware  of  the  designs  against  her  life, 
the  opportunity  suddenly  afforded  by  the  absence  of  all  her 
personal  attendants  from  the  house  might  have  been  seized 
upon  to  make  another  and  a  surer  attempt.  It  would  be  easy 
to  have  introduced  some  narcotic  such  as  opium  or  belladonna 
into  her  wine  at  dinner,  and  after  the  opiate  had  taken  effect, 
it  would  be  a  still  easier  matter  to  precipitate  her  body  down 
the  staircase,  thereby  causing  an  injury  sufficient  to  give  colour 
to  the  statement  that  she  had  met  her  death  by  accident. 

After  all,  proof  in  this  case  is  practically  impossible,  and 
whether  Lady  Amy  Dudley  was  murdered  or  not,  is  a  question 
that  will  probably  never  be  conclusively  answered. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A   POISON   MYSTERY  OF  THE   SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The  Strange  Case  of  Sir  Euseby  Andrew 

ALONG-FORGOTTEN  mystery  which  comes  down  to 
us  tinged  with  the  romance  of  past  centuries  is  that 
surrounding  the  death  of  Sir  Euseby  Andrew.  This  worthy 
baronet,  whose  family  seat  was  at  Charwelton  in  Northampton- 
shire, was  descended  from  an  ancient  stock  well  known  in  that 
county.  His  father,  when  sheriff  of  the  county,  had  attended 
on  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  at  her  execution  at  Fotheringay 
Castle.  The  interesting  story  of  the  strange  circumstances 
which  attended  Sir  Euseby's  death  are  recorded  by  Dr.  John 
Cotta,  a  physician,  who  practised  in  Northampton  in  the 
early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  who  committed 
it  to  writing  at  the  time. 

It  is  evident  from  the  account  given  by  Doctor  Cotta  that 
the  baronet  had  been  ailing  for  some  time  and  that  rumours 
of  foul  play  were  abroad  when  he  was  summoned  to  attend 
him.  We  give  the  narrative  in  the  quaint  phraseology  of 
the  period  as  penned  by  the  physician  in  his  manuscript. 

"  I  was  sent  for  by  Sir  Euseby  Andrew,"  he  states,  "  in 
his  last  extremities  whereof  he  died,  twice.  First,  by  his 
apothecary  Nicholas  Rawlings  upon  the  Sunday  before  his 
death.  Secondly  by  his  servant  Euseby  Barbon  upon  the 
Tuesday  before  he  died.  I  came  then  unto  him  altogether 
ignorant  of  any  project  matter  or  mention  of  Poyson  After 
my  coming  he  tolde  me  as  he  was  able  in  weake  manner  of 
fainting  speach  that  I  was  welcome  and  that  he  desired  to 
speake  with  me  before  he  died.  After  these  words  I  left 
him  a  while  and  went  downe  to  seeke  my  servant.  When 
I  returned,  he  asked  me  whether  I  had  ever  scene  him  sicke 
formerly  in  that  strange  manner  and  torment  wherein  nov/e 

171 


172  POISON   MYSTERIES 

he  was.  My  answer  was  that  I  had  never  seene  him  in  that 
manner.  He  then  tolde  me  that  he  had  been  tormented  in 
that  manner  ever  since  he  had  taken  a  broth  or  gelhe. 

"  I  demanded  who  gave  him  that  gelhe,  whether  his 
Physition.  He  answered  No,  but  said  there  was  fault  therein 
and  further  at  that  time  did  not  proceede  his  strength  sences 
and  speech  so  farr  faylinge  that  no  life  was  expected  a  great 
space. 

"  Upon  certain  cordials  administered,  he,  beyond  all  ex- 
pectation both  of  myself  and  all  present  obtained  unexpected 
ease  and  remission  of  his  extremities  a  large  time  though  not 
freed  from  them.  Upon  this  hope  by  him  conceived  of  his 
recovery,  the  next  day  he  abruptly  uttered  unto  me  these 
words,  videlicet.  Doctor,  how  am  I  beholding  unto  you,  I 
hope  now  I  shall  live.  If  I  live  I  will  discover  the  strangest 
practise  or  wonder  that  was  ever  heard  of  in  Northampton- 
shire, but  if  I  die  God  will  revenge  it  and  I  hope  my  brothers 
will  call  my  wrong  into  question — 

"  Hereto  I  answered  nothing  that  day  or  the  next ;  he 
relapsed  againe  and  then  uttered  these  words  unto  me,  vide- 
licet. Good  Doctor  lett  me  goe  with  you  into  Northampton, 
I  objected,  his  weakness  for  such  a  journey  and  his  unfittness  ; 
he  said  he  might  be  carried  in  his  Coatch  with  a  bed  therein . 
And  the  journey  being  objected  as  too  much  for  him  he  then 
desired  he  might  go  into  Daventry  being  neare  hand,  wherein 
I  seemed  no  forward  to  satisfie  him,  he  burst  out  into  these 
speeches,  '  I  am  not  safe,  I  am  not  secure  in  my  owne  house, 
I  would  I  were  a  poore  sheppard  that  I  might  lie  in  the  fieldes.' 
After  the  passions  uttered  (the  distance  of  time  I  do  not  remem- 
ber) the  Ladie  Andrew  his  wife  came  unto  him,  and  had  some 
speeche  with  him  (but  what  it  was  I  do  not  now  remember) 
but  his  reply  was  '  It  is  enough  for  you  that  I  have  desired 
it,  but  since  you  brave  me  in  my  owne  house  and  in  this  poore 
distresse  wherein  I  am,  get  you  from  me  and  come  no  more  at 
me  until!  I  sende  for  you.  You  make  her  (quoth  he)  your 
bedfellow  your  companion,  I  wot  she  is  no  companion  for  you; 
at  another  time  Sir  Euseby  fallinge  into  a  new  passion  because 
Mistress  Moyle  was  not  removed  out  of  his  house  the  Lady 
Andrew  intreated  me  to  tell  him  that  Mistress  Moyle  was 
gone,  which  I  was  loth  to  say  because  I  knew  the  contrary, 
I  notwithstanding  to  quallifie  his  discontented  moans  and 
complaints  did  tell  him,  that  I  did  heare  that  she  was  gone, 
which  my  Ladye  confirming  likewise  unto  him,  he  suddenly 
and  briskly  looked  up  and  said  '  you  lie  you  know  she  shall 


POISON  MYSTERY  OF  THE  XVIITH  CENTURY  173 

not  goe.'  About  the  same  time  or  before,  I  do  not  well 
remember,  it  was  bruted  by  some  in  the  house  that  Sir  Euseby 
did  talke  idly  which  he  understanding  by  whom  or  what 
means  (I  know  not)  he  did  call  me  unto  him  and  wishing  some 
that  stoode  near  to  Stand  apart,  he  uttered  these  words, 
videlicet,  '  Doctor,  they  would  make  you  believe  that  I  do 
talke  idly  but  because  you  shall  know  that  I  do  not  talke  idly 
I  will  give  you  my  reasons  why  T  suspect  Mistress  Moyle/ 
He  then  related  that  Jaquinto  had  told  him  of  a  bason  stained 
with  gellie  wherinto  Mistress  Moyle  had  cast  salte,  that 
Jaquinto  told  him  she  was  a  bad  woman  and  meant  him  no 
good,  and  warned  Mistress  Francis  his  daughter  to  take  heede 
that  Mistress  Moyle  came  not  neare  her  father's  brothes  or 
gellies.  He  further  said,  that  she  was  too  officious  aboute 
him  to  rise  at  3  or  2  a  clock  to  give  him  gellie  or  broth.  He 
said  further  that  after  his  taking  of  a  gellie  he  immediately 
did  fall  into  vomiting  and  purging  20  times  a  day,  3  dayes 
together,  and  into  those  torments  of  his  stomache  sides  and 
gutes  which  I  did  then  see. 

"  He  farther  saide  that  Mistress  Moyle  had  given  forth 
that  he  would  not  live  past  Tuesday,  which  daye  (saide  he) 
I  liad  died  in  my  owne  feeling  and  in  all  others  expectation, 
that  were  present,  if  your  coming  into  Charleston  that  night 
had  not  by  your  Cordialls  revived  and  kept  me  alive.  He 
saide  farther,  that  Mistress  Moyle  did  talke  of  burying  him  the 
next  day.  He  added  farther,  that  Mistress  Moyle  when  he 
was  in  a  sounding  fitt  did  take  the  pillows  and  bolster  from 
under  his  head  which  afterward  reviving  he  did  misse  and 
call  for  as  he  saide.  These  things  as  his  reasons  of  suspecting 
Mistress  Moyle  he  did  deliver  unto  me,  while  T  replied  that 
I  was  sorry  that  his  minde  was  troubled  with  such  things  and 
wondered  that  a  stranger  who  seemed  unto  me  a  sober  and 
modest  gentlewoman  should  intende  any  such  mischief,  he 
thereto  answered  '  Good  Doctor,  be  not  led  by  them.  You 
are  an  honest  man,'  said  he,  'they  are  too  subtle  for  you.' 
Thus  we  brake  of  conference  for  that  time.  Some  hours 
before  his  death  he  called  for  his  clothes  and  said  he  could 
arise  and  die  in  his  clothes  and  not  in  his  bed.  In  the  mean 
season  some  gentlemen  did  offer  him  a  writing  or  instrument 
to  seal  which  he  then  refused,  saying,  '  I  am  now  distracted 
and  troubled  bring  it  again  anone.  I  doubt  the  parson  will 
controvert  some  part  of  it.'  After  his  clothes  were  put  on 
he  did  point  and  was  ledd  unto  a  chair  near  his  bed,  where  he 
did  sit  down  and  called  for  the  formerly  mentioned  writing 


174  POISON  MYSTERIES 

and  viewed  it,  sett  his  hand  unto  it,  sealed  and  deUvered 
if.  He  then  called  for  his  will  which  he  untied  and  brake  the 
seal  and  taking  a  pen  begann  to  rase  something  therein,  but 
Mr.  Thomas  Andrews  stayed  his  hand  saying,  '  Good  brother 
don't  alter  your  will,  I  hope  she  will  prove  a  good  mother  unto 
her  children,'  by  which  Sir  Euseby  not  seeming  much  moved, 
another  gentleman  upon  his  knees  thus  spake  unto  him,  '  Good 
Sir,  remember  that  you  have  almost  been  married  together 
these  20  years  and  you  have  had  many  sweet  children  together 
and  as  you  met  in  love  so  part  in  love.'  Hereunto  Sir  Euseby 
answered,  '  I  am  contented,'  and  threw  the  pen  from  him  and 
delivered  the  will  back  again. 

"  Then  he  required  to  be  laid  upon  his  bed  in  his  clothes 
and  called  for  the  preachers  to  pray  with  him,  which  they  did 
until  his  strength  and  speech  and  senses  failed  him,  and  he 
drew  his  wind  very  short  and  from  that  shortness  of  breath 
did  fall  and  lie  gaping  and  now  and  then  did  take  a  gasp. 

"  After  we  nerby  now  supposed  him  dead  he  again  revived 
and  feeling  for  his  pocket  did  draw  there  out  a  seal  and  offered 
it,  saying,  '  the  boy,  the  boy.'  He  was  demanded  whether 
he  meant  his  eldest  son— he  answered  '  Yea,'  and  putting 
again  his  hand  into  his  pocket  he  drew  out  a  key,  and  added 
it  unto  the  seal.  He  then  relapsed  again  a  short  time  unto 
drawing  his  wind  short  and  gasping  and  then  reviving  again 
said,  '  My  brothers,  my  brothers,'  Who  being  called  unto  him 
said  '  Norton,  Norton,  I  would  have  an  honest  use  made 
thereof  and  no  more  but  an  honest  use.'  This  said,  he  then 
relapsed  again  so  long  a  space  that  I  supposed  him  passed 
reviving  any  more  and  I  went  down  into  the  Court.  There 
after  I  had  stayed  some  space  and  was  called  up  again  unto 
him.  When  he  did  see  me  he  said,  '  O  Doctor,  I  cannot 
die,'  '  Do  you  know  the  cause.'  I  answered,  '  No.'  He  said, 
'  I  will  tell  you.  The  angels  have  been  about  me  this  hour 
and  will  not  suffer  me  to  die  until  I  have  made  known  that 
Mistress  Moyle  is  the  cause  of  my  death.'  I  did  answer  that 
I  was  sorry  to  hear  him  so  say  for  that  it  m.ay  now  be  deemed 
he  died  not  in  charity  for  that  he  did  not  forget  and  forgive. 
He  hereto  replied,  I  do  forgive  her,  but  God  commanded 
the  Angels  and  they  would  not  suffer  me  to  die  until  I  had 
thus  spoken  and  now  I  shall  die.'  Upon  these  words  a  Knigh': 
standing  by  said  unto  one  Mr.  Harrison  a  preacher,  '  By 
God  you  Divines  are  flatterers  you  should  now  tell  him  that 
these  angels  are  Devils.'  Hereunto  I  answered  I  did  not 
take  those  words  fitting  but  if  Mr.  Harrison,  said  I,  you  will 


POISON  MYSTERY  OF  THE  XVIITH  CENTURY  175 

tell  Sir  Euseby  that  those  his  wordes  may  be  deemed  to 
proceed  from  a  sick  brain  or  unto  such  purpose  you  may 
do  very  well. 

"  Then  Mr.  Harrison  said,  '  Sir  I  beseech  you  remember 
yourself,  you  speak  such  things  as  may  breed  much  trouble 
and  you  know  you  are  going  out  of  the  world  I  pray  you  take 
heed  what  you  say.' 

"  Sir  Euseby  looking  upon  him  shaking  his  head  and  gently 
moving  his  hand  towards  him  said,  '  This  is  no  time  to  lie 
now.'  And  then  did  relapse  again  and  never  did  look  up 
nor  speake  any  more  until  he  died." 

That  Mistress  Moyle  was  charged  with  poisoning  Sir  Euseby 
Andrew  may  'be  surmised  from  the  concluding  portion  of 
Doctor  Cotta's  manuscript,  in  which  he  relates  his  "  evidence 
given  in  open  Court  at  the  Assizes  at  Northampton  three 
several  times  upon  commande." 

He  states :  "  My  first  reason  that  bredd  suspition  was  for 
that  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  did  not  seeme  to  me  to  die  of  that 
disease  whereof  he  had  so  long  before  languished,  but  of 
another  kinde. 

"  That  he  died  of  another  kind  is  manifest.  First,  for  that 
the  last  disease  whereof  he  died  was  an  acute  sharpe  and  swift 
disease.  The  first  disease  whereof  he  had  so  long  before 
languished,  was  a  chronicke  ling'ring  disease  into  which  two 
kinds  Phisitions  do  divide  all  diseases. 

"  That  the  last  disease  was  an  acute  disease  is  manifest, 
for  that  as  is  the  manner  of  an  acute  disease  it  was  in  his 
motion  swift  and  in  his  accidents  and  qualitie  sharpe.  This 
was  planely  scene,  for  that  immediately  after  the  approach 
of  this  latter  disease  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  was  driven  to  keepe 
his  chambre,  was  unable  to  stand  upon  his  leggs,  to  sett  up 
in  his  bed  whereby  a  general  extreame  anxietie  and  distresse 
of  all  his  body  by  continual  vehement  faintings  and  sound- 
ings, by  extreme  torment  of  his  stomache  sides  and  gutes, 
he  was  in  a  few  days  compelled  to  yield  up  the  ghost. 

"  That  the  latter-  disease  was  of  another  kind  different 
from  the  first,  is  yet  farther  manifest,  namely,  for  that  it 
had  accidents  which  were  not  in  the  first,  that  is  a  blackness 
of  the  tongue,  soreness  and  rawness  of  the  throate  and  a 
frank  excoriation  in  the  stomake  found  after  his  decease. 

"  If  he  died  of  a  new  disease  that  was  a  new  cause  and  that 
remaineth  to  be  inquired  into,  whether  poyson  yea  or  noe, 
which  in  my  opinion  may  too  justly  be  doubted  for  three 
reasons  following. 


176  POISON   MYSTERIES 

"  I.  The  first  reason  is,  for  that  in  the  stomake  of  Sir 
Euseby  Andrew  after  his  decease  was  found  an  usual  effect 
of  a  corroding  fretting  poyson  namely  an  excoriation  in  the 
stomake  before  mentioned  without  any  probable  or  manifest 
cause  thereof  within  the  body.  That  there  was  no  manifest 
or  probable  cause  thereof  within  the  body  doth  seeme  to  me. 
As  there  was  nether  staine  nor  substance  of  any  inbred  humour, 
so  of  sortie  outward  corroding  matter  there  were  manye  pre- 
stimptions  in  court  deposed,  namely,  a  bason  and  porringers 
stained,  the  bason  staininge  gellie  in  the  takinge  dishked, 
distasted  after  the  takinge,  within  short  time  cast  up  againe, 
and  after  it  following  extreme  purginge,  vomiting,  torments 
of  stomake  sides^  and  gutts,  continuing  untill  death  wherof 
were  many  witnesses  of  note  and  worth. 

"2.  The  second  reason  is,  for  that  the  excoriation  found 
in  the  stomake  had  so  suspitious  a  proportion  with  the  sus- 
pected gelhe  which  was  deposed  in  Court  to  staine  the  Bason 
and  porringers  and  speedily  after  the  taking  to  cause  Sir 
Euseby  Andrew  to  grow  sick,  to  purge,  to  vomit,  to  be  ex- 
tremely tormented  in  stomake,  sides  and  gutts.  The  first 
liquor  of  the  suspected  gellie  was  all  cast  away  and  fresh 
liquor  was  added  unto  the  same  ingredients  both  which  were 
in  Court  deposed. 

"  That  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  his  tonge  was  black  and  his 
throate  sore  and  raw  was  partly  complained  by  himself  while 
he  lived  and  partly  seen  by  others,  and  as  I  conceive  is  not 
denied  by  any — 

"In  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  as  also  scene  staines  or  spotts 
upon  his  liver,  and  in  his  mouth,  but  whether  without  pro- 
bable cause  thereof  within  the  body  I  referr  unto  the  con- 
sideration of  the  number  and  weyht  of  the  signes  of  poyson 
from  without. 

"  There  were  many  signes  of  some  corrodinge  matter  or 
poyson  taken  from  without  in  or  about  Sir  Euseby  Andrew. 
The  signes  deposed  were  these. 

"  First,  a  bason  and  Porringers  stained  with  a  gellie. 

"  Secondly,  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  his  distate  of  that  gellie 
as  soone  as  it  was  in  his  mouthe. 

"  Thirdly,  his  growing  extreme  sicke  immediately  after  it 
was  swallowed  downe. 

"  Fourthly,  after  his  growing  sicke  a  vehement  purging  and 
vomiting,  a  fainting,  and  sounding  and  extreme  torments  of 
his  stomake  sides  and  gutts,  from  which  accidents  in  that 
intense  and  vehement  degree  he  was  formerly  free,  as  was 


POISON  MYSTERY  OF  THE  XVIITH  CENTURY  177 

deposed  in  Court  by  a  Physition  whom  he  had  formerly  used 
and  who  did  see  him  in  his  last  extremes  likewise  and  as  I 
myselfe  do  know. 

"  Thus  all  signes  of  poison  taken  from  without  concurring, 
and  so  many  circumstances  consenting  in  one  and  the  selfe 
same  kinde  and  affirmative.  I  suppose  I  have  sufficiently 
made  good  my  opinion. 

"  Therefor,  Sir  Euseby  Andrew  his  disease  accompanied 
with  all  those  signes  concurring  did  arise  from  poyson  taken 
from  without  and  not  bredd  within — And  I  take  it  the  office 
of  every  honest  physition  to  speake  the  truth  in  the  behalfe 
of  his  distrissed  patient  espetially  by  himselfe  when  dying 
therto  required.  This  I  hope  will  satisfie  all  intelligent  in- 
genuous minds. 

"  John  Cotta." 

Whether  Mistress  Moyle  was  found  guilty  of  the  crime  or 
not,  the  worthy  physician  does  not  say.  Certainly  his  evidence 
goes  to  prove  that  a  crime  had  been  committed,  but  by  whom, 
he  gives  us  no  indication,  and  the  strange  death  of  Sir  Euseby 
Andrew  still  remains  among  the  mysteries  which  have  never 
been  solved. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  AUSTRIAN  COURT   IN 
THE  SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 

IN  the  spring  of  the  year  1670,  Leopold  I,  Emperor  of 
Austria;  was  seized  with  a  mysterious  illness  which 
greatly  puzzled  his  physicians.  A  staunch  and  fervent 
Roman  Catholic  he  was  completely  dominated  by  the  Jesuit 
party,  who  dubbed  him  "  Leopold  the  Great,"  and  received  in 
return  for  their  commendation  many  tokens  of  his  favour. 
In  spite  of  this  friendship,  however,  seeing  that  the  house  of 
Austria  was  tottering,  for  Leopold  had  no  male  descendants, 
the  fathers  were  engaged  in  secretly  fomenting  an  insurrection 
in  Hungary  which  was  supported  by  Louis  XIV. 

It  was  darkly  hinted  by  some  that  the  Emperor  was  being 
poisoned  by  the  Hungarian  malcontents.  One  day  the 
papal  nuncio  was  in  conference  with  the  sick  monarch  in  his 
cabinet  concerning  the  insurrection  which  had  just  broken 
out,  and  while  they  were  in  consultation  a  fresh  despatch 
arrived,  which  contained  a  long  list  of  the  persons  implicated. 
In  this  list  appeared  the  name  of  Francis  Borri.  As  the 
name   was  read  out  by    the  secretary,  the   nuncio   started. 

"  Borri !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  Have  him  arrested  at  once, 
your  Majesty.  He  is  a  most  dangerous  man  and  has  contrived 
to  escape  from  the  avenging  arm  of  the  Holy  Ofhce."  Within 
a  few  hours  afterwards,  a  Captain  Scotti,  of  the  Austrian  Life 
Guards,  was  despatched  on  a  special  mission  to  Goldingen  to 
arrest  him. 

Giuseppe  Francesco  Borri  was  a  remarkable  man.  Born  in 
Milan  in  1627,  he  left  that  city  early  in  life  for  Rome,  where  he 
studied  medicine  and  alchemy.  His  scientific  studies  did  not, 
however,  prevent  him  from  taking  a  deep  interest  in  other 
subjects,  and  among  these  theology  claimed  a  place.  His 
researches  led  him  to  doubt  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and 

178 


A   MYSTERY   OF  THE   AUSTRIAN   COURT     179 

he  began  to  deliver  lectures  claiming  that  the  mysteries  of 
the  faith  were  derived  from  the  principles  of  chemistry. 

The  Jesuits  at  once  obtained  an  order  for  his  arrest  through 
the  Inquisition,  and  the  Pope  offered  a  reward  of  35,000  francs 
to  anyone  who  would  deliver  him  up  ;  but  Borri  was  on  the 
alert,  and  fled  to  Strasburg.  His  enemies  in  Rome,  balked 
of  their  prey,  meanwhile  had  his  name  publicly  exposed  on  the 
gallows  and  his  picture  was  burnt  by  the  hangman.  From 
Strasburg  he  journeyed  to  Amsterdam,  and  there  became 
very  popular  as  a  physician,  being  besieged  by  patients  who 
offered  him  large  fees  for  his  services.  He  professed  to  be  an 
adept  in  toxicology  and  was  learned  in  poisons  and  their 
antidotes.  Leaving  Amsterdam,  he  proceeded  to  Hamburg, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Queen  Christina  and 
acquired  a  great  reputation  for  his  skill  in  ophthalmic  diseases. 
For  a  few  months  he  lived  at  the  court  of  Copenhagen,  but 
desire  coming  over  him  to  go  to  a  warmer  climate  he  left  the 
north  with  the  object  of  settling  in  Stamboul. 

On  April  10,  1670,  he  arrived  at  Goldingen  on  the  Silesian 
border.  But  his  enemies  the  Jesuits  had  not  lost  sight  of  him. 
They  played  a  waiting  game,  which  proved  successful  in  the 
end,  for  the  landlord  of  the  house  in  which  Borri  lodged 
communicated  his  guest's  identity  to  the  Jesuits  at  Vienna, 
and  he  was  arrested  as  a  suspect  by  Captain  Scotti  on  April  22. 
Travelling  in  a  carriage  surrounded  by  an  escort  of  cavalry 
they  at  once  set  out  for  the  capital.  The  captain  happened 
himself  to  be  an  Italian  and  treated  his  prisoner  with  every 
consideration.  He  told  him  he  was  suspected  of  being  con- 
cerned in  a  conspiracy,  and  that  he  had  the  papal  nuncio 
among  his  opponents.  "  Then  I  realize  the  real  cause  of 
my  arrest,"  replied  Borri. 

Scotti  also  told  him,  in  conversation,  of  the  Emperor's 
mysterious  illness,  which  had  baffled  his  physicians  and  which 
was  now  supposed  to  be  due  to  secret  poisoning.  Borri 
expressed  the  opinion  that  if  this  was  the  case  he  could  readily 
discover  the  presence  of  a  poison  if  one  existed.  He  implored 
the  captain  to  inform  the  Emperor  that  if  he  really  suspected 
he  was  being  poisoned  he  could  free  him  from  it,  and  was 
incapable  cf  taking  any  revenge  for  the  insult  done  by  arresting 
him.     The  captain  promised  to  comply  with  his  request. 


i8o  POISON   MYSTERIES 

On  their  arrival  in  Vienna  on  April  28,  1670,  Borri  was  taken 
to  the  Swan  Inn  and  there  lodged  in  a  room  which  was  guarded 
by  soldiers. 

Weary  and  tired  by  his  journey  he  at  once  threw  himself 
on  the  bed  and  fell  asleep,  but  he  was  aroused  during  the 
night  by  the  door  being  opened.  A  man  entered,  wrapped  in 
a  cloak  and  bearing  a  dark  lantern.  When  he  lighted  the 
room  he  saw  it  was  Captain  Scotti. 

"  Make  haste  and  get  ready,"  said  the  captain.  "  The 
Emperor  wishes  to  speak  with  you,  for  your  reputation  as  a 
physician  is  known  to  him.  I  mentioned  your  proposal  to 
him  and  his  Majesty  trusts  you,  but  was  obliged  to  wait  till 
night  as  he  does  not  wish  this  visit  to  be  known." 

Borri  thanked  the  captain  and  in  a  few  minutes  they 
were  walking  through  the  dark  and  silent  streets  to  the 
palace.  When  they  arrived,  Scotti  handed  his  prisoner 
over  to  a  chamberlain,  who  at  once  conducted  him  to  the 
Imperial  antechamber  and  bade  him  be  seated. 

In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  a  gentleman  of  the  bed- 
chamber came  in  and  made  Borri  a  sign  to  follow  him.  They 
passed  through  several  apartments  until  they  came  to  a 
velvet-covered  door  which  the  conductor  opened,  and,  drawing 
back  a  heavy  portiere,  beckoned  Borri  to  enter. 

He  found  himself  in  the  Emperor's  cabinet,  a  gloomy  room 
lighted  by  a  few  candles  which  shed  but  a  dim  light.  Pictures 
of  a  religious  character  covered  the  walls,  and  by  the  side  of 
a  small  work-table  stood  a  lofty  prie-Dieu,  over  which  hung 
a  finely  carved  crucifix.  By  the  dim  light  Borri  at  length 
discerned  a  little  man  seated  in  an  arm-chair  near  the  fable, 
making  impatient  movements.  He  wore  a  green  silk  dressing- 
gown  and  a  cap  with  a  -shade  for  his  eyes.  His  feet  were 
wrapped  up,  his  face  was  livid  and  his  cheeks  sunken. 

Borri  advanced  and  bowed. 

"Are  you  the  Milanese  cavalier  ?  "  the  Emperor  asked  in 
a  trembling  voice. 

"At  your  Majesty's  service,"  replied  Borri. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  here  as  a  prisoner,  but  you  are  not 
one  at  present,"  said  the  Emperor. 

"  Had  I  not  been  arrested  I  should  not  have  had  the 
happiness  of  seeing  your  Majesty,"  rejoined  the  physician. 


A   MYSTERY   OF  THE  AUSTRIAN   COURT      i8i 

"  I  hear  much  that  is  satisfactory  about  your  learning, 
although  in  another  respect  you  are  said  to  be  a  dangerous 
man.  Why  do  you  trouble  yourself  with  religious  affairs  ? 
Leave  them  to  the  clergy,"  said  the  Emperor,  who  continued 
to  interrogate  him  at  some  length  on  religious  subjects.  At 
last  he  said,  "  Now  I  hear  that  you  devote  yourself  to  medicine. 
What  have  you  heard  about  my  condition  ?  " 

"  Nothing  beyond  the  supposition  that  your  Majesty  has 
been  poisoned,"  replied  Borri.  "  But  that  I  may  be  able  to 
express  my  views  on  the  subject  your  Majesty's  physician- 
in-ordinary  must  bring  the  symptoms  before  me,  and  then  I 
shall  be  able  to  speak  with  certainty,"  he  continued. 

A  messenger  was  at  once  sent  for  the  physician.  Mean- 
while, Borri  noted  the  Emperor's  wasted  and  grey  looks. 
Then,  rising,  he  took  a  survey  of  the  room,  examining 
every  ornament  and  object  and  sniffed  suspiciously.  The 
Emperor  followed  his  movements  with  inquiring  eyes. 

"  Well,  Borri,"  he  sighed  at  length.    "  What  do  you  think  ?  " 

"  I  think  almost  certainly,"  remarked  the  physician 
decisively,  "  that  your  Majesty  has  been  poisoned." 

"  Holy  Mother,  have  mercy  on  me  !  "  cried  the  Emperor. 

"  I  must,  as  I  said,  speak  with  your  physician-in-ordinary," 
continued  Borri,  "but  I  can  also  promise  your  Majesty's 
recovery  with  equal  certainty,  for  there  is  still  time." 

"And  how  do  you  come  to  this  conclusion  of  poison? 
My  friends  dine  with  me  out  of  the  same  dish.  Do  you  notice 
anything  on  my  body  ?  " 

"  Your  Majesty,  it  is  not  so  much  your  body,"  replied 
Borri,  "but  the  atmosphere  of  your  room  that  is  poisoned." 

"  How  can  you  tell,  when  I  feel  nothing  of  it  ?  " 

"  Your  Majesty  is  too  accustomed  to  the  poisonous  exhal- 
ation to  notice  it." 

"  And  where  does  the  exhalation  come  from  ?  " 

Borri  rose,  and,  followed  by  the  wondering  eyes  of  the 
Emperor,  lifted  each  candelabrum  and  placed  it  on  the  table, 
before  the  monarch,  and  so  bringing  twelve  lighted  candles 
together. 

"See  the  exhalation  that  rises  from  the  candles,"  he 
exclaimed.  "  Do  you  not  notice  the  peculiar  colour  of  the 
flame  ?  " 


i82  POISON   MYSTERIES 

At  this  moment  the  chamberlain  entered  the  room. 
'*  The  light  is  vivid,"  remarked  the  Emperor,  "  but  does 
not  seem  to  me  to  be  extraordinary." 

"  Do  you  not  see  a  fine  white  mist  arising  which  is  not 
found  in  ordinary  candles  ?  "  continued  Borri. 

The  Emperor  appealed  to  the  chamberlain  and  asked  if 
he  noticed  the  mist,  and  he  replied  that  he  did.  Just  then 
the  Emperor's  physician-in-ordinary  entered  the  cabinet. 

"  You  have  come  at  the  right  moment,"  exclaimed  the 
Emperor.  This  cavalier  asserts  that  the  air  of  my  room  is 
poisoned.     Have  you  the  diagnosis  with  you  ?  " 

"It  is  here,  your  Majesty,  where  it  has  been  kept  since 
your  illness,"  replied  the  physician. 

The  report  was  handed  to  Borri,  who  quickly  glanced  at 
it  and  nodded  his  head. 

"  Do  you  perceive  the  curious  smell  in  the  room  and  the 
fine,  quickly  ascending  vapour  ?  "  asked  Borri,  as  he  pointed 
out  the  candles  to  the  doctor.  ''  Look  also  at  the  crust  which 
the  vapour  has  deposited  on  the  ceiling." 

"  I  see  it  all  and  bow  to  your  sharpness,  cavalier,"  said 
the  physician. 

"Does  your  Majesty  burn  these  candles  everywhere?" 
Borri  asked.  "  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  they  are 
used  in  the  Empress's  apartments  ?  " 

The  chamberlain  at  once  went  and  brought  two  lighted 
candles  from  the  Empress's  chamber,  and  placed  them  on  the 
table  near  the  suspected  ones.  The  former  burned  clear  and 
quietly,  while  the  latter  burned  with  a  ruddy  flame,  emitting 
a  thin  vapour  while  repeated  sparks  with  a  crackling  noise 
flashed  from  the  wick. 

"There  is  the  cause  of  your  sickness,"  exclaimed  Borri, 
as  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  Emperor's  candelabra.  "  Shall  I 
now  prove  to  your  Majesty  that  these  are  impregnated  with  a 
subtle  poison  ?  " 

"  At  once,"  replied  the  Emperor. 

Borri  immediately  closed  the  door  of  the  apartment  and 
extinguished  the  suspected  candles.  With  the  physician's 
assistance  he  then  commenced  to  remove  all  the  wax  from 
the  wick.  Meanwhile  the  chamberlain  was  summoned  and 
commanded  to  bring  all  the  candles  he  had  into  the  Emperor's 


A   MYSTERY   OF  THE  AUSTRIAN   COURT       183 

cabinet.  The  entire  stock,  amounting  to  thirty-five  pounds, 
was  brought  from  a  cupboard  in  the  ante-room  where  they  had 
been  stored  and  laid  before  Borri. 

On  examining  them  he  called  the  Emperor's  attention  to 
the  peculiar  fact  that  each  candle  was  specially  marked  with 
a  gold  fillet  round  the  top  as  if  to  prevent  any  mistake. 
Further  questioning  revealed  the  fact  that  no  other  candles 
but  these  had  been  used  in  the  Emperor's  apartments  since 
Candlemas.  Borri  next  shredded  the  candle  wick  and  calling 
for  a  small  dish  of  meat  carefully  mixed  the  candle  wick  with 
it.  A  turnspit  dog  was  then  sent  for,  and  was  shut  up  in  the 
cupboard  with  the  dish  of  meat. 

Meanwhile  the  Emperor  was  removed  to  another  apartment, 
and  Borri  and  the  physician  proceeded  to  the  palace  pharmacy 
to  prepare  an  antidote  for  him.  Here  Borri  tested  the  sus- 
pected candle-wick  and  found,  as  he  thought,  it  was  impreg- 
nated with  arsenic.  He  had  left  instructions  that  he  was  to 
be  called  as  soon  as  the  dog  got  restless,  but  the  animal  was 
found  to  be  dead  by  the  time  he  returned  to  the  Emperor's 
cabinet. 

The  antidote  prepared  by  Borri  soon  produced  a  beneficial 
effect  on  the  Emperor,  and  his  health  improved  so  rapidly  that 
within  three  weeks  he  was  able  to  go  out  again. 

An  interesting  record  of  Borri's  examination  of  the  poisoned 
articles  shows  his  remarkable  knowledge  of  chemistry.  Of 
the  whole  of  the  suspected  candles  brought  to  him  he  kept 
back  two  as  evidence  and  used  the  remainder  in  his  analysis. 
The  weight  of  the  candles  was  twenty-four  pounds,  and  the 
impregnated  wicks  three  and  a  half  pounds,  from  which  Borri 
concluded  that  nearly  two  and  three-quarters  pounds  of 
arsenic  had  been  employed. 

Immediately  Borri  reported  the  result  of  his  investigation 
to  the  Emperor  he  gave  orders  that  the  person  who  supplied 
the  candles  should  be  arrested  at  once. 

It  was  found  that  they  had  been  supplied  by  the  procurator 
of  the  Jesuits,  who  was,  however,  no  longer  in  Vienna  and 
was  not  to  be  found.  Being  warned  in  time,  this  astute 
individual  had  made  good  his  escape. 

The  solution  of  the  mystery  as  to  how  the  candles  becctme 
impregnated  with  arsenic  subsequently  transpired.     It  w.^s.. 


1 84  POISON   MYSTERIES 

discovered  that  the  pater-procurator  of  the  Jesuits,  accom- 
panied by  a  humble  member  of  the  order,  had  personally 
delivered  the  prepared  candles,  which  were  packed  in  two 
boxes,  at  the  palace  on  March  2,  1670,  at  dark,  with  instruc- 
tions that  they  were  to  be  delivered  to  the  chamberlain  and 
were  to  be  treated  with  the  greatest  care. 

"  Your  reverence,"  said  the  steward  who  received  them, 
"  will  greatly  oblige  by  telling  me  what  the  boxes  contain,  so 
that  I  may  take  due  care  of  them,  until  I  hand  them  over  to 
the  chamberlain  on  duty  ?  " 

"Learn,  my  friend,"  replied  the  procurator,  "that  the 
boxes  contain  a  number  of  especially  consecrated  wax  candles 
for  use  in  the  Imperial  apartments.  His  Majesty,  you  know, 
receives  everything  he  requires  through  the  hands  of  us  who 
have  blessed  it  for  his  service.  Inform  the  servants  who  have 
charge  of  the  Imperial  apartments  that  his  Majesty  gave 
his  reverend  confessor  Father  Muller  to  understand  that  he 
wished,  in  addition  to  other  consecrated  objects,  to  have  such 
candles  burnt  in  his  rooms.  They  must  be  henceforth  taken 
from  this  store." 

The  same  evening  the  candles  consecrated  by  the  Jesuit 
fathers  were  lighted  in  the  Imperial  cabinet. 

For  a  short  time  the  Emperor  appears  to  have  shown  some 
gratitude  to  the  physician  who  had  been  instrumental  in 
saving  his  life,  and  Borri  dined  at  the  Imperial  table,  but  the 
hatred  of  the  clerical  party  increased  when  they  saw  him 
thus  favoured. 

On  June  14,  1670,  the  Emperor,  now  quite  restored  to 
health,  summoned  Borri  to  his  cabinet  and  thanked  him 
fervently  for  his  services,  but,  he  added,  he  was  sorry  in  the 
matter  of  religion  Borri  had  gone  astray  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  cure  him  of  his  errors.  The  Pope  would  appoint 
a  Commission.  "  I  have  obtained  a  guarantee  from  the 
papal  nuncio,"  continued  the  Emperor,  "  that  in  no  case 
shall  anything  be  done  against  your  body  or  your  life.  So 
long  as  you  live,  two  hundred  ducats  a  year  shall  be  paid  to 
you  by  myself  or  my  heirs  as  a  memorial  of  what  you  have 
done  for  me." 

On  the  following  day  Borri  left  under  an  escort  for  Rome. 
On  his  arrival  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the  castle 


A   MYSTERY   OF  THE  AUSTRIAN   COURT     185 

of  St.  Angelo.  Owing  to  the  good  of&ces  of  the  French 
Marechal  D'Estrees,  whom  he  attended  during  a  serious 
illness,  he  was  allowed  a  certain  amount  of  liberty  and  could 
go  in  and  out  of  the  castle.  He  was  also  allowed  to  fit  up  a 
small  laboratory,  where  he  was  able  to  carry  on  his  work  in 
chemistry.  The  Jesuit  general  Pater  Gonzalez  is  said  to  have 
had  several  interviews  with  him  while  in  St.  Angelo,  with  the 
object  of  getting  him  to  reveal  the  secret  of  his  poison  antidote, 
but  Borri  always  declined  to  reveal  it,  and  he  eventually  died 
in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  in  the  year  1695. 

Borri  has  been  variously  described  by  his  biographers  as  an 
alchemist,  physician,  quack  or  charlatan  who  amassed  money 
by  duping  the  wealthy  patients  who  consulted  him,  but, 
judging  from  the  works  he  wrote,  he  was  probably  no  worse 
than  many  others  who  practised  medicine  in  his  day,  and 
certainly  was  before  his  time  in  his  knowledge  of  chemistry. 

Although  a  fanatic  on  religious  subjects,  he  appears  to 
have  had  considerably  jnore  knowledge  of  disease  than 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  and  the  stories  of  his  successful 
treatment  in  many  cases  are  probably  true.  The  story 
here  related  of  his  discovery  of  the  causes  of  the  Emperor 
Leopold's  mysterious  illness  is  related  by  Wraxall  and 
vouched  for  by  Michiel  and  is  believed  to  be  founded  on  fact. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
POISON  PLOTS 

DURING  the  Middle  Ages  a  strange  dread  of  whole- 
sale poisoning  spread  throughout  Europe  and  caused 
numerous  panics.  Some  of  these  rumours  may  probably 
have  been  circulated  by  unscrupulous  traders  who  had  articles 
to  sell,  or  some  business  interests  to  forward,  but  of  this 
disturbing  fear  authentic  record  still  exists  that  it  affected 
whole  communities. 

England  was  probably  freer  from  crimes  of  this  kind 
than  almost  any  other  country,  but  in  1530  a  case  occurred 
which  aroused  great  public  indignation.  Fisher,  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  was  accustomed  to  feed  a  number  of  poor  people 
daily  from  his  table,  and  one  day  a  large  number  of  his 
guests,  together  with  some  of  the  officers  of  the  household, 
were  taken  ill  and  died.  After  examination  of  the  food  had 
been  made  it  was  declared  that  the  yeast  used  in  the  bread 
had  been  poisoned.  Parliament  took  up  the  case  and  the 
bishop's  cook,  one  Roose,  was  found  guilty.  He  was  tried 
and  sentenced  to  be  boiled  alive  as  a  terrible  example  to 
others.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  penalty  for  poisoners 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  a  fact  which  doubtless  shows  the 
great  abhorrence  in  which  crimes  of  this  kind  were  held. 

During  the  case  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  at  which  Lord 
Bacon  performed  the  duties  of  Attorney-General,  he  em- 
phasized the  enormity  of  the  offence  of  poisoning,  although 
he  maintained  that  poisoning  was  not  a  crime  to  which 
English  people  were  predisposed.  "  It  is  a  crime,"  he  stated, 
"the  more  to  be  dreaded  because  it  is  so  easily  committed 
and  so  hard  to  be  prevented  and  discovered." 

As  a  result  of  the  Rochester  case  a  law  was  passed  about 
1531  making  murder  by  poison  high  treason,  the  punishment 

186 


POISON   PLOTS  187 

being  death  by  boiling.    The  wording  of  the  act  which  recorded 
the  story  of  the  crime  is  worth  recapitulating  at  length. 

22  Henry  VIII,  c.  9.  The  Kynges  royall  majistie  callyng 
to  hys  moste  blessed  remembraunce  that  the  makyng  of  good 
and  holsome  laws  and  due  execution  of  the  same  agaynste 
the  offendours  thereof  is  the  only  cause  that  good  obedyence 
and  order  hath  ben  preserved  in  this  Realme,  and  his  Highnes 
havyng  moste  tender  zeale  to  the  same  emonge  other  thynges 
consyderyng  that  mannes  lyfe  above  all  thynges  is  chyefly 
to  be  favoured,  and  voluntary  murders  moste  highly  to  be 
detested  and  abhorred,  and  specyally  of  all  kyndes  of  murders, 
poysonynge,  which  in  this  Realme  hytherto  our  Lord  be 
thanked  hath  ben  moste  rare  and  seldome  comytted  or 
practysed  ;  and  now  in  the  tyme  of  this  presente  parliamente , 
that  is  to  saye,  in  the  xviij  daye  of  February e  in  the  xxijd 
yere  of  his  moste  victorious  reygn,  one  Richard  Roose  late 
of  Rouchester  in  the  Countie  of  Kente,  Coke,  otherwyse  called 
Richard  Coke  of  his  moste  wyked  and  damnable  dysposicyon 
dyd  caste  a  certeyne  venym  or  poyson  into  a  vessel  replen- 
ysshed  with  yeste  or  barme  standyng  in  the  Kechyn  of  the 
Reverende  Father  in  God  John  Bysshopp  of  Rochester  at  his 
place  in  Lamehyth  Marsshe  wythe  which  yeste  or  Barme  and 
other  thynges  convenyent,  porrage  or  gruell  was  forthwyth 
made  for  his  famylye  there  beyng  wherby  not  only  the  nom- 
bre  of  xvij  persons  of  his  said  famylie  which  dyd  eate  of  that 
porrage  were  mortally  enfeebled  and  poysoned  and  one  of 
them,  that  is  to  say,  Bennett  Curwen  gentylman  thereof  ys 
decessed,  but  also  certeyne  pore  people  which  resorted  to  the 
sayde  Bysshops  place  and  were  there  charytably  fedde  wyth 
the  remayne  of  the  sayde  porrage  and  other  vytayles,  were  in 
lyke  wise  infected,  and  one  pore  Woman  of  them  that  is  to 
saye  Alyce  Tryppytt  wydowe  is  also  thereof  nowe  deceassed  : 
our  sayde  sovereign  Lorde  the  Kynge  of  hys  blessed  disposi- 
cion  inwardly  abhorrying  all  such  abhomynable  offences, 
because  that  in  manner  no  person  can  lyve  in  suertye  out  of 
daunger  of  death  by  that  meane,  yf  practyse  thereof  shulde 
not  be  exchued,  hath  ordeyned  and  enacted  by  auctorytie 
of  thys  presente  parlyament  that  the  sayd  poysonyng  be 
ajuged  and  demed  as  high  treason.  And  that  the  sayde 
Richarde  for  the  sayde  murder  and  poysonynge  of  the  sayde 
two  persones  as  is  aforesayde  by  auctoritye  of  thys  presente 
parlyament,  shall  stande  and  be  attaynted  of  high  treason  : 
and  by  cause  that  detestable  offence  nowe  newly  practysed 


i88  POISON   MYSTERIES 

and  comytted  requyreth  condigne  punysshmente  for  the 
same  ;  It  is  ordayned  and  enacted  by  auctoritie  of  this 
presente  parHamente  that  the  said  Richard  Roose  shal  be 
therfore  boyled  to  deathe  withoute  havynge  any  advauntage 
of  his  clargie." 

Under  this  statute,  according  to  Lord  Coke,  in  his  third 
institute,  Margaret  Davy,  a  young  woman,  was  attainted  of 
high  treason,  for  poisoning  her  mistress,  and  some  others 
were  boiled  to  death  in  Smithfield,  the  17th  of  March,  the  same 
year,  1524.  But  this  act,  continues  his  lordship,  was  too 
severe  to  live  long,  and  was  therefore  repealed  by  i  Ed.  VI,  c. 
12,  and  I  Mar.,  c.  i.  It  is  thought  probable  that  the  proverbial 
expressions,  to  "  keep  out  of  hot  water  "  and  to  "  get  into  hot 
water,"  may  have  had  their  origin  in  the  punishment  attached 
to  this  crime  by  the  law  of  22  Henry  VIII. 

June  6  is  still  kept  as  a  public  holiday  in  Malta.  Upon 
that  day,  over  two  hundred  years  ago,  while  the  island  was 
still  possessed  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  a  Jew  waited  on  the 
Grand  Master  and  revealed  to  him  a  plot  that  had  been  planned 
for  exterminating  the  whole  population  at  one  stroke.  The 
man  kept  a  coffee-house  frequented  by  Turkish  slaves,  and, 
understanding  their  language,  the  conversation  of  his  customers 
had  aroused  his  suspicions.  The  Grand  Master,  believing  the 
truth  of  the  man's  statement,  took  immediate  action.  The 
slaves  were  at  once  seized,  and,  put  to  torture,  they  confessed 
a  design  of  poisoning  all  the  wells  and  fountains  on  the  island, 
and,  to  make  the  result  surer,  each  of  the  conspirators  was  to 
assassinate  a  Christian.  One  hundred  and  twenty- five  were 
found  guilty ;  some  were  burned,  some  broken  on  the  wheel, 
others  were  ordered  to  have  their  arms  and  legs  attached 
to  two  galleys,  which,  being  rowed  apart,  thus  dismembered 
them.  Whether  these  fearful  punishments  were  carried  out 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  people 
of  Malta  still  commemorate  their  escape  from  poisoning  on 
the  sixth  of  June. 

Wholesale  poisoning  appears  to  have  been  frequent  in 
Eastern  countries,  especially  in  India  and  Persia.  The  wells 
or  other  water  sources  were  usually  chosen  as  the  media 
for  disseminating  the  poison,  and  in  this  way  whole  villages 
have  often  been  destroyed  by  some  miscreant. 


POISON   PLOTS  189 

An  extraordinary  poison  plot  was  discovered  in  Lima 
towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  During  the 
insurrection  of  1781  a  rich  cacique,  who  professed  loyalty, 
went  into  a  chemist's  shop  and  asked  for  two  hundred  pounds 
of  corrosive  sublimate.  He  was  willing  to  pay  any  price  for 
it.  The  chemist  had  nothing  like  that  amount  in  stock,  but, 
not  wishing  to  send  away  so  good  a  customer,  substituted 
two  hundred  pounds  of  alum.  On  the  following  day  all  the 
water  in  the  town  was  found  to  be  impregnated  with  alum, 
and  on  examination  being  made,  the  fence  round  the  reservoir 
was  found  to  have  been  broken  down,  the  banks  strewn  with 
alum  and  the  water  rendered  undrinkable. 

Although  the  use  of  poison  for  taking  life  was,  according 
to  Bacon,  abhorrent  to  the  English  character,  in  some  of  the 
Latin  countries  the  feeling  was  just  the  opposite,  as  evidenced 
by  the  following  story  : — 

The  Due  de  Guise  in  his  memoirs  relates,  in  a  most  matter- 
of-fact  way,  how  he  requested  the  captain  of  his  guard  to 
poniard  a  troublesome  demagogue  at  Naples.  The  captain 
was  shocked.  He  would  poison  anyone  at  his  grace's  command 
with  pleasure,  but  the  dagger  was  a  vulgar  instrument.  So 
the  Duke  bought  some  strong  poison,  the  composition  of 
which  he  describes  at  length,  and  it  was  duly  administered. 
But  Gennaro,  the  intended  victim,  had  just  eaten  cabbage 
dressed  in  oil,  which  is  said  to  have  acted  as  an  antidote,  and 
so  he  escaped  the  effects  of  the  dose. 

In  the  early  part  of  1917  an  extraordinary  plot  to  murder 
two  of  his  Majesty's  Ministers  of  State  was  brought  to  light, 
which  suggests  some  of  the  subtle  methods  employed  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  Three  women  named  Alice  Wheeldon,  Hetty 
Wheeldon  and  Winnie  Mason — mother  and  daughters — and 
a  man  named  Alfred  George  Mason,  husband  of  the  latter, 
were  charged  with  conspiring  to  kiU  the  then  Prime  Minister, 
Mr.  Lloyd  George,  and  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  his  colleague 
on  the  War  Council,  by  means  of  strychnine  or  curare. 

The  plot  was  discovered  by  two  secret  agents  of  the  Govern- 
ment who  were  employed  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  informa- 
tion of  the  schemes  of  persons  desirous  of  evading  military 
service  or  otherwise  conspiring  against  the  country,  and  who 
had  been  directed  to  keep  a  watch  upon  this  particular  family. 


190  POISON   MYSTERIES 

They  obtained  an  introduction  to  the  Wheeldons,  who  lived 
in  Derby,  by  representing  themselves  as  sympathizers  and  so 
won  their  confidence.  They  succeeded  so  well  in  ingratiating 
themselves  with  the  family  that  not  only  was  the  plot  revealed 
to  them  but  they  were  entrusted  by  Mrs.  Wheeldon  with  the 
task  of  actually  carrying  out  the  deed. 

The  suspicions  of  the  two  men  became  aroused  when  they 
found  that  a  letter  had  been  sent  to  Mason  with  the  object 
of  procuring  some  poisons.  The  woman  had  previously 
shown  one  of  the  agents  a  stuffed  skin  of  a  snake  shaped 
in  the  form  of  a  bracelet,  stating  that  it  was  poisonous,  and 
remarked  that  she  wished  she  had  a  hundred  of  them. 
The  Wheeldons  always  showed  the  greatest  animosity  to 
the  Prime  Minister  and  Mr.  Henderson,  expressing  the  wish 
that  they  hoped  they  would  soon  be  dead.  Mrs.  Wheeldon 
also  told  him  that  the  Suffragettes  had  spent  ;f300  in  trying 
to  poison  Lloyd  George,  the  plot  being  to  get  into  an  hotel 
where  he  was  staying  and  drive  a  nail  which  had  been  dipped 
in  poison  through  his  boot ;  this,  however,  was  frustrated  by 
his  going  to  France.  She  also  declared  her  intention  of 
killing  another  Minister  by  inserting  a  poisoned  needle  into 
his  skull,  and  other  schemes  of  an  extraordinary  character 
were  discussed. 

Before  handing  over  the  poison  Mrs.  Wheeldon  was  stated 
to  have  said  to  one  of  the  agents,  "  You  know  what  you  are 
doing  !  You  will  rid  the  world  of  a  bloody  murderer  and  be 
a  saviour  of  the  country."  Asked  how  the  poison  was  used, 
she  replied  :  "  It  is  a  crystal,  and  you  drop  two  drops  of 
water  on  it,  dip  your  article  in,  and  when  the  water  evaporates 
it  leaves  the  poison."  As  the  men  were  about  to  leave,  Mrs. 
Wheeldon  shook  hands  with  them,  and  said  that  when  she 
handed  the  poison  over  to  them  she  washed  her  hands  of  it, 
and  would  deny  on  her  word  of  honour  that  she  ever 
gave  it  to  them.  She  assured  them  that  the  phial  contained 
enough  to  kill  five  hundred  people.  Walton  Heath  had  been 
selected  as  being  the  most  likely  spot  to  offer  a  suitable 
opportunity,  an  air-gun  being  used  as  a  medium. 

The  agents  at  once  informed  their  superior  officer,  who 
had  the  prisoners  arrested  and  the  house  searched.  Among 
the  objects  found  was  a  small  stuffed  snake  skin  which  was 


POISON   PLOTS  191 

found  to  contain  four  glass  phials  embedded  in  cottonwool. 
The  accused  were  charged  at  Derby  on  Feburary  4,  1917,  and 
they  were  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  in  London  on  March  7,  a 
month  later. 

The  accused  were  described  by  the  Attorney-General  as 
a  very  dangerous  and  desperate  type  of  people,  who  were 
habitually  hostile  to  this  country.  They  were  shelterers  of 
refugees  from  the  army  and  persons  who  did  their  best  to 
injure  Great  Britain  in  the  war  then  proceeding.  Mrs, 
Wheeldon's  son  William  was  himself  a  conscientious  objector. 
At  the  trial  a  two-ounce  tin  tobacco  box  was  produced 
containing  four  phials  sealed.  Instructions  were  enclosed 
which  had  been  copied  by  both  the  agents  and  were  as 
follows  : — 

"  Powder  in  tube  '  A  '  is  sufficient  for  two  or  even  three 
doses  to  be  given  by  the  mouth  or  in  solution. 

"  Powder  '  C  '  to  be  injected  either  in  solution  or  by  a 
dart,  which  will  penetrate  into  the  body  and  stop  for  a  while. 
Rusted  in  solution  or  fired  from  an  air-gun,  or  a  rusty  needle 
if  driven  well  in  with  powder  will  do,  but  don't  advise  unless 
in  urgent  dilemma. 

"Solution  '  B  ' — either  by  mouth  or  injection. 
"  Solution  *  D  '—injection  only. 
"All  are  certain. 

"  All  four  will  probably  leave  a  trace,  but  if  the  bloke 
wanted  dies  suspect,  it  will  be  a  job  to  prove  it  so  long  as  you 
have  a  chance  to  get  at  the  dog,  dead  in  twenty  seconds. 
Powder  '  A  '  on  meal  or  bread  is  O.K.  If  you  care  for 
microbe  can  supply  needle  thirty-six  hours  in  strong  solution 
and  allow  to  dry  in  air,  dip  again  for  ten  seconds  and  allow 
again  to  dry.     Cover  with  '  C  '  powder." 

Upon  analysis  the  phials  were  found  to  contain  : — 
"A,"  7| grammes  strychnine  hydrochloride  in  crystals. 
"  B,"  I J  drachms  strychnine  hydrochloride  in  solution. 
"  C,"  curare  in  powder. 
"  D,"  I  drachm  of  curare  in  solution. 
The  box  containing  the  poison  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Wheeldon 
by  her   son-in-law,    Alfred  Mason,  who   was   a   lecturer  on 
pharmacy  at  Southampton  University  College  and  who  was 
said  to  have  made  a  special  study  of  curare.     Only  a  few 


192  POISON   MYSTERIES 

weeks  before  the  preceding  Christmas  he  had  showed  a  student 
in  the  college  a  specimen  of  it,  and  described  its  properties. 
The  tobacco  box  containing  the  phials  and  instructions  are 
said  to  have  been  despatched  by  him  from  Southampton  to 
Derby  at  the  request  of  Mrs.  Wheeldon. 

Mrs.  Wheeldon  volunteered  to  give  evidence,  in  which 
she  acknowledged  she  had  been  active  in  helping  men  to 
escape  from  their  military  duties  ever  since  conscription  had 
been  introduced.  There  was  no  form  of  help  that  she  could 
give  them  that  she  had  withheld.  Her  own  son  was  a 
conscientious  objector.  She  was  quite  prepared  in  the  cir- 
cumstances to  violate  what  she  knew  to  be  the  law  and  had 
no  regard  to  consequences.  She  expressed  her  bitter  hatred 
of  Mr.  Lloyd  George  and  was  ready  to  do  him  a  mischief. 

At  the  examination  of  Alfred  Mason,  he  said  he  had  devoted 
some  time  to  the  study  of  criminology  in  relation  to  poison, 
but  he  did  not  know  that  strychnine  was  used  for  poisoning. 
If  poison  was  to  have  been  used  for  a  human  being  he  would 
have  definitely  stated  in  his  instructions  that  it  should  be 
mixed  with  food.  He  said  he  had  had  experience  in  destroy- 
ing two  thousand  dogs,  and  that  when  his  mother-in-law 
had  written  she  had  said  she  wanted  some  poison  for  a  dog, 
and  that  it  was  a  dangerous  dog,  and  the  impression  left  on 
his  mind  was  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  it.  He  treated  the 
allusion  to  the  microbe  as  a  joke. 

Counsel  on  behalf  of  the  prisoners  denied  the  charges  as  a 
vindictive  prosecution  of  the  worst  of  its  kind  that  had  ever 
taken  place  in  England.  He  submitted  the  curious  suggestion 
that  the  proper  trial  of  this  case  would  be  by  ordeal,  on  which 
the  judge  remarked,  "  I  am  afraid  that  it  has  been  abolished." 
Counsel  said  he  submitted  it  to  the  jury.  The  judge  asked 
him  if  he  proposed  that  the  prisoners  should  walk  over  hot 
ploughshares  or  something  of  that  kind,  to  which  counsel 
replied  :  "  I  do,  -in  order  to  prove  their  innocence."  He 
threw  ridicule  on  the  idea  that  Mr.  Lloyd  George  could  have 
been  killed  by  poisoned  darts  or  arrows. 

Mr.  Justice  Low,  in  summing  up,  said  that  of  all  forms  of 
murder,  poisoning  was  the  most  dastardly  and  the  most 
dangerous,  and  conspiracy  to  murder  by  poisoning  was  the 
worst  of  all.     It  was  almost  incredible  that  these  prisoners 


POISON    PLOTS  193 

had  by  their  own  admission  behaved  as  these  people  had  done. 
The  jury  having  found  the  prisoners  guilty,  the  elder  woman, 
Mrs.  Wheeldon,  was  sentenced  to  ten  years'  penal  servitude, 
the  man  Mason  to  seven  years  and  his  wife  to  five  years  ;  the 
girl  Harriet  Wheeldon  was  found  not  guilty  and  discharged. 

In  December,  1909,  a  sensation  was  caused  throughout 
Austria  owing  to  the  arrest  of  a  young  officer  named  Lieutenant 
Hofrichter  of  Linz,  who  was  charged  with  being  concerned  in 
a  plot  to  poison  a  captain  of  the  Imperial  General  Staff  and 
other  highly-placed  Imperial  officers  by  sending  them  poisoned 
samples  of  a  new  patent  medicine. 

The  alleged  motive  was  said  to  be  a  desire  to  clear  a  path 
for  promotion  by  the  removal  of  officers  of  higher  rank. 
Suspicion  was  first  directed  towards  him  by  the  statement 
of  a  brother  officer  at  Linz  where  he  was  stationed,  who 
mentioned  that  he  had  received  from  the  lieutenant  a  box 
exactly  similar  to  those  in  which  the  fatal  powder  had  been  sent. 

About  a  week  before  this,  a  Captain  Mader,  together  with 
several  officers  of  the  General  Staff,  had  received  by  post 
a  sample  of  a  supposed  patent  medicine,  and  on  taking  some 
of  it  he  died  shortly  afterwards.  It  was  found  that  the 
medicine  contained  a  large  proportion  of  potassium  cyanide. 

On  suspicion  falling  on  Hofrichter,  his  quarters  were 
searched  and  a  copying  apparatus  which  apparently  had 
been  used  for  the  circulars  accompanying  the  poisoned 
medicine  was  found,  and  he  was^also  identified  as  the  pur- 
chaser of  capsules,  boxes  and  envelopes  similar  to  those  which 
had  been  sent  to  the  officers.  Hofrichter  was  brought  to 
Vienna  for  trial  by  the  military  tribunal,  from  which  the 
public  were  excluded. 

The  first  hearing  of  the  case  lasted  seven  hours,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  investigation  it  was  stated  that  four  officers  had 
fallen  victims  to  the  effects  of  poison,  the  first  being  Captain 
Mader.  In  consequence  of  the  order  of  the  military  court, 
the  dwellings  of  eighty  officers  were  searched  in  Vienna  and 
the  provinces  and  a  series  of  extraordinary  tragedies  followed. 
One  of  the  officers  who  was  engaged  at  the  War  Office, 
felt  the  indignity  to  such  an  extent  that  he  shot  himself 
immediately  afterwards.  Another  victim  was  a  brother-in- 
law  of  the  accused,  who  after  devoting  himself  to  collecting 


194  POISON  MYSTERIES 

evidence  and  examining  possible  witnesses,  hoping  to  prove 
the  innocence  of  Hofrichter,  died  suddenly,  the  cause  being 
said  to  have  been  hastened  by  his  anxiety  and  excitement 
over  the  case.  A  Lieutenant  Schmidt,  who  had  been  summoned 
to  the  military  court  in  Vienna,  also  committed  suicide. 

The  tribunal  then  proceeded  to  inquire  into  Hofrichter 's 
previous  career,  which  brought  to  light  the  fact  that,  some  years 
before,  he  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  the  daughter  of  a 
pastor  in  Bohemia,  but  the  engagement  was  broken  off  after 
he  entered  the  Vienna  Military  Academy.  The  girl,  in  despair, 
is  st9.ted  to  have  poisoned  herself  with  potassium  cyanide, 
and  a  letter  from  Hofrichter  which  arrived  after  her  death 
was  buried  unopened  with  her. 

It  was  rumoured  that  Hofrichter  had  sent  the  girl  the 
poison.  The  tribunal  decided  to  have  the  body  exhumed. 
This  was  carried  out,  and  the  unopened  letter  that  had  been 
sent  five  years  previously  was  discovered.  The  remains  of 
her  body  were  subjected  to  analysis,  but  no  trace  of  poison 
was  discovered. 

Meanwhile,  the  case  was  postponed  for  further  investigation. 
This  finally  revealed  the  fact  that  Hofrichter  had  been  leading 
a  double  life  for  a  considerable  time,  and  had  done  so  with 
extraordinary  cunning.  In  the  army  he  had  been  generally 
liked  and  esteemed  as  a  hard  worker  and  a  good  officer, 
while  under  the  name  of  Dr.  Haller  he  carried  on  a  criminal 
career.  ^ 

Letters  to  his  wife  which  were  intercepted  from  the  prison, 
revealed  that  he  intended  to  commit  suicide,  and  in  one  of 
these  he  asked  her  to  conceal  various  poisons  including 
atropine  and  hyoscyamine  in  a  bunch  of  flowers,  which  he  had 
asked  for  to  lay  on  an  altar  in  his  cell.  At  his  house  in  Linz 
a  considerable  quantity  of  poisons  and  drugs  were  discovered. 

The  long  delays  between  the  meetings  of  the  military 
tribunal  were  very  trying  to  the  accused  man.  For  months 
he  had  faced  the  ordeal  of  a  severe  cross-examination.  He 
feigned  insanity  with  great  ability,  and  the  methods  of  the 
police  inclined  the  public  in  his  favour.  At  length,  after  a 
trial  lasting  for  four  months,  his  defence  broke  down,  and  he 
confessed.  He  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death  by 
hanging. 


POISON    PLOTS  195 

During  the  year  1921  several  attempts  were  made  on  the 
hves  of  well-known  people,  which  appear  to  have  had  an 
influence  on  weak-minded  persons  or  those  on  the  border 
line  of  insanity.  Such  cases  are  not  infrequent  in  the  history 
of  criminal  poisoning,  where  attempts  have  been  made  to 
take  life  without  any  apparent  motive. 

Early  that  year  it  was  reported  that  the  Vice-Chancellor 
of  Oxford  had  received  a  box  of  chocolate  creams  by  post, 
and  being  suspicious  at  the  receipt  of  such  an  anonymous  gift 
he  submitted  them  to  one  of  his  colleagues,  a  professor  of 
science.  This  gave  rise  to  the  rumours  that  they  contained 
something  of  a  deleterious  nature,  such  as  powdered  glass, 
but  the  result  of  an  analysis  showed  that  the  sweets  were 
innocuous.  An  undergraduate  was  reported  to  have  con- 
fessed, and  the  presumed  plot  against  the  Vice-Chancellor 
was  declared  to  be  a  hoax. 

In  November,  1922,  a  sensation  was  caused  in  London  by 
an  attempt  to  poison  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Metro- 
politan Police  at  Scotland  Yard.  On  November  9  it  was 
reported  in  the  newspapers  that  the  Chief  Commissioner 
had  been  seized  with  an  apparent  heart  attack  in  his  office 
at  Scotland  Yard,  which  came  on  while  he  was  dressing 
before  proceeding  to  the  Lord  Mayor's  banquet.  It  was 
not  till  nine  o'clock  that  night  that  the  doctors  summoned  to 
attend  him  knew  definitely  that  it  was  a  case  of  poisoning 
by  arsenic. 

It  appeared  that  on  November  3,  six  days  previously,  a  pack- 
age addressed  to  the  Assistant  Commissioner,  New  Scotland 
Yard,  Westminster,  had  been  delivered  by  parcel  post.  On 
being  opened  it  was  found  to  contain  four  chocolate  eclairs, 
wrapped  in  grease-proof  paper.  Enclosed  with  the  eclairs 
was  a  small  white  card  three  inches  long  by  one  and  a  half 
wide,  bearing  upon  it  the  following  :  "A  good  lunch  and  a 
hearty  appetite. — Molly."  The  box  had  been  posted  in  the 
Balham  district.  The  eclairs  were  sent  to  an  analyst  for 
further  investigation,  but  before  the  result  had  been  received 
a  second  parcel  arrived  on  November  9,  addressed  to  Brigadier- 
General  Horwood,  New  Scotland  Yard,  Westminster,  S.W., 
and  was  opened  by  the  Chief  Commissioner  himself.  The 
box  is  described  as  being  of  cardboard,  7 J  by  if  inches,  and 


196  POISON   MYSTERIES 

was  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  stiff  white  paper  addressed  in  block 
letters  and  contained  whipped  cream  walnuts.  ^  The  box  was 
tied  with  string  and  was  also  posted  in  the  Balham  district 
about  4  p.m.,  November  8. 

The  morning  that  the  box  arrived  Sir  William  had  received 
a  letter  from  a  relative  who  said  that  she  was  sending  him 
a  box  of  chocolates  for  his  birthday,  and  he  accordingly- 
opened  the  box  unsuspectingly.  He  took  one  of  the  chocolates 
and  offered  them  to  his  secretary  who  was  in  the  room. 
She,  however,  only  bit  off  a  small  piece  of  the  outer  covering 
of  hers,  and  remarking  that  it  tasted  bitter,  threw  it  away 
and  told  the  Commissioner.  He,  still  believing  the  package 
to  have  come  from  his  friend,  suspected  nothing,  and  though 
he^  noticed  it  burned  his  throat  a  little,  ate  more  later  in 
the  day.  While  dressing  for  dinner  that  evening  the  Com- 
missioner was  seized  with  severe  pain  and  showed  symptoms 
of  having  swallowed  an  irritant  poison,  and  was  removed  to 
St.  Thomas's  Hospital  next  day. 

On  the  chocolates  being  carefully  examined  it  was  found  that 
there  was  a  small  square  mark  at  the  bottom  of  each  as  if  a 
portion  of  the  chocolate  coating  had  been  removed,  a  poison 
mixed  with  the  cream  inside  and  the  square  of  chocolate 
afterwards  replaced.  On  investigation  it  was  found  that 
the  poison  employed  was  undoubtedly  arsenic,  which  was 
plainly  to  be  seen  and  took  the  form  of  dark  greenish-tinted 
matter. 

.  On  November  10  another  box  was  received  at  Scotland 
Yard.  This  was  a  small  cardboard  box  2 J  by  if  inches 
by  I  of  an  inch,  greyish  tint  with  plain  card  pasted  on  lid, 
wrapped  in  light  brown  tissue  paper,  addressed  in  block 
letters  to  The  Commissioner  of  the  Police,  New  Scotland 
Yard,  Westminster.  The  box  contained  two  small  tablets  of 
Bournville  chocolate  wrapped  in  white  paper.  The  box  was 
sealed  with  black  sealing-wax,  and  was  posted  in  the  Balham 
district  about  3  p.m.,  on  November  9. 

The  Chief  Commissioner,  though  for  some  days  in  a  very 
critical  condition,  ended  in  making  a  complete  recovery. 

Only  a  few  weeks  afterwards  a  small  cardboard  box  was 
received  at  the  Home  Office  addressed  to  "  The  Secretary 
for  Home  Affairs.  Whitehall.   S.W."     It  was  taken  to  the 


POISON    PLOTS  197 

registry  and  opened,  and  was  found  to  contain  cream  fondants. 
The  parcel  was  obviously  sent  by  the  same  person  who  sent 
the  poisoned  chocolates  to  the  Commissioner  of  Police.  The 
sweets  had  apparently  been  tampered  with  and  were  sent 
for  analysis,  but  no  arsenic  was  found  in  them.  The  writing 
on  the  address  was  the  same  in  each  case  and  the  box  had 
been  posted  in  the  same  district  of  Balham. 

Previously  to  this  the  police  authorities  had  issued  a 
warning  to  well-known  people,  putting  them  on  their  guard 
against  similar  attempts. 

Early  in  February,  1923,  a  man  living  at  Balham  was  arrested 
by  the  police  at  his  residence,  and  was  charged  with  attempting 
to  murder  the  Chief  Commissioner  and  the  two  Assistant 
Commissioners  of  Police.  He  made  the  following  statement  : 
"  I  sent  the  Commissioner  chocolates.  I  sent  them  for 
analytical  purposes.  I  have  had  no  real  rest  since  then  ;  I 
would  not  harm  him  for  anything." 

In  the  house  where  he  lived  a  quantity  of  weed-killer 
was  found  coloured  in  similar  manner  to  that  found  in  the 
chocolates. 

The  analyst  to  the  Home  Office,  who  examined  the 
chocolate  eclairs  sent  to  the  Commissioner,  found  that  they 
each  contained  arsenic,  the  amount  estimated  in  one  being 
3  J  grains.  The  three  whipped  cream  walnut  chocolates 
which  were  addressed  to  the  Assistant  Commissioners  also 
contained  a  considerable  quantity  of  arsenic,  the  amount  in 
one  of  them  which  was  tested  being  six  grains. 

He  also  examined  two  Bournville  chocolates  which  had  been 
drilled  with  holes  and  filled  with  arsenic.  The  quantity  of 
arsenic  in  one  of  these  was  i  of  a  grain.  In  two  Dairy  Milk 
chocolates  he  examined,  similar  holes  had  been  drilled,  which 
had  been  filled  up  with  the  same  kind  of  arsenic  as  that  used 
in  the  weed-killer  and  was  in  the  form  of  a  blue  powder  which 
was  strongly  alkaline. 

The  prisoner  was  committed  for  trial,  was  found  to  be  insane, 
and  ordered  to  be  detained  during  the  King's  pleasure. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CURIOUS  METHODS  EMPLOYED  BY  SECRET 
POISONERS 

OF  the  various  methods  employed  by  criminal  poisoners, 
administration  through  the  medium  of  food  or  drink 
has  been  more  common  than  any  other.  The  poisoned  cake 
or  wine  recurs  with  monotonous  frequency  in  the  history  of 
poisoning  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the  present.  Women 
especially  seem  to  have  had  a  predilection  for  this  method  of 
administering  a  lethal  dose,  a  fact  probably  due  to  their 
control  and  direction  of  domestic  matters,  which  renders  the 
introduction  of  a  poisonous  substance  into  the  food  or  drink 
an  easy  matter. 

In  early  times  some  fell  victims  to  their  own  evil  designs, 
as  instanced  in  the  case  of  Rosamond,  the  wife  of  Alboin, 
King  of  Lombardy,  in  a.d.  573.  It  is  stated  that,  wishing 
to  rid  herself  of  her  husband,  she  gave  him  a  cup  of  poisoned 
wine  when  he  was  coming  from  his  bath.  The  king  drank 
part,  but  suspecting  its  nature  from  the  strange  effect  it 
produced,  wisely  insisted  that  she  should  drink  the  remainder, 
with  the  result  that  both  died  shortly  afterwards. 

Reginald  Scot,  who  wrote  The  Discovery  of  Witchcraft 
in  1584,  quaintly  states  his  belief  that  "  women  were  the  first 
inventors  and  the  greatest  practisers  of  poysoning  and  more 
materially  addicted  and  given  thereunto  than  men." 

Throughout  the  history  of  criminal  poisoning  there  has 
always  been  a  high  percentage  of  women  implicated  and 
numerous  cases  could  be  cited  of  female  lunatics  with  whom 
the  use  of  poison  for  criminal  purposes  amounted  to  an  obses- 
sion. With  these  types,  not  infrequently  met  with,  there  is 
no  suggestion  of  a  motive,  the  object  being  apparently  to 
destroy  life  without  any  sane  reason. 

Women  of  this  kind  have  lived  in  various  periods  from 

198 


METHODS   OF   SECRET  POISONERS  199 

the  time  of  Locusta  to  de  Brinvilliers.  There  was  also  Van 
der  Linden,  a  Dutch  woman  who  poisoned  one  hundred  and 
two  people,  and  Helene  Jegado,  who  apparently  regarded 
poisoning  as  a  pastime  and  whose  victims  were  estimated  to 
number  twenty-six. 

Some  poisoners,  not  content  with  introducing  the  substance 
into  wine  or  other  drink,  essayed  to  improve  on  this  method 
by  preparing  a  goblet  or  cup  in  such  a  way  that  it  would 
impregnate  any  liquid  that  was  placed  in  it.  There  is  record 
of  one  Fran9ois  Belot,  a  Frenchman,  who  made  a  speciality 
of  this  method,  and,  it  is  said,  derived  a  considerable  income 
therefrom ;  but  he  fitly  ended  his  days  by  being  broken  on 
the  wheel  on  June  lo,  1679. 

According  to  a  contemporary  writer,  Belot's  special  method 
consisted  in  cramming  a  toad  with  arsenic,  placing  it  in  a  silver 
goblet,  and  after  pricking  its  head,  crushing  it  in  the  vessel. 
Whilst  this  operation  was  being  performed  he  recited  certain 
charms.  According  to  his  own  account,  which  is  still  on  record, 
of  treating  a  cup  with  a  toad  in  this  way,  "  I  know  a  secret," 
he  says,  "  such  that,  in  doctoring  a  cup  with  a  toad,  and  what 
I  put  into  it,  if  fifty  persons  chanced  to  drink  from  it  afterwards, 
even  if  it  were  washed  and  rinsed,  they  would  all  be  done  for, 
and  the  cup  could  only  be  purified  by  throwing  it  into  a  hot 
fire.  After  having  thus  poisoned  the  cup,  I  should  not  try  it 
upon  a  human  being,  but  upon  a  dog,  and  I  should  entrust 
the  cup  to  nobody."  Belot's  statements  were  evidently 
believed  in  his  time,  and  he  enjoyed  a  considerable  reputation. 

Another  individual  named  Blessis  flourished  about  the 
same  period,  and  who,  claiming  to  practise  sorcery  and  magic, 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  to  the  world  that  he  had  discovered 
a  method  of  manipulating  mirrors  in  such  a  way  that  whoever 
looked  into  them  would  meet  his  death. 

According  to  tradition,  boots,  gloves  and  other  articles  of 
wearing  apparel  have  been  utilized  by  poisoners  for  carrying 
out  their  evil  plans,  and  although  many  of  these  tales 
are  purely  legendary,  it  is  quite  possible  that  others  have 
some  substratum  of  truth.  Tissot  states  that  John,  King 
of  Castille,  owed  his  death  to  wearing  a  pair  of  boots 
which  were  supposed  to  have  been  impregnated  with  poison 
by  a  Turk.     Henry  VI  is  said  to  have  succumbed  through 


200  POISON  MYSTERIES 

wearing  poisoned  gloves,  and  Louis  XIV  and  Pope  Clement 
VII  through  the  fumes  of  a  poisoned  candle. 

The  stories  of  the  poisoned  shirts  which,  if  contemporar}' 
records  are  to  be  believed,  were  not  infrequently  employed 
by  poisoners  in  the  seventeenth  century,  are  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility.  Apparently  corrosive  sublimate, 
arsenic  and  cantharides  were  employed  for  this  purpose.  The 
shirt  is  said  to  have  been  prepared  by  soaking  it  in  a  strong 
solution  of  one  of  these  poisons,  the  idea  being  to  produce  a 
violent  dermatitis  with  ulceration,  which  would  force  the  victim 
to  take  to  his  bed.  The  physician  would  then  be  sent  for, 
and  would  probably  diagnose  the  case  as  due  to  syphilis, 
and  prescribe  mercury,  with  the  effect  of  killing  the  patient 
in  the  end. 

Such  a  case  is  recorded  by  Dr.  Lucian  Nass,  who  relates  the 
story  of  Madame  de  Poulaillon,  the  wife  of  a  wealthy  man 
who  was  a  good  deal  her  senior.  Desirous  of  ridding  herself 
of  her  husband,  she  sought  the  counsel  of  one  Marie  Bosse,  who 
told  Madame  that  she  should  try  the  method  of  the  poisoned 
shirt,  which  she  herself  would  prepare.  She  then  took  one  of 
her  husband's  shirts,  together  with  a  piece  of  arsenic  "  as  big  as 
an  egg,"  to  La  Bosse.  She  first  washed  it  and  then  soaked 
the  tail  in  a  strong  solution  of  arsenic,  so  that  it  only  looked 
"  a  little  rusty,"  as  if  it  had  been  ill- washed,  and  was  stiff er 
than  usual.  La  Bosse  told  her  that  only  the  lower  part  of 
the  shirt  had  been  thus  prepared,  and  the  effect  would  be  to 
produce  violent  inflammation  and  intense  pain. 

Madame  de  Poulaillon  is  said  to  have  given  La  Bosse  a 
sum  of  money,  equal  tO;f8oo  at  the  present  day,  for  her  services. 
The  husband  was,  however,  warned  of  the  evil  intended  to 
him  and  had  his  wife  arrested.  The  lady  is  said  to  have 
so  fascinated  her  judges  that  a  contemporary  writer  states 
"  they  were  touched  by  her  wit  and  by  her  grace  and  by  the 
tones  in  which  she  spoke  of  her  misfortunes  and  her  crime, 
and  though  she  confessed  her  guilt,  and  pronounced  herself 
worthy  of  death,  she  was  acquitted  with  applause." 

A  few  years  ago.  Dr.  Nass,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the 
truth  of  the  assertions  connected  with  the  poisoned  shirt, 
made  some  interesting  experiments  on  a  guinea-pig.  He 
carefully  shaved  a  portion  of  the  left  lumbar  region  and 


METHODS   OF   SECRET  POISONERS  201 

gently  rubbed  the  skin  with  a  paste  containing  arsenic  in  the 
proportion  of  one  in  ten.  He  repeated  the  operation  several 
times  during  the  day.  Shortly  afterwards  the  animal  became 
prostrate,  the  eyes  became  dull,  it  assumed  a  cholera-like 
aspect  and  in  forty-eight  hours  died.  The  skin  on  which  the 
paste  had  been  applied  remained  unchanged  and  unbroken, 
and  showed  no  sign  of  ulceration.  On  examining  the  internal 
organs  after  death,  fatty  degeneration  of  the  viscera  was  found 
and  several  marked  symptoms  of  arsenical  poisoning.  This 
experiment  does  not,  of  course,  prove  the  fact  that  a  shirt 
impregnated  with  arsenic  worn  in  direct  contact  with  the 
skin  would  prove  fatal,  but  it  shows  that  arsenic  may  be  intro- 
duced into  the  body  simply  by  gentle  friction  on  an  unbroken 
skin,  and  that  the  effect  of  the  poisoned  shirt  was  possible. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  last 
victims  of  this  method,  and  it  is  stated  that  when  a  shirt 
could  not  be  procured  a  slipper  was  used,  although  it  did  not 
prove  so  effective.  Apparently  the  primary  object  in  this 
method  was  not  to  kill  but  to  prostrate  the  patient  in 
bed  where  he  could  be  despatched  at  leisure  under  pretence  of 
.  treatment. 

■  Similar  to  the  method  of  treating  the  shirt  there  is  a 
legendary  story  in  India  of  the  Queen  of  Ganore,  who  is  said 
to  have  killed  Rajah  Bukht  by  impregnating  his  marriage 
robes  with  poison.  Che  vers,  who  relates  the  story,  ^  affirms 
that  this  form  of  poisoning  is  possible.  "  Anyone,"  he  writes, 
"  who  has  noticed  how  freely  a  robust  person  in  India  perspires 
through  a  thin  garment,  can  understand  that  if  the  cloth 
were  thoroughly  impregnated  with  the  cantharadine  of  that 
very  powerful  vesicant,  the  Telini,  the  result  would  be  as 
dangerous  as  that  of  an  extensive  burn."  He  further  states 
that  Mr.  Todd  has  published  ample  evidence  in  support  of 
the  idea  that  the  deaths  of  several  historical  personages  in 
India  were  caused  by  poisoned  robes. 

A  curious  case  in  which  the  poisoner  attempted  to  prove  that 
the  medical  treatment  was  responsible  for  the  crime  happened 
in  France  a  few  years  ago,  when  a  woman  was  charged  at  the 
Paris  Court  of  Assizes  with  attempting  to  murder  her  husband. 

1  Manual  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  in  India.     Norman  Chevers. 


202  POISON   MYSTERIES 

It  was  known  that  the  couple  had  Hved  unhappily  together, 
and  arrangements  had  been  made  for  a  divorce. 

One  morning  the  husband  complained  of  a  severe  headache 
and  his  wife  suggested  a  dose  of  antipyrine,  which  she  gave 
him  in  some  mineral  water.  He  remarked  to  her  at  the  time 
that  the  draught  had  a  peculiar  taste.  Later  in  the  day 
she  administered  sundry  cups  of  coffee  to  him,  but  he  grew 
rapidly  worse  and  at  night  a  doctor  was  summoned.  He 
failed  to  diagnose  the  complaint,  and  called  in  other  medical 
men,  who  were  equally  puzzled.  One  thing  which  they  all 
noticed,  was  a  peculiar  dilatation  of  the  pupils  of  the 
patient's  eyes. 

A  consultation  was  held  the  next  day,  and  shortly  after- 
wards one  of  the  medical  men  received  a  note  from  the  lady 
in  which  she  stated  that  her  husband  was  "  black."  "He 
was  dead,  more  dead  than  any  man  I  ever  saw." 

The  doctor  at  once  went  to  see  the  patient,  and  found 
him  in  a  state  of  collapse.  He  bled  him  twice  and  injected 
caffeine,  but  he  still  remained  motionless.  After  a  time  it 
occurred  to  the  doctor  that  the  patient's  symptoms  resembled 
those  of  atropine  poisoning,  and,  resorting  to  other  measures, 
he  eventually  brought  him  round.  Then  he  remembered 
that  the  lady  had  previously  asked  him  for  some  morphine 
for  herself,  and  when  he  had  refused  it  she  requested  some 
atropine  for  her  dog's  eyes.  He  wrote  her  a  prescription  for 
a  solution  of  atropine,  containing  ten  per  cent,  of  the  drug, 
and  took  it  to  the  chemist  himself.  On  further  inquiries  it 
was  proved  that  the  lady  had  procured  atropine  upon  various 
other  occasions  by  cop3dng  the  doctor's  prescription  and  forging 
his  signature. 

At  the  trial  the  medical  evidence  was  very  conflicting, 
but  the  consensus  of  opinion  was  in  favour  of  the  theory 
that  atropine  had  been  administered  in  small,  repeated  doses. 
The  accused  woman  declared  in  her  defence  that  atropine 
had  been  put  into  the  medicine  for  her  husband  in  mistake 
by  the  chemist  who  had  dispensed  it.  There  was  no  evidence 
to  support  this  theory,  and  she  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced 
to  five  years'  penal  servitude. 

A  modern  instance  of  the  poisoned  boot  came  to  light 
a   few   years   ago   in   a   case   of   death    by   the   absorption 


METHODS   OF   SECRET  POISONERS  203 

of  a  poisonous  boot-blacking.  The  victim,  a  young  man, 
had  been  to  a  dance,  and  shortly  afterwards  became  uncon- 
scious and  died  in  four  hours.  For  some  time  the  cause  of  his 
death  was  a  complete  mystery,  when  a  few  days  later  a  bottle 
of  blacking  was  found  in  his  room,  with  which  it  was  discovered 
he  had  blacked  his  shoes  on  the  evening  of  his  death.  The 
colouring  had  penetrated  his  socks  and  stained  his  feet  and 
ankles.  On  analysis  the  solvent  in  the  blacking  was  found 
to  consist  of  nitro-benzene,  an  extremely  poisonous  liquid, 
largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  cheap,  strong-smelling 
perfumes  and  soaps  so  frequently  used.  This  was  no  doubt 
rapidly  absorbed  by  his  feet  when  dancing,  and  so  caused 
his  death. 

A  great  deal  of  fiction  has  been  written  concerning  the 
so-called  poison  rings  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
century,  which  are  generally  taken  to  mean  a  finger  ring 
containing  a  secret  receptacle  for  carrying  some  poisonous 
substance.  In  the  majority  of  cases  it  has  been  found  that 
these  receptacles  were  originally  intended  for  hair  kept  as 
a  "  memento  mori  "  or  for  fragments  of  religious  relics. 

Rings  have  been  described  as  being  fitted  with  a  tiny 
envenomed  spike  by  means  of  which  the  wearer  could  inocu- 
late his  victim  by  a  grasp  of  the  hand,  as  described  in  the 
following  story  published  a  few  years  ago  in  a  Paris  journal. 

It  stated  that  when  examining  an  ancient  ring  he  had 
picked  up  in  the  shop  of  an  antiquity  dealer  in  the  Rue  St. 
Honore,  a  customer  scratched  his  hand  with  the  sharp  part 
of  it.  While  still  talking  to  the  dealer,  in  a  few  moments 
he  suddenly  felt  an  indescribable  feeling,  as  if  his  whole  body 
were  paralysed  to  the  finger-tips,  and  he  became  so  ill  that 
it  was  found  necessary  to  send  for  a  medical  man.  The 
doctor  diagnosed  it  as  a  case  of  poisoning  and  after  the  prompt 
administration  of  an  emetic  the  patient  recovered.  The 
medical  man  is  then  said  to  have  examined  the  ring  and 
found  attached  to  it  inside,  two  lions'  claws  made  of  sharp 
steel,  with  grooves  in  them  which  contained  the  poison. 
Having  long  resided  in  Venice,  he  recognized  it  as  being  what 
was  formerly  called  the  "  annelo  della  morte,"  or  "  death 
ring,"  often  used  by  Italians  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries. 


204  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Outside  the  realm  of  romance,  however,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  rings  were  used  in  ancient  times  as  a  medium  for  carrying 
poisons.  This  was  originally  done  for  the  purpose  of  self- 
destruction,  or  at  a  later  period  rriay  have  been  found  useful 
as  a  lethal  weapon  against  an  enemy.  There  are  several 
specimens  of  these  rings  with  traditions  attached  to  them  which 
6ear  the  evidence  of  authenticity. 

In  the  troublous  times  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  when  those 
who  took  a  prominent  part  in  public  affairs  were  liable  to  be 
suddenly  thrown  into  prison  at  the  word  of  a  capricious 
monarch,  rings  containing  receptacles  for  poison  are  said  to 
have  been  often  worn,  so  that  the  contents  could  be  swallowed 
to  save  their  wearer  from  torture,  imprisonment  or  an  ignomin- 
ious death. 

Rings  of  the  Roman  period  are  always  wrought  with  the 
hammer,  and  never  cast ;  they  were  thus  hollow  and  would 
easily  afford  a  convenient  receptacle  for  poison.  Pliny 
records  that  when  Marcus  Crassus  robbed  the  Capitol  of  the 
gold  deposited  there  by  Camillus,  the  custodian  who  was 
responsible  for  its  safety  "  broke  the  stone  of  his  ring  "  and 
died  shortly  afterwards. 

An  interesting  Roman  gem  which  might  have  been  used 
for  this  purpose  is  in  a  London  museum.  It  is  an  onyx, 
upon  which  is  engraved  the  head  of  a  horned  fawn.  The 
stone  itself  has  been  hollowed  out,  forming  a  cavity  sufficiently 
large  to  carry  poison,  to  take  which  it  would  only  be  necessary 
to  bite  through  the  thin  shell  of  the  onyx  and  swallow  the 
contents  of  the  cavity. 

Further  mention  of  these  hoUowed  gems  is  made  with 
reference  to  Heliogabalus,  to  whom  it  was  foretold  that  he 
should  die  a  violent  death.  It  is  said  "  he  therefore  prepared 
against  such  an  emergency,  halters  twined  with  silk,  and  poison 
enclosed  in  rubies,  sapphires  and  emeralds  set  in  his  rings 
to  give  him  a  choice ^pf  deaths."  It  is  said  of  Demosthenes 
that  having  given  up  all  hope  of  escaping  from  his  enemies 
the  Macedonians,  he  swallowed  a  poison  which  he  carried  about 
with  him  concealed  in  a  stylus. 

Hannibal  also  is  said  to  have  taken  his  life  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  when  hunted  and  in  dread  of  being  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans  by  Prusias,  King  of  Bithynia, 


METHODS  OF  SECRET  POISONERS  205 

took  the  poison  which  he  always  carried  with  him  concealed 
in  the  hollow  of  a  ring.  Juvenal  thus  alludes  to  it  in  his 
Tenth  Satire  : 

"  Nor  swords,  nor  spears,  nor  stones  from  engines  hurl'd. 
Shall  quell  the  man  whose  frown  alarm 'd  the  world  ; 
The  vengeance  due  to  Cannae's  fatal  field. 
And  floods  of  human  gore — a  ring  shall  yield." 

Although  these  stories  describe  what  happened  so  long 
ago,  it  is  curious  to  note  how  history  repeats  itself,  when  we 
recall  the  tragic  conclusion  to  the  trial  of  Whittaker  Wright 
in  London  a  few  years  ago.  Immediately,  when  found  guilty 
of  the  charges  brought  against  him,  either  as  he  was  listening 
to  the  judge's  closing  words  or  as  he  was  leaving  the  scene  of 
the  trial,  he  swallowed,  unobserved,  some  tablets  of  potassium 
cyanide  which  he  had  secreted  about  him,  and  died  shortly 
afterwards  within  the  precincts  of  the  court. 

Another  instance  of  a  similar  refuge  from  persecuting  fate 
is  that  of  Condorcet,  who  was  secretary  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  France,  and  who  was  proscribed  by  the  Convention 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  in  1792.  He  took  refuge  in 
the  house  of  a  Madame  Vernet  in  Paris,  but  fearing  to  com- 
promise his  protectress  by  a  longer  stay,  he  left  his  asylum 
with  the  intention  of  taking  refuge  in  the  country  house  of 
an  old  friend.  Unfortunately,  the  friend  was  away  and  he 
wandered  about  sleeping  at  night  in  some  stone  quarries, 
but  was  at  length  arrested  and  taken  to  Bourg-la-Reine  and 
lodged  in  prison.  On  the  following  morning,  March  28,  1794, 
he  was  found  dead  in  his  cell,  having  swallowed  some  poison 
which  he  carried  about  in  readiness  for  an  emergency,  concealed 
in  his  ring.  On  investigation,  the  poison  was  found  to  con- 
sist of  opium  and  stramonium  which  he  kept  specially  pre- 
pared. 

Motley  records  that  in  the  conspiracies  against  the  life  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange  about  the  year  1582,  under  the  influence 
of  the  Court  of  Spain,  the  young'  Lamoral  Egmont,  in  return 
for  the  kindness  shown  to  him  by  the  Prince,  attempted  to 
destroy  him  at  his  own  table  by  means  of  poison  which  he 
kept  concealed  in  a  ring.  Philippe  van  Marnix,  Lord  of  Saint 
Aldegonde,  was  to  have  oeen  treated  in  the  same  way,  and 


2o6  POISON  MYSTERIES 

a  hollow  ring  containing  poison  was  said  to  have  been  found 
in  Egmont's  lodgings. 

There  are,  however,  rings  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
century  of  Italian  workmanship  that  have  traditions  from 
which  there  is  little  doubt  they  were  actually  used  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  poisons.  In  examining  rings,  claimed  to 
have  been  used  for  the  purpose,  it  is  necessary  to  note  first  that 
the  poison  must  be  accessible,  and  second,  that  the  receptacle 
must  be  so  constructed  that  it  could  be  used  without  the  ring 
being  taken  from  the  finger.  Rings  are  often  found  with  cavi- 
ties and  receptacles  on  the  inside  of  the  bezel,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  they  could  have  been  used  for  this  purpose. 
There  are  many  ancient  rings  extant,  often  called  poison 
rings,  with  small  boxes  placed  at  the  back  of  a  stone,  but  these 
rings  could  only  have  been  used  for  containing  a  perfume  or 
a  small  relic.  The  construction  of  a  ring,  claimed  to  have 
been  used  for  the  purpose,  must  show  reasonable  grounds 
that  it  could  have  been  so  employed.  The  most  interesting 
ring  of  the  kind  known,  is  one  that  was  formerly  in  the 
possession  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Ely.  It  passed  from  him  to 
a  clergyman  in  London,  who  was  a  well-known  antiquary.  He 
claimed  that  it  once  belonged  to  Caesar  Borgia,  and  from  the 
workmanship  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  it  belonged  to  the 
period.  Made  of  gold,  slightly  enamelled,  it  bears  the  date 
of  1503,  and  round  the  inside  are  inscribed  the  words  : — 
"  FAYS  CEQUE  DOYS  AVIEN  QUE  POURRA."  The  bezel  forms 
a  hollow  receptacle  and  on  the  front  is  engraved  the  name 
"  Borgia,"  and  in  letters  reversed  are  the  words  "  cor  unum 
UNA  VIA."  At  the  side  of  the  bezel  is  a  secret  slide,  which 
on  being  pushed  reveals  the  cavity  for  holding  the  poison. 

Another  gold  ring  of  the  late  sixteenth  century,  in  the 
possession  of  an  Italian  nobleman,  is  said  to  have  originally 
belonged  to  a  member  of  the  family,  who  was  a  prince  of  the 
Church.  The  bezel  is  elaborately  wrought,  and  richly  orna- 
mented with  dark  blue  enamel,  picked  out  with  red  and  white. 
It  is  apparently  made  in  one  piece,  but  a  small  portion  in  the 
centre  has  cunningly  been  made  to  open  on  a  hinge,  revealing 
a  secret  receptacle  capable  of  holding  quite  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  arsenic  or  corrosive  sublimate  to  cause  the  death  of  two 
or  three  people. 


METHODS  OF   SECRET  POISONERS  207 

Fairholt  describes  a  jewelled  ring  of  curious  construction 
set  with  two  rubies  and  a  pyramidal  diamond.  The  gold 
setting  was  richly  engraved,  and  the  collet  securing  the 
diamond  opened  with  a  spring,  disclosing  a  somewhat  large 
receptacle  for  "  such  virulent  poisons  as  were  concocted  by 
Italian  chemists  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries." 

One  of  the  most  curious  rings  of  this  kind  was  formerly 
in  the  possession  of  an  Italian  cardinal.  It  is  beautifully 
wrought  in  fine  gold  and  dates  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  shanks  are  partly  enamelled  in  black 
and  the  bezel  is  rectangular  ;  at  the  side  of  it  is  a  very  minute 
knob  with  a  groove  which  could  be  easily  turned  with  the 
finger  nail  without  removing  the  ring  from  the  finger.  On 
turning  the  knob  a  cylindrical  receptacle  is  revealed,  which 
was  most  likely  used  for  carrying  some  poisonous  substance. 
There  is  a  story  told  in  connection  with  this  ring  that  the 
secret  receptacle  was  kept  filled  with  tiny  granules  prepared 
from  a  deadly  fungus,  specially  prepared  for  the  owner.  The 
secret  receptacle  of  this  ring  is  almost  unnoticeable  even  when 
it  has  been  opened. 

In  connection  with  the  stories  relating  to  a  poisoned 
pin-prick,  the  following  account  which  appeared  in  a  Lon- 
don morning  daily  some  time  ago,  is  not  without  interest. 
The  writer  says  :  "The  police  are  searching  for  a  man  who 
is  alleged  to  have  poisoned  a  girl  in  London  under  extra- 
ordinary circumstances.  The  girl,  who  was  a  typist  em- 
ployed in  a  Fleet  Street  ofhce,  said  that  she  was  walking 
to  her  office  when  a  well-dressed  man  overtook  her  and 
grasped  her  by  the  wrist.  Directly  she  reached  her  office 
she  was  overcome  by  four  fainting  fits  in  succession.  When 
she  recovered  she  showed  a  small  punctured  wound  in  her 
wrist  and  the  police  were  informed."  Then  follows  a  lengthy 
description  of  the  wanted  man.  "  In  various  parts  of  America," 
adds,  the  writer,  "  similar  reports  of  devices  employed  by 
persons  connected  with  the  White  Slave  Traffic  have  been 
made  known.  When  the  victim  faints  in  the  street,  the 
assailant  who  then  passes  as  a  relative  or  friend,  calls  a  cab 
and  drives  off  with  the  girl,  the  poison  having  been  injected 
into  the  wrist  by  pressure  from  a  poison  ring!  " 

Probably  one  of  the  most  curious  receptacles  ever  used  for 


2o8  POISON   MYSTERIES 

carrying  poison  was  a  wooden  leg.  Some  years  ago  a  man 
named  Jasper  Reed,  who  was  once  a  member  of  a  gang  of 
international  thieves,  lost  .his  leg  through  amputation 
while  he  was  in  prison  for  a  theft  of  £480  from  a  bank  in 
Antwerp.  After  his  release  he  was  lost  sight  of  for  a  long 
time,  until  one  day  a  wooden-legged  cripple  was  arrested  in 
the  street  in  Antwerp  in  connection  with  the  theft  of  some 
bank-notes,  and  afterwards  poisoned  himself  while  in  prison. 
A  post-mortem  examination  of  the  body  showed  that  he  had 
killed  himself  with  potassium  cyanide,  and  a  bottle  containing 
the  poison  was  found  concealed  in  a  hollow  receptacle  in  the 
wooden  leg  he  was  wearing. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Pope  Clement  VII,  one  of  the 
Medici,  was  poisoned  in  1534  by  the  fumes  of  a  torch  im- 
pregnated with  arsenic  carried  before  him  in  a  religious 
procession.  This  is  quite  within  the  realm  of  possibility, 
especially  if  the  torch  or  candle  had  been  so  prepared  that  it 
would  give  off  a  certain  amount  of  arseniuretted  hydrogen 
while  being  burnt  in  a  confined  space. 

The  poisoned  flowers  of  mediaeval  romance,  although  they 
have  been  discredited  in  the  light  of  modern  science,  must 
not  be  dismissed  as  entirely  improbable,  as  evidenced  from  the 
following  curious  case  which  occurred  in  London  a  few  years 
ago.  A  hawker  with  a  barrow  filled  with  bunches  of  lavender, 
was  noticed  talking  wildly  in  a  street  in  Stockwell.  In  a  few 
minutes  he  was  seen  to  fall  insensible  and  was  removed  to 
Lambeth  Infirmary,  where  he  died  shortly  afterwards.  The 
medical  officer  of  the  institution  said  he  found  the  man  was 
suffering  from  nitro-benzene  poisoning,  and  in  his  pockets 
were  discovered  seventeen  packets  of  lavender  seeds  and  a 
bottle  of  oil  of  mirbane  (nitro-benzene)  which  he  had  evidently 
used  to  increase  the  perfume  of  the  lavender  he  sold.  The 
doctor  stated  that  in  his  opinion,  the  man  had  been  overcome 
by  the  vapour  of  the  nitro-benzene  he  had  inhaled  from  the 
lavender  on  his  barrow 

Probably  the  most  deadly  poison  known  to  science  to-day 
exists  in  the  form  of  an  innocent-looking  white  powder,  which 
is  highly  dangerous  even  to  handle.  It  emits  a  slight  vapour 
even  when  exposed  to  the  air,  which  if  inhaled  would  cause 
instant  death.     It  has  been    estimated  that  if  three  grains 


METHODS   OF   SECRET  POISONERS  209 

were  diffused  in  a  roomful  of  people  it  would  kill  every  one 
present.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  poisons  of  such 
great  virulence  as  those  revealed  by  modern  chemical  research, 
were  unknown  to  the  chemists  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  it 
is  equally  certain  that  the  latter  knew  of  few  poisonous  bodies 
that  are  not  familiar  to  chemists  of  the  present  day. 

In  the  military  poison  plot  investigated  in  Austria  in  1909, 
and  referred  to  in  detail  elsewhere,  the  gaol  authorities  were  at  a 
loss  to  account  for  the  prisoner's  constant  demand  for  flowers 
for  pious  purposes  while  he  was  on  remand.  It  was  only  dis- 
covered by  intercepted  letters  that  he  wanted  them  in  order 
to  smuggle  poison  into  his  cell,  which  he  apparently  succeeded 
in  doing.  He  requested  his  wife  to  insert  the  poison  in  flowers 
which  he  asked  for  so  he  could  place  them  on  the  altar 
which  he  had  erected  in  his  cell.  The  letter  to  his  wife  in 
which  this  was  discovered  reads  :  "  I  should  like  to  commit 
suicide,  but  will  not,  as  I  must  work  for  you  and  for  the 
children.     You  can  save  me.     Get  me  flowers  and  have  some 

atropine  or  hyoscyamine.     Victor  or will  obtain  it  for 

you,  in  liquid  and  solid.  Put  it  carefully  in  a  small  quill 
and  seal  it  up  with  wax.  Put  this  quill  in  a  carnation,  the 
calyx  will  hold  it  well,  then  tie  the  calyx  round  with  a  thread 
as  they  do  in  florists'  shops."  It  appears  that  some  poison 
actually  reached  him  in  this  ingenious  manner. 

A  curious  case  in  which  a  poisoned  bed  played  an  im- 
portant part  came  to  light  in  America  a  few  years  ago,  when 
a  woman  named  Mary  Kelliher  was  tried  at  Boston  on 
charges  of  poisoning  her  husband,  three  children,  a  sister  and 
sister-in-law.  These  people  mysteriously  died  during  a 
period  of  three  years  ;  but  after  the  death  of  her  daughter, 
in  July  1908,  suspicion  was  aroused,  and  a  post-mortem  was 
held  which  disclosed  the  presence  of  arsenic  in  the  body. 
The  bodies  of  the  other  five  persons  were  then  exhumed,  in 
all  of  which  arsenic  was  found.  There  was,  however,  no 
evidence  connecting  the  woman  with  the  administration  of 
poison  to  her  victim  until  it  occurred  to  the  District  Attorney 
to  examine  some  of  the  furniture  in  the  bedroom.  The 
mattress  on  which  all  of  those  of  the  family  who  had  died  had 
lain  was  then  cut  open  and  carefully  examined.  In  the  hair 
stuffing  considerable  quantities  of  arsenic  were  discovered, 

o 


210  POISON   MYSTERIES 

which  suggested  it  had  been  specially  impregnated,  so  the 
poison  could  be  inhaled  during  sleep  by  the  person  lying  on 
the  bed.  Ingenious  as  this  suggestion  for  the  prosecution  was, 
as  to  how  the  poison  came  into  the  bodies  of  those  who  had 
died,  Mrs.  Kelliher  was  acquitted  after  being  fifteen  months 
in  prison  on  this  charge. 


CHAPTER  XX 
LOVE-PHILTRES   AND   POISONS 

THE  employment  of  certain  substances  in  the  form  of 
charms  or  potions  to  incite  the  amatory  passion  has 
been  practised  from  a  time  of  great  antiquity.  The  idea 
involved  in  the  use  of  love-philtres,  as  they  were  termed  at  a 
later  period,  was  no  doubt  based  to  a  certain  extent  on  physio- 
logical principles  and  was  probably  first  suggested  by  observ- 
ation of  the  habits  of  the  lower  animals.  The  early  Hebrews 
are  said  to  have  employed  the  fruit  of  the  mandrake,  which 
were  known  by  the  suggestive  name  of  "  love-apples,"  for  this 
purpose. 

The  popularity  of  the  philtra  or  pocula  amatoria  among  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  at  a  later  period  can  readily  be 
understood  in  an  age  given  to  sensuality  in  its  grossest  forms. 
Medea  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  adept  in  the  art  of  pre- 
paring philtres,  and  hence  the  term  "  Medei  de  herbae,"  used 
by  Horace  and  Ovid  to  designate  the  substances  generally 
used.  Next  in  reputation  came  the  Thessalian  women,  who 
were  supposed  to  have  acquired  the  art  from  Medea,  and  who 
were  said  to  be  versed  in  all  the  secrets  relating  to  poison  and 
sorcery. 

Lucretius,  the  great  philosophical  poet  of  the  Ciceronian  era, 
is  said  to  have  written  his  poem  entitled  "  On  the  Nature  of 
Things  "  in  the  intervals  of  delirium  occasioned  by  a  philtre 
which  had  been  secretly  administered  to  him  by  his  wife  or  his 
mistress,  Lucilia,  and  it  is  stated  that  Lucullus,  the  Roman 
general,  died  in  a  state  of  delirium  from  a  similar  cause. 
Thus  the  effects  of  these  potions  were  evidently  often  more 
serious  than  was  contemplated  by  those  who  used  them. 

Ovid,  the  exponent  of  the  amatory  art,  judging  from  some 
of  his  lines,  was  evidently  no   believer   in  this  method  of 

211 


212  POISON   MYSTERIES 

procuring  affection  so  much  practised  by  his  contemporaries. 
He  writes — 

"  Who  so  doth  run  to  Haemon  arts 
I  dub  him  for  a  dolt, 
And  giveth  that  which  he  doth  pluck 
From  forehead  of  a  colt. 
Medea's  herbs  will  not  procure 
That  love  shall  lasting  give, 
No  slibbersawces  given  to  maids 
To  make  them  pale  and  wan 
Will  help  ;  such  slibbersawces  mar  the  minds  of  maid  and 

man, 
And  have  in  them  a  furious  force  of  phrensie  now  and  then." 

Cornelius  Nepos,  Plutarch  and  other  early  writers  also 
state  that  the  love-philtre  was  often  indeed  but  a  poison  cup, 
and  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Lucius  is  quoted  as  having  been 
due  to  a  draught  of  this  description  given  to  him  at  the  instance 
of  Calisthenes. 

That  the  effects  of  these  philtres  were  often  dangerous  and 
sometimes  fatal  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at,  when  we  consider 
the  extraordinary  nature  of  some  of  the  substances  used  in 
their  composition  in  ancient  times.  They  were  generally 
compounded  with  much  mystery  by  the  old  or  wise  women, 
who  had  a  reputation  for  sorcery,  and  they  observed  the 
greatest  secrecy  as  to  their  composition. 

According  to  the  most  authentic  writers  these  ingredients 
were  both  grotesque  and  filthy,  such  as  "  the  hair  that  grew 
in  the  nether  part  of  a  wolf's  tail,  the  penis  of  a  wolf,  the  brain 
of  a  cat,  the  brain  of  a  newt,  the  brain  of  a  lizard,  a  certain 
fish  called  '  remora,'  and  the  bones  of  a  green  frog  which 
had  been  left  bare  by  ants."  Young  swallows  were  buried  in 
the  earth  and  after  a  time  disinterred.  The  bodies  of  those 
that  were  found  with  open  biUs  were  believed  to  provoke 
love,  while  those  with  closed  beaks  were  given  to  produce  the 
opposite  effect. 

The  testicles  of  certain  animals  were  employed,  selected 
doubtless  for  a  physiological  reason,  and  the  menstrual  blood, 
especially  that  of  a  red-haired  woman,  was  highly  esteemed 
and  was  believed  to  produce  powerful  effects. 


LOVE-PHILTRES  AND   POISONS  213 

Poisonous  properties  were  attributed  to  the  blood  of  both 
men  and  animals  by  the  ancients. 

Herodotus  states,  that  Psammenitus,  King  of  Egypt,  was 
put  to  death  by  Cambyses  by  means  of  a  draught  of  bullock's 
blood.  Themistocles,  who  wished  to  die  rather  than  fight 
against  his  countrymen,  is  also  said  to  have  drunk  a  goblet  of 
the  blood  of  a  sacrificial  ox  and  to  have  expired  shortly  after- 
wards. Zacutus  Lusitanus  relates  several  instances  of  the 
evil  effects  resulting  from  drinking  blood  and  records  the  case 
of  a  student  to  whom  was  given  in  joke  two  ounces  of  the 
blood  of  a  red-haired  woman,  mixed  with  sugar,  with  the 
result  that  he  became  insane. 

In  the  Anglo-Saxon  Leechdoms,  an  ointment  composed  of 
goat's  gall,  incense,  goat's  dung  and  nettle  seeds  is  recom- 
mended as  an  application  to  promote  passion. 

Another  substance  highly  esteemed  as  an  ingredient  in 
love-philtres  was  the  mysterious  hippomanes,  which  is  described 
as  "  a  growth  found  on  the  forehead  of  a  newly  born  foal," 
to  which  Ovid  alludes  in  the  lines  previously  quoted. 

Love- philtres  and  charms  were  also  used  by  Eastern  nations, 
and  the  Hindus  still  err^ploy  mango,  champac,  jasmine,  lotus 
and  asoka  for  this  purpose.  According  to  Albertus  Magnus, 
the  most  powerful  herb  for  promoting  love  is  the  "  Provinsa," 
the  secret  of  which,  he  says,  has  been  handed  down  from  the 
Chaldeans.  The  Greeks  called  this  plant  Vorax.  This  is 
probably  the  same  plant  now  known  to  the  Sicilians  as 
"  Pizzu'ngurdu,"  to  which  they  attribute  remarkable  proper- 
ties. They  believe  that  if  given  surreptitiously  it  wiU  provoke 
an  ardent  passion  in  the  heart  of  the  coldest  and  most  chaste 
woman.  The  Sicilians  have  also  great  faith  in  the  power  of 
hemp  to  secure  the  affection  of  those  on  whom  they  set  their 
hearts,  and  they  gather  this  plant  with  certain  ceremonies. 

"  As  touching  this  kind  of  witchcraft,"  says  a  writer  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  "  the  principall  part  thereof  consist eth  in 
certain  confections  prepared  by  lewd  people  to  procure  love 
which  indeed  are  mere  poisons,  bereaving  some  of  the  benefit 
of  the  braine  and  some  of  the  sense  and  understanding  of  the 
minde."  Yet  even  such  men  as  Van  Helmont  believed  in  the 
efficacy  of  the  love-philtre.  Writing  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  he  says,  "  I  know  a  plant  of  common 


214  POISON   MYSTERIES 

occurrence  which  if  you  rub  and  cherish  it  in  the  hand  till  it 
becomes  warm,  and  take  the  hand  of  another  and  hold  it 
until  it  becomes  warm,  that  person  will  forthwith  be  stimu- 
lated with  love  for  you  and  continue  so  for  several  days." 
Reginald  Scot  states  wolf's  penis  was  an  ingredient  in  the 
love-philtre  of  his  time,  and  Frommaun  mentions  human  skull, 
coral,  verbena,  urine  and  leopard's  dung. 

The  mandrake  root,  which  was  a  common  ingredient  in  love- 
philtres  in  ancient  times,  is  still  worn  in  some  parts  of  France 
as  a  charm  for  that  purpose,  and  in  Germany  a  belief  in  the 
power  of  endive  seed  to  influence  the  affections  still  exists. 
In  Italy  basil  was  used  to  inflame  the  heart  of  the  indifferent, 
and  a  young  man  who  accepted  a  sprig  of  this  plant  from  the 
hand  of  a  maiden  was  sure  to  be  inspired  with  love  for  her. 
Satyrion  is  another  herb  which  is  claimed  to  possess  amatory 
properties,  while  other  species  of  orchis,  when  eaten  fresh,  was 
believed  to  inspire  pure  love,  and  when  dried  was  employed 
to  check  illicit  passion. 

Of  other  plants  employed  in  the  composition  of  love-philtres, 
mention  should  be  made  of  the  cyclamen,  carrot,  purslane, 
cummin,  maidenhair,  valerian,  navel  wort,  wild  poppy, 
anemone,  crocus,  periwinkle,  pansy  and  the  root  of  the  male 
fern,  which  has  an  ancient  reputation  for  inspiring  the  tender 
passion,  although,  curiously  enough,  its  present  use  in  medicine 
is  as  a  vermifuge. 

But  superstition  dies  hard,  and  even  at  the  present  day  the 
belief  in  the  efficacy  of  love-charms  is  not  yet  dead  in  some 
parts  of  England.  Among  the  uneducated  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  "  All  Hallow  Een  "  is  dedicated  to  the  performance 
of  certain  love  charms,  in  which  the  gum  resin  called  dragon's- 
blood  and  quicksilver  play  an  important  part.  Quite  recently 
a  Russian  Jewess  in  the  East  End  of  London  was  indicted  with 
having  obtained  money  by  false  pretences  from  two  women. 
From  one,  whose  husband  had  deserted  her,  she  obtained 
money  to  purchase  candles  into  which  she  stuck  pins  which 
she  said  would  attract  the  husband  to  his  home  again.  This 
charm,  however,  did  not  work  satisfactorily,  and  she  insisted 
on  having  a  nightdress,  some  sheets  and  pillow  cases  which 
she  said  she  could  prepare  with  a  secret  process  so  that  one 
night  the  wife  would  wake  up  and  find  her  husband  beside 


LOVE-PHILTRES   AND   POISONS  215 

her.  He  would  be  wearing  the  nightdress,  and  the  pillow 
cases  she  had  treated  with  something  which  would  have  the 
wonderful  power  of  preventing  her  husband  ever  again  run- 
ning away. 

But  all  those  charms  failed,  and  even  the  final  effort,  in 
which  a  magic  liquid  was  sprinkled  about  the  room  and  the 
wearing  of  the  clippings  from  the  back  of  a  black  cat,  proved 
useless  in  restoring  the  missing  husband. 

To  the  other  woman,  who  wished  her  intended  husband,  to 
come  from  Russia,  this  modern  magician  gave  two  curious 
powders,  with  instructions  that  they  were  to  be  placed  on  the 
end  of  a  hairpin  and  consumed  in  a  flame  which  would  show 
the  man's  love  for  her. 

This  modern  witch's  practice,  which  was  said  to  be  a  large 
and  lucrative  one,  was  suspended  for  nine  months  in  gaol, 
to  be  followed  by  deportation  to  her  native  land. 

Ginseng  root,  which  has  been  used  for  centuries  in  China 
to  promote  longevity,  is  also  recommended  as  a  love-charm. 
It  is  believed  by  the  Chinese  also  to  have  the  power  of  re- 
juvenating the  old  and  stimulating  the  senses  of  the  young. 

Among  primitive  peoples  the  love-philtre  is  still  in  vogue, 
and  Mr.  P.  A.  Talbot  found  it  generally  used  among  the  tribes 
in  Southern  Nigeria,  through  which  he  travelled,  especially 
among  the  mysterious  race  called  the  Ibibios,  who  live  in  the 
Eket  district  of  the  country.  "  It  is  a  custom,"  he  states, 
"  for  a  love-potion  to  be  given  by  men  and  women  to  gain  the 
hearts  of  those  whom  they  desire,  or  to  wrest  affection  from 
rivals." 

A  few  years  ago  some  extraordinary  stories  were  revealed 
in  the  trial  of  the  wife  of  a  wealthy  man  living  at  Lakewood, 
Ohio,  who  was  believed  to  have  been  murdered.  It  was  stated 
during  the  trial  that  a  spiritualistic  practitioner  had  been 
called  in  by  the  lady  who  had  administered  to  her  husband 
a  magic  potion  or  philtre  which  contained  arsenic ;  when 
this  failed,  he  is  said  to  have  been  assassinated. 


CHAPTER   XXI 
POISONS   IN   FOOD 

Poison  in  Beer — Poison  in  Food— Poison  in  Honey- 
Poison  in  Cocoa  and  Chocolate 

IN  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1900  a  fairly  widespread 
epidemic  of  peripheral  neuritis  of  the  extremities  and 
its  attendant  symptoms  was  noted  by  medical  men  in  certain 
districts  of  Manchester.  In  addition,  many  of  the  sufferers 
complained  of  swelling  of  the  legs,  weak  circulation,  vomiting 
and  pigmentation  of  the  skin.  It  was  noted  by  the  medical 
officers  of  the  various  hospitals  who  examined  these  patients 
that  in  every  case  they  were  heavy  beer  drinkers,  and  patron- 
ized public-houses  supplied  from  certain  breweries. 

The  mysterious  epidemic  spread  and  cases  were  reported 
from  different  parts  of  the  north  of  England.  In  Manchester 
and  Salford  there  were  five  hundred  and  twenty-two  cases, 
in  Liverpool  seventy-one,  fifty  at  Birkenhead  and  fifty  at 
Stourbridge  ;  at  Darlaston,  Staffordshire,  there  were  upwards 
of  fifty  cases,  forty  were  reported  from  Chester,  thirty-two  in 
Birmingham  and  thirty  in  Leeds  and  district. 

Many  deaths  ensued,  and  the  whole  train  of  symptoms 
and  circumstances  were  such  that,  had  they  happened  two 
or  three  hundred  years  ago,  they  would  have  created  con- 
sternation. 

The  beer  was  the  clue,  and  scores  of  samples  were  purchased 
at  public-houses  miles  apart,  and  the  ingredients  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  the  beer  in  breweries  spread  over  the  North 
of  England  were  carefully  examined.  Dr.  Hit  chin,  the 
Medical  Officer  of  Health  for  Heywood,  Lanes,  stated  that 
two  or  three  hundred  persons  were  attacked,  and  he  discovered 
arsenic  in  stout  as  well  as  beer. 

The  result  of  the  aneJysis  was  startling,  as  in  llic  majority 

216 


POISONS   IN   FOOD  217 

of  the  cases  it  led  to  the  discovery  of  arsenic.  This  was  first 
detected  by  Dr.  Reynolds,  of  Manchester,  and  at  his  instance 
the  public  were  warned  against  drinking  cheap  beer. 

Meanwhile,  research  into  the  whole  mystery  went  on. 
That  large  quantities  of  the  beer  were  contaminated  was 
certain,  but  how  the  poisonous  substance  got  into  it  was  the 
question  which  had  to  be  determined. 

A  clue  was  found  when  certain  experts  who  were  engaged  in 
investigating  the  materials  used  in  the  brewing  of  certain 
kinds  of  cheap  beer,  discovered  that  in  every  instance  glucose 
had  been  used  in  the  preparation,  and  on  analysis  of  the 
glucose  it  was  found  to  be  impregnated  with  arsenious 
acid.  This  was  followed  by  still  further  examination  of  the 
materials  employed  in  making  the  glucose,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  sulphuric  acid  used  for  this  purpose  was  brown  in 
colour  and  contaminated  with  arsenic,  showing  that  it  had 
been  made  from  iron  pyrites  containing  arsenic  as  an  im- 
purity, and  thus  the  ring  of  evidence  was  complete  and 
successful. 

This  opened  up  possibilities  of  even  more  widespread  poison- 
ing. Samples  of  jams  and  golden  syrup  were  obtained  for 
analysis,  but  all  gave  negative  results  when  tested  for  arsenic. 
It  appears  that  there  are  only  about  a  dozen  manufacturers 
of  glucose  in  England,  a  great  deal  of  it  being  imported  from 
America.  It  was  therefore  concluded  that  the  makers  of  the 
contaminated  glucose  must  be  some  particular  firm  who  sold 
their  product  to  brewers  only,  and  that  within  a  certain  area. 
Some  samples  of  glucose  that  were  subjected  to  test  showed  in 
one  instance  a  proportion  of  arsenic  that  was  absolutely  deadly, 
and  this  was  located  to  one  firm.  They  instantly  sent  out 
telegrams  to  their  customers  stopping  the  use  of  this  ingredient. 
Everything  was  done  to  prevent  further  mischief,  and  the  out- 
put of  the  poison-impregnated  material  was  stopped.  Heroic 
measures  were  taken  by  one  brewery,  which  placed  an  em- 
bargo on  aU  the  beer  in  the  cellars  of  their  customers,  until  it 
was  certified  as  pure  by  analysts  deputed  to  visit  them  in 
turn.  Some  brews  were  recalled  wholesale,  and  the  loss  to 
the  firm  amounted  to  several  thousand  pounds. 

The  next  thing  was  to  discover  how  the  arsenic  got  into  the 
glucose  during  the  process  of  manufacture,  and  this  was  traced 


2i8  POISON   MYSTERIES 

down  to  a  Spanish  copper  mine  from  whence  p\Tites  was 
impj)rted  by  a  firm  of  manufacturing  chemists  in  a  northern 
county  for  the  piu-pose  of  making  sulphuric  acid.  The  sul- 
phuric acid  in  question  was  of  the  ordinary  commercial  variety, 
generally  used  in  works  for  dyeing  and  similar  purposes. 
It  was  usually  of  a  bro^^Tlish  colour,  and  even  though  it 
was  contaminated  in  any  way  for  the  purpose  of  such  manu- 
facture, no  harm  could  ensue.  If,  however,  without  having  it 
tested  to  see  if  it  was  free  from  deleterious  matter,  the  manu- 
facturers should  then  use  glucose  containing  this  ordinary 
commercial  variety  of  sulphuric  acid  for  their  product,  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  arsenic  would  remain  in  it.  In  this  way 
it  was  sold  to  brewers  who  used  it  in  the  manufactiue  of  their 
beer,  and  this  mineral  poison  was  thus  carried  on  through  the 
various  processes  tiU  it  reached  the  consumer  \Wth  the  dire 
consequences  already  described. 

It  is  stated  that  brewers  thought  they  could  obtain  a  better- 
coloured  and  more  satisfactory^  beer  by  treating  the  malt  w4th 
invert  sugar  and  glucose.  Invert  sugar  is  cane  sugar  boiled 
in  solution  \\dth  diluted  sulphuric  acid,  and  glucose  is  starch 
boiled  in  a  similar  manner.  It  was  obvious  therefore  that  the 
only  ingredient  which  could  have  been  contaminated  with 
arsenic  was  the  sulphuric  acid. 

The  manufacturers  of  the  glucose  had,  of  course,  not  the 
faintest  idea  that  the  mysterious  poison  which  had  caused  so 
many  deaths  emanated  from  them.  Although  it  was  said 
that  the  sulphuric  acid  was  tested,  curiously  enough  it  was 
admitted  it  was  never  tested  for  arsenic,  and  the  explanation 
was  put  forw^ard  that  the  pyrites  sent  from  the  mine  in  Spain 
had  been  obtained  from  a  new  lode  which  was  charged  with  an 
undue  proportion  of  arsenic.  After  a  full  investigation  had 
been  made,  special  precautions  were  laid  upon  brewers  to 
examine  all  ingredients  used  in  making  the  beer,  and  since 
this  time  no  similar  cases  have  been  recorded. 

The  epidemic  had  developed  into  almost  a  panic  in  and 
around  Manchester,  and  several  cases  of  ordinary  illness  were 
put  down  to  arsenical  poisoning.  The  hospital  wards  were 
filled,  but  the  prompt  measures  taken  had  their  effect.  It  was 
said  by  the  Manchester  coroner  at  one  inquest  that  the  only 
pleasant  feature  of  the  epidemic  was  for  the  temperance 


POISONS   IN    FOOD  219 

people.  The  consumption  of  fourpenny  ale  was  not  a  fraction 
so  great  as  it  was  a  fortnight  previously.  Arsenic  had  proved 
a  temperance  argument. 

Within  the  last  few  years  many  cases  of  food-poisoning  of 
one  kind  or  another  with  fatal  results  have  been  reported. 
It  is  probable  that  in  spite  of  every  precaution  such  cases 
will  occasionally  occur.  Some  may  have  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  bacteria  were  actually  living  in  the  food  at  the  time 
it  was  consumed,  or  as  probably  in  the  case  of  the  Loch 
Maree  fatalities,  it  may  have  resulted  from  toxins  left  by 
bacteria  which  once  lived  in  the  food.  The  former  type  of 
food-poisoning  which  is  most  common  in  this  country  results 
from  the  eating  of  food  which  has  become  contaminated  by 
certain  bacteria,  whose  presence  may  be  due  to  disease  in 
the  animal  before  it  has  been  slaughtered,  or  if  they  have 
gained  access  to  the  food  in  course  of  its  preparation. 

The  heat  used  in  cooking  is  generally  sufficient  to  kill 
such  organisms,  and  no  doubt  it  often  does  so.  Again,  it 
may  be  introduced  from  the  outside,  as  in  a  recent  case  when 
the  instrument  of  infection  was  found  to  be  a  contaminated 
knife  used  in  cutting  ham  for  sandwiches. 

In  cases  of  food- poisoning  due  to  a  toxin  formed  by  organ- 
isms, these  probably  being  dead,  the  organism  concerned  is 
what  is  known  as  Bacillus  hotulinus,  so  called  from  its 
having  first  been  discovered  in  German  sausages.  The 
bacteria  thrive  especially  in  a  mediimi  in  the  absence  of 
oxygen,  and  so  breed  with  rapidity  in  air-tight  tins  or  inside 
sausage  skins,  and  are  to  be  found  even  in  vegetable  matter. 
They  form  a  very  powerful  poison,  acting  upon  the  nerve 
centres  in  the  brain,  causing  paralysis  of  the  muscles  which 
move  the  eye  and  eyelids  and  those  concerned  in  speaking 
and  swallowing.  The  resulting  disease  known  as  botulism  has 
fortunately  been  rare  in  England,  where  there  is  not  a  very 
large  consumption  of  tinned  meat  or  vegetables,  but  it  has 
been  frequent  in  both  America  and  Germany. 

Botulism  and  food-poisoning,  therefore,  must  not  be  con- 
fused, as  the  former  is  a  poisoning  by  a  specific  toxin  and  the 
latter  may  be  called  an  infection. 

A  very  curious  case  of  poisoning  was  brought  to  light  some 
years  ago  at  an  inquest  held  on  a  woman  who  had  died  with 


220  POISON   MYSTERIES 

symptoms  of  poisoning  after  attending  a  wedding  breakfast. 
The  guests,  after  regaling  themselves  with  wedding  cake,  had 
finished  up  with  kippered  herrings,  and  shortly  afterward 
one  of  them  was  taken  ill  with  severe  pain  and  died. 

During  the  inquest  it  was  pointed  out,  that  it  was  possible 
that  some  of  the  ingredients  used  in  curing  the  kippers,  when 
brought  into  contact  with  almond  paste  on  the  wedding  cake, 
would  possibly  liberate  prussic  acid,  if  the  almond  paste 
had  been  made  with  bitter  almonds,  in  sufficient  quantity  to 
cause  death. 

The  poisonous  effects  produced  by  honey  gathered  in 
certain  districts  has  been  known  for  centuries,  and  the  story 
of  some  of  Xenophon's  soldiers  having  been  poisoned  by  this 
means  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago  is  well  known. 
This  poisonous  property  was  formerly  attributed  to  the  bees 
having  gathered  the  honey  from  the  flowers  of  henbane  and 
hemlock,  which  grow  largely  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Trebi- 
zond,  but  it  has  now  been  proved  that  the  poisonous  principles 
may  be  extracted  by  the  bees  from  other  plants,  according 
to  the  locality  in  which  the  honey  is  found.  Thus  American 
honey  has  been  found  to  contain  poisonous  ingredients  derived 
from  gelsemium  or  golden  seal. 

A  serious  case  in  which  fourteen  persons  were  poisoned 
from  eating  honey,  one  of  whom  died,  is  reported  from  Prince- 
town,  N.S.  The  honey  was  found  to  contain  Andromedo-toxin, 
a  poisonous  principle  obtained  from  certain  ericaceous  flowers. 

There  are  other  instances  on  record  of  poisoned  honey  which 
has  been  contaminated  by  bees  which  have  carried  poison 
from  certain  flowers,  but  cases  in  which  poison  has  been 
introduced  into  honey  for  criminal  purposes  are  rare. 

Some  years  ago  a  young  man  was  arrested  at  Coire,  in  Swit- 
zerland, on  his  own  confession  of  having  murdered  two  young 
women,  to  whom  he  had  been  engaged  to  be  married,  by  intro- 
ducing strychnine  into  the  cells  of  some  honeycomb  which 
he  presented  to  his  victims.  In  each  case  the  girls  died  in 
great  agony  on  their  wedding  eve,  after  a  visit  from  the  man. 
One  victim  had  been  buried  two  years,  and  the  other  some 
months,  before  suspicion  was  aroused  and  the  bodies  exhumed 
for  examination,  and  the  man  was  convicted  of  the  crime. 

Within  recent  years  the  contamination  of  food  substances 


POISONS   IN   FOOD  221 

with  arsenic  has  come  into  some  prominence,  not  only  in  con- 
nection with  certain  cases  in  which  chocolate  sweetmeats  have 
been  used  as  a  medium  for  the  administration  of  arsenic, 
but  also  in  substances  in  common  use,  such  as  cocoa.  To- 
wards the  end  of  November,  1922,  the  Public  Analyst,  acting, 
for  the  Reigate  Town  Council,  reported  on  seven  samples  of 
cocoa  that  had  been  taken  under  "  The  Sale  of  Foods  and 
Drugs  Act,"  and  he  found  that  one  contained  arsenic  (arsenious 
oxide)  to  the  extent  of  i/75th  grain  to  the  pound  of  cocoa.  It 
was  obvious  that  such  a  report  could  not  be  allowed  to  remain 
unnoticed,  as,  according  to  the  Royal  Commission  on  Arsenical 
Poisoning,  it  is  illegal  for  an  article  of  food  to  contain  i/iooth 
of  a  grain  or  more  of  arsenic  per  pound. 

The  matter  was  reported  to  the  Minister  of  Health  who 
took  a  serious  view  of  it,  and  it  culminated  in  two  summonses 
being  issued  by  the  Surrey  County  Council  against  the  vendor 
and  the  manufacturer,  the  charge  being  that  the  cocoa  was 
"  adulterated  with  arsenic  (arsenious  oxide)  to  the  extent  of 
i/40th  of  a  grain  per  pound." 

The  cocoa  had  been  purchased  at  a  shop  in  Richmond  and 
was  labelled  "  Pure  Cocoa  Essence.  Guaranteed  absolutely 
pure  Cocoa."  On  analysis  this  sample  was  found  to  contain 
I /40th  of  a  grain  per  pound,  but  on  inquiry  from  the  manu- 
facturers it  appeared  to  be  a  mystery  how  the  arsenic  was 
introduced  into  the  cocoa.  The  investigation  was  rendered 
more  difficult  when  it  was  found  that  the  actual  sample  pur- 
chased was  a  blend  of  seven  different  cocoas  ;  however,  samples 
of  these  were  taken,  and  one  was  found  to  contain  arsenic  to 
the  extent  of  i/ioth  of  a  grain  per  pound. 

On  tracing  back  the  source  of  contamination  it  appears 
that  an  alkali  such  as  potassium  carbonate  is  mixed  with 
cocoa  to  render  it  more  soluble,  and  in  this  case  the  impurity 
was  discovered  in  the  potassium  carbonate,  which  was  found 
to  contain  a  substantial  quantity  of  arsenic.  The  manu- 
facturers, on  finding  this  out,  sacrificed  three  hundred  and 
fifty  tons  of  cocoa  and  did  everything  they  could  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  public  to  stop  the  sale.  The  retail  firm,  directly 
they  heard  of  the  impurity,  also  withdrew  sixty-five  tons 
from  their  shops  and  twenty-five  tons  from  their  warehouses 
and  had  them  destroyed. 


222  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Although  potassium  carbonate  is  not  used  in  the  making 
of  chocolate,  several  cases  have  been  reported  of  illness  caused 
through  eating  sweets  in  this  form. 

About  the  same  time  a  London  lady  was  taken  seriously 
ill  after  eating  some  marzipan  sweets  which  she  purchased  at 
a  Church  bazaar.  It  appears  she  ate  about  half  a  dozen 
of  them  and  became  ill  shortly  afterwards,  the  symptoms 
pointing  to  arsenical  poisoning. 

Although  powdered  glass  has  been  used  for  criminal  pur- 
poses from  time  to  time,  it  is  not  generally  known  that  glass 
itself  may  be  contaminated  with  arsenic. 

Some  time  ago  it  was  found  on  making  an  analysis  of  a  bottle 
that  the  glass  contained  both  arsenic  and  lead,  insomuch  that 
they  probably  contaminated  some  potassium  carbonate  that 
had  been  kept  in  the  bottle. 

The  danger  in  careless  packing  and  handling  of  arsenic 
imported  to  this  country  has  recently  been  commented  on  by 
the  Medical  Officer  of  Health  for  the  Port  of  London.  He 
states  in  a  report,  that  "  a  ship  from  Oporto  had  aboard  about 
fifty  bags  of  shelled  almonds.  On  the  same  deck  were  twenty- 
two  cases  of  white  arsenic. 

"  When  examined  by  the  inspector  two  of  these  cases  of 
arsenic  were  standing  on  end  with  their  heads  open,  and  one 
was  leaking  at  its  bilge  on  to  the  deck. 

"  Two  of  the  bags  of  almonds  which  had  become  displaced 
showed  arsenic  on  their  surfaces.  Minute  quantities  of 
arsenic  were  found  on  almonds  taken  from  one  of  the  bags." 

In  another  case  a  ship  had  landed  i6o  cases  of  arsenious 
acid  at  the  King  George  V  Dock. 

"  The  cases  containing  the  arsenic  were  composed  of  old, 
dry  wood,  and  from  some  of  them  the  poison  was  leaking  on 
to  the  floor  of  the  shed.  The  possibility  that  some  of  it  might 
find  its  way  into  any  food  handled  in  the  same  shed  cannot 
be  overlooked.'' 

That  such  carelessness  might  lead  to  very  serious  conse- 
quences is  obvious. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
POISONS   USED   IN   WARFARE 

THE  use  of  poison  as  a  weapon  in  warfare  is  not  by  any 
means  a  modern  practice.  It  may  be  traced  back  to 
the  use  of  poisoned  arrows  and  spears,  and  from  the  time  of 
the  discovery  of  gunpowder,  when  surgeons  beheved  that 
a  bullet  formed  a  septic  wound. 

Francois  Bernier,  who  died  in  Paris  in  1688,  served  in  the 
capacity  of  physician  to  Aurungzebe,  the  Grand  Mogul.  In 
describing  a  battle  fought  at  Agra  against  the  Mogul,  he  states 
that  the  Rajputa,  a  hereditary  race  of  warriors,  were  great 
opium-eaters  and  consumed  it  in  large  quantities,  and  when 
going  into  battle  they  always  doubled  the  dose  to  their  soldiers, 
which  had  the  effect  of  rendering  them  insensible  to  danger. 
"  They  threw  themselves,"  he  states,  "  into  combat  like  wild 
beasts,  knowing  no  retreat,  and  died  at  their  Rajah's  feet  if 
he  would  keep  his  post." 

It  was  on  April  22,  1915,  that  the  French  and  Canadian 
troops  in  the  front  line  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Langemarck 
saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  wave  of  curious  green  mist 
approaching  them  which  soon  caused  them  to  choke  and  gasp 
and  seemed  to  seize  them  in  a  deadly  grip  from  which  they 
could  not  escape.  A  gap  was  made  in  the  line  in  that  sector, 
but  the  results  of  this  first  use  of  poison  gas  in  the  Great 
War,  although  serious,  were  not  disastrous. 

A  thrill  of  horror  went  up  from  the  Allied  nations  against 
this  fiendish  manoeuvre,  which  was  regarded  as  a  crime  against 
humanity  and  will  never  be  forgotten.  The  gas  first  used 
was  chlorine,  the  effects  of  which  are  well  known,  and  was 
liberated  by  the  enemy  from  cylinders  concentrated  on  a 
front  of  six  hundred  yards.  The  first  attack  was  evidently 
made  as  an  experiment,  and  in  the  interval,  owing  to  the 

223 


224  POISON   MYSTERIES 

activity  of  our  chemists,  our  men  were  supplied  with  a  tem- 
porary respirator  as  a  defence  from  this  new  peril. 

During  the  following  months  of  May  and  June,  several  other 
gas  attacks  were  made  by  the  Germans,  but  not  on  a  very 
large  scale,  as  for  some  time  the  prevailing  winds  had  been 
in  favour  of  the  Allies,  which  would  be  likely  to' blow  the 
deadly  cloud  back  into  the  enemy's  lines. 

On  December  19,  1915,  a  much  more  important  attack  with 
poison  gas  was  made  on  the  British  front  in  the  Ypres  salient, 
on  a  front  of  three  and  a  half  miles.  Gas  was  released  con- 
tinuously for  an  hour,  but  thanks  to  the  protective  measures 
which  had  been  adopted  by  this  time,  although  25,000  troops 
are  stated  to  have  been  in  the  area  of  attack,  the  casualties 
were  small. 

Disappointed  in  the  effects  of  their  first  essay  with  this 
form  of  weapon,  the  Germans  next  introduced  phosgene,  a 
very  deadly  vapour,  and  one  against  which  the  respirators 
then  used  were  no  protection.  A  new  type  of  respirator, 
however,  was  speedily  devised,  and  proved  effective  against 
the  danger.  The  gas  helmet  with  its  special  filter,  invented 
by  Lieut.-Colonel  Harrison,  came  into  use,  and  our  men 
became  very  quick  in  placing  it  in  position. 

In  August  1916  they  launched  a  highly  concentrated 
phosgene  attack  against  the  Allied  lines,  on  a  hot  and  stifling 
day,  the  effects  of  which  were  felt  as  far  as  nine  miles 
behind  the  lines. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  atmospheric  conditions  led  the 
Germans  to  adopt  later  another  vile  method  of  disseminating 
poisons  vapours,  and  they  introduced  the  gas  shell,  of  which 
numerous  varieties  were  eventually  made.  The  contents 
of  these  shells  were  distinguished  by  the  Germans  by  special 
marks  in  the  form  of  coloured  bands  on  the  shell  cases  ;  the 
so-called  "  blue  cross  "  contained  diphenyl  chlorasine,  a  sub- 
stance which  when  scattered  as  a  fine  powder  caused  intense 
sneezing  to  those  in  the  neighbourhood  of  it.  Two-thirds  of 
the  shell  were  filled  with  high  explosive,  and  the  intention  was 
to  produce  uncontrollable  sneezing,  so  that  the  wearing  of  a 
respirator  was  made  impossible. 

Other  gas  shells  were  filled  with  di-phosgene  (trichlor 
methyl  chlorformate),  which  formed  a  vapour  of  a  very  deadly 


POISONS  USED    IN  WARFARE  225 

character  immediately  the  shell  burst  and  produced  most 
serious  consequences.  Another  type  contained  in  addition 
to  di-phosgene  a  quantity  of  chlorpicrin,  which  was  not 
only  deadly,  but  produced  extreme  running  at  the  eyes  and 
nose. 

These  vapours,  however,  were  succeeded  in  July  1917, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ypres,  by  the  use  of  di-chlor- 
ethyl  sulphide,  called  "  mustard  gas."  Mustard  gas  is 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  terrible  and  deadly  of  the  gas 
poisons  used.  It  not  only  blistered  the  skin  and  turned  it 
brown,  but  caused  intense  inflammation  of  the  eyes  and  J  ids, 
the  throat  and  nose,  often  causing  permanent  blindness  and 
loss  of  voice,  and  eventually  producing  septic  broncho- 
pneumonia, frequently  ending  in  death. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  it  was  used  on  a  large  scale 
against  the  Italians,  and  largely  assisted  the  Austro-German 
armies  in  the  break-through  at  Caporetto. 

Clothing,  boots,  soil  or  other  things  which  came  in  contact 
with  it  were  liable  to  affect  seriously  those  brought  near 
them,  days  after  the  articles  had  been  contaminated,  but  even 
against  this  terrible  weapon  our  gas  masks  were  made  effec- 
tive, if  put  on  with  sufficient  quickness  and  the  men  could 
be  warned  in  time. 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  fiendish  weapon,  the  Allies  held 
their  own,  and  were  enabled  by  scientific  and  other  means 
to  combat  these  attacks.  It  is  satisfactory  to  note  that, 
however  deadly  were  the  gases  employed,  some  means  was 
soon  found  to  counteract  them  effectively. 

The  use  of  poison  as  a  lethal  weapon  in  the  Great  War  was 
by  no  means  confined  to  deadly  gases.  Numerous  instances, 
many  of  which  are  undoubtedly  authentic,  were  recorded 
from  1914  to  the  time  of  the  Armistice  of  poisoned  sweetmeats 
and  disease  organisms  that  were  dropped  from  enemy  aero- 
planes in  France  and  other  countries. 

On  November  4,  1916,  it  was  reported  by  cable  that  Prince 
Mercier,  the  youngest  child  of  King  Ferdinand  of  Rumania, 
who  was  only  five  years  old,  had  died  of  typhoid. 

According  to  Helen  Vacarescu,  the  Rumanian  poetess, 
the  Prince  was  the  victim  of  poisoned  sweets  which  were 
dropped  by  German  airmen  into  the  streets  of  Bukarest  and 

p 


226  POISON   MYSTERIES 

other  cities  of  Rumania.  Some  of  these  sweets  are  said 
to  have  fallen  into  the  garden  of  the  Royal  Palace,  and  the 
little  Prince  while  playing  there  took  some  up  and  ate  them. 
According  to  Miss  Vacarescu,  he  fell  sick  almost  immediately, 
and  when  he  told  about  the  sweets  he  had  eaten,  a  search  was 
instituted,  and  some  of  them  were  found  in  the  garden.  On 
a  scientific  investigation  being  made  of  these,  they  were 
found  to  be  impregnated  with  typhoid  bacilli.  According  to 
Le  Temps  it  is  said  that  all  the  families  who  ate  the  sweets 
died. 

According  to  The  Times  of  October  31,  1916,  an  aeroplane 
coming  from  Transylvania  scattered  about  boxes  of  poisoned 
sweetmeats  for  the  purpose  of  murdering  children,  and  this 
excited  the  greatest  indignation  in  the  district.  According 
to  further  reports,  several  of  the  sweets  contained  the  micro- 
organisms of  various  infectious  diseases. 

On  October  12,  1916,  a  report  was  received  from  Petrograd 
of  an  enemy  air  squadron  which  dropped  bombs  on  Constanza, 
the  Rumanian  Black  Sea  port,  as  well  as  darts  and  poisoned 
sweets  saturated  with  cholera  bacilli. 

According  to  an  official  report,  on  October  9,  1916,  a  squad- 
ron of  eight  German  aeroplanes  flew  over  Bukarest  at  eleven 
o'clock  one  morning  and  dropped  bombs  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  some  linen  warehouses.  The  damage  done  was  insignificant, 
but  an  investigation  of  the  German  Legation  led  to  the  dis- 
covery of  numerous  cases  of  high  explosive  buried  in  the 
garden,  as  well  as  phials  labelled  Virus  Morbi  Glanders,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  sent  to  propagate  an  epidemic 
against  cattle  and  horses  in  the  country.  The  discovery  is 
vouched  for  by  a  representative  of  the  United  States  Legation. 

In  May  1917  it  was  reported  from  Rome  that  during  an 
Austrian  air-raid  over  Codigaro,  near  Ferrara,  sweets  were 
thrown  out  which  were  found  to  contain  cholera  bacilli. 
The  local  authorities  issued  an  order  directing  that  all  wells 
thereafter  should  be  kept  covered. 

On  December  17,  1917,  an  account  is  reported  of  an  air-raid 
on  Calais,  where  the  Germans  dropped  a  number  of  small 
boxes  bearing  instructions  in  English  to  the  effect  that  they 
contained  soup-powder.  Directions  were  given  to  dissolve 
the  powder  in  water  and  to  add  to  it  a  pint  of  boiling  liquid. 


POISONS  USED    IN   WARFARE  227 

Several  deaths  resulted  from  using  these  packets,  and  an 
analysis  proved  that  they  contained  an  extremely  virulent 
poison. 

On  February  20,  1918,  it  was  reported  from  Southend  that 
when  a  raiding  Gotha  passed  over  the  town  the  previous 
Monday  night,  a  curious  patter  was  heard  on  the  roofs  of  some 
houses  in  the  district.  In  the  morning  a  number  of  sweets 
about  the  size  of  small  eggs  were  found  in  the  roadway  and 
gardens,  believed  to  have  been  dropped  from  the  enemy 
aeroplane.  They  were  handed  to  the  medical  officer  of  health 
for  Southend,  who  reported  that  he  had  discovered  traces  of 
arsenic  in  the  sweets  found  on  the  public  footpath. 

On  July  29,  1917,  a  sensation  was  caused  in  America 
by  an  announcement  made  by  the  Attorney-General,  that 
expert  examination  had  disclosed  the  presence  of  tetanus 
germs  in  court  plaster  which  was  believed  to  have  been  dis- 
tributed by  German  agents,  and  he  essayed  to  warn  the  public 
to  avoid  using  plaster  of  that  description.  The  New  York 
State  Health  Department  published  a  statement  that  speci- 
mens of  such  plaster  sold  by  pedlars  had  been  sent  to  the 
State  laboratory  for  examination.  Despatches  had  been 
received  from  Western  and  Southern  areas  of  the  United 
States,  reporting  epidemics  of  anthrax  in  herds  in  the  same 
region,  after  the  use  of  such  plaster  recommended  for  cuts 
and  other  injuries  to  cattle. 

Poison  was  used  extensively  in  various  ways  by  the  Ger- 
man forces,  although  frequently  where  wells  were  said  to 
have  been  poisoned,  our  men  drank  from  them  freely  without 
any  bad  results.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  not  uncommon  in 
some  cases  to  find,  left  behind  in  trenches,  large  tins  of  cocoa 
and  other  tempting  commodities  which  on  analysis  proved 
to  be  contaminated. 

The  use  of  bacteriological  methods  was  also  not  neg- 
lected by  the  enemy,  and  it  was  stated  in  a  despatch  from 
Washington  on  July  9,  1917,  that  the  Germans,  before 
evacuating  the  territory  west  of  St.  Quentin,  inoculated 
the  French  inhabitants,  men,  women  and  children,  with 
tuberculosis  bacilli.  The  New  York  World  commissioned 
Dr.  Theodore  C.  Beebe,  a  pathologist,  of  Boston,  in 
charge    of   the    American    Ambulance    Hospital    at  Neuilly, 


228  POISON   MYSTERIES 

to  make  an  independent  investigation  of  this  matter.  Dr. 
Beebe,  in  his  report,  states  that  while  there  was  no  way  to 
obtain  indubitable  proof  of  the  allegation,  the  evidence 
pointed  to  the  belief  that  the  Germans  made  a  deliberate 
attempt  to  spread  tuberculosis  throughout  France  under 
the  pretence  of  vaccinating  the  inhabitants  to  protect  them 
from  smallpox  which  they  said  was  sweeping  over  the  coun- 
try. Dr.  Beebe  pointed  out  that  only  those  persons  vaccinated 
developed  tuberculosis,  while  unvaccinated  children  and 
older  persons,  although  suffering  from  pneumonia  and  other 
diseases,  showed  no  trace  of  it.  He  found  these  inoculations 
were  never  made  until  a  month  or  six  weeks  before  the  Ger- 
mans were  evacuating  the  place  ;  in  other  words,  when  it 
became  apparent  to  the  Germans  that  they  were  forced  to 
retreat.  Of  course  only  an  examination  of  the  serum  at  the 
time  of  the  inoculation  would  determine  whether  it  contained 
tuberculosis  bacilli  or  not ;  that  of  course  was  impossible,  but 
the  investigator  concluded  that  the  facts  he  had  ascertained 
led  him  to  the  belief  that  the  charge  brought  against  Germany 
of  having  committed  this  most  horrible  crime  was  true. 

On  March  30,  1917,  it  was  reported  that  a  discovery  had 
been  made  of  a  plot  to  kill  the  cavalry  horses  within  the 
British  lines.  This  was  to  have  been  done  by  bacteriological 
cultures  introduced  into  the  food  or  by  making  a  wound  inside 
the  horse's  nostril  with  a  contaminated  wire.  This  plot,  which 
was  discovered  in  time,  was  part  of  the  German  plan  of  retire- 
ment, but  was  fortunately  found  out  and  frustrated  before 
any  casualties  occurred. 

In  the  latter  part  of  June  1918  some  sensation  was  caused 
in  London  by  a  story  that  was  circulated  of  a  mysterious  man 
who  was  distributing  chocolate  sweets  broadcast.  At  that 
time  most  of  the  conductors  of  omnibuses  were  women.  Sus- 
picions were  aroused  when  two  of  these  women,  after  accepting 
chocolates  from  a  male  passenger,  who  was  said  to  have  been 
well  dressed,  became  ill.  Two  omnibus  girls  and  a  tramway 
girl  who  accepted  some  sweets  in  the  same  way,  handed  them 
over  to  the  Metropolitan  Police,  and  the  authorities  were 
placed  on  the  watch  ;  in  almost  every  case  the  sweets  were 
offered  by  the  man  when  he  was  in  the  act  of  descending. 

At  Cedar's  Road,  Clapham,  the  same  man  gave  a  tramway 


POISONS  USED    IN   WARFARE  229 

conductress  a  box  containing  five  chocolates.  The  man  is 
reported  to  have  said,  "  You  won't  taste  any  more  hke  this 
for  years  to  come."  The  girl,  having  been  warned  by  a  police 
notice  posted  in  the  tramway  depot,  did  not  eat  any  of 
them.  Several  cases  were  reported  from  the  East  End,  and 
several  chocolates  were  found  on  omnibus  seats  after  passen- 
gers had  left.  The  object  of  the  mysterious  individual  not 
having  achieved  its  effect,  his  operations  eventually  ceased,  and 
nothing  further  was  heard  of  the  matter. 

Probably  the  only  case  on  record  of  the  use  of  a  poison  gas 
in  an  attempt  to  murder,  was  reported  from  Germany  in 
November  1922,  when  two  men  were  charged  at  Leipzig 
with  attempting  to  kiU  a  man  called  Scheidemann  at  Cassel 
on  Whit-Sunday.  They  carefully  charged  glass  syringes  with 
cyanogen  gas,  and  secreting  them  in  their  pockets,  they 
awaited  the  coming  of  their  victim,  and  discharged  the  poison 
gas  in  his  face.  Scheidemann  eventually  recovered,  and  the 
two  men  were  convicted  of  an  attempt  to  kill  him. 

During  the  Napoleonic  Wars  the  curious  suggestion  was 
made  by  Perceval  that  the  Allies  could  bring  the  French  to 
their  knees  by  prohibiting  the  importation  to  the  Continent  of 
cinchona  bark  and  other  valuable  drugs.  "  The  suggestion," 
says  a  writer  of  the  time,  "  is  well  worthy  of  the  statesman. 
To  bring  the  French  to  reason  by  keeping  them  without 
rhubarb,  and  exhibiting  to  mankind  the  awful  spectacle  of  a 
nation  deprived  of  natural  salts  !  Without  castor  oil  they 
might  for  some  months  be  able  to  carry  on  a  lingering  war,  but 
could  they  do  without  bark  ?  Will  the  people  live  under  a 
Government  where  antimony  cannot  be  procured  ?  WiU 
they  bear  the  loss  of  mercury  ?  Depend  upon  it  they  will 
soon  be  brought  to  their  senses,  and  the  cry  of  '  Bourbon  and 
Bolus  '  be  raised  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Mediterranean  !  " 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
CRIMINAL  POISONING   WITH   BACTERIA 

THE  exploitation  of  pathogenic  bacteria  for  criminal 
purposes  has  not  been  neglected  by  the  poisoner,  but 
owing  to  ignorance  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  the  material  on  the  other,  it  has  led  to  failure  even 
with  the  most  cunning.  The  person  with  sufficient  scientific 
knowledge  to  prepare  cultures  is  not  as  a  rule  one  with  criminal 
instincts,  and  the  clumsy  handling  of  such  deadly  material 
would  lead  to  certain  detection  if  used  by  one  who  did  not 
understand  it. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  on  record  occurred  in 
Petrograd  in  1911,  when  a  man  named  Patrick  O'Brien  de 
Lacy,  said  to  have  been  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Irish  kings, 
was  accused  of  having  procured  the  death  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  an  official  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  his  father-in-law. 
General  Buturlin,  and  his  mother-in-law,  in  order  to  inherit 
a  large  amount  of  money  of  which  rumour  said  they  were 
possessed. 

From  his  youth  upwards  O 'Brian  de  Lacy  is  said  to  have 
been  a  ne'er-do-well.  Having  left  a  Russian  school  without 
finishing  his  education,  he  frequented  the  London  Poly- 
technic, and  also  studied  naval  architecture,  but  aU  the  plans  he 
founded  upon  his  technical  knowledge  were  nullified  by  the 
defeat  of  the  Russian  navy  at  Tsushima  and  other  events. 
He  first  married  a  lady  of  excellent  family,  who,  being  herself 
married,  agreed  to  divorce  her  husband  in  order  to  espouse 
him.  He  then  entangled  her  in  all  his  own  financial  difficulties, 
spent  her  money,  and  obtained  power  of  attorney  to  transact 
her  business.  Finally,  making  the  acquaintance  of  a  Mdlle 
Buturlin,  he  divorced  his  first  wife  as  she  divorced  her  first 
husband.     Then  he  sought  out  a  Dr.  Panchenko  and  con- 

2^0 


CRIMINAL   POISONING   WITH   BACTERIA      231 

spired  with  him  to  poison  the  lady  before  pledging  his  troth 
to  her  at  the  altar.  After  his  second  marriage,  O'Brien 
is  said  to  have  laid  his  plans  to  remove  every  human 
obstacle  that  stood  between  him  and  his  father-in-law's 
wealth  with  extraordinary  cunning,  and  these  he  endeavoured 
to  carry  out  by  inoculating  them  with  the  germs  of  deadly 
diseases  which  included  cholera  and  diphtheria.  He  arranged 
his  scheme  even  to  the  smallest  detail,  and  if  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  a  genius  in  crime,  this  most  extraordinary  man 
was  typical  of  it. 

Having  to  employ  a  medical  man  to  carry  out  his  designs, 
like  Romeo  he  selected  a  needy  practitioner  named  Panchenko, 
before  whose  eyes  he  dangled  a  dazzling  reward.  Money 
was  the  magnet  to  attract  Panchenko,  and  O'Brien  de  Lacy 
offered  him,  it  is  said,  10,000  roubles  to  compass  the  death  of 
his  brother-in-law,  50,000  roubles  to  dispose  of  his  father-in- 
law,  and  500,000  roubles  if  he  put  a  speedy  end  to  his  mother- 
in-law,  who  was  the  richest  of  the  family. 

In  1910  the  younger  Buturlin  died  at  Petrograd  after  a 
week's  illness.  He  was  an  employee  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior,  and  symptoms  during  his  illness  or  signs  after  death 
suggested  foul  play.  Old  General  Buturlin,  who  arrived  from 
Vilna  before  the  funeral,  stopped  the  interment  of  his  son's 
body  and  demanded  a  post-mortem. 

His  widow  endorsed  this  demand,  both  surmising  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  physician,  but  on  investigation  it  was 
concluded  that  blood-poisoning  was  the  cause  of  death. 

By  a  curious  coincidence,  on  the  same  day,  a  man  named  Bob- 
roff  called  on  the  Chief  of  the  Secret  Police.  He  told  him  he 
was  a  book-keeper  and  that  a  comrade  of  his  named  Petro- 
pavlovsky  possessed  proofs  that  young  Buturlin's  death  was 
caused  by  Dr.  Panchenko,  who  had  also  designs  on  the  life  of 
the  General  with  a  view  to  inheriting  property.  Petro- 
pavlovsky's  story  is  a  very  curious  one  and  may  be  given  in 
his  own  words  :■ — 

"  A  conscience  is  the  only  possession  I  can  call  my  own, 
and  it  has  driven  me  here  to  denounce  my  unique  benefacfress. 
She  is  my  landlady,  Madame  Muraviova,  who  allows  me  a 
room  in  her  flat,  and  has  been  very  kind  to  me.  She  is  ths 
mistress  of  Dr.  Panchenko,  with  whom  she  has  been  hugger- 


232  POISON   MYSTERIES 

muggering  of  late  in  suspicious  ways.  The  door  and  walls 
being  thin,  I  have  heard  snatches  of  conversation,  which  I 
have  pieced  together,  and  I  find  they  point  to  Dr.  Panchenko 
as  the  instrument  of  young  Buturlin's  death  and  O'Brien 
de  Lacy  as  the  employer  of  that  instrument.  The  penni- 
less Dr.  Panchenko  often  journeyed  to  Vilna,  where  O'Brien 
de  Lacy  resides,  and  always  returned  with  a  fat  purse  and 
high  hopes.  Madame  Muraviova,  too,  babbled  about  her 
improving  prospects,  saying  she  was  shortly  coming  into 
300,000  roubles. 

"  One  day  in  April,  Dr.  Panchenko  left  for  Kronstadt,  where 
plague-stricken  dogs  are  studied,  and  after  his  return  he  talked 
of  little  else.  Soon  afterwards  young  Buturlin,  Panchenko, 
and  O'Brien  de  Lacy  went  on  the  spree  together.  The  next 
thing  I  noticed  was  that  Panchenko  was  weeping  and  sobbing. 
I  entered  the  common  sitting-room,  and  found  him  beside  him- 
self with  excitement  while  his  paramour  was  burning  heaps  of 
papers.  She  spoke  first,  saying  that  she  had  been  scolding 
him  for  visiting  a  diphtheria  patient  without  disinfecting 
himself.  In  an  aside  to  Dr.  Panchenko  she  asked,  '  Did  you 
do  it  properly  ?  '  He  answered,  '  Well,  I  squirted  two  full 
doses,  although  one  would  have  been  enough.'  " 

After  this  revelation,  Dr.  Panchenko  was  interrogated  by 
the  police,  and  he  stated,  that  he  treated  the  deceased  for  loss  of 
energy  and  injected  a  certain  remedy,  but  knew  nothing  of  the 
cause  of  death.  He  had  made  O'Brien  de  Lacy 's  acquaintance 
in  the  train,  and  subsequently  had  business  dealings  with  him. 
De  Lacy  was  then  asked  for  an  explanation  by  the  police,  and 
he  stated  that  his  relations  with  the  doctor  were  purely  com- 
mercial, and  he  affirmed  that  he  could  not  possibly  benefit 
by  young  Buturlin's  death.  The  police,  however,  attached  so 
much  irnportance  to  the  story  of  the  informer  that  they 
arrested  Panchenko  and  O'Brien  de  Lacy. 

It  was  while  in  prison  awaiting  trial  that  Panchenko  broke 
down  and  revealed  the  full  story  in  the  following  words  :• — 

"  Patients  were  brought  to  me  occasionally  by  a  friend 
named  Raffoff,  who  acted  as  a  tout,  receiving  a  share 
of  the  profits.  One  day  he  introduced  me  to  O'Brien  de 
Lacy.  We  adjourned  to  a  private  room  in  a  restaurant, 
where,  in  Raffoff' s  presence,  he  asked  me  if  I  would  perform 
a   certain   illegal   operation   for   1,500   roubles.     I   assented. 


CRIMINAL   POISONING   WITH   BACTERIA      233 

O'Brien  de  Lacy  seemed  pleased,  and  gave  me  100  roubles. 
I  asked  him  to  visit  me  in  my  own  study.  I  was  a  physician 
of  the  St.  Petersburg  district  of  the  Northern  Railway. 

"  Subsequently  O'Brien  intimated  that  he  would  prefer 
to  talk  with  me  without  a  witness.  I  acquiesced.  He  told 
me  he  had  just  become  a  bridegroom,  and  the  operation  he 
really  wanted  was  to  have  his  future  brother-in-law  made 
away  with.  For  this  service  he  would  pay  10,000  roubles. 
After  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  remove  the  father-in- 
law.  For  that  riddance  I  would  be  paid  50,000  roubles,  and 
lastly,  the  old  man's  divorced  wife  must  be  launched  into 
eternity.  For  this  job  he  would  not  grudge  500,000  roubles. 
He  impressed  upon  me  the  necessity  of  extreme  circumspec- 
tion, and  advised  me  to  begin  with  young  Buturlin,  to  whom 
he  proposed  I  should  administer  cholera  germs  on  bread, 
buttered  and  covered  with  caviare.  Death  by  cholera,  he 
explained,  would  evoke  no  surprise  at  a  moment  when  that 
epidemic  was  making  havoc  in  Petrograd.  Therefore  he 
had  much  to  say  in  favour  of  cholera  germs,  and  informed  me 
that  young  Buturlin  was  using  anti-cholera  subcutaneous 
injections. 

"  By  this  time  I  had  extracted  2,000  roubles  from  O'Brien  de 
Lacy.  At  last  he  introduced  me  to  Buturlin,  on  the  ground  that 
we  were  interested  in  founding  a  sanatorium,  but  I  was  to  whet 
his  curiosity  about  a  certain  drug  and  get  him  as  a  patient. 
Then,  instead  of  the  drug,  I  was  to  inject  some  poison  or 
other,  and  having  done  the  job,  to  abstain  sedulously  from 
writing  or  telegraphing,  as  a  kinsman  of  his.  Count  Roniker, 
who  had  been  charged  with  murder  in  Warsaw,  had  been 
tripped  up  by  a  telegram.  The  plan  was  successful ;  I 
treated  young  Buturlin,  substituting  diphtheria  toxin  for 
the  other  drug. 

"  I  received  the  germs  from  a  chemist,  who  believed  my 
story  that  it  was  required  for  experiments  on  rabbits.  I 
injected  two  large  doses  into  the  victim's  thigh.  Later,  I 
learned  he  was  very  ill,  and,  being  conscience  smitten,  I  wired 
for  O'Brien  de  Lacy,  who  was  furious  that  the  telegram  should 
have  been  sent.  He  exclaimed,  '  You  may  as  well  give  your- 
self up  now.'  I  visited  young  Buturlin  after  this,  and  learned 
from  his  own  lips  that  he  had  had  high  fever  and  sharp  pains, 
but  was  now  much  belter.  The  other  physician  who  was 
called  in  did  not  diagnose  the  malady.  Then  I  read  of 
Buturlin's  death  in  the  papers.  It  occurred  exactly  as  had 
been   calculated,   seven  days  after  the  injection.     Wlien   I 


234  POISON   MYSTERIES 

read  that  the  day  of  the  burial  would  be  announced  later,  I 
knew  it  boded  evil. 

"  Meanwhile,  General  Buturlin  arrived  and  demanded  a 
post-mortem.  O'Brien  de  Lacy  supported  the  demand, 
convinced  that  the  examination  would  be  fruitless.  I,  too, 
was  of  the  same  opinion,  because  throats  are  never  analysed 
during  such  investigations,  and  few  symptoms  of  diphtheria 
infection  would  be  visible  in  the  throat." 

That  is  Dr.  Panchenko's  last  definitive  story,  to  which  he 
added  that  Muraviova  was  innocent,  having  had  no  inkling 
ol  his  crime.  Muraviova  herself  asseverated  her  innocence, 
affirming  that  her  relations  with  Panchenko  were  pure.  She 
accepted  material  help  from  him,  but  deprecated  the  luxury 
in  which  he  maintained  her.  He,  however,  assured  her  that 
he  would  soon  inherit  a  large  sum. 

The  trial  of  the  prisoners  began  in  Petrograd  at  the  end  of 
January  191 1,  and  excited  intense  public  interest.  Bobroff, 
the  book-keeper,  who  gave  away  the  secret  to  the  Chief  of 
Police,  was  first  examined  and  adhered  to  his  original  story, 
A  servant  of  the  Buturlins  related  how  Dr.  Panchenko  visited 
Buturlin  for  the  first  time,  saying,  "  Let's  get  the  treatment 
over  before  your  wife  returns."  After  that  he  came  twice 
daily  until  the  fourth  day,  when  the  patient  fell  ill.  When 
his  condition  grew  serious,  Buturlin  sent  for  the  doctor,  but 
Panchenko  was  not  to  be  found.  A  chance  physician  had  to 
be  summoned,  but  produced  no  improvement.  Nose-bleeding, 
vomiting,  and  sharp  pains  ushered  in  the  agony,  during  which 
the  dying  man  said,  "  Three  months  long  they  were  at  me  to 
have  the  injections,  but  I  refused  as  though  I  had  a  presenti- 
ment of  what  was  coming." 

The  Court  asked  the  experts  to  answer  the  question,  "  What 
caused  Buturlin's  death  ?  "  and  asked  them  to  bear  in  mind 
Panchenko's  admission  that  he  had  injected  diphtheria  toxin, 
when  he  made  the  following  statement  : — 

"  On  May  16  I  visited  Buturlin,  and  injected  a  pure  drug 
from  a  phial.  I  repeated  the  injection  on  the  following  day. 
Before  my  evening  visit  to  Buturlin  on  the  sam.e  day  I  broke 
the  necks  of  the  two  drug-phials  in  my  own  lodging  that  nobody 
should  notice  it.  Having  emptied  the  contents,  I  filled|the 
phials  with  diphtheria  poison  by  means  of  a  paper  funnel, 


CRIMINAL   POISONING  WITH  BACTERIA      235 

plugged  them  with  wadding,  and,  putting  them  into  my  waist- 
coat-pocket, set  out  for  Buturhn's.  Before  starting  I  gulped 
down  vodka  for  courage. 

"  I  got  to  Buturlin's  about  eight  or  nine  in  the  evening, 
with  trembling  in  my  legs  and  throbbing  waves  of  darkness 
filling  my  eyes  and  fitfully  blotting  out  my  sight  I  had  been 
wont  to  break  off  the  necks  of  the  phials  in  Buturlin's  presence, 
first  putting  them  in  a  handkerchief  to  avoid  cutting  my  fin- 
gers. That  is  why  he  could  not  notice  that  this  time  the  necks 
were  already  snapped  off.  I  made  two  incisions  in  Buturlin's 
body,  injecting  each  time  the  contents  of  one  phial  of  the 
diphtheria  poison.  Each  vessel  held  about  two  cubic  centi- 
metres, but  as  the  effects  of  the  diphtheria  poison  had  not  been 
tested  on  human  beings,  I  injected  two  phials  full  in  order  to 
be  quite  sure  of  a  deadly  issue.  As  soon  as  I  had  finished  the 
business  my  face  was  ghastly,  and  I  quivered  in  every  limb. 
I  was  in  dread  that  Buturlin  might  discern  my  state.  Pulling 
myself  together,  and  mastering  my  failing  voice,  I  asked  him 
whether  it  hurt.  He  answered,  '  Not  at  all.'  I  then  left  for 
home,  and  threw  the  phials  into  the  street.  The  livelong 
night  I  could  not  close  an  eye.  Conscience-ache  racked  me 
ruthlessly." 

Panchenko's  career,  as  revealed  at  the  trial,  certainly  shows 
him  to  be  one  of  the  most  diabolical  characters  ever  connected 
with  medicine  and  possibly  the  worst  ever  known. 

He  was  sent  by  the  Red  Cross  Society  to  Harbin  during 
the  War,  and  was  then  dismissed  for  irregularities,  after  which 
he  introduced  himself  to  the  then  Premier  as  a  schoolmate 
of  the  Premier's  brother,  and  received  an  appointment  as 
physician  to  a  railway  company. 

One  witness  recounted  how  a  certain  banker  resolved  to 
poison  his  own  uncle,  and  had  recourse  to  Panchenko,  who 
initiated  his  friend  Dreyden  in  the  scheme.  The  latter  used 
the  information  as  a  lever  to  extort  blackmail,  but  the  police, 
being  hand  in  glove  with  the  banker,  sent  Dreyden  away. 

Panchenko  next  edited  a  periodical  entitled  Life's  Mysteries, 
which  was  suppressed.  Despatched  to  Paris  for  the  purpose 
of  advertising  a  certain  drug,  Panchenko  met  a  Russian  officer 
bound  for  Abyssinia,  who  asked  him  for  a  potent  poison  for 
suicidal  purposes  in  case  he  should  be  taken  prisoner  there. 
For  forty  francs  Panchenko  furnished  prussic  acid,  and  the 


236  POISON   MYSTERIES 

officer  swallowed  it  and  died.  Panchenko  now  assured  the 
Court  that  what  he  supplied  was  not  poison,  but  only  mag- 
nesia, and  that  in  any  case  he  had  confessed  since  to  a  Russian 
priest  in  Paris,  who  comforted  him  by  saying,  "  The  officer 
would  have  committed  suicide  anyhow,  my  son." 

To  another  witness  Panchenko  propounded  a  plan  for  com- 
ing into  a  heritage  of  two  million  roubles  by  "  removing  "  two 
persons  who  stood  in  the  way. 

Circumstantial  evidence  was  next  offered  by  experts  in  the 
culture  of  various  toxins.  Dr.  Heinrich,  assistant  director  of 
the  laboratory  of  plague  cultures,  spoke  of  Dr.  Panchenko 
visiting  the  laboratories,  requesting  cholera  endotoxin,  and 
excusing  himself  from  the  obligation  of  writing  his  name  in 
the  visitors'  book  on  the  ground  of  haste.  Dr.  Panchenko 
received  two  tubes  of  endotoxin.  One  had  a  label  that 
a  dose  is  mortal  for  certain  animals.  Some  months  later 
Dr.  Panchenko  revisited  the  laboratory,  and  asked  ior  more 
cholera  endotoxin.  Dr.  Heinrich  gave  it,  but  warned  him  of 
its  deadly  effects. 

Dr.  Panchenko  informed  the  Court  that  he  gave  this 
liquid  to  O'Brien  de  Lacy  for  twenty-five  roubles. 

Professor  Zabolotny  explained  the  nature  of  the  effects  of 
various  cultures,  and  deposed  that  he  gave  diphtheria  toxin 
to  Dr.  Panchenko,  whose  object  was  stated  to  be  the  study  of 
its  action  on  the  nervous  system. 

A  professor,  named  Zdrjekoffsky,  of  the  Institute  of  Ex- 
perimental Medicine,  deposed  that  Dr.  Panchenko,  early  last 
year,  had  asked  him  for  diphtheria  toxin. 

"  I  gave  him,  I  forget  whether  one  or  two  phials  of  diphtheria 
toxin,  each  containing  thirty  or  forty  cubic  centimetres.  I 
explained  to  Dr.  Panchenko  the  action  of  this  toxin  and  the 
minimum  dose  that  would  cause  death." 

A  criminal  called  Logatcheff,  with  whom  Panchenko  had 
shared  a  cell,  and  who  was  escorted  to  court  by  two  soldiers, 
deposed  that  Panchenko  had  repeated  to  him  in  gaol  the  whole 
story  of  how  he  had  poisoned  Captain  Buturlin.  He  said 
De  Lacy  had  offered  him  550,000  roubles  to  poison  Captain 
Buturlin  and  the  latter's  father.  General  Buturlin,  and 
mother,  and  told  him  he  went  to  Kronstadt,  to  the  Zabo- 
lotny Institute  of  Experimental  Medicine  to  obtain  toxins. 


CRIMINAL   POISONING   WITH   BACTERIA     237 

Pancheriko  had  described  experiments  which  he  had  made  on 
a  guinea-pig  at  an  hotel,  adding  that  he  afterwards  threw  the 
body  into  the  street. 

De  Lacy,  while  denying  that  he  married  for  money,  made  the 
following  statement:  "  It  is  true  that  at  one  time  I  was  afraid 
that  the  general  would  dispose  of  his  fortune  in  his  will  in  such  a 
manner  that  my  wife  would  receive  only  a  fourteenth  part. 
I  certainly  thought  this  unjust,  but  I  reasoned  as  follows  : 
The  general  is  sure  to  live  for  a  long  time,  and  three  years  will 
suffice  for  me  to  induce  him  to  enter  into  all  my  undertakings, 
including  that  of  the  steamboats.  Then  his  whole  capital 
will  be  at  my  disposal." 

Continuing,  he  said  that  he  was  not  aware  of  the  total 
amount,  but  he  knew  that  a  sum  of  ;f300,ooo  was  deposited 
in  foreign  banks. 

At  the  end  of  this  remarkable  case,  after  a  trial  which  lasted 
nearly  three  weeks,  O'Brien  de  Lacy  and  Dr.  Panchenko  were 
found  guilty,  the  latter  with  extenuating  circumstances.  The 
woman  Muraviova  was  acquitted.  De  Lacy  was  sentenced 
to  penal  servitude  for  life  and  Panchenko  to  fifteen  years' 
penal  servitude. 

Another  case  of  attempted  murder  with  pathogenic  organ- 
isms occurred  about  ten  years  ago,  when  a  Hungarian  artist 
was  tried  with  attempting  to  murder  his  wife  by  means 
of  typhoid  and  cholera  germs.  The  cholera  medium  in  his 
possession  was  found  to  have  lost  all  activity  by  having  been 
kept  too  long,  while  the  typhoid  culture,  though  quite  a 
virulent  one,  failed  to  kill  the  victim.  The  discovery  of  his 
crime  was  made  through  his  attempts  to  obtain  cultures 
from  a  private  laboratory  and  demanding  virulent  strains, 
but  so  far,  cases  of  this  kind  have  been  extremely  rare, 
and  the  risk  of  failure  is  so  great  that  criminals  so  inclined 
are  likely  to  think  twice  before  venturing  to  attempt  life 
by  this  method. 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

POISON  HABITS 

Opium — Morphine — Chloroform — Ether — Chlorodyne — 
Cocaine 

THERE  is  a  very  peculiar  property  attached  to  certain 
poisons,  especially  those  possessing  narcotic  properties 
— that  is,  they  are  capable  of  forming  the  most  enslaving 
habits  known  to  mankind.  Thousands  of  people  to-day  are 
enchained  in  the  slavery  of  the  poison  habit  in  one  form  or 
another  and  very  few  are  ever  successful  in  wresting  themselves 
free  when  once  it  has  been  contracted.  The  habit  is  often 
formed  in  a  most  insidious  manner.  It  is  usually  begun  by 
taking  some  narcotic  drug  to  relieve  pain  or  induce  sleep. 
In  a  short  time  the  original  dose  fails  to  produce  the  desired 
effect,  it  has  to  be  increased,  and  afterwards  still  further 
increased,  until  the  victim  finds  he  cannot  do  without  it,  and 
an  intense  craving  for  the  drug  is  created.  By  and  by 
the  stupefying  action  affects  the  brain,  the  moral  character  is 
sapped,  and  the  unfortunate  being  is  at  last  ready  to  do  any- 
thing to  obtain  a  supply  of  the  drug  that  is  now  his  master. 
This  is  not  an  overdrawn  picture,  but  one  of  which  instances 
are  constantly  to  be  met  with.  The  enslaving  habit  of  alcohol, 
when  once  contracted,  is  too  well  known  to  need  description. 
Opium  probably  comes  next  in  the  point  of  influence  it  exerts 
over  its  victims,  and  only  a  very  small  percentage  ever  free 
themselves  from  the  habit  when  it  is  once  contracted.  In  most 
instances,  as  stated,  it  is  taken  in  the  first  place  to  relieve  some 
severe  pain,  as  instanced  in  De  Quincey's  case.  He  says,  in 
his  Confessions  of  an  Opium-Eater:  "It  was  not  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  pleasure,  but  of  mitigating  pain  in  the 
severest  degree,  that  I  first  began  to  use  opium  as  an  article 
of  daily  diet."     Like  others,  he  was  compelled  to  increase  the 

238 


POISON   HABITS  239 

dose  gradually,  irntil  at  last  he  consumed  the  enormous  quan- 
tity of  320  grains  of  the  drug  a  day.  He  graphically  describes 
the  struggle  he  first  had  to  reduce  the  daily  dose,  and  found 
that  to  a  certain  point  it  could  be  reduced  with  ease,  but  after 
that  point,  further  reduction  caused  intense  suffering.  How- 
ever, a  crisis  arrived,  and  he  writes,  "  I  saw  that  I  must  die  if 
I  continued  the  opium.  I  determined,  therefore,  if  that  should 
be  required,  to  die  in  throwing  it  off.  I  apprehend  at  this 
time  I  was  taking  from  50  or  60  grains  to  150  grains  a  day. 
My  first  task  was  to  reduce  it  to  40,  to  30,  and  as  fast  as  I 
could  to  12  grains.  I  triumphed  ;  but  think  not  my  sufferings 
were  ended.  Think  of  me,  as  one,  even  when  four  months 
had  passed,  still  agitated,  writhing,  throbbing,  palpitating, 
shattered  ;  and  much  perhaps  in  the  situation  of  him  who  has 
been  racked." 

Other  cases  are  commonly  met  with  in  this  country,  where 
opium-eaters  take  on  an  average  from  60  to  80  grains  of 
the  drug  a  day.  The  smallest  quantity  which  has  proved 
fatal  in  the  adult  is  4J  grains  ;  in  other  cases  much  larger 
quantities  have  been  taken  with  impunity.  Guy  states  that 
recovery  once  took  place  after  no  less  than  eight  ounces  of 
solid  opium  had  been  swallowed. 

Morphine,  the  chief  alkaloid  of  opium,  is  also  abused  by 
many,  and  is  swaUowed  as  well  as  used  by  hypodermic  injec- 
tion. Its  action  is  very  similar  to  that  of  opium.  It  has 
been  recently  stated  on  good  authority  that  in  Chicago — that 
city  of  hurrying  men  and  restless  women — over  thirty-five 
thousand  persons  habitually  take  subcutaneous  injections  of 
morphine  to  save  themselves  from  the  pains  and  terrors  of 
neuralgia,  insomnia,  and  nervousness.  Dr.  Van  Dyke  has 
recently  stated  that  "  no  country  suffers  more  from  the 
narcotic  drug  evil  than  the  United  States.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  more  than  1,500,000  addicts,  many  of  them  boys 
and  girls." 

To  a  delicate  woman  one  grain  of  this  drug  has  proved  fatal, 
yet,  under  the  influence  of  habit,  a  young  woman  has  been 
known  to  take  from  15  to  20  grains  daily.  A  man  in  a  good 
position,  and  head  of  a  large  commercial  house,  contracted  the 
habit  of  taking  morphine  from  a  prescription  that  had  been  given 
to  him  containing  four  grains  of  the  drug.    As  the  habit  grew, 


240  POISON   MYSTERIES       - 

he  would  have  the  medicine  prepared  by  four  different  chemists 
daily,  and  swallow  the  contents  of  each  bottle  for  a  dose,  until 
he  took  on  an  average  over  24  grains  a  day.  This  being  put  a 
stop  to  by  his  friends,  he  commenced  to  take  chloroform, 
which  he  would  purchase  in  small  quantities  until  he  had 
collected  a  bottleful,  and  then  he  would  drink  it,  usually  mixed 
with  whisky.  He  eventually  had  to  be  placed  under  restraint. 
A  remarkable  account  of  the  sensations  experienced  when 
under  the  influence  of  morphine  was  recorded  by  Dr.  Albert 
Herschmann  who,  after  taking  six  grains  of  the  drug,  seated 
himself  at  his  desk  and  wrote  notes  of  his  sensations  as  death 
approached,  which  were  found  afterwards. 

"  This  morphine  "  he  wrote,  "  has  put  me  in  a  condition 
of  absolute  mental  painlessness.  It  is  now  7.17  p.m.  and  if 
I  did  not  know  that  I  had  taken  sufficient  poison  to  warrant 
results,  I  could  not  notice  it  from  my  condition. 

"  Aside  from  fluttering  heart  action  and  contracted  eye 
pupils,  and  moderate  drowsiness,  I  feel  no  results. 

"  Still,  I  cannot  make  up  my  mind  to  swallow  the  cyanide, 
and  have  lit  a  cigar,  awaiting  further  increase  of  drowsiness, 
and  hope  to  be  scon  able  to  coax  myself  into  the  inevitable. 

"  7.42  p.m. — I  am  here  yet,  hesitating  to  take  this  cyanide. 
My  thoughts  become  blurred  from  the  morphine,  and  a 
sensation  of  supreme  quietude  reigns  in  me.  If  it  was  not 
for  my  beloved  wife,  who  has  just  'phoned,  I  would  go  on 
waiting,  but  I  am  afraid  of  too  long  a  delay  because  a  lapsing 
into  unconsciousness  might  result  in  my  being  saved  by 
medical  assistance.  Ten  more  minutes,  and  then  the  end  by 
cyanide. 

"  I  am  in  no  manner  kept  in  suspense — just  pleasantly 
and  curiously  watching  developments.  Queerly  enough,  my 
only  wish  is  that  I  had  an  additional  handkerchief,  so  that 
I  could  dispose  of  the  surplus  perspiration,  it  being  close 
and  my  skin  clammy  from  the  morphine  effects." 

Then  the  signature,  "Dr.  A.  J.  H." 

Chloroform  when  swallowed  is  very  similar  in  its  effects  to 
alcohol,  from  which  it  is  in  fact  prepared.  It  first  excites 
and  then  causes  a  condition  of  stupefaction,  and  although  it 
does  not  injure  the  stomach  tissues  and  the  liver  to  the  same 
extent  as  alcohol,  the  taking  of  it  almost  invariably  ends  in 


POISON   HABITS  241 

death.  Some  of  its  victims  drink  the  hquid  diluted,  and 
others  inhale  it. 

A  case  of  a  well-educated  man  is  recorded  who  acquired 
the  habit  of  drinking  chloroform.  It  was  known  to  his 
friends,  and  he  did  not  deny  it,  but  no  one  saw  him  take  it, 
until  it  was  eventually  discovered  that  he  first  secretly  added 
it  to  his  whisky  bottle,  then  diluted  this  mixture  with  a  small 
quantity  of  water  and  swallowed  it  at  a  draught.  Its  property 
seemed  to  accentuate  the  intoxicating  power  of  the  alcohol. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  break  him  of  the  habit,  without 
success,  without  avail,  and  he  eventually  poisoned  himself. 

Another  case  of  chloroform-drinking  occurred  in  the  East 
End  of  London.  The  victim  was  a  young  chemist's  assis- 
tant, who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  the  drug  since  he 
was  fourteen  years  of  age.  According  to  his  own  admission, 
he  did  not  at  first  take  it  to  alleviate  pain,  but  began  it  as  an 
experiment  before  he  had  been  in  his  first  situation  a  month. 
He  got  beyond  the  control  of  his  parents,  who  notified  the 
chemists  in  the  district,  and  when  unable  to  obtain  it  there, 
he  called  on  various  medical  men  and  endeavoured  to  obtain 
chloroform  by  false  pretences.  He  was  able  to  swallow  con- 
siderable quantities,  and  it  was  stated  that  he  took  enough 
in  an  hour  to  kill  six  people. 

One  who  was  addicted  to  this  terrible  habit,  states  that 
he  began  by  "  inhaling  a  small  quantity,  which  was  followed 
by  a  perfectly  delicious  state  of  semi-unconsciousness  in 
which  one  lost  sight  of  all  discomfort  and  all  things  exter- 
nal. But  this  state  is  very  transient  and  passes  rapidly. 
The  quantity  has  to  be  increased  and  increased  until  existence 
becomes  a  perfect  misery.  The  whole  moral  fibre  and  character 
is  swiftly  ruined.  Nausea  is  constant,  dyspepsia  and  kindred 
troubles  follow  ;  and  the  victim  becomes  haggard  and  thin. 
For  the  two  hours  of  semi-unconsciousness  induced  in  this 
way,  twenty- two  hours  are  spent  in  unimaginable  misery." 

The  quantity  of  chloroform  used  by  those  accustomed  to 
it  in  this  way  is  said  to  be  astonishing.  One  victim,  a  woman, 
is  known  to  have  bought  sixteen  ounces  a  day,  and  inhaled 
it  from  a  blanket.  Such  a  story  sounds  incredible,  as  a  tea- 
spoonful  is  sometimes  sufficient  to  kill  a  strong  person. 

Some  years  ago  the  habit  of  taking  ether  became  common, 

Q 


242  POISON   MYSTERIES 

especially  in  Ireland,  Scotland  and  the  eastern  parts  of 
England.  Its  action  is  similar  to  chloroform,  but  it  is  slower  in 
its  effect.  It  first  produces  exhilaration,  and^  as  with  chloro- 
form, when  swallowed  mixed  with  whisky,  produces  intense 
excitement,  amounting  almost  to  mania.  The  habit,  when 
formed,  is  almost  more  terrible  than  chloroform,  and  the 
victim  has  to  resort  to  several  doses  a  day. 

Some  years  ago,  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  it  was  stated  on 
good  authority  that  the  population  of  one  large  district  were 
almost  entirely  ether  drunkards.  Its  consumption  has  now 
greatly  diminished,  probably  owing  to  the  increase  in  price 
which  occurred  at  the  time  of  the  war,  which  would  put  it  out 
of  the  reach  of  many  of  its  victims. 

Chlorodyne,  which  generally  contains  both  morphine  and 
prussic  acid  in  its  composition,  is  also  much  abused,  especially 
by  women.  Some  women  have  been  known  to  consume  as 
much  as  two  ounces  a  week  of  this  preparation. 

During  the  past  few  years  the  increase  in  the  taking  of 
cocaine  has  probably  surpassed  all  other  poison  habits. 
Cocaine  is  an  important  alkaloid,  prepared  from  the  dried 
leaves  of  the  Erythroxylon  Coca  and  other  varieties  of  the 
coca  plant  that  grow  in  the  northern  parts  of  Peru  and  Bolivia. 
For  a  considerable  period  before  the  active  principle  was 
discovered,  the  leaves  of  the  plant  were  much  used  by 
natives  of  these  countries  and  travellers,  who  chewed  them 
on  account  of  their  stimulating  effect,  much  the  same  as 
tobacco,  but  it  was  not  until  i860  that  the  active  principle 
cocaine  was  discovered  by  Niemann. 

Its  chief  use  in  medicine  is  as  a  local  anaesthetic,  especially 
for  the  eye.  The  discovery  of  this  valuable  property  was  due 
to  Eckstein,  who,  in  1870,  pointed  out  that  the  most  delicate 
operations  could  be  performed  painlessly  on  the  eye  after 
its  injection. 

The  effect  of  cocaine  taken  by  inhalation,  injection  or  by 
the  mouth  unfortunately  became  too  well  known.  At  one  time 
it  was  largely  used  as  an  ingredient  in  the  preparations,  used  like 
snuff,  commonly  recommended  and  sold  for  influenza  colds. 
The  habit,  once  induced,  led  to  the  use  of  stronger  preparations, 
until  the  victim  found  he  had  become  enchained  by  a  habit 
that  enslaved  him  to  such  an  extent  it  would  seem  impossible 


POISON   HABITS  243 

to  break.  More  subtle  than  other  poisons,  cocaine  appears 
to  sap  completely  the  moral  strength  of  its  victims.  Slowly 
and  surely  it  deadens  the  sensibilities  until  death  is  sought 
as  a  relief  in  the  end. 

During  the  past  few  years,  and  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  the  consumption  of  cocaine  in  one  form  or  another  has 
enormously  increased  in  both  the  Eastern  and  Western 
hemispheres.  Recent  cases  that  have  been  brought  to  light  in 
the  police  courts,  show  only  too  plainly  the  terrible  condition  to 
which  the  victims  of  this  habit  are  reduced.  The  cocaine 
habit  may  be  compared  to  a  human  being  gradually  enclosed 
in  the  coils  of  a  serpent,  that  slowly  winds  itself  round  the 
body  with  increasing  pressure,  to  the  terror  of  its  victim, 
until  it  reaches  a  vital  part,  which  ends  in  death. 

Rarely  is  there  any  permanent  breaking  of  the  coil  when 
once  it  starts.  In  most  cases  the  simple  inhalation  is  the 
beginning,  and  in  the  case  of  this  poison  it  is  not  used  as  much 
to  relieve  pain  as  for  the  pleasurable  sensation  that  is  produced. 
From  inhalation,  the  victim  of  the  habit,  finding  the  effects 
weaken,  passes  to  the  hypodermic  injection,  which  is  more 
rapid  and  more  powerful  in  its  action.  As  the  coils  of  the 
serpent  tighten,  all  moral  sense  and  character  seem  gradually 
blotted  out,  and  the  whole  individual  physiologically  is 
altered. 

Fatalities  have  resulted  from  inhaling  cocaine  through  the 
nose  as  well  as  by  injecting  it  under  the  skin,  and  when 
it  is  stated  that  three-quarters  of  a  grain  has  been  known  to 
cause  death  it  can  readily  be  imagined  how  easily  a  lethal 
dose  can  be  taken. 

The  subtlety  of  the  habit  lies  in  its  very  simplicity.  Ex- 
hilaration follows  much  more  rapidly  than  after  alcohol  and 
is  followed  just  as  speedily  by  the  deepest  depression. 

To  such  an  extent  has  the  cocaine  habit  increased,  that  re- 
cently the  Government  found  it  necessary  to  introduce  fresh 
legislation  dealing  with  the  traffic  in  poisonous  narcotic  drugs, 
and  the  "  Dangerous  Drugs  Act  "  was  passed,  and  became  law 
in  1920.  Stringent  though  this  statute  is,  it  has  not  stopped 
the  traffic  in  cocaine  and  opium.  A  great  amount  of  smuggling 
and  illicit  traffic  in  the  drug  is  carried  on  in  the  underworld 
of  London,  Paris  and  New  York,  and  though  the  drug  is  costly, 


244  POISON   MYSTERIES 

a  ready  market  is  found  for  it.  This  traffic  has  been  found 
rife  in  certain  clubs  of  a  low  class,  conducted  by  unscrupulous 
men  whose  precautions  as  to  secrecy  have  been  ingeniously 
conceived.  The  greatest  cunning  has  been  exercised  in  bring- 
ing it  from  the  Continent,  where  it  is  chiefly  manufactured, 
into  Great  Britain.  A  hollow  cane  containing  a  glass  phial, 
which,  when  concealed  by  a  screwed  silver  top  looked  like 
an  ordinary  walking-stick,  was  one  method  discovered  a 
short  time  ago.  Another  and  still  more  artful  device  was 
discovered  by  the  Custom- House  authorities  on  the  landing 
of  a  passenger  at  an  East  Coast  port.  As  his  appearance 
aroused  suspicion  a  search  was  made,  and  he  was  found  to 
be  wearing  a  truss,  the  bulb  end  of  which  was  hollow  and 
filled  with  cocaine. 

In  another  case,  where  a  man  was  arrested  in  the  West  End 
and  charged  with  being  in  possession  of  nearly  five  ounces 
of  cocaine,  it  was  found  that  he  had  brought  the  drug  from 
Germany,  and  concealed  it  in  cavities  he  had  skilfully  cut 
out  in  the  heels  of  his  shoes,  and  had  afterwards  covered  with 
leather. 

During  the  war,  which  increased  the  nervous  tension  of  the 
individual  to  a  hitherto  unknown  degree,  thousands  of  Canadian 
and  American  troops  passed  through  London  on  their  way 
to  and  from  the  fighting  fronts,  and  many  of  the  men  provided 
potential  victims  for  the  trafficker  in  poisons.  Many  of  these 
men  who  fell  into  bad  hands  were  drugged  with  opium  in  the 
form  of  cigarettes  and  then  robbed. 

In  proof  of  this  statement,  on  July  19,  1916,  seven  men 
were  charged  at  Marlborough  Street  Police  Court  with  being 
concerned  in  selling  cocaine  to  soldiers.  The  prosecuting 
solicitor  for  the  Commissioner  of  Police  said  that  the  evil 
had  grown  to  such  dimensions  in  London  that  it  was  necessary 
for  steps  to  be  taken  to  check  it.  The  use  of  cocaine  in  this 
country  had  increased  enormously,  and  the  habit  appeared 
to  have  been  brought  here  with  soldiers  from  across  the 
seas.  Since  the  war  began  it  had  been  sold  in  the  streets  in 
small  boxes  each  containing  a  grain  ;  it  was  offered  to  soldiers 
in  particular,  who  were  told  to  use  it  like  ordinary  snuff 
on  account  of  its  exhilarating  effect.  The  habit  grew  and 
grew  till  it  produced  symptoms  of  intoxication,  the  moral  and 


POISON   HABITS  245 

physical  senses  were  clouded,  and  insanity  and  death  resulted. 
The  number  of  persons  engaged  in  this  abominable  traffic 
W£LS  very  large.  The  case  having  been  proved  against  the 
men  by  several  members  of  the  Military  Police,  they  were 
sentenced  to  various  terms  of  imprisonment. 

The  efforts  of  the  police  to  stop  the  traffic  revealed  the 
existence  of  what  is  practically  an  organization  for  the  sale 
of  the  drug.  The  chief  agents  are  men,  mostly  of  foreign 
nationality  and  the  worst  possible  type.  They  sell  it,  often 
adulterated  with  boric  acid  in  small  quantities,  at  enormous 
profit.  Women  sell  it  to  other  women,  one  acting  as  a  carrier, 
being  in  the  possession  of  a  number  of  boxes  of  the  drug,  and 
the  other  undertaking  actually  to  sell  it  in  single  boxes. 
The  price  of  cocaine  sold  illegally  in  the  West  End  of  London 
a  year  or  two  ago  was  at  the  rate  of  £10  an  ounce,  and  as  it 
became  more  difficult  to  get,  owing  to  the  restrictions,  the 
price  increased.  A  bottle  containing  two  and  a  half  ounces 
was  said  to  have  been  sold  for  £100. 

In  the  autumn  of  1922  there  arrived  at  Hong-Kong  a 
Japanese  steamer,  which  was  boarded  by  Revenue  officers. 
A  passenger  who  was  a  Japanese  subject  was  arrested,  and 
a  quantity  of  his  belongings,  which  included  four  cases  of 
furniture,  were  seized.  On  examining  the  furniture,  con- 
sisting of  two  sofas  and  four  arm-chairs,  which  were  cut 
open,  there  was  found  hidden  in  the  upholstery  2,400  ounces 
of  morphine  and  2,500  ounces  of  cocaine.  The  quantity  of 
morphine  concealed  in  the  furniture  would  provide  2,100,000 
maximum  doses,  according  to  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  and 
the  quantity  of  cocaine  was  equal  to  4,375,000  doses. 

Legislation  can  play  its  part,  but  it  will  never  eradicate 
the  traffic  until  the  supply  is  stopped  at  its  source.  So  far 
as  we  know,  Germany  and  Switzerland  are  the  chief  sources 
of  origin.  Nearly  all  the  cocaine  sold  in  London  is  smuggled 
into  this  country  either  by  Chinese  or  foreigners,  and  it  is 
stated  that  before  it  gets  into  the  hands  of  the  actual  victim, 
quite  a  number  of  persons  have  made  substantial  profits  out 
of  it.  In  most  cases  it  has  been  traced  to  Limehouse  and  the 
region  of  the  London  Docks  or  other  seaports,  where  Conti- 
nental steamers  land,  on  the  East  Coast,  and  latterly  to  some 
of  the  big  seaports  like  Cardiff  and  Newcastle. 


246  POISON   MYSTERIES 

These  narcotics  are  rarely  alluded  to  by  those  who  trafific 
in  them  by  their  proper  names.  As  is  well  known,  cocaine 
is  generally  alluded  to  as  "  snow  "  or  "  C  "  ;  heroin  is  "  H  "  ; 
opium  is  alluded  to  as  "  Chandoo  "  or  "  Pop." 

Some  young  women  conceive  the  idea  that  drug-taking 
renders  them  more  mysterious  and  fascinating  ;  indeed,  vanity 
plays  a  considerable  part  with  many  at  the  beginning,  and 
human  curiosity  impels  the  victim  to  go  on.  The  beginner 
cannot  conceive  the  after-effect.  The  entire  moral  character 
appears  to  be  sapped  and  rendered  inert,  the  victims  sink  down 
unknown  to  themselves  to  the  lowest  depths  of  depravity  and 
degradation,  all  restraint  is  lost,  and  they  become  a  prey  to 
those  who  may  use  them  for  any  evil  purpose  at  will. 

Confirmed  drug-takers  cannot  be  cured  by  persuasion, 
argument  or  attempted  coercion,  but  they  wUl  have  the  drug 
or  they  will  die,  and  the  only  way  of  dealing  with  them  and 
preventing  the  drug  habit,  is  to  prevent  its  importation  into 
the  country. 

Insomnia  is  a  frequent  cause  of  the  formation  of  a 
poison  habit,  and  for  this  purpose  chloral  hydrate  is 
capable  of  producing  more  serious  results  than  any  other 
drug  of  its  class.  The  fact  that  it  accumulates  in  the  system, 
and  that  the  dose  needs  constantly  to  be  increased,  always 
renders  its  use  dangerous  in  unskilled  hands.  Many  gifted  men 
have  fallen  victims  to  the  habit,  among  others  Dante  Rossetti, 
who  seldom  was  without  a  bottle  of  the  narcotic  near  him. 
Latterly,  sulphonal  and  veronal,  drugs  derived  from  coal 
tar,  possessing  hypnotic  properties,  have  been  largely  taken  ; 
and  antipyrine,  also  a  popular  remedy  for  headache,  is  capable 
of  forming  a  pernicious  and  dangerous  habit.  The  practice 
of  self-dosing  with  drugs  of  this  description  cannot  be  too 
strongly  deprecated.  In  all  cases  they  should  only  be  taken 
when  ordered  by  a  medical  man. 

Some  people  form  a  curious  habit  of  taking  one  drug  till  at 
last  they  become  imbued  with  the  idea  that  that  only,  and 
nothing  else,  wiU  have  any  effect  on  them.  The  only  remedy 
Thomas  Carlyle  would  ever  take,  according  to  the  late  Sir  Richard 
Quain,  who  was  his  medical  adviser,  was  "Grey  Powder." 
"Grey  Powder,"  he  states,  "was  his  favourite  remedy  when  he 
had  that  wretched  dyspepsia  from  which  he  suffered,  and  which 


POISON   HABITS  247 

was  fully  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  he  was  particularly  fond 
of  very  nasty  gingerbread.  Many  times  I  have  seen  him, 
sitting  in  the  chimney  corner,  smoking  a  clay  pipe  and  eating 
this  gingerbread."  Oliver  Goldsmith  also  laboured  under 
the  confirmed  belief  that  the  only  medicine  that  would  have 
any  effect  on  him  was  "  James'  Powder."  He  doctored 
himself  with  this  favourite  nostrum  whenever  he  felt  unwell, 
and  believed  it  to  be  a  cure  for  all  his  ills. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
HASHISH   AND   HASHISH-EATERS 

HASHISH,  or  Bhang,  is  the  native  name  appHed  to  the 
dried  flowering  tops  of  the  Indian  hemp,  from  which 
the  resin  has  not  been  removed. 

This  plant,  cultivated  largely  in  India,  is  now  considered 
to  be  the  same,  botanically,  as  the  Cannabis  sativa  of  European 
cultivation ;  but  there  is  great  difference  in  their  medicinal 
activity,  that  growing  in  India  being  much  more  powerful. 
Ganja  is  the  native  name  for  one  part  of  the  plant,  and  Sidhi  for 
another  part,  which  is  much  poorer  in  resin.  The  resinous 
principle  is  called  churrus  or  char  as,  and  the  entire  plant, 
cut  during  inflorescence,  dried  in  the  sun  and  pressed  into 
bundles,  is  called  bhang. 

The  method  of  using  it  in  India  is  chiefly  for  smoking 
in  combination  with  tobacco.  For  this  purpose,  a  plug  of 
tobacco  is  first  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  bowl  of  the  pipe, 
on  the  top  a  small  piece  of  hashish,  and  over  this  a  piece  of 
glowing  charcoal.  Another  way  is  to  knead  the  drug  with  the 
tobacco  by  the  thumb  of  one  hand  and  working  it  in  the  palm 
ofTthe  other,  till  they  are  thoroughly  incorporated. 

In  India  both  ganja  and  churrus  are  used  for  smoking,  but  not 
bhang  or  sidhi.  In  India  the  habit  of  smoking  ganja  becomes 
part  of  a  man's  life.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  he  has  his 
smoke  daily  when  his  day's  labour  is  over,  and  during  the 
interval  when  he  cooks  his  evening  meal.  Under  extra- 
ordinary circumstances  he  takes  it  to  sustain  him  in  the  midst 
of  severe  or  prolonged  exertion.  It  does  not  (as  in  opium 
smoking)  affect  his  appetite,  but  enables  the  poorest  to  partake 
with  a  heartier  appetite  of  their  somewhat  uninviting  fare. 
It  does  not  affect  the  digestion  or  interfere  in  the  slightest 
degree  with  bodily  or  mental  health,  and  the  habit  does  not 

248 


HASHISH  AND  HASHISH -EATERS     249 

grow  on  the  votary.  Ganja-smoking  appears  to  be  only 
injurious  when  indulged  in  to  excess  by  those  who  lead 
sedentary  lives. 

Simple  infusions  of  the  leaves  and  flowering  tops  are  also 
much  used  for  drinking  purposes  by  old  and  young  in 
India,  the  alcoholic  form  being  a  most  active  and  dangerous 
intoxicant. 

The  drug  is  said  to  have  been  used  in  China  as  early  as 
the  year  220,  to  produce  insensibility  when  performing 
operations.  The  Persians  employed  it  in  the  Middle  Ages 
for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  pugnacity  and  fanaticism  of 
the  soldiers  during  the  wars  of  the  Crusades. 

In  1803  Visey,  a  French  scientist,  published  a  memoir  on 
hashish,  and  attempted  to  prove  that  it  was  the  nepenthe 
of  Homer ;  there  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  use  of 
the  drug  was  known  to  Galen. 

Silvestin  de  Lacy  contends  that  the  word  assassin  is 
derived  from  "  hashishin,"  a  name  given  to  a  wild  sect  of 
Mohammedans  who  committed  murder  under  its  influence. 

The  Chinese  herbal,  Rh-ya,  which  dates  from  about  the 
fifth  century  B.C.,  notices  the  fact  that  the  hemp  plant  is 
of  two  kinds,  the  one  producing  seeds  and  the  other  flowers 
only.  Herodotus  states  that  hemp  grows  in  Scythia  both  wild 
and  cultivated,  and  that  the  Thracians  made  garments  from 
it  which  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  linen.  He  also 
describes  "  how  the  Scythians  exposed  themselves  as  in  a  bath  " 
to  the  vapour  of  the  seeds  thrown  on  hot  coals. 

The  hemp  occurs  in  several  forms  and  is  known  under 
various  names.  Bhang  consists  of  the  entire  plant  dried 
and  mixed  with  a  few  fruits  and  is  of  a  dark  green  colour. 
It  has  a  peculiar  odour  but  little  taste.  Mixed  with  flour 
or  incorporated  with  sweetmeat  it  is  called  hashish.  It  is 
also  smoked  or  taken  infused  in  cold  water.  Ganja  consists 
exclusively  of  the  flowering  shoots  of  the  female  plant,  having 
a  compound  or  glutinous  appearance,  and  is  brownish-green 
in  colour.  Majun  is  a  term  applied  to  a  sweetmeat  or  confection, ' 
of  which  Indian  hemp  is  the  basis,  but  it  may  contain  nux 
vomica,  opium,  cantharides,  or  frequently  datura  seeds, 
according  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  intended,  whether  as 
an  aphrodisiac  or  a  criminal  excitant  or  deliriant. 


250  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Of  the  many  curious  experiences  that  have  been  written 
describing  the  effects  of  hashish,  perhaps  the  most  accurate 
is  that  given  by  Gautier,  in  which  he  relates  his  own  experience 
of  the  drug. 

"  The  OrientaHsts,"  he  states,  "  have,  in  consequence  of 
the  interdiction  of  wine,  sought  that  species  of  excitement 
which  the  Western  nations  derive  from  alcohohc  drinks." 
He  then  proceeds  to  state  how  a  few  minutes  after  swallowing 
some  of  the  preparation,  a  sudden  overwhelming  sensation 
took  possession  of  him.  It  appeared  to  him  that  his  body 
was  dissolved,  and  that  he  had  become  transparent.  He 
clearly  saw  in  his  stomach  the  hashish  he  had  swallowed, 
under  the  form  of  an  emerald,  from  which  a  thousand  little 
sparks  issued.  His  eyelashes  were  lengthened  indefinitely, 
and  rolled  like  threads  of  gold  around  ivory  baUs,  which 
turned  with  inconceivable  rapidity.  Around  him  were 
sparklings  of  precious  stones  of  all  colours,  changes  eternally 
produced,  like  the  play  of  a  kaleidoscope.  He  every  now  and 
then  saw  his  friends  who  were  around  him  disfigured  as  half 
men,  half  plants,  some  having  the  wings  of  the  ostrich,  which 
they  were  constantly  shaking.  So  strange  were  these  that 
he  burst  into  fits  of  laughter,  and,  to  join  in  the  apparent 
ridiculousness  of  the  affair,  he  began  by  throwing  the  cushions 
in  the  air,  catching  and  turning  them  with  the  rapidity  of 
an  Indian  juggler.  One  gentleman  spoke  to  him  in  Italian, 
which  the  hashish  transposed  into  Spanish.  After  a  few 
minutes  he  recovered  his  habitual  calmness,  without  any  bad 
effect,  and  only  with  feelings  of  astonishment  at  what  had 
passed.  Half  an  hour  had  scarcely  elapsed  before  he  again 
fell  under  the  influence  of  the  drug.  On  this  occasion  the 
vision  was  more  complicated  and  extraordinary.  In  the  air 
there  were  millions  of  butterflies,  confusedly  luminous, 
shaking  their  wings  like  fans.  Gigantic  flowers,  with  chalices 
of  crystal ;  large  peonies  upon  beds  of  gold  and  silver  rose 
and  surrounded  him  with  the  crackling  sound  that  accompanies 
the  explosion  in  the  air  of  fireworks.  His  hearing  had  acquired 
new^  power ;  it  was  enormously  developed.  He  heard  the 
noise  of  colours.  Green,  red,  blue,  yeUow  sounds  reached 
him  in  waves — a  glass  thrown  down,  the  creaking  of  a  sofa, 
a  word  pronounced  low,  vibrated  and  rolled  within  him  like 


HASHISH  AND   HASHISH-EATERS  251 

peals  of  thunder.  His  own  voice  sounded  so  loud  that  he 
feared  to  speak  lest  he  should  knock  down  the  walls  or  explode 
like  a  rocket.  More  than  five  hundred  clocks  struck  the  hour 
with  fleeting  silvery  voice,  and  every  object  touched  gave  a 
note  like  the  harmonica  or  the  iEolian  harp.  He  swam  in 
an  ocean  of  sound,  where  floated  like  aisles  of  light  some  of 
the  airs  of  "  Lucia  di  Lammermoor  "  and  the  "  Barber  of 
Seville."-  Never  did  similar  bliss  overwhelm  him  with  its 
waves ;  he  was  lost  in  a  wilderness  of  sweets  ;  he  was  not 
himself ;  he  was  relieved  from  consciousness,  that  feeling 
which  always  pervades  the  mind ;  and  for  the  first  time  he 
comprehended  what  might  be  the  state  of  elementary  beings, 
of  angels,  of  souls  separated  from  the  body.  AU  his  system 
seemed  infected  with  the  fantastic  colouring  in  which  he  was 
plunged.  Sounds,  perfume,  light,  reached  him  only  by 
minute  rays,  in  the  midst  of  which  he  heard  mystic  currents 
whistling  along.  According  to  his  calculation,  this  state 
lasted  about  three  hundred  years,  for  the  sensations  were 
so  numerous  and  so  hurried  one  upon  the  other,  that  a  real 
appreciation  of  time  was  impossible.  The  paroxysm  over, 
he  was  aware  that  it  had  only  lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Another  interesting  account  of  the  strange  hallucinations 
produced  by  the  drug  is  related  by  Dr.  Moreau,  who,  with  two 
friends,  experimented  with  hashish. 

"  At  first,"  he  states  "  I  thought  my  companions  were  less 
influenced  by  the  drug  than  myself.  Then,  as  the  effect,  I 
fancied  that  the  person  who  brought  me  the  dose  had  given 
me  some  of  more  active  quality.  This,  I  thought  to  myself, 
was  an  imprudence  and  the  involuntary  idea  presented  itself 
that  I  might  be  poisoned.  The  idea  became  fixed  ;  I  called 
out  loudly  to  Dr.  Roche,  '  You  are  an  assassin  ;  you  have 
poisoned  me  !  '  This  was  received  with  shouts  of  laughter, 
and  my  lamentations  excited  mirth.  I  struggled  for  some  time 
against  the  thought,  but  the  greater  the  effort  the  more  com- 
pletely did  it  overcome  me,  till  at  last  it  took  full  possession 
of  my  mind.  The  extravagant  conviction  now  came  upper- 
most that  I  was  dead,  and  upon  the  point  of  being  buried  ; 
my  soul  had  left  my  body.  In  a  few  minutes  I  had  gone 
through  all  the  stages  of  delirium." 

These  fixed  ideas  and  erroneous  convictions  are  apt  to  be 


252  POISON   MYSTERIES 

produced,  but  they  only  last  a  few  seconds,  unless  there  is 
any  physical  disorder. 

"  The  Orientalist,  when  he  indulges  in  hashish  retires  into 
the  depth  of  his  harem  ;  no  one  is  then  admitted  who  cannot 
contribute  to  his  enjoyment.  He  surrounds  himself  with 
his  dancing  girls,  who  perform  their  graceful  evolutions  before 
him  to  the  sound  of  music  ;  gradually  a  new  condition  of  the 
brain  allows  a  series  of  illusions,  arising  from  the  external 
senses,  to  present  themselves.  The  mind  becomes  overpow- 
ered by  the  brilliancy  of  gorgeous  visions  ;  discrimination, 
comparison,  reason,  yield  up  their  throne  to  dreams  and 
phantoms  which  exhilarate  and  delight. 

"  The  mind  tries  to  understand  what  is  the  cause  of  the 
new  delight,  but  it  is  in  vain.  It  seems  to  know  there  is  no 
reality." 

Hardly  two  people  experience  the  same  results  from  hashish. 
Upon  some  it  has  little  effect,  while  upon  others,  especially 
women,  it  exerts  extraordinary  power.  While  one  person 
says  he  imagined  his  body  endowed  with  such  elasticity  that 
he  fancied  he  could  enter  into  a  bottle  and  remain  there  at  his 
ease,  another  fancied  he  had  become  the  piston  of  a  steam 
engine  ;  under  the  influence  of  the  drug  the  ear  lends  itself 
more  to  the  illusion  than  any  other  sense.  Its  first  effect  is 
one  of  intense  exhilaration,  almost  amounting  to  delirium  ; 
power  of  thought  is  soon  lost,  and  the  victim  laughs,  cries 
and  sings  or  dances,  all  the  time  imagining  he  is  acting 
rationally.  The  second  stage  is  one  of  dreamy  enjoyment 
followed  by  a  dead  stupor. 

Of  the  ordinary  physical  effects  of  hashish,  the  first  is  a 
feeling  of  slight  compression  of  the  temporal  bones  and  upper 
parts  of  the  head.  The  respiration  is  gentle,  the  pulse  is 
increased,  and  a  gentle  heat  is  felt  all  over  the  surface  of  the 
body.  There  is  a  sense  of  weight  about  the  fore  part  of  the 
arms,  and  an  occasional  slight  involuntary  motion,  as  if  to 
seek  relief  from  it.  There  is  a  feeling  of  discomfort  about  the 
extremities,  creating  a  feeling  of  uneasiness,  and  if  the  dose 
has  been  too  large  the  usual  symptoms  of  poisoning  by  Indian 
hemp  show  themselves.  Flushes  of  heat  seem  to  ascend  to 
the  head,  even  to  the  brain,  which  create  considerable  alarm. 


HASHISH  AND   HASHISH-EATERS  253 

Singing  in  the  ears  is  complained  of ;  then  comes  on  a  state 
of  anxiety,  almost  of  anguish,  with  a  sense  of  constriction 
about  the  chest.  The  individual  fancies  he  hears  the  beating 
of  his  heart  with  unaccustomed  loudness  ;  but  throughout 
the  whole  period  it  is  the  nervous  system  that  is  affected, 
and  in  this  way  the  drug  differs  materially  froiTi  opium,  whose 
action  on  the  muscular  and  digestive  systems  is  most  marked. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Indian  hemp  fails  to  produce 
the  same  intoxicating  effects  in  this  country  that  it  does 
in  warmer  climates,  and  whether  this  is  due  to  the  loss 
of  some  volatile  principle  or  difference  in  temperature  it  is 
not  yet  determined.  But  would-be  experimentalists  in  the 
effects  of  hashish  would  do  well  to  remember  that  it  may  not 
be  indulged  in  with  impunity,  and  most  authorities  agree 
that  the  brain  becomes  eventually  disordered  with  frequent 
indulgence  in  the  drug  even  in  India.  It  further  becomes 
weakened  and  incapable  of  separating  the  true  from  the  false  ; 
frequent  intoxication  leads  to  a  condition  of  delirium,  and 
usually  of  a  dangerous  nature  ;  the  moral  nature  becomes 
numbed,  and  the  victim  at  last  becomes  unfit  to  pursue  his 
ordinary  avocation.  It  is  stated  by  those  who  have  had 
considerable  experience  in  its  use,  that  even  during  the  dream 
of  joy  there  is  a  consciousness  that  all  is  illusion  ;  there  is 
at  no  period  a  belief  that  anything  that  dances  before  the 
senses  or  plays  upon  the  imagination  is  real,  and  that  when 
the  mind  recovers  its  equilibrium  it  knows  that  all  is  but  a 
phantasm. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
POISONS   IN   FICTION 

POISON  mysteries  have  ever  been  a  favourite  theme  with 
writers  of  fiction  ;  but  unfortunately  the  scientific  know- 
ledge of  novelists  is  as  a  rule  of  a  very  limited  description,  and' 
the  effects  attributed  by  them  to  certain  drugs  are  often  as 
fabulous  as  the  romances  of  olden  times.  They  teU  us  of 
mysterious  poisons  of  untold  power,  an  infinitesimal  quantity 
of  which  will  cause  instantaneous  death  without  leaving  a  trace 
behind.  They  describe  anaesthetics  so  powerful  that  a  whiff 
from  a  bottle  is  sufficient  to  produce  immediate  insensibility 
for  any  period  desired.  In  fact,  novelists  have  a  pharma- 
copoeia of  their  own.  After  all,  why  should  we  question 
the  effects  of  the  drugs  of  their  imagination,  and  attempt 
to  analyse  them  in  the  prosaic  test  tube  of  modern  science  ;  for 
take  away  the  marvels  and  the  mysteries  and  you  kill  the 
romance.  The  novel  performs  its  mission  if  it  succeeds  in 
interesting  and  amusing  us,  and  the  story-teller  has  accom- 
plished the  object  of  his  art  when  he  is  successful  in  weaving 
the  possible  with  the  impossible,  so  that  we  can  scarce  per- 
ceive it. 

That  master  of  fiction,  Dumas,  gives  us  an  instance  of 
this  in  his  ever-fascinating  adventures  of  the  Count  of  Monte 
Cristo.  Nothing  seems  impossible  to  this  extraordinary 
individual,  and  incident  after  incident  of  the  most  romantic 
nature  crowd  one  upon  another  throughout  the  story ;  yet 
it  is  all  so  beautifully  blended  by  the  wonderful  imagination 
of  the  author  that  it  enthrals  us  to  the  end.  The  Count, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  studied  the  art  of  medicine  in  the 
East,  has  always  a  remedy  at  hand  for  every  emergency, 
from  hashish,  in  which  he  is  a  profound  believer,  to  his  mys- 
terious stimulating  elixir,  described  as  "  of  the  colour  of  blood, 

254 


POISONS   IN   FICTION  255 

preserved  in  a  phial  of  Bohemian  glass."  A  single  drop  of 
this  marvellous  fluid,  if  allowed  to  fall  on  the  lips,  will,  almost 
before  it  reaches  them,  restore  the  marble  and  inanimate 
form  to  life.  His  pill-boxes  were  composed  of  emeralds  and 
precious  stones  of  huge  size,  and  their  contents  consisted  of 
drugs  whose  effects  were  beyond  conception.  His  knowledge 
of  chemistry  and  toxicology  is  equally  astonishing,  as  instanced 
in  the  conversation  he  holds  with  Madame  de  ViUefort,  who, 
for  nefarious  purposes,  desires  to  improve  her  knowledge  of 
poisons.  Monte  Cristo  discourses  on  the  poisonous  proper- 
ties of  brucine,  a  drug  rarely  used  in  England,  but  largely 
employed  in  France. 

"  Suppose,"  says  the  Count,  "  you  were  to  take  a  mille- 
gramme  of  this  poison  the  first  day,  two  millegrammes  the 
second  day,  and  so  on.  Well,  at  the  end  of  ten  days  you  would 
have  taken  a  centigramme  :  at  the  end  of  twenty  days, 
increasing  another  millegramme,  you  would  have  taken  three 
hundred  centigrammes  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  dose  you  would 
support  without  inconvenience,  and  which  would  be  very 
dangerous  for  any  other  person  who  had  not  taken  the  same 
precautions  as  yourself.  Well  then,  at  the  end  of  the  month, 
when  drinking  water  from  the  same  carafe,  you  would  kill  the 
person  who  had  drunk  this  water,  without  your  perceiving 
otherwise  than  from  slight  inconvenience  that  there  was  any 
poisonous  substance  mingled  with  the  water." 

The  Count  thus  explains  the  doctrine  of  immunity  from 
a  poison,  by  accustoming  the  system  to  its  effect  in  small 
doses  for  a  length  of  time,  a  process  which  is  actually  possible 
with  some  drugs,  but  not  with  all.  His  satirical  description 
of  the  bungling  of  the  common  poisoner,  as  compared  to  the 
fine  subtlety  and  cunning  he  advocates,  is  also  worth  quoting  : 

"  Amongst  us  a  simpleton,  possessed  by  the  demon  of  hate 
or  cupidity,  who  has  an  enemy  to  destroy,  or  some  near  rela- 
tion to  dispose  of,  goes  straight  to  the  grocer's  or  druggist's, 
gives  a  false  name,  which  leads  more  easily  to  his  detection 
than  his  real  one,  and  purchases,  under  a  pretext  that  the  rats 
prevent  him  from  sleeping,  five  or  six  pennyworth  of  arsenic. 
If  he  is  really  a  cunning  fellow  he  goes  to  five  or  six  different 
druggists  or  grocers,  and  thereby  becomes  only  five  or  six 
times  more  easily  traced  ;    then,  when  he  has  acquired  his 


256  POISON   MYSTERIES 

specific,  he  administers  duly  to  his  enemy  or  near  kinsman  a 
dose  of  arsenic  which  would  make  a  mammoth  or  mastodon 
burst,  and  which,  without  rhyme  or  reason,  makes  his  victim' 
utter  groans  which  alarm  the  whole  neighbourhood.  Then 
arrive  a  crowd  of  policemen  and  constables.  They  fetch  a 
doctor,  who  opens  the  dead  body,  and  collects  from  the  en- 
trails and  stomach  a  quantity  of  arsenic  in  a  spoon.  Next 
day  a  hundred  newspapers  relate  the  fact,  with  the  names  of 
the  victim  and  the  murderer.  The  same  evening  the  grocer  or 
grocers,  druggist  or  druggists,  come  and  say  :  '  It  was  I  sold  the 
arsenic  to  the  gentleman  accused,'  and  rather  than  not  recog- 
nize the  guilty  purchaser,  they  will  recognize  twenty.  Then 
the  foolish  criminal  is  taken,  imprisoned,  interrogated,  con- 
fronted, confounded,  condemned,  and  cut  off  by  hemp  or 
steel ;  or,  if  she  be  a  woman  of  any  consideration,  they  lock 
her  up  for  life.  This  is  the  way  in  which  you  northerners 
understand  chemistry." 

And  so  he  endeavours  to  incite  a  woman,  who  is  already 
anxiously  contemplating  a  series  of  terrible  crimes. 

The  recital  of  the  ingenious  experiments  of  the  Abbe 
Adelmonte  is  a  piece  of  clever  construction,  as  the  quotation 
will  show. 

"  The  Abbe,"  said  Monte  Cristo,  "  had  a  remarkably  fine 
garden  full  of  vegetables,  flowers  and  fruit.  From  among 
these  vegetables  he  selected  the  most  simple — a  cabbage, 
for  instancy.  For  three  days  he  watered  this  cabbage  with  a 
distillation  of  arsenic  ;  on  the  third,  the  cabbage  began  to 
droop  and  turn  yellow.  At  that  moment  he  cut  it.  In  the 
eyes  of  everybody  it  seemed  fit  for  table,  and  preserved  its 
wholesome  appearance.  It  was  only  poisoned  to  the  Abbe 
Adelmonte.  He  then  took  the  cabbage  to  the  room  where  he 
had  rabbits,  for  the  Abbe  Adelmonte  had  a  collection  of 
rabbits,  cats  and  guinea-pigs,  equally  fine  as  his  collection  of 
vegetables,  flowers,  and  fruit.  Well,  the  Abbe  Adelmonte 
took  a  rabbit  and  made  it  eat  a  leaf  out  of  the  cabbage.  The 
rabbit  died.  What  magistrate  would  find  or  even  venture  to 
insinuate  anything  against  this  ?  What  procureur  du  roi 
has  ever  ventured  to  draw  up  an  accusation  against  M. 
Majendie  or  M.  Flourens,  in  consequence  of  the  rabbits,  cats 
and  guinea-pigs  they  have  killed.  Not  one.  So,  then,  the 
rabbit  dies,  and  justice  takes  no  notice.  This  rabbit  dead, 
the  Abbe  Adelmonte  has  its  entrails  taken  out  by  his  cook  and 


POISONS   IN  FICTION  257 

thrown  on  the  dunghill ;  on  this  dunghill  was  a  hen,  who, 
pecking  these  intestines,  was,  in  her  turn,  taken  ill,  and  dies 
next  day.  At  the  moment  when  she  was  struggling  in  the 
convulsions  of  death,  a  vulture  was  flying  by  (there  are  a  good 
many  vultures  in  Adelmonte's  country)  ;  this  bird  darts  on 
the  dead  bird  and  carries  it  away  to  a  rock,  where  it  dines  off 
its  prey.  Three  days  afterwards  this  poor  vulture,  who  has 
been  very  much  indisposed  since  that  dinner,  feels  very  giddy 
suddenly  whilst  flying  aloft  in  the  clouds,  and  falls  heavily 
into  a  fish-pond.  The  pike,  eels,  and  carp  eat  greedily  always, 
as  everybody  knows — well,  they  feast  on  the  vulture.  Well, 
suppose  the  next  day,  one  of  these  eels,  or  pike,  or  carp  is 
served  at  your  table,  poisoned  as  they  are  to  the  third  genera- 
tion. Well  then,  your  guest  will  be  poisoned  in  the  fifth 
generation,  and  die  at  the  end  of  eight  or  ten  days,  of  pains 
in  the  intestines,  sickness,  or  abscess  of  the  pylorus.  The 
doctors  open  the  body,  and  say,  with  an  air  of  profound  learn- 
ing, '  The  subject  has  died  of  a  tumour  on  the  liver,  or  typhoid 
fever.'  " 

After  attempting  to  kill  half  the  household  with  brucine, 
Madame  de  Villefort  changes  her  particular  poison  for  a  simple 
narcotic,  recognized  by  Monte  Cristo  (who  in  this  instance 
frustrates  the  murder)  as  being  dissolved  in  alcohol.  The 
name  of  the  latter  poison  is  not  told  us  by  the  novelist,  but 
on  the  doctor's  examination  of  the  suspected  liquid  we  read, 
"  He  took  from  its  silver  case  a  small  bottle  of  nitric  acid, 
dropped  a  little  of  it  into  the  liquor,  which  immediately 
changed  to  a  blood-red  colour." 

Perhaps  the  most  curious  method  of  poisoning  ever  used 
in  fiction  is  that  introduced  by  James  Payn  in  his  novel 
called  Halves.  The  poisoner  uses  finely  chopped  horsehair 
as  a  medium  of  getting  rid  of  her  niece.  In  this  way  she 
brings  on  a  disease  which  puzzles  the  doctor,  until  one  day 
he  comes  across  the  would-be  murderess  pulling  the  horsehair 
out  of  the  drawing-room  sofa,  which  causes  him  to  suspect 
her  at  once.  This  ingenious  lady  introduced  the  chopped 
horsehair  into  the  pepper  pot  used  by  her  victim. 

The  inimitable  Count  Fosco,  whom  Wilkie  Collins  introduces 
into  The  Woman  in  White,  was  supposed  to  possess  a  remarkable 
knowledge  of  chemistry,  although  he  says,  "  Only  twice  did 
I  call  my  science  to  my  aid,"  in  working  out  his  plot  to  abduct 

R 


258  POISON  MYSTERIES 

Lady  Glide.  His  media  were  simple  :  "A  medicated  glass 
of  water  and  a  medicated  bottle  of  smelling  salts  relieved  her 
of  all  further  embarrassment  and  alarm."  This  genial  villain 
waxes  eloquent  on  the  science  of  chemistry  in  his  confession. 
"  Chemistry,"  he  exclaims,  "  has  always  had  irresistible 
attractions  for  me  from  the  enormous,  the  illimitable  power 
which  the  knowledge  of  it  confers.  Chemists — I  assert  it 
emphatically^ — might  sway,  if  they  pleased,  the  destinies  of 
humanity.  Mind,  they  say,  rules  the  world.  But  what 
rules  the  mind  ?  The  body  (follow  me  closely  here)  lies  at 
the  mercy  of  the  most  omnipotent  of  all  potentates — the 
chemist.  Give  me — Fosco- — chemistry  ;  and  when  Shake- 
speare has  conceived  Hamlet,  and  sits  down  to  execute  the 
conception- — with  a  few  grains  of  powder  dropped  into  his 
daily  food,  I  will  reduce  his  mind,  by  the  actions  of  his  body, 
till  his  pen  pours  out  the  most  abject  drivel  that  has  ever 
degraded  paper.  Under  similar  circumstances  revive  me  the 
illustrious  Newton.  I  guarantee  that  when  he  sees  the  apple 
fall  he  shall  eat  it,  instead  of  discovering  the  principle  of 
gravitation.  Nero's  dinner  shall  transform  Nero  into  the 
mildest  of  men  before  he  has  done  digesting  it,  and  the  morning 
draught  of  Alexander  the  Great  shall  make  Alexander  run 
for  his  life  at  the  first  sight  of  the  enemy  the  same  after- 
noon. On  my  sacred  word  of  honour  it  is  lucky  for  society 
that  modern  chemists  are,  by  incomprehensible  good  fortune, 
the  most  harmless  of  mankind.  The  mass  are  worthy  fathers 
of  families,  who  keep  shops.  The  few  are  philosophers  besotted 
with  admiration  for  the  sound  of  their  own  lecturing  voices, 
visionaries  who  waste  their  lives  on  fantastic  impossibilities, 
or  quacks  whose  ambition  soars  no  higher  than  our  corns." 
In  Armadale  the  same  novelist  introduces  us  to  a  poisoner 
of  the  deepest  dye  in  the  person  of  Miss  Gwilt.  This  fair 
damsel,  whose  auburn  locks  seemed  to  have  possessed  an 
irresistible  attraction  for  the  opposite  sex,  was  addicted  to 
taking  laudanum  to  soothe  her  troubled  nerves,  and  first 
tried  to  mix  a  dose  with  some  lemonade  she  had  prepared 
for  her  husband's  namesake  and  friend,  whom  she  wished  out 
of  the  way.  This  attempt  failing,  and  a  second  one,  to  scuttle 
a  yacht  in  which  he  was  sailing,  proving  futile  also,  he  was 
finally  lured  to  a  sanatorium  in  London  where  she  had  arranged 


POISONS   IN   FICTION  259 

for  him  to  be  placed  in  a  room  into  which  a  poisonous  gas 
(presumably  carbonic  acid)  was  to  be  passed.  At  the  last 
moment  she  discovers  her  husband  has  taken  the  place  of 
her  victim,  and  in  revulsion  of  feeling  she  rescues  him,  and 
ends  her  own  life  instead  in  the  poisoned  chamber.  According 
to  the  story,  the  medical  investigation  which  followed  the 
tragedy  ended  in  discovering  that  she  had  died  of  apoplexy  ; 
a  fact  which,  had  it  occurred  in  real  life,  would  not  have 
redounded  to  the  credit  of  the  medical  men  who  conducted  it. 

The  heroine  of  Benson's  novel.  The  Rtihicon,  poisons  herself 
with  prussic  acid  of  unheard-of  strength,  which  she  discovers 
among  some  photographic  chemicals. 

Miss  Helen  Mathers,  in  one  of  her  novels,  The  Sin  of 
Hagar,  a  story  warranted  to  thrill  the  soul  of  "  Sweet  Seven- 
teen," makes  some  extraordinary  discoveries  which  will  be 
new  to  chemists.  For  instance,  she  tells  us  of  strychnine 
that  actually  discolours  a  glass  of  whisky  and  water.  One 
of  the  characters,  a  frisky  old  dowager,  professes  to  be  an 
amateur  chemist,  and  this  lady,  we  are  gravely  informed  by 
the  novelist,  "  detects  the  presence  of  the  strychnine  in  the 
glass  of  whisky  and  water  at  a  glance." 

But  Miss  Mathers  has  still  another  poison,  whose  properties 
will  doubtless  be  a  revelation  to  scientists,  and  it  is  with  this 
marvellous  body  the  "  double-dyed  villainess  "  of  the  story 
puts  an  end  to  her  woes.  For  convenience  she  carries  it 
about  with  her  concealed  in  a  ring,  and  when  at  last  she 
decides  on  committing  suicide,  we  are  told  "  she  simply 
placed  the  ring  to  her  lips,  a  strange  odour  spread  through 
the  room,  and  she  instantly  lay  dead." 

Even  the  experienced  writer  of  sensational  fiction  may 
often  go  beyond  the  point  of  probability  into  impossibility 
when  describing  the  use  of  poisons.  In  a  story  recently 
published,  a  well-known  novelist  describes  a  burglar  who  is 
caught  by  a  policeman  slipping  out  of  a  house  in  the  night. 
A  terrible  struggle  ensues,  with  the  result  that  they  rolled 
struggling  into  the  gutter,  the  policeman  shouting  for  assis- 
tance. The  burglar's  right  hand  flies  to  his  jacket  pocket, 
then  swiftly  to  the  face  of  his  captor  who  almost  instantly 
relaxes  his  hold  and  becomes  unconscious.  It  is  revealed 
afterwards  that  the  prisoner  had   smashed  in  his  fingers  a 


26o  POISON   MYSTERIES 

small  capsule  which  released  an  asphyxiating  gas ;  this 
must  indeed  have  been  of  great  potency  to  be  enclosed 
in  a  capsule  to  be  held  between  the  fingers  and  render  an 
individual  insensible  in  a  few  seconds.  The  effect  of  the  gas, 
too,  must  have  been  terrible,  as  we  are  told  that  the  constable 
remained  asleep  in  the  front  garden  till  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  The  nearest  policeman  was  unable  to  move  him, 
but  he  had  to  be  removed  in  an  ambulance  and  when 
brought  to  the  station  was  thought  to  be  intoxicated  until 
the  divisional  sergeant  pronounced  that  he  had  been  gassed. 

Certainly,  the  novelist  has  exceeded  the  scientist  in  pro- 
ducing a  gas  that  would  have  proved  invaluable  during  the 
Great  War. 

A  final  instance  of  the  poison  of  fiction  may  be  quoted 
from  a  recently  published  novel  in  which  the  heroine,  a  houri 
of  the  East,  is  abducted  by  a  fierce  renegade  Englishman  and 
carried  off  into  the  desert. 

She  escapes  from  him,  however,  by  the  aid  of  a  wonderful 
ring  she  wears,  described  by  the  novelist  as  "  a  great  hollow 
jewel  of  ancient  gold  set  with  a  green  diamond."  It  contained, 
we  are  told,  "  a  poisonous  drug  of  which  two  or  three  grains 
in  coffee  finished  off  the  lady's  abductor  and  drugged  fifty 
others,  and  so  she  escaped." 

On  the  stage,  "  poisoning "  has  gone  somewhat  out  of 
fashion  with  modern  dramatists,  although  it  was  a  common 
thing  in  years  gone  by  for  the  villain  of  the  play  to  swallow 
a  cup  of  cold  poison  in  the  last  act,  and  after  several  dying 
speeches  to  fall  suddenly  flat  on  his  back  and  die  to  slow 
music.  The  death  of  Cleopatra,  described  by  Shakespeare 
as  resulting  from  the  bite  of  a  venomous  snake,  is  like  no 
clinical  description  of  the  final  effects  of  death  from  the  bite 
of  any  known  snake. 

Beverley,  in  "  The  Gamester,"  takes  a  dose  of  strong 
poison  in  the  fifth  act,  and  afterwards  makes  several  fairly 
long  speeches  before  he  apparently  feels  the  effects,  and  finally 
succumbs.  The  description  of  the  death  of  Juliet,  which 
Shakespeare,  in  all  probability,  conceived  from  reading  the 
effects  that  followed  the  drinking  of  morion  or  mandragora 
wine,  is  an  accurate  description  of  death  from  that  drug. 
The  use  of  this  anodyne  preparation  to  deaden  pain  dates 


POISONS   IN   FICTION  261 

from  ancient  times,  and  it  is  stated  it  was  a  common  practice 
for  women  to  administer  it  to  those  about  to  suffer  the  penalty 
of  the  law  by  being  crucified.  We  have  another  instance  of 
the  fabulous  effects  ascribed  to  poisons  by  the  early  play- 
wrights, in  Massinger's  play,  "  The  Duke  of  Milan."  Francisco 
dusts  over  a  plant  some  poisonous  powder  and  hands  it  to 
Eugenia.  Ludovico  approaches,  and  kisses  the  lady's  hand 
but  twice,  and  then  dies  from  the  effects  of  the  poison. 

Sufficient  eccentricities  of  this  kind  in  fiction  might  be 
enumerated  to  fill  a  volume,  but  we  must  forbear.  It  is 
perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the  lady  novelist  is  the 
greatest  sinner  in  this  respect,  and  that  stranger  poisons  are 
evolved  from  her  fertile  brain  than  were  ever  known  to  man. 


PART   II 
POISON  MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  MYSTERY   OF  LAWFORD   HALL— THE 
STRANGE  CASE  OF  ELIZABETH  FENNING 

IN  the  spring  of  the  year  1780,  the  quiet  hamlet  of  Little 
Lawford  in  Warwickshire,  situated  about  three  miles 
from  Rugby,  was  the  scene  of  a  tragedy  which  aroused  great 
interest  not  only  in  the  immediate  locality,  but  throughout 
the  country. 

At  that  time  there  lived  at  Lawford  Hall  Sir  Theodosius 
Boughton,  a  young  baronet  who  had  not  yet  attained  his 
majority,  together  with  his  mother,  his  only  sister  and  her 
husband,  Captain  Donellan,  a  half-pay  officer. 

The  career  of  the  latter  gentleman,  who  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  story,  had  been  an  eventful  one.  In  1757  he  was 
gazetted  as  a  subaltern  in  the  39th  Regiment,  then  stationed 
in  Madras  on  foreign  service.  There  he  entered  the  East 
India  Company's  service  and  joined  in  an  expedition  against 
Masulipatam  in  1758,  and  was  wounded  in  action  after  the 
taking  of  that  place.  Trouble,  however,  arose  over  the  ques- 
tion of  certain  loot  that  had  been  taken  from  the  merchants  ; 
Donellan  was  court-martialled,  sentenced  to  be  discharged 
from  the  service,  and  returned  to  England. 

On  his  return  his  ambition  was  to  shine  as  a  beau  in  society. 
Dress  and  gaming  are  said  to  have  occupied  his  whole  atten- 
tion, and  he  eventually  became  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  at  the 
Pantheon,  in  Oxford  Street,  London,  then  a  fashionable  resort 
for  dancing  much  frequented  by  Society. 

Here,  it  is  probable,  he  met  and  wooed  Miss  Boughton, 
whom  he  married,  and  a  year  after  the  couple  came  to  live  at 
Lawford  Hall  with  Lady  Boughton.  At  this  time  young  Sir 
Theodosius  was  finishing  his  education.  After  leaving  Eton 
he  had  lived  for  a  couple  of  years  with  a  tutor,  and  then  came 
home  to  Lawford  to  settle  down  with  his  family. 

265 


266  POISON   MYSTERIES 

He  was  a  young  fellow  of  high  spirits  and  fond  of  outdoor 
sports,  but  like  other  young  men  of  his  class  at  that  time  he 
was  inclined  to  live  a  fast  life,  and  this  had  told  more  or  less 
upon  his  health. 

From  the  time  of  his  residence  at  home,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  he  did  not  get  on  well  with  his  brother-in-law. 
Captain  Donellan,  and  the  latter  appears  to  have  adopted  a 
patronizing  attitude  towards  the  young  man  while  living  in 
his  house.  According  to  his  father's  will  Sir  Theodosius  did 
not  come  into  his  property,  which  was  worth  about  £2,000  a 
year,  until  he  was  twenty-one,  and  meanwhile  he  was  under 
the  guardianship  of  Sir  Edmund  Wheeler,  an  old  friend  who 
lived  eight  miles  away  from  Lawford.  According  to  the  will, 
should  he  die  before  attaining  his  majority,  his  sister,  Mrs. 
DoneUan,  was  to  benefit  largely  from  the  estate. 

Matters  had  gone  thus  for  nearly  two  years  when  Sir  Theo- 
dosius, as  the  result  of  his  former  gay  life,  became  unwell  and 
placed  himself  under  the  care  of  an  apothecary  in  Rugby. 

Donellan,  who  became  aware  of  this,  talked  a  good  deal  to 
various  friends,  remarking  that  the  young  man  was  ruining 
his  health,  that  his  life  was  not  worth  a  year's  purchase,  and 
that  he  could  not  possibly  live  if  he  did  not  take  more  care. 

The  young  baronet,  however,  appeared  in  good  health  and 
spirits,  but. the  conditions  of  life  became  so  unpleasant  at  the 
Hall  that  he  at  length  decided  to  go  and  stay  with  a  friend 
in  Northampton  until  he  came  of  age. 

About  five  o'clock  on  a  Tuesday  afternoon,  August  29,  1780, 
Sir  Theodosius,  accompanied  by  several  of  his  menservants, 
set  off  down  to  the  river  on  a  fishing  expedition.  During  his 
absence  a  dose  of  medicine  in  the  form  of  a  draught  was 
delivered  at  the  Hall  from  Mr.  Powell,  the  apothecary,  which 
was  to  be  taken  by  the  young  man  the  first  thing  on  the 
following  morning.  The  bottle  was  taken  upstairs  and 
placed  on  a  shelf  in  his  bedroom.  Soon  after  Sir  Theodosius 
had  set  out,  his  mother,  Lady  Boughton,  and  Mrs.  Donellan 
went  into  the  grounds  to  take  the  air  and  remained  in  the 
garden  some  hours.  About  seven  o'clock  they  were  joined 
in  their  walk  by  Captain  Donellan,  who  remarked  that  he  had 
been  fishing  with  Sir  Theodosius,  and  that  he  was  afraid  if 
he  stayed  out  so  long  in  the  damp  he  would  take  cold.     Sir 


THE  MYSTERY   DF  LAWFORD   HALL         267 

Theodosius,   however,   returned   home   all   right,    somewhat 
later  and,  after  having  supper,  retired  to  bed. 

At  six  in  the  morning  a  servant  called  him,  and  he  got  out 
of  bed  and  spoke  to  him.  An  hour  later  his  mother  went  into 
his  bedroom  to  remind  him  about  taking  his  medicine.  He 
asked  her  to  give  it  to  him,  and  she,  taking  it  from  the  shelf, 
poured  the  contents  into  a  cup  and  gave  it  to  him.  He 
swallowed  about  half  and  complained  that  it  tasted  so  nause- 
ous he  would  be  unable  to  retain  it.  He  ,handed  the  cup 
back  to  his  mother  who  smelt  it  and  was  struck  with  the 
powerful  smell  of  bitter  almonds,  but  gave  it  back  to  him 
again.  Sir  Theodosius  then  swallowed  the  remainder  and 
lay  down,  but  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  taken  very  ill  with 
vomiting.  On  his  becoming  more  composed  Lady  Boughton 
left  him  for  about  ten  minutes,  thinking  he  would  sleep.  On 
returning  to  his  room  she  found  him  collapsed  and  foaming  at 
the  mouth.  Struck  with  alarm  at  his  condition  she  sent  a 
servant  for  the  apothecary  and  to  call  Captain  Donellan. 
The  latter  came  in  a  few  minutes,  and  on  his  entering  the  room 
Lady  Boughton  exclaimed  :  "  Here  is  a  terrible  affair,  I  have 
given  my  son  something  that  was  wrong  instead  of  what  the 
apothecary  sent.  I  am  sure  it  would  have  killed  a  dog." 
Donellan  replied,  "  Why  the  devil  did  Mr.  Powell  send  such  a 
medicine  ?  Where  is  the  bottle  ?  "  Lady  Boughton  pointed 
to  it  on  the  mantelpiece  and  Donellan  at  once  took  it  up, 
poured  some  water  into  it,  shook  and  rinsed  it  and  emptied 
the  contents  into  a  basin  of  dirty  water  standing  near. 

Astonished  at  his  action  Lady  Boughton  said,  "  Good 
God,  what  are  you  doing  ?  Let  everything  remain  just  in 
the  same  place  until  Mr.  Powell  the  apothecary  arrives." 
Donellan  made  no  reply,  but  took  an  empty  phial  which  had 
contained  a  previous  draught  which  was  also  standing  on 
the  same  shelf  and  rinsed  that  out  in  the  same  way,  then, 
calling  a  servant,  ordered  her  to  take  the  basin  away,  in  spite 
of  Lady  Boughton's  remonstrance. 

Meanwhile  Sir  Theodosius  lay  dying,  and  expired  in  about 
thirty  minutes. 

Some  time  elapsed  before  Mr.  Powell  arrived,  and  he  was 
taken  up  to  the  room  by  Donellan,  who  explained  to  him  that 
Sir  Theodosius  had  been  out  late  fishing  the  previous  night. 


268  POISON   MYSTERIES 

and  had  no  doubt  taken  cold,  which  had  caused  his  death. 
He  made  no  mention  of  the  effect  of  the  draught,  but  told 
him  the  young  man  had  died  in  convulsions.  The  apothecary 
apparently  offered  no  solution  as  to  the  cause  of  death  and 
left  the  house. 

The  same  morning  that  Sir  Theodosius  died  Donellan  wrote 
to  Sir  William  Wheeler,  his  guardian,  informing  him  of  his 
death,  and  stating  that  he  had  been  under  the  care  of  Mr. 
Powell,  of  Rugby,  for  a  similar  complaint  to  that  which  he  had 
had  at  Eton.  Within  a  day  or  two,  however,  rumours  of 
foul  play  became  current  and  Sir  WiUiam  Wheeler  communi- 
cated these  to  Donellan  and  insisted  that  to  allay  public 
suspicion  a  post-mortem  examination  should  be  made.  He 
named  a  Dr.  Rattray  and  two  surgeons,  Messrs.  Wilmer 
and  Snow,  whom  he  desired  to  conduct  the  examination. 
These  gentlemen  were  accordingly  sent  for  and  arrived  at 
Lawford  Hall  on  Monday  evening,  September  4.  They  were 
received  by  Captain  Donellan,  who,  after  some  conversation, 
showed  them  to  the  room.  The  body  of  the  unfortunate 
young  man  being  in  an  advanced  state  of  decomposition,  the 
doctors  showed  reluctance  to  proceed  with  the  autopsy,  and 
after  a  cursory  examination  they  left  the  Hall  without  coming 
to  any  satisfactory  conclusion,  nothing  having  been  said  to 
them  by  DoneUan  of  any  suspicion  of  foul  play. 

DoneUan  then  wrote  to  Sir  William  Wheeler  stating  that 
the  doctors  had  fully  satisfied  the  family,  but  Sir  William 
was  still  dissatisfied,  and  on  hearing  that  no  actual  post- 
mortem had  been  made,  insisted  that  two  other  surgeons, 
viz.  Messrs.  Bucknell  and  Snow,  should  examine  the  remains. 
On  their  arrival,  however,  DoneUan  again  circumvented  their 
intentions  and  the  body  was  duly  interred.  This  increased 
the  rumours  instead  of  dispelling  them,  and  eventually  the 
coroner  of  the  district  was  informed  of  the  case  and  he  decided 
to  hold  an  inquiry. 

The  inquest  lasted  three  days,  and  on  the  last  day  Donellan 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  coroner  in  which  he  stated  that  Sir 
Theodosius  used  to  procure  arsenic  to  kiU  rats,  and  frequently 
bought  as  much  as  a  pound  at  a  time,  also  that  he  used  to 
make  large  quantities  of  Goulard  Water. 

This  was  to  account  for  the  suspicion  of  poisoning  which 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  LAWFORD   HALL         269 

was  now  rife.  After  hearing  the  evidence  the  coroner  ordered 
that  the  body  should  be  exhumed.  On  Saturday  morning, 
September  9,  the  body  was  removed  from  the  vault  and  placed 
in  the  churchyard.  About  five  hundred  people  had  collected 
to  witness  the  gruesome  sight,  which  in  those  days  was  con- 
ducted in  public.  When  all  was  ready  a  Mr.  Bucknill,  a 
young  surgeon,  put  on  a  wagoner's  smock  frock  that  had 
been  dipped  in  vinegar,  and  with  a  napkin  that  had  been 
soaked  in  vinegar  tied  over  his  mouth  and  nose,  opened  the 
body,  which  was  duly  inspected  by  the  doctors  present  and  re- 
interred. 

As  a  result  of  the  inquest  Captain  Donellan  was  arrested  and 
charged  with  the  wilful  murder  of  his  brother-in-law  by  poison- 
ing him  with  arsenic. 

The  trial,  which  excited  intense  interest  throughout  the 
country  on  account  of  the  social  position  of  the  persons 
involved,  took  place  at  the  Warwick  Assizes  on  March  30, 
1781,  before  Mr.  Justice  Buller. 

Six  counsel,  headed  by  Mr.  Howarth,  appeared  for  the 
Crown,  and  the  prisoner  was  represented  by  Mr.  Newnham 
and  two  juniors.  The  case  mainly  depended  on  the  medical 
evidence,  a  review  of  which  forms  an  interesting  picture  of  the 
state  of  medicine  and  toxicology  of  the  time. 

The  first  witness  was  Mr.  Powell,  the  apothecary,  of  Rugby, 
who  was  treating  Sir  Theodosius  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  swore  that  the  draught  he  sent  the  baronet  was  quite 
harmless  and  consisted  of  rhubarb  and  jalap,  spirit  of  laven- 
der, nutmeg  water  and  simple  syrup. 

Dr.  Rattray,  of  Coventry,  the  next  medical  witness,  described 
the  visit  he  paid  to  Lawford  Hall  at  the  wish  of  Sir  William 
Wheeler  with  the  other  surgeons.  The  reason  they  did  not 
proceed  with  the  post-mortem,  he  stated,  was  that  they 
thought  it  too  late,  and  that  so  long  after  death  nothing  could 
be  discovered.  He  was  present  when  the  body  was  opened  in 
the  churchyard,  and  from  its  appearance  he  was  now  of  the 
opinion  that  poison  was  the  cause  of  death. 

Mr.  Wilmer,  a  surgeon,  described  some  experiments  he  had 
made  with  laurel  water.  He  gave  an  ounce  to  a  young  grey- 
hound and  to  his  great  surprise  it  died  immediately.  He 
next  gave  a  pint  and  a  half  to  a  mare  and  in  a  few  moments 


^70  POISON   MYSTERIES 

she  went  into  convulsions  and  died  in  fifteen  minutes.  He 
believed  that  an  ounce  of  laurel  water  was  enough  to  kill  a 
strong  man.  Dr.  Ash,  a  physician  of  Birmingham,  next  gave 
his  opinion  that  the  young  man  had  died  from  the  effects  of 
poison. 

Further  medical  evidence  was  given  by  Dr.  Parsons,  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy  at  Oxford  University.  He  stated  he 
believed  that  Sir  Theodosius  had  been  poisoned  by  laurel 
water  which  had  been  given  to  him  instead  of  the  purgative 
draught. 

Important  evidence  was  given  by  a  female  servant  named 
Mary  Lines, who  stated  that  Captain  Donellan  had  a  still,  which 
he  kept  in  his  own  room  and  which  he  used  for  distilling  rose 
water. 

A  gardener  at  the  Hall,  named  Amos,  who  was  next  called, 
said  Captain  Donellan  brought  the  still  to  him  two  or  three 
days  after  Sir  Theodosius  died.  It  was  full  of  wet  lime  at 
the  time  and  he  asked  him  to  clean  it  for  him.  He  mentioned 
that  the  lime  was  used  for  killing  fleas. 

For  the  defence  Mr.  John  Hunter,  the  famous  surgeon,  of 
London,  was  caUed  to  give  evidence  and  said  he  had  dissected 
some  thousands  of  subjects.  The  symptoms  he  had  heard 
described  were  not  conclusive  that  the  baronet  had  taken 
poison.  He  had  never  known  in  his  practice  of  laurel  water 
being  given  to  a  human  being.  From  the  description  he  had 
heard  of  the  appearance  of  the  body,  he  should  not  have  drawn 
the  inference  that  death  had  resulted  from  poison.  Apoplexy 
or  epilepsy  would  produce  similar  symptoms  to  those  he  had 
heard  described,  but  he  would  not  swear  that  the  deceased 
man  died  a  natural  death. 

The  judge  in  summing  up  commented  on  the  doubt  Mr. 
Hunter  seemed  to  have  in  giving  evidence,  and  the  failure  of 
counsel  to  get  from  him  a  conclusive  opinion.  On  the  other 
hand  five  medical  men  were  agreed  that  death  had  been  due 
to  the  draught,  and  that  the  draught  had  been  laurel  water. 
How  did  the  poison  get  into  the  medicine  bottle  ?  Why  also 
did  the  prisoner  rinse  out  the  empty  bottles  and  see  they  were 
taken  away  and  destroyed  in  the  face  of  the  suspicious  circum- 
sfances  attending  the  death  ?  The  evidence  concerning  the 
still  was  also  important,  as  it  proved  the  prisoner  had  a  know- 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  LAWFORD   HALL         271 

ledge  of  its  use  and  he  often  used  it  for  distilling  rose  and 
lavender  waters.  The  deceptive  way  in  which  the  prisoner 
had  acted  was  also  likely  to  arouse  suspicions  as  well  as  his 
endeavour  to  prevent  an  examination  of  the  body. 

The  jury  after  a  few  minutes'  consideration  found  the 
prisoner  "  Guilty,"  and  the  judge  pronounced  sentence  of 
death.  The  prisoner's  body  afterwards  to  be  delivered  to  the 
surgeons  and  be  dissected  and  anatomized.  "  The  prisoner," 
says  a  contemporary  writer,  "  neatly  dressed  in  black,  was 
driven  in  a  coach  to  the  gallows  and  was  hanged." 

Thus  ended  the  brilliant  Captain  Donellan,  the  much  envied 
beau  of  London  Society  in  George  the  Third's  time. 

A  strange  case  that  happened  early  in  the  nineteenth  century 
was  that  of  Elizabeth  Fenning. 

On  April  11,  1815,  this  girl,  who  was  engaged  as  cook  to 
a  law  stationer  in  Chancery  Lane,  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey 
before  the  Recorder  on  a  charge  of  having  poisoned  her  em- 
ployer, Mr.  Olebar  Turner,  his  wife  and  his  father,  Robert 
Gregson  Turner.  The  girl,  who  was  only  twenty  years  of 
age,  had  been  employed  as  cook  in  Mr.  Turner's  house  for  six 
weeks,  and  on  March  21  had  made  some  yeast  dumplings  for 
dinner. 

The  dumplings  were  brought  to  the  table  and  partaken 
of  by  the  three  persons.  A  few  minutes  after  eating  a 
portion  of  one,  Mrs.  Turner  was  taken  ill  with  violent  pains 
and  vomiting,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  two  men,  who  had 
also  eaten  of  the  dumplings,  were  seized  with  pains  in  the  same 
manner.  Mr.  Marshall,  a  surgeon,  was  sent  for  several  hours 
afterwards,  and  all  three  persons,  after  some  time,  recovered. 
The  girl  herself  and  a  young  apprentice  in  the  house  had  also 
eaten  of  the  dumplings  and  were  affected  in  the  same  way. 

Mr.  Turner  said  he  suspected  arsenic  had  been  put  in  the 
food  and  made  a  search  next  morning.  In  the  kitchen  he 
found  a  brown  dish  in  which  the  dumplings  had  been  mixed, 
with  what  appeared  to  be  some  remnants  of  the  food  still 
adhering  to  it.  He  put  some  water  into  the  dish  and  stirred 
it,  and  found  in  a  few  minutes  a  white  powder  or  sediment  fell 
to  the  bottom,  which  he  kept  and  handed  to  the  surgeon. 

He  knew  that  arsenic  was  kept  in  a  drawer  in  his  office  in 


272  POISON  MYSTERIES 

two  wrappers  labelled  "  Arsenick,  Deadly  Poison  "  and  was 
used  for  killing  mice.  The  drawer  was  always  unlocked. 
He  had  last  seen  the  packet  of  arsenic  in  the  drawer  on  March 
7,  and  it  was  now  missing.  He  had  noticed  that  the  knives 
they  had  used  to  cut  the  dumplings  had  turned  black. 

He  had  charged  the  girl  with  putting  something  in  the 
dumplings,  and  she  had  replied  it  was  not  in  the  dumplings 
but  in  the  milk  that  was  used  to  make  them  which  had 
been  brought  to  her  by  Sarah  Peer,  a  fellow-servant.  Mr. 
John  Marshall,  the  surgeon  who  was  called  in,  said  he  found 
the  family  suffering  from  symptoms  that  would  be  produced 
by  arsenic,  and  the  prisoner  was  also  ill  in  the  same  way.  He 
had  examined  the  remnants  found  in  the  dish  by  Mr.  Turner 
and  washed  them  with  a  tea-kettle  of  warm  water  and  then 
decanted  it.  He  found  half  a  teaspoonful  of  white  powder 
left.  After  washing  it  a  second  time  he  found  it  was  arsenic. 
Arsenic  would  turn  the  knives  black.  He  had  examined  the 
remains  of  the  yeast  used  and  the  flour  employed  in  making 
the  dumplings,  but  found  no  trace  of  arsenic. 

The  girl,  in  her  defence,  swore  she  was  quite  innocent  of  the 
whole  charge. 

The  jury  found  her  guilty  and  she  was  sentenced  to  death. 

The  result  of  the  trial  excited  public  interest  in  London,  and 
caused  an  outburst  of  popular  feeling,  the  general  opinion 
being  that  the  evidence  was  insufficient  to  prove  the  girl 
guilty.  The  Prince  Regent  was  petitioned,  also  the  Lord 
Chancellor  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  several  meetings 
of  influential  persons  were  held,  agitating  for  a  remission  of 
the  sentence.  The  girl,  however,  was  executed  at  Newgate  on 
July  26,  1815,  exclaiming,  "  I  die  innocent,  but  God  will  con- 
vince you  by  a  circumstance  this  day."  In  1834  the  man 
Turner  died  in  the  workhouse,  but  confessed  before  his  death 
that  he  had  put  the  arsenic  into  the  dumplings  and  falsely 
sworn  away  the  girl's  life. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  CASE  OF  MADAME  LAFARGE 

THE  story  of  Madame  Lafarge,  who  was  tried  in  France 
for  the  murder  of  her  husband  in  1840,  is  a  strange  and 
romantic  one. 

Marie  Fortunee  CappeUe  was  the  daughter  of  a  captain  in 
the  Imperial  Artillery.  Her  parents  died  during  her  child- 
hood, and  she  was  placed  in  the  care  of  an  aunt,  who,  at  the 
earliest  opportunity,  determined  to  relieve  herself  of  the 
burden  of  her  support  by  negotiating  a  marriage  for  her. 
While  still  a  girl,  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  matrimonial 
agent  in  Paris,  an  alliance  was  arranged  between  Marie 
CappeUe  and  one  Monsieur  Charles  Lafarge,  who  was  a  widower 
and  an  ironmaster  of  Glandier. 

The  marriage,  which  was  purely  a  commercial  transaction, 
took  place  in  Paris  on  August  15,  1839,  after  which  Lafarge 
and  his  young  wife  set  out  for  his  old  and  gloomy  seigneurial 
chateau  at  Glandier. 

From  statements  made  afterwards,  Madame  Lafarge  became 
disgusted  with  her  husband's  brutality  before  the  honeymoon 
was  over.  After  they  reached  their  own  house,  however,  they 
were  reconciled,  and  there  seemed  to  be  every  possibility  of 
their  spending  a  happy  wedded  life  together. 

Besides  the  newly  married  pair,  there  lived  in  the  chateau 
the  mother  and  sister  of  Lafarge.  His  chief  clerk,  Denis 
Barbier,  was  a  frequent  visitor  there,  and  was  apparently 
at   liberty  to  walk   through   the  place  without  restriction. 

In  a  very  short  time  Madame  Lafarge  discovered  that  both 
she  and  her  relatives  had  been  deceived  as  to  the  position  of 
her  husband,  and  that  instead  of  being  a  man  of  considerable 
fortune,  he  was  straitened  for  means.     On  his  representations 

273  s 


274  POISON   MYSTERIES 

she  bestowed  upon  him  all  her  fortune,  and  even  wrote  letters 
at  his  dictation  to  some  of  her  wealthy  friends,  asking  them  to 
aid  him  to  find  money  to  develop  a  new  method  he  claimed 
to  have  discovered  for  smelting  iron.  With  these  letters  of 
introduction,  Lafarge  set  out  for  Paris  in  December,  1839,  to 
raise  money  to  start  his  new  project. 

While  he  was  away,  his  wife  had  her  portrait  drawn  by  an 
artist  in  Glandier,  and  determined  to  send  it  to  her  absent 
husband.  She  therefore  packed  it  in  a  box,  with  some  cakes 
made  by  his  mother,  together  with  an  affectionate  letter,  and 
despatched  them  to  Paris.  This  box,  which  contained 
nothing  but  the  five  small  cakes,  the  portrait,  and  the  letter, 
was  packed  and  sealed  by  Madame  Lafarge  in  the  presence  of 
several  witnesses. 

When  it  reached  Paris  and  was  opened  by  Lafarge,  it  con- 
tained only  one  large  cake,  after  partaking  of  which  he  was 
suddenly  taken  ill,  and  was  eventually  compelled  to  return 
home,  where  he  arrived  on  January  5,  1840.  His  sickness 
continued  and  increased  in  severity,  and  nine  days  afterwards 
he  died. 

Shortly  after  his  death  his  mother  and  friends,  who  were 
well  aware  how  the  widow  disliked  them  and  also  her  husband, 
who  had  made  her  life  so  unhappy,  at  once  imputed  the  cause 
of  death  to  poison  administered  by  his  wife  in  the  cake  she 
had  sent  to  Paris,  and  Marie  Cappelle  Lafarge  was  arrested 
on  suspicion. 

When  the  house  of  the  deceased  man  was  searched,  certain 
diamonds  were  found  which  were  supposed  to  have  been 
stolen  from  the  Vicomtesse  de  Leotaud  by  Madame  Lafarge 
before  her  marriage. 

The  unfortunate  woman  was  therefore  charged  with  the 
double  crime  of  theft  and  murder. 

Though  arrested  in  January,  1840,  the  trial  of  Madame 
Lafarge  did  not  commence  till  July  9  of  the  same  year,  and 
the  charge  of  theft  was  first  proceeded  with  in  her  absence, 
and  she  was  found  guilty. 

While  this  judgment  was  still  under  appeal,  she  was  brought 
to  trial  on  the  graver  charge. 

The  evidence  for  the  prosecution  went  to  prove  that  the 
illness  of  Lafarge  commenced  with  the  eating  of  the  cake 


THE   CASE   OF  MADAME  LAFARGE  275 

received  from  his  home.  As  already  stated,  when  the  box 
arrived  in  Paris  the  seals  had  been  broken,  the  five  cakes 
had  disappeared,  and  a  single  cake  "  as  large  as  a  plate  "  had 
been  substituted  for  them.  It  was  alleged  by  the  prosecution 
that  this  single  cake  had  been  prepared  by  Madame  Lafarge, 
and  secretly  placed  in  the  box  ;  but  no  evidence  could  be 
brought  to  prove  that  she  ever  tampered  with  the  box  after  it 
had  been  sealed.  Lafarge's  clerk,  Denis  Barbier,  made  a 
clandestine  visit  to  Paris  after  the  box  had  been  despatched, 
and  he  was  with  Lafarge  when  it  arrived  in  Paris,  yet  no 
notice  seems  to  have  been  taken  of  this  suspicious  fact.  It 
transpired,  it  was  he  who  first  threw  out  hints  on  his  master's 
return  that  he  was  being  poisoned  by  arsenic,  and  told  a 
brother  employe  that  his  master  would  be  dead  within  ten 
days.  There  was  ample  proof,  however,  that  there  was  a 
considerable  quantity  of  arsenic  in  the  house  at  Glandier.  It 
was  found  that  Madame  Lafarge  had  purchased  some  in 
December,  stating  she  required  it  for  destroying  rats  ;  Barbier 
also  stated  in  evidence  that  Madame  had  requested  him  to 
procure  her  some  arsenic.  He  bought  some,  but  did  not  give 
it  to  her.  It  was  further  stated  that  Madame  Lafarge  was 
seen  to  stir  a  white  powder  into  some  chicken  broth  which 
had  been  prepared  for  her  husband,  the  remains  of  which, 
found  in  a  bowl,  were  said  by  the  analyst  to  contain  arsenic. 

The  medical  men  who  conducted  the  post-mortem  examin- 
ation gave  it  as  their  deliberate  opinion  that  the  deceased  man 
had  been  poisoned  by  arsenic,  of  which  poison  they  professed 
to  have  found  considerable  quantities.  The  friends  of  the 
accused  then  submitted  the  matter  to  Orfila,  the  famous 
French  toxicologist,  who,  on  giving  his  opinion  of  the  methods 
and  manner  in  which  the  analysis  had  been  carried  out,  said 
that  owing  to  the  antiquated  and  doubtful  methods  of  detec- 
tion employed  by  the  medical  men,  it  was  probable  they 
fancied  they  had  found  arsenic  where  there  was  none.  There- 
upon the  prosecution  asked  Orfila  to  undertake  a  fresh  analysis 
himself,  which  he  consented  to  do,  and,  on  making  a  careful 
examination  of  the  remains,  stated  he  discovered  just  a  minute 
trace  of  arsenic. 

This  apparently  sealed  the  doom  of  the  accused  woman,  and 
served  to  strengthen  the  bias  of  the  jury. 


276  POISON  MYSTERIES 

But  now  another  actor  appeared  in  the  drama  in  the  person 
of  Raspail,  another  distinguished  French  chemist,  who  had 
from  the  beginning  had  watched  the  case  with  interest. 

On  September  17,  1840,  a  young  barrister  knocked  at  the 
door  of  Raspail's  apartment  in  Paris  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night.  Exhausted  by  thirty-six  hours  in  a  post  chaise — for  he 
had  come  straight  from  Tulle  where  the  trial  of  Madame 
Lafarge  was  being  held — ^he  handed  the  following  note  to  the 
chemist — 

"  I  am  innocent  and  most  unlucky.  I  am  suffering  and 
make  appeal  to  your  science  and  your  heart  .  .  .  M.  Orfila 
has  arrived  and  I  have  refallen  into  the  abyss.  My  hope, 
Monsieur,  is  in  you.  Lend  the  aid  of  your  knowledge  to  an 
unfortunate  victim  of  calumny.  Come  and  save  me  while  all 
others  abandon  me. — Marie  Lafarge." 

The  writer  was  an  utter  stranger  to  Raspail  at  this  time, 
but  though  he  had  reached  the  age  of  forty-six  years  and  was 
in  indifferent  health,  he  decided  to  sacrifice  his  night's  rest 
and  at  2  a.m.  was  posting  as  hard  as  horses  could  carry  him 
on  the  southern  high  road  to  the  scene  of  the  trial.  When  he 
arrived  at  Limoges  he  was  in  a  high  state  of  fever  and  took  a 
room  to  rest  for  an  hour.  The  rumour  reached  him  there 
that  Madame  Lafarge  had  been  acquitted,  so  he  remained  the 
night  and  the  next  day  posted  on  another  fifty  miles  and 
arrived  at  Tulle  just  an  hour  too  late.  Madame  Lafarge  had 
been  found  guilty  and  condemned  to  penal  servitude  for  life. 

It  was  then  that  Raspail  wrote  to  the  presiding  judge  the 
words  so  often  quoted  :  "  Give  me  anything  you  like — your 
own  armchair — and  I  will  find  arsenic  in  it." 

Raspail  has  left  a  long  description  of  his  interview  with 
Madame  Lafarge  whom  he  then  saw.  After  asking  to  be 
allowed  to  examine  the  three  plates  with  arsenical  deposits 
that  had  passed  through  Orfila's  hands,  he  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  test  the  reagents  left  at  Tulle  by  Orfila.  The  reply 
was  made  that  "  M.  Orfila  left  all  his  reagents  with  M.  Bories, 
a  pharmacist,  except  his  potash,  his  zinc,  and  the  nitrate  of 
potash  by  means  of  which  he  obtained  the  deposit  on  the 
third  plate." 

"Supposing,"  continues  Raspail,  "  I  had  acted  like  Orfila 


THE   CASE   OF  MADAME  LAFARGE  277 

(as  he  did  on  another  occasion) ,  applying  the  pretty  expression 
of  '  ignorant  crowd  '  to  the  host  of  reagents  obtained  from 
local  pharmacists  and  bringing  from  Paris  a  nitrate  of  potash 
capable  of  revealing  a  poison  where  no  other  reagent  could 
find  an  atom,  what  would  the  Advocate-General  have  said  ? 
Would  he  not  at  once  have  required  that  the  phial  of  nitrate 
from  Paris  should  be  examined  by  the  experts  present  ?  " 

Raspail  then  took  the  zinc  wire  with  which  Otfila  had 
experimented  to  the  shop  where  the  toxicologist  had  procured 
the  article,  and  he  found  on  analysis  that  the  zinc  itself  con- 
tained more  arsenic  than  Orfila  had  detected  by  his  examina- 
tion. Orfila  had  used  Marsh's  test,  which  is  infallible  so  long 
as  the  reagents  used  are  free  from  arsenic  themselves. 

As  already  related,  Raspail  reached  Tulle  too  late  to  give 
evidence  at  the  trial,  and  the  unhappy  Marie  Cappelle  Lafarge, 
after  a  trial  lasting  sixteen  days,  had  been  found  guilty  and 
condemned  to  imprisonment  for  life  with  hard  labour,  and 
exposure  in  the  pillory.  Raspail,  however,  would  not  let  the 
matter  rest,  and  at  once  set  to  work  to  save  the  condemned 
woman.  He  informed  Orfila  that  the  zinc  he  had  used  was 
already  contaminated  with  arsenic,  and  at  length  got  him 
fairly  to  admit  his  error  and  join  with  him  in  a  professional 
report  to  the  authorities  to  that  effect. 

After  being  imprisoned  for  twelve  years,  in  the  end,  the 
sentence  on  Madame  Lafarge  was  reduced  to  five  years  in  the 
Montpellier  house  of  detention,  after  which  the  Government 
sent  her  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Remy,  from  whence  she  was 
liberated  in  1852,  but  only  to  end  her  wretched  life  a  few 
months  afterwards. 

There  appeared  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  1842  a  careful 
examination  of  this  interesting  case  from  a  legal  point  of  view, 
in  which  the  writer  states  that  the  strongest  evidence  indicated 
Denis  Barbier  and  not  Madame  Lafarge  as  the  perpetrator  of 
the  crime.  It  was  proved  that  this  man  lived  by  forgery,  and 
assisted  Lafarge  in  some  very  shady  transactions  to  cover  the 
latter's  insolvency.  He  was  further  known  to  harbour  a  deadly 
hatred  for  Madame  Lafarge.  He  was  with  his  master  in  Paris 
when  he  was  seized  with  the  sudden  illness,  and  it  transpired 
that  out  of  the  25,000  francs  the  ironmaster  had  succeeded  in 
borrowing  from  his  wife's  relatives,  only  3,900  could  be  found 


278  POISON   MYSTERIES 

when  he  returned  to  Glandier.  On  his  own  statement  he  was 
in  the  possession  of  a  quantity  of  arsenic,  and  he  was  the  first 
to  direct  suspicion  against  his  master's  wife.  Yet  all  these 
facts  appear  to  have  been  overlooked  in  the  efforts  of  the 
prosecution  to  fasten  the  guilt  on  the  unfortunate  woman. 
That  Lafarge  died  from  the  effects  of  arsenical  poisoning 
there  seems  little  doubt,  but  by  whom  administered  has  never 
been  conclusively  proved,  and  the  tragedy  remains  among 
the  poison  mysteries  still  unsolved. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE   CASE   OF   MADELINE   SMITH 

THE  case  of  Madeline  Smith,  who  was  charged  with 
causing  the  death  of  L'Angerlier  by  the  administration 
of  arsenic  at  Glasgow  in  1857,  excited  universal  interest 
at  the  time.  Owing  to  the  social  position  of  the  lady,  the  trial 
was  a  cause  celebre,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  case  were 
of  an  extraordinary  character. 

Miss  Smith,  who  was  a  young  and  accomplished  woman,  and 
who  resided  in  a  fashionable  quarter  of  Glasgow,  got  entangled 
with  a  French  clerk  named  Pierre  Emile  L' Angelier.  L'Angelier 
died  very  suddenly  in  an  unaccountable  manner,  and  suspicion 
falling  on  Madeline  Smith,  who  was  frequently  in  his  com- 
pany, she  was  arrested  and  charged  with  the  crime.  The  Crown 
case  was,  that  she  poisoned  her  lover  so  that  she  might  be  be- 
trothed to  a  personage  of  high  social  standing.  That  L' Angelier 
died  on  March  23  from  the  effects  of  arsenic  was  amply  proved, 
but  while  suspicious  acts  were  alleged  against  the  accused 
woman,  no  direct  evidence  was  adduced  to  show  that  she  admin- 
istered the  drug.  The  worst  point  against  her  was  the  fact  of 
her  having  possession  of  the  poison  ;  and  irrespective  of  two 
previous  purchases  of  coloured  arsenic,  for  which  she  had  given 
false  reasons,  it  was  proved  that  the  accused  had  purchased 
one  ounce,  as  she  said  "  to  kill  rats,"  on  March  18,  only  five 
days  before  the  death  of  L'Angerlier.  The  arsenic  sold  was 
coloured  with  indigo,  according  to  the  regulations.  When 
charged  with  the  crime,  and  required  to  account  for  the  poison, 
she  replied  that  she  had  used  the  whole  of  it  to  apply  to  her 
face,  arms,  and  neck,  diluted  with  water,  and  that  a  school 
companion  had  told  her  that  arsenic  was  good  for  the  com- 
plexion. From  the  post-mortem  examination  and  subsequent 
analysis  eighty-eight  grains  of  arsenic  were  found  in  the  stomach 

279 


28o  POISON   MYSTERIES 

and  its  contents.  Dr.  Christison,  the  greatest  toxicological 
expert  of  the  time,  was  called,  and  stated  he  knew  of  no  case 
in  which  so  much  as  eighty-eight  grains  of  arsenic  had  been 
found  in  the  stomach  after  death. 

This  was  made  a  turning  point  of  the  defence,  and  it  was 
contended  that  so  large  a  dose  of  arsenic  could  not  have  been 
swallowed  unknowingly,  and,  therefore,  suicide  was  indicated. 
The  jury  accepting  this  view  of  the  case,  returned  a  verdict  of 
"  not  proven,"  and  Madeline  Smith  was  liberated,  the  trial 
having  lasted  ten  days. 

Some  interesting  particulars  concerning  the  subsequent  life 
of  this  lady  were  published  some  time  ago.  After  the  trial  she 
decided  to  go  abroad  ;  but  before  starting  she  is  said  to  have 
married  a  certain  mysterious  individual  named  Dr.  Tudor 
Hora.  With  him  she  lived  for  many  years  in  Perth,  but  few 
people  ever  saw  her,  and  the  doctor  always  declined  to  divulge 
his  wife's  maiden  name.  He  kept  a  small  surgery,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  in  receipt  of  about  ;f400  a  year  from  an  unnamed 
source.  Some  years  after,  believing  that  his  wife  had  been 
recognized,  he  bought  a  practice  at  Hotham,  near  Melbourne, 
and  they  sailed  for  Australia.  Shortly  after  their  arrival, 
Mrs.  Hora  left  her  husband  and  remained  absent  from  Mel- 
bourne until  his  death.  Soon  afterwards  she  married  again,  but 
it  is  said  her  second  marriage  was  not  by  any  means  a  happy 
one.  She  remained  unknown,  and  sought  no  society.  She 
was  an  excellent  musician,  and  spent  most  of  her  time  reading 
and  playing.  She  had  no  children,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
fifty- five. 

Six  years  after  the  trial  of  Madeline  Smith  a  case  was  tried 
at  the  Chester  Assizes,  in  which  a  woman  named  Hewitt  or 
Holt  was  charged  with  poisoning  her  mother.  Although  the 
symptoms  of  irritant  poisoning  were  very  clearly  marked, 
the  country  practitioner  who  attended  the  woman  at  the 
time  certified  that  the  cause  of  her  death  was  due  to  gastro- 
enteritis. Eleven  weeks  after  she  had  been  buried,  the  body 
was  exhumed  and  examined.  An  analysis  revealed  the  pres- 
ence of  one  hvmdred  and  fifty-four  grains  of  arsenic  in  the 
stomach  alone.  The  possession  of  a  considerable  quantity 
of  arsenic  was  brought  home  to  the  accused,  and  also  direct 
evidence  of  its  administration,  and  she  was  found  guilty.     This 


THE   CASE   OF  MADELINE   SMITH  281 

case  is  interesting  from  the  fact  of  proof  being  obtained  of 
the  administration  of  so  large  a  dose  of  arsenic,  and  if  it  had 
occurred  before  the  trial  of  Madeline  Smith  it  might  have 
demolished  her  counsel's  main  line  of  defence. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  BRAVO  MYSTERY 

ANTIMONY  has  been  a  frequent  medium  with  criminal 
poisoners,  including  Dove,  Smethurst,  Pritchard  and 
others,  but  there  is  probably  no  trial  in  which  antimony 
has  figured  that  caused  more  interest  than  the  "  Bravo 
Mystery  "  of  1876. 

The  story  of  this  case  begins  with  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Bravo, 
a  young  barrister  of  about  thirty  years  of  age,  to  Mrs.  Ricardo, 
who  was  then  a  wealthy  widow  and  a  lady  of  considerable 
personal  attractions.  After  the  marriage,  which  followed  a 
very  short  acquaintance,  the  couple  went  to  reside  at  Balham. 
According  to  a  statement  made  by  Mrs.  Bravo,  she  informed 
her  husband  before  the  marriage  of  a  former  lover,  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  it  rankled  in  Mr.  Bravo's  mind,  and  he 
frequently  taunted  his  wife  with  the  fact.  He  was  a  strong, 
healthy,  and  teniperate  man,  but  appears  to  have  been  both 
weak  and  vain  in  character.  On  Tuesday,  April  18,  1876, 
after  breakfast  at  his  own  house  at  Balham,  he  drove  with  his 
wife  into  town.  On  their  way,  a  very  unpleasant  discussion 
took  place.  Arriving  in  town  he  had  a  Turkish  bath,  lunched 
with  a  relative  of  his  wife's  at  St.  James's  Restaurant,  and 
walked  on  his  way  home  to  Victoria  Station  with  a  friend  and 
fellow-barrister,  whom  he  asked  out  for  the  following  day. 
He  arrived  home  about  half-past  four.  Shortly  after  his 
return,  Mr.  Bravo  went  out  for  a  ride,  in  the  course  of  which 
his  horse  bolted  and  carried  him  a  long  distance,  and  he  got 
back  to  his  home  very  tired  and  exhausted.  At  half-past  six 
he  was  noticed  leaning  forward  on  his  chair,  looking  ill,  and 
with  his  head  hanging  down.  He  ordered  a  hot  bath,  and 
when  getting  into  it  he  cried  out  aloud  with  pain,  putting  his 
hand  to  his  side.     The  bath  did  not  appear  to  relieve  him 

282 


THE   BRAVO   MYSTERY  283 

much,  and  he  seemed  to  be  suffering  pain  all  through  dinner, 
but  appeared  to  avoid  attracting  the  attention  of  his  wife  and 
Mrs.  Cox,  her  companion,  who  dined  with  him. 

The  food  provided  during  the  dinner  was  partaken  of  more 
or  less  in  common  by  all  three,  but  this  was  not  the  case  as 
regards  the  wine.  Mr.  Bravo  drank  Burgundy  only,  while 
Mrs.  Bravo  and  Mrs.  Cox  drank  sherry  and  Marsala.  The 
wine  drunk  by  Mr.  Bravo  had  been  decanted  by  the  butler 
some  time  before  dinner  ;  how  long  he  could  not  say,  but  he 
noticed  nothing  unusual  with  it,. 

The  wine  was  of  good  quality,  and  Mr.  Bravo,  who  was 
something  of  a  connoisseur,  remarked  nothing  peculiar  in 
its  taste,  but  drank  it  as  usual.  If  he  had  Burgundy  for 
luncheon  he  finished  the  bottle  at  dinner  ;  but  if  not,  as  on 
the  day  in  question,  the  remains  of  the  bottle  were  put  away 
in  an  unlocked  cellaret  in  the  dining-room.  The  butler  could 
not  remember  whether  any  Burgundy  was  left  on  this  day  or 
not ;    but,  however,  none  was  discovered. 

This  cellaret  was  opened  at  least  twice  subsequently  to  this, 
and  prior  to  Mr.  Bravo's  illness,  once  by  Mrs.  Cox  and  once 
by  the  maid. 

Mr.  Bravo  seems  to  have  eaten  a  good  dinner,  although 
he  was  evidently  not  himself  from  some  cause  or  other.  It 
was  said  he  was  suffering  from  toothache  or  neuralgia,  and 
had  just  received  a  letter  that  had  given  him  some  annoyance. 

The  dinner  lasted  till  past  eight  o'clock,  after  which  the 
party  adjourned  to  the  morning-room  where  conversation 
continued  up  to  about  nine  o'clock. 

Mrs.  Bravo  and  Mrs.  Cox  then  retired  upstairs,  leaving  Mr. 
Bravo  alone,  until  Mrs.  Cox  went  to  fetch  Mrs.  Bravo  some  wine 
and  water  from  the  dining-room. 

Mrs.  Bravo  remained  in  her  room  and  prepared  for  bed  and 
drank  the  wine  and  water  brought  to  her  by  Mrs.  Cox,  who 
remained  with  her. 

The  housemaid,  on  taking  some  hot  water  to  the  ladies' 
room  as  was  her  usual  custom  at  half-past  nine,  was  asked  by 
Mrs.  Bravo  to  bring  her  some  more  Marsala  in  the  glass  that 
had  contained  the  wine  and  water.  On  her  way  downstairs 
to  the  dining-room,  the  girl  met  her  master  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs.     He  looked  "  queer  "  and  very  strange  in  the  face,  but 


284  POISON   MYSTERIES 

did  not  appear  to  be  in  pain,  according  to  her  statement.  He 
looked  twice  at  her,  yet  did  not  speak,  though  it  was  his 
custom,  but  passed  on. 

Mr.  Bravo  was  alone  after  the  departure  of  his  wife  and 
Mrs.  Cox  until  the  time  when  he  passed  the  housemaid  at 
the  foot  of  the  stairs.  He  entered  his  wife's  dressing-room, 
and  the  maid  Mrs.  Bravo's  bedroom.  In  the  dressing-room, 
according  to  Mrs.  Cox's  statement,  Mr.  Bravo  spoke  to  his 
wife  in  French,  with  reference  to  the  wine.  This  had  frequently 
been  the  subject  of  unpleasant  remarks  before  ;  but  Mrs. 
Bravo  had  no  recollection  of  the  conversation  on  this  occasion. 

After  leaving  his  wife  in  her  room,  Mr.  Bravo  went  to  his 
own  bedroom  and  closed  the  door.  The  maid  left  Mrs. 
Bravo's  bedroom  and  met  her  mistress  in  the  passage  partially 
undressed  and  on  her  way  to  bed.  Mrs.  Bravo  and  Mrs.  Cox 
entered  their  bedrooms  and  the  former  drank  her  Marsala  and 
went  to  bed. 

In  about  quarter  of  an  hour  Mr.  Bravo's  bedroom  door  was 
heard  to  open,  and  he  shouted  out,  "  Florence  !  Florence  ! 
Hot  water."  The  maid  ran  into  Mrs.  Bravo's  room,  calling 
out  that  Mr.  Bravo  was  ill.  Mrs.  Cox,  who  had  not  yet 
undressed,  rose  hastily  and  ran  to  his  room.  She  found  him 
standing  in  his  night-gown  at  the  open  window,  apparently 
vomiting,  and  this  the  maid  also  saw.  Mrs.  Cox  further 
stated  that  Mr.  Bravo  said  to  her,  "  I  have  taken  poison. 
Don't  tell  Florence  "  (alluding  to  his  wife)  ;  and  to  this  con- 
fession on  the  part  of  Mr.  Bravo,  Mrs.  Cox  adhered.  After 
this,  Mr.  Bravo  was  again  very  sick,  and  some  hot  water  was 
brought  by  the  maid.  After  the  vomiting  he  sank  on  the  floor 
and  became  insensible,  and  remained  so  for  some  hours.  Mrs. 
Cox  tried  to  raise  him,  and  got  some  mustard  and  water,  but 
he  could  not  swallow  it.  She  then  applied  mustard  to  his 
feet,  an^  coffee  was  procured,  but  he  was  also  unable  to 
swallow  that.  Meanwhile  a  doctor,  who  had  attended  Mrs. 
Bravo,  and  who  lived  at  some  distance,  was  sent  for.  Mrs. 
Bravo,  who  was  aroused  from  sleep  by  the  maid,  and  who 
seems  to  have  been  greatly  excited,  insisted  on  a  nearer 
practitioner  being  sent  for,  and  in  a  short  time  a  medical  man, 
living  close  by,  arrived  on  the  scene.  The  doctor  found  Mr. 
Bravo  sitting  or  lying  on  a  chair,  completely  unconscious, 


THE   BRAVO   MYSTERY  285 

and  the  heart's  action  almost  suspended.  He  had  him  laid 
on  the  bed,  and  then  administered  some  hot  brandy  and 
water,  but  was  unable  to  get  him  to  swallow  it.  In  about  half 
an  hour  another  medical  man  arrived,  and  was  met  by  Mrs. 
Cox,  who  said  she  was  sure  Mr.  Bravo  had  taken  chloroform. 
Both  doctors  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  patient  was  in  a 
dangerous  state,  and  endeavoured  to  administer  restoratives. 
Realizing  the  critical  nature  of  the  case.  Dr.  George  Johnson, 
of  King's  College  Hospital,  was  sent  for.  Meanwhile  Mr. 
Bravo  was  again  seized  with  vomiting,  mostly  blood,  and  the 
doctors  came  to  the  conclusion  he  was  suffering  from  some 
irritant  poison.  About  three  o'clock  he  became  conscious  and 
able  to  be  questioned.  He  was  at  once  asked,  "  What  have 
you  taken  ?  "  But  from  first  to  last  he  persisted  in  declaring, 
in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  he  had  taken  nothing  except 
some  laudanum  for  toothache.  In  reply  to  other  questions, 
asking  him  if  there  were  any  poisons  about  the  house,  he 
replied  there  was  only  the  laudanum  and  chloroform  for 
toothache,  some  Condy's  Fluid,  and  "  rat  poison  in  the 
stable."  Mr.  Bravo  did  not  lose  consciousness  again  until  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  fifty-five  and  a  half  hours 
after  he  was  first  taken  ill. 

At  an  early  period  his  bedroom  was  searched,  but  nothing 
was  found  but  the  laudanum  bottle,  and  a  little  chloroform 
and  camphor  liniment  which  had  been  brought  from  another 
room.  There  were  no  remains  of  any  solid  poison  in  paper, 
glass,  or  tumbler,  and  nothing  to  indicate  any  poison  had 
been  taken.  The  post-mortem  examination  showed  evidence 
of  great  gastric  irritation,  extending  downwards,  but  there 
was  no  appearance  of  any  disease  in  the  body,  or  inflammation, 
congestion  or  ulceration.  It  was  left  therefore  to  the  chemical 
analysis  to  show  what  was  the  irritating  substance  which 
had  been  introduced  into  the  body,  and  supply  a  key  to  part 
of  the  mystery.  The  matters  which  had  been  vomited  in 
the  early  stage  of  Mr.  Bravo 's  illness  had  been  thrown 
away ;  but  on  examination  of  the  leads  of  the  house 
beneath  the  bedroom  window,  some  portion  of  the  matter 
was  found  undisturbed,  although  much  rain  had  fallen  and 
the  greater  part  must  have  been  washed  away.  This  was 
carefully  collected  and   handed  to   Professor   Redwood  for 


286  POISON   MYSTERIES 

analysis.  From  this  matter  he  extracted  a  large  amount  of 
antimony.  Antimony  was  also  discovered  in  the  liver  and 
other  parts  of  the  body,  and  it  was  concluded  that  altogether 
nearly  forty  grains  of  this  poison  must  have  been  swallowed  by 
the  unfortunate  man.  How  he  came  to  swallow  this  enormous 
dose,  whether  the  design  was  homicidal  or  suicidal,  there  was 
not  the  slightest  evidence  to  show,  or  where  the  antimony  was 
obtained.  The  whole  affair  was  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  a 
mystery  it  remains. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  RUGELEY  MYSTERY 

STRYCHNINE  is  one  of  the  active  principles  extracted  from 
nux  vomica,  the  singular  disk-like  seed  of  the  Strychnos 
Nux  vomica,  a  tree  indigenous  to  most  parts  of  India,  Burma, 
Northern  Australia,  and  other  countries.  Nux  vomica  was 
unknown  to  the  ancients,  and  is  said  to  have  been  introduced 
into  medicine  by  the  Arabs,  but  there  is  very  little  reliable 
record  of  it  until  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  seeds 
were  chiefly  used  for  poisoning  animals  and  birds.  Strych- 
nine was  discovered  in  1818  by  Pelletier  and  Caventou, 
and  was  first  extracted  from  St.  Ignatius'  bean,  another 
species  of  strychnos  in  which  it  is  present  to  the  extent 
of  about  1-5  per  cent.  Very  soon  afterwards  it  was  ex- 
tracted from  nux  vomica,  which,  being  very  plentiful,  is 
now  the  chief  source  of  the  drug.  It  is  extremely  bitter  in 
taste,  and  may  be  distinctly  detected  in  a  solution  containing 
no  more  than  one-six- hundred- thousandth  part.  For  a  con- 
siderable time  after  its  discovery,  the  detection  of  strychnine 
in  the  body  after  death  was  a  matter  of  great  uncertainty, 
especially  when  only  a  small  quantity  had  been  administered  ; 
but  now  it  is  possible  to  detect  the  presence  of  one-five-thou- 
sandth part  of  a  grain,  and  that  even  after  some  time  has 
elapsed.  It  has  been  used  for  criminal  purposes  by  several 
notorious  poisoners,  notably  by  Dove,  Palmer,  and  Cream, 
but  the  symptoms  produced  are  so  marked,  and  its  presence 
so  clearly  indicated,  that  detection  now  is  almost  certain. 

Among  the  celebrated  trials  of  the  last  century  was  that 
of  Dr.  Palmer,  who  was  charged  with  the  wilful  murder  of 
John  Parsons  Cook,  at  Rugeley,  in  1855.  A  special  Act  of 
Parliament  was  passed  in  order  to  have  this  case  tried  in 
London,   where  it  was  brought   before   Lord  Chief  Justice 

287 


288  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Campbell,  Mr.  Baron  Alderson,  and  Mr.  Justice  Cresswell,  at 
the  Central  Criminal  Court,  on  May  14,  1856.  The  Attorney- 
General,  Mr.  E.  James,  Q.C.,  with  several  other  counsel, 
conducted  the  prosecution,  and  Palmer  was  defended  by 
Mr.  Serjeant  Shee,  Messrs.  Grove,  Q.C.,  Gray  and  Kenealy. 

The  accused,  who  was  a  country  doctor,  had  carried  on 
a  medical  practice  in  Rugeley,  a  small  town  in  Staffordshire, 
for  some  years.  Becoming  interested  in  racing  he  made  his 
practice  over  to  a  man  named  Thirlby,  a  former  assistant, 
and  shortly  afterwards  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  P. 
Cook  over  some  betting  transactions.  Cook  was  a  young  man 
of  good  family,  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  was 
intended  for  the  legal  profession.  He  was  articled  to  a 
solicitor  ;  but  after  a  time,  inheriting  some  property  worth 
between  twelve  and  fifteen  thousand  pounds,  he  abandoned 
law  and  commenced  to  keep  race-horses.  Meeting  Palmer  at 
various  race-meetings,  they  soon  became  very  intimate.  In  a 
very  short  time  Palmer  got  into  difficulties,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  raise  money  on  bills.  Things  went  from  bad  to  worse, 
until  he  at  last  forged  an  acceptance  to  a  bill  in  the  name 
of  his  mother,  who  was  possessed  of  considerable  property. 
In  1854  he  owed  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  in  the  same  year 
his  wife  died,  whose  life,  it  transpired,  he  had  insured  for 
£13,000.  With  this  money  he  bought  two  race-horses  ;  but 
in  his  betting  transactions  he  lost  heavily,  and  then  com- 
menced to  borrow  money  from  Cook,  whose  name  he  also 
forged  on  one  occasion  on  the  back  of  a  cheque.  He  insured 
his  brother's  life  for  ;£i3,ooo,  and  very  shortly  after  he  died, 
the  amount  being  also  paid  to  Palmer.  This  money  soon 
went,  and  at  length  he  had  two  writs  out  against  him  for 
£4,000. 

In  the  meanwhile.  Cook  had  been  more  successful  than  his 
friend  in  his  racing  ventures,  and  had  won  a  considerable 
amount  with  a  race-horse  called  Polestar.  Polestar  was 
entered  for  the  Shrewsbury  races  on  November  14,  1855, 
and  Cook  and  Palmer  went  there  and  stayed  with  some  friends 
at  the  same  hotel  in  that  town.  On  the  evening  of  the  races 
they  were  drinking  brandy- an d-water  together.  Cook  asked 
Palmer  to  have  some  more,  and  the  latter  replied,  "  Not  unless 
you  finish  your  glass."     Cook,  noticing  that  he  had  some  still 


THE  RUGELEY  MYSTERY  289 

left  in  his  tumbler,  said,  "111  soon  do  that,"  and  finished  it 
at  a  draught.  On  swallowing  it  he  immediately  exclaimed, 
"  There's  something  in  it  burns  my  throat."  Palmer  took  up 
the  glass  and  said,  "  Nonsense,  there  is  nothing  in  it,"  and 
called  the  attention  of  the  others  standing  by.  Cook  then 
suddenly  left  the  room,  and  was  seized  with  violent  vomiting. 
This  became  so  bad  that  he  soon  had  to  be  taken  to  bed,  and 
appeared  to  be  very  seriously  ill.  Two  hours  later  a  medical 
man  was  sent  for,  who  at  once  prescribed  an  emetic,  and 
then  a  pill.  He  obtained  relief  from  these,  and  by  the  morning 
the  vomiting  had  ceased,  and  he  was  much  better,  though  he 
still  felt  very  unwell.  They  returned  to  Rugeley  together. 
Cook  taking  rooms  at  an  hotel  directly  opposite  Palmer's 
house.  Cook  was  still  confined  to  his  room,  and  during  the 
next  few  days  was  constantly  visited  by  Palmer,  and  after 
each  visit  it  was  noticed  the  sickness  commenced  again.  On 
one  occasion  Palmer  had  some  broth  prepared,  which  he 
specially  wished  Cook  to  take.  The  latter  tried  to  swallow 
it,  but  was  immediately  sick.  It  was  then  taken  downstairs, 
and  a  woman  at  the  hotel,  thinking  it  looked  nice,  took  a 
couple  of  tablespoonsful  of  it,  but  within  half  an  hour  she  was 
taken  seriously  ill  and  was  obliged  to  go  to  bed,  her  symptoms 
being  exactly  like  those  of  Cook  when  first  taken  ill  at 
Shrewsbury.  Three  days  afterwards  a  neighbouring  doctor 
was  called  in.  Palmer  telling  him  that  Cook  was  suffering  from 
a  bilious  attack.  Palmer  then  went  off  to  London,  his  business 
being  to  try  and  arrange  about  the  settlement  of  some  debts 
that  were  pressing.  From  the  time  he  left,  it  was  noticed  by 
the  doctor  that  Cook's  condition  rapidly  improved  and  in  a 
day  or  two  he  was  able  to  leave  his  bed  and  be  up  and  dressed. 
On  Palmer's  return  to  Rugeley  he  at  once  went  to  see  Cook 
and  during  the  rest  of  his  illness  was  constantly  with  him. 
On  the  evening  of  his  return  he  also  called  on  a  surgeon's 
assistant,  with  whom  he  was  acquainted,  and  purchased  from 
him  three  grains  of  strychnine.  Cook  was  taking  some  pills 
which  had  been  prescribed  by  the  doctor  and  which  had  done 
him  good.  They  were  ordered  to  be  taken  at  bed-time,  and 
the  box  containing  themwas  in  his  room.  He  was  visited  by 
Palmer  about  eleven  o'clock  the  same  night,  and  up  to  that 
time  he  was  apparently  well.     After  Palmer  had  left,  about 

T 


290  POISON   MYSTERIES 

twelve  o'clock  the  whole  house  was  aroused  by  violent  screams 
proceeding  from  Cook's  room.  The  servants  rushed  in  and 
found  him  writhing  in  great  agony,  shouting  "  Murder  !  " 
He  was  evidently  suffering  intense  pain,  and  soon  was  seized 
with  convulsions.  Palmer  was  at  once  sent  for,  and  on  his 
arrival  Cook  was  gasping  for  breath,  and  hardly  able  to  speak. 
He  ran  back  to  procure  some  medicine,  which  on  his  return 
he  gave  him,  but  the  sick  man  at  once  threw  it  back.  The 
attack  gradually  passed  off,  and  by  the  morning  he  was  some- 
what better,  but  very  weak.  The  same  day  Palmer  visited 
a  chemist  he  knew  in  the  town,  and  purchased  six  grains  of 
strychnine.  During  the  afternoon  a  relative  of  Palmer's,  who 
was  also  a  medical  man,  arrived  on  a  visit  to  Rugeley,  and  he 
was  taken  to  see  Cook,  and  in  the  evening  a  consultation  was 
held  by  the  three  medical  men.  They  agreed  to  prescribe 
some  medicine  for  the  patient  in  the  form  of  pills,  which  were 
prepared,  and  in  the  course  of  the  evening  were  handed  to 
Palmer,  who  was  to  administer  the  dose  the  last  thing  at  night. 

About  half-past  ten  Palmer  gave  Cook  two  of  the  pills, 
settled  him  comfortably  for  the  night,  and  went  home.  At 
ten  minutes  to  eleven  Cook  roused  the  house  with  a  frightful 
scream,  calling  out,  "I'm  going  to  be  ill  as  I  was  last  night." 
Palmer  was  sent  for,  and  brought  him  two  more  pills,  which 
he  said  contained  ammonia,  and  gave  them  to  Cook.  Very 
shortly  aifterwards  convulsions  set  in,  which  were  followed  by 
tetanus,  and  the  unfortunate  man  died  in  a  few  minutes  in 
great  agony. 

The  deceased  man's  relatives  were  communicated  with,  and 
his  father-in-law  soon  arrived  in  Rugeley.  On  Palmer  being 
questioned  about  Cook's' affairs,  he  said  that  he  held  a  paper 
drawn  up  by  a  lawyer,  and  signed  by  Cook  stating  that,  in 
respect  of  £4,000  worth  of  bills,  he  (Cook)  was  alone  liable, 
and  Palmer  had  a  claim  for  that  amount  against  the  estate. 
This,  with  other  matters,  aroused  suspicion,  and  it  was  decided 
to  hold  a  post-mortem  examination  on  the  body  to  ascertain 
the  cause  of  death.  Palmer  was  present  at  the  examination 
and  by  his  deliberate  act  the  fluid  contents  of  the  stomach 
were  lost.  What  portions  of  the  body  were  recovered  for 
analysis  he  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  from  reaching  the 
analysts,     When  the  jars,  etc.,  were  being  sent  to  London  for 


THE   RUGELEY   MYSTERY  291 

examination  by  the  Government  analyst,  he  intercepted  them, 
and  offered  the  post-boy  £10  to  upset  the  conveyance  and 
break  them. 

The  evidence  offered  at  the  trial  was  almost  entirely  circum- 
stantial, and  the  medical  testimony  was  very  conflicting.  It 
was  supposed,  in  the  first  instance,  Palmer  had  administered 
tartar  emetic  to  his  victim,  but  that  for  the  fatal  dose  strych- 
nine was  used.  It  was  proved  Palmer  had  purchased 
strychnine  under  suspicious  circumstances  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  on  which  Cook  died,  and  could  not  account  for  the 
purchase  of  it,  or  state  what  he  had  done  with  it.  The  symp- 
toms appeared  at  a  time  which  would  correspond  to  the 
interval  that  precedes  the  action  of  strychnine,  being  developed 
over  the  entire  body  and  limbs  in  a  few  minutes,  suddenly  and 
with  violence.     None  of  the  pills  could  be  obtained  for  analysis. 

Dr.  Taylor,  who  made  the  analytical  examination,  was 
unable  to  find  any  trace  of  strychnine  in  the  portions  sub- 
mitted to  him,  but  he  found  half  a  grain  of  antimony  in 
the  blood ;  but  judging  from  the  clinical  symptoms  before 
death  he  believed  Cook  died  from  the  effects  of  strychnine. 
The  great  point  in  the  case  was,  did  the  tetanic  symptoms, 
under  which  the  deceased  man  died,  depend  on  disease  or 
poison  ?  Doctors  Brodie,  Christison  and  Todd,  and  other 
eminent  authorities  of  the  time  agreed  that  when  taken  as  a 
whole  they  were  not  in  accordance  with  any  form  of  disease, 
but  were  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  effects  of  strychnine. 
On  the  other  hand,  medical  men  called  for  the  defence  testified 
that  tetanus  might  be  caused  by  natural  disease,  and  the 
deceased  might  have  died  from  angina  pectoris  or  epilepsy. 
In  spite  of  the  absence  of  confirmatory  chemical  evidence 
and  proof  of  the  presence  of  strychnine  in  the  body,  after  one 
hour  and  seventeen  minutes'  deliberation,  the  jury  returned 
a  verdict  of  "  Guilty,"  and  Palmer  was  sentenced  to  death, 
the  trial  having  lasted  twelve  days. 

The  rigid  and  fixed  condition  of  the  limbs  is  a  marked 
feature  after  poisoning  by  strychnine.  In  the  Horsford  case, 
in  which  a  farmer  named  Walter  Horsford  was  convicted  of 
the  murder  of  his  cousin  Annie  Holmes,  at  St.  Neots,  in  1897, 
3*69  grains  of  strychnine  were  recovered  from  the  internal 
organs,  after  the  body  was  exhumed,  nineteen  days  after  death. 


292  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Even  then,  rigidity  was  very  marked,  especially  in  the  lower 
limbs  and  fingers.  The  same  rigidity  was  remarked  by  Dr. 
Stevenson  in  the  case  of  Matilda  Clover,  who  was  poisoned 
by  Neill  Cream  with  strychnine  in  1891.  In  this  case, 
the  body  had  been  buried  from  October  until  May,  and  the 
rigidity  in  the  limbs  and  fingers  was  still  maintained.  Dr. 
Stevenson  stated  that  usually  when  persons  are  suffering 
from  strychnine  poisoning,  they  are  very  apprehensive  of 
death.  He  had  known  a  woman  say,  "  I  am  going  to  die  " 
before  any  intimation  of  symptoms  had  occurred.  The  first 
apprehension  is,  that  some  terrible  calamity  is  about  to  take 
place. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  CASE   OF  DR.    PRITCHARD 

THE  remarkable  case  of  Dr.  E.  W.  Pritchard,  of  Glasgow, 
who  was  arrested  and  charged  with  murdering  his  wife 
^^^  mother-in-law  in  that  city  in  the  year  1865,  excited  great 
interest  at  the  time.  The  respectable  position  occupied  by 
the  accused  man  in  Glasgow,  and  the  practice  as  a  physician 
which  he  had  been  enabled  to  attain  in  the  course  of  his 
six  years'  residence  there,  awakened  an  unusual  degree  of 
attention  in  the  public  mind  when  the  fact  of  his  apprehension 
became  known.  The  excitement  was  strengthened  by  the 
mystery  invariably  attached  to  the  prosecution  of  all  criminal 
inquiries  in  Scotland. 

It  transpired  that  for  some  time  previous  to  her  decease, 
Mrs.  Pritchard  had  been  in  a  delicate  state  of  health,  and  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Taylor,  wife  of  Mr.  Taylor,  a  silk  weaver,  of  Edin- 
burgh, had  gone  to  Glasgow  to  nurse  her  during  her  illness. 
Mrs.  Taylor  took  up  her  abode  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Pritchard, 
and  ministered  to  her  daughter's  comfort ;  but  while  so 
engaged  she  became  ill,  and  died  suddenly,  about  three  weeks 
previous  to  the  day  on  which  the  accused  man  was  appre- 
hended. The  cause  of  death  was  assigned  to  apoplexy,  and 
as  the  lady  was  about  seventy  years  oS.  age  no  suspicions  were 
aroused,  and  the  body  was  conveyed  to  Edinburgh  and 
buried  in  the  Grange  Cemetery. 

Circumstances  closely  following  on  this,  however,  awakened 
grave  suspicions.  Mrs.  Pritchard  died  shortly  after  her  mother, 
and  a  report  was  circulated  that  she  had  succumbed  to  gastric 
fever.  The  family  grave  at  the  Grange  cemetery  was  fixed 
on  as  the  place  of  interment,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  the  funeral  without  delay.  The  body  was  taken  to  Edin- 
burgh by  rail,  and  Dr.  Pritchard  accompanied  it  to  the  house 

293 


294  POISON   MYSTERIES 

of  his  father-in-law,  where  it  was  to  await  interment.  The 
deaths  of  the  two  ladies  occurring  within  so  short  an  interval 
of  each  other,  coupled  with  certain  hints  which  they  had 
received,  set  the  police  on  the  alert,  and  while  Dr.  Pritchard 
was  absent  in  Edinburgh  they  instituted  inquiries,  which  led 
to  a  warrant  being  issued  for  his  apprehension.  On  his  return 
to  Glasgow,  previous  to  the  day  fixed  for  the  funeral,  he  was 
arrested  at  the  railway  station  in  Queen  Street  and  conveyed 
to  the  police  station. 

Meanwhile  the  authorities  had  transmitted  to  Edinburgh 
information  of  what  had  been  done,  and  at  the  same  time 
had  issued  a  warrant  for  a  post-mortem  examination  on  the 
body  of  Mrs.  Pritchard.  This  was  entrusted  to  Professor 
Douglas  Maclagan,  assisted  by  Drs.  Arthur  Gamgee  and  Little- 
john.  The  result  of  the  post-mortem  proved  that  death  had 
not  resulted  from  natural  causes,  and  a  subsequent  examin- 
ation disclosed  the  presence  of  minute  particles  of  antimony 
in  the  liver. 

The  case  now  assumed  a  grave  and  mysterious  aspect,  and 
the  authorities  resolved  to  carry  the  investigations  further. 
The  next  step  was  to  order  the  exhumation  of  the  body  of  Mrs. 
Taylor.  This  having  been  effected,  the  internal  organs  were 
submitted  to  analysis  by  Professor  Maclagan,  Dr.  Little  John, 
and  Professor  Penny,  of  Glasgow,  who,  after  a  protracted 
examination,  reported  that  the  death  of  Mrs.  Taylor,  like 
that  of  her  daughter,  was  due  to  poisoning  by  antimony. 
On  these  facts  being  elicited.  Dr.  Pritchard  was  fully  committed 
on  the  charge  of  murdering  Jane  Taylor,  his  mother-in-law, 
and  Mary  Jane  Pritchard,  his  wife. 

The  trial  opened  on  July  3,  1865,  at  the  High  Court  of 
Justiciary,  Edinburgh,  before  the  Lord  Justice-Clerk,  Lord 
Ardmillan,  and  Lord  Jerviswoode,  the  Solicitor-General 
prosecuting  for  the  Crown,  while  the  prisoner  was  defended 
by  Messrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  Watson  and  Brand. 

Evidence  was  given  that  Mrs.  Pritchard  was  first  taken  ill 
in  the  October  of  1864,  with  constant  vomiting,  often  accom- 
panied by  severe  cramp.  After  being  treated  by  her  husband 
for  some  time,  and  getting  no  better,  at  her  own  request 
a  Dr.  Gardiner  was  called  in,  and  her  mother,  Mrs.  Taylor, 
came  from  Edinburgh  to  nurse  her. 


THE   CASE   OF  DR.    PRITCHARD  295 

While  on  this  visit  to  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Taylor,  on  February 
24,  1865,  complained  of  feeling  unwell.  The  next  day  she  was 
found  insensible,  sitting  on  her  chair  in  her  daughter's  room, 
and  died  the  same  night.  From  this  time,  Mrs.  Pritchard  got 
gradually  worse,  and  died  within  three  weeks  afterwards. 

Mary  McLeod,  a  girl  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the 
prisoner,  admitted  that  he  had  familiar  relations  with  her, 
and  that  this  fact  was  known  to  Mrs.  Pritchard.  The 
doctor  had  also  made  her  presents,  and  told  her  he  would 
marry  her  if  his  wife  died. 

Dr.  Paterson,  a  medical  practitioner,  of  Glasgow,  who  was 
called  in  to  see  Mrs.  Taylor,  stated  Pritchard  told  him  the  old 
lady  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  Batley's  solution  of  opium,  and 
a  few  days  before  her  death  she  had  purchased  a  half-pound 
bottle.  When  he  saw  her,  he  was  convinced  her  symptoms 
betokened  that  she  was  under  the  depressing  influence  of 
antimony,  and  not  opium.  He  therefore  refused  to  give  a 
certificate  of  death. 

Pritchard  eventually  signed  the  certificate  himself, 
stating  the  primary  cause  of  death  had  been  paralysis  and  the 
secondary  cause  apoplexy.  He  further  certified  Mrs. 
Pritchard's  death  as  due  to  gastric  fever. 

It  was  proved  on  the  evidence  of  two  chemists,  that  Pritch- 
ard was  in  the  habit  of  purchasing  tartarated  antimony  in 
large  quantities,  and  also  Fleming's  tincture  of  aconite. 

Dr.  Maclagan,  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  at  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  was  called  to  give  the  result  of 
the  chemical  examination  of  the  various  organs  of  the  body 
of  Mrs.  Pritchard,  which  had  been  retained  for  analysis. 
Antimony,  corresponding  to  one-fourth  of  a  grain  of  tartar 
emetic,  was  found  in  the  urine,  in  small  quantities  in  the  bile 
and  the  blood,  and  as  much  as  four  grains  in  the  whole  liver. 
Evidence  of  the  presence  of  antimony  was  also  found  in  the 
spleen,  kidney,  muscular  substance  of  the  heart,  coats  of  the 
stomach  and  rectum,  the  brain  and  uterus. 

Antimony  was  also  detected  in  various  stains  on  linen  and 
articles  of  clothing,  which  had  been  worn  by  Mrs.  Pritchard 
during  her  illness. 

From  these  results  Dr.  Maclagan  concluded  that  Mrs. 
Pritchard  had  taken  a  large  quantity  of  antimony  in  the  form 


296  POISON   MYSTERIES 

of  tartar  emetic,  which  caused  her  death,  and  that  from  the 
extent  to  which  the  whole  organs  and  fluids  of  the  body  were 
impregnated  with  the  drug,  it  must  have  been  given  in  repeated 
doses  up  to  within  a  few  hours  of  her  decease. 

The  result  of  the  chemical  examination  of  the  various  organs 
of  the  body  of  Mrs.  Taylor,  which  was  exhumed  for  this  pur- 
pose, revealed  the  presence  of  0*279,  ^^  ^  little  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  grain  of  antimony  in  the  contents  of  the  stomach. 
Antimony  was  also  found  in  the  blood,  and  i"i5i  grain  was 
recovered  from  the  liver. 

Dr.  Penny,  who  made  an  independent  analysis,  found  dis- 
tinct evidence  of  antimony  in  the  liver,  spleen,  kidney,  brain, 
heart,  blood,  and  rectum,  but  no  trace  of  morphine  or  aconite. 
He  also  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Mrs.  Pritchard's  death 
had  resulted  from  the  effects  of  antimony. 

Antimony  was  found  mixed  with  tapioca  contained  in  a 
packet  discovered  in  the  house,  also  in  a  bottle  containing 
Batley's  solution  of  opium  found  in  the  prisoner's  surgery. 

Dr.  Littlejohn,  surgeon  to  the  Edinburgh  police,  who  was 
present  at  the  post-mortem  examination  of  both  women,  gave 
his  opinion  that  Mrs.  Pritchard's  death  had  been  due  to  the 
administration  of  antimony  in  small  quantities,  and  that  con- 
tinuously. In  Mrs.  Taylor's  case  he  believed  some  strong 
narcotic  poison  had  been  administered  with  the  antimony. 

This  opinion  was  further  endorsed  by  Dr.  Paterson. 
Evidence  was  offered,  that  Pritchard  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  purchasing  large  quantities  of  Batley's  solution  of  opium, 
which  the  manufacturers  swore  contained  no  antimony.  For 
the  defence  it  was  urged  that  there  was  no  proof  whatever 
that  poison  had  been  administered  by  the  prisoner,  who  had 
always  lived  on  affectionate  terms  with  his  wife,  and  that  the 
motive  suggested  was  of  the  most  trifling  nature  ;  that  the 
stronger  suspicion  pointed  to  the  maid-servant,  Mary  McLeod, 
on  whose  uncorroborated  statements  the  chief  evidence 
against  the  prisoner  lay.  The  senior  counsel  for  the  prisoner 
(Mr.  Clark)  concluded  his  address  by  stating  that  the  Crown 
had  admitted  there  were  but  two  persons  who  could  have 
committed  the  crime — the  prisoner  and  Mary  McLeod. 
Mary  McLeod's  hand  had  been  found  in  connection  with  every 
one  of  the  acts  in  which  poison  was  said  to  have  been  admin- 


THE   CASE   OF   DR.    PRITCHARD  297 

istered  in  the  food.  The  case  against  the  prisoner  seemed  to 
depend  on  a  series  of  suspicions  and  probabiHties,  and  not 
upon  legal  proof,  and  upon  these  grounds  he  asked  for  a 
verdict  of  acquittal. 

The  summing-up  of  the  Lord  Justice-Clerk  occupied  three 
hours  and  twenty  minutes,  on  the  conclusion  of  which  the 
jury  retired  to  consider  their  verdict.  After  an  absence  of 
fifty-five  minutes  they  returned  with  the  following  verdict, 
"  The  jury  unanimously  find  the  prisoner  guilty  of  both 
charges  as  libelled." 

Dr.  Pritchard  was  thereupon  sentenced  to  death,  and  was 
executed  at  Glasgow  on  July  28,  1865. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  fully  deserved  his   fate. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  CASE  OF  DR.   LAMSON 

THE  only  case  on  record  in  which  ;the  active  principle 
of  aconite  has  been  used  for  the  purpose  of  criminal 
poisoning  is  that  of  Dr.  Lamson,  who  suffered  the  extreme 
penalty  of  the  law  for  administering  the  drug  to  Percy  Malcolm 
John,  and  thereby  causing  his  death.  The  story  is  remarkable 
for  the  cold-blooded  way  in  which  the  murder  was  carried 
out. 

George  Henry  Lamson,  a  surgeon  in  impecunious  circum- 
stances, had  a  reversionary  interest,  through  his  wife,  in  a 
sum  of  £1,500,  which  would  come  to  him  on  the  death  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Percy  Malcolm  John.  The  latter,  a  sickly 
youth  of  eighteen  years  of  age,  was  paralysed  in  his  lower 
limbs  from  old-standing  spinal  disease. 

At  the  beginning  of  December,  1881,  Lamson  went  down  to 
the  school  where  John  had  been  placed  as  a  boarder,  and  had 
an  interview  with  him  in  the  presence  of  the  head  master, 
professing  at  the  same  time  a  kindly  interest  in  the  youth  and 
his  health.  During  the  interview  he  produced  some  gelatine 
capsules,  one  of  which  he  offered  to  the  head  master  in  order 
that  he  might  see  how  easily  it  dissolved  in  the  mouth,  and 
another  he  filled  with  a  white  powder  presumed  to  be  sugar 
and  gave  to  his  brother-in-law.  Directly  after  seeing  him 
swallow  it  he  took  his  departure.  Within  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
the  boy  became  unwell,  saying  he  felt  the  same  as  when 
Lamson  had  given  him  a  quinine  pill  on  a  former  occasion, 
also  adding  "  My  skin  feels  all  drawn  up  and  my  throat 
burning." 

Violent  vomiting  soon  set  in,  and  he  became  unable  to 
swaUow.  This  was  rapidly  followed  by  delirium,  and  in  three 
hours  and  three-quarters  death  ensued. 

298 


THE   CASE   OF  DR.   LAMSON  299 

A  post-mortem  examination  was  ordered,  and  the  organs 
of  the  body,  together  with  the  remainder  of  the  capsules,  and 
various  pills  and  powders  found  in  the  boy's  room  which  had 
been  sent  to  him  at  different  times  by  Dr.  Lamson,  were  sent 
for  analysis.  Meanwhile  from  information  received  by  the 
police  from  another  quarter  Lamson  was  arrested  and  charged 
with  the  murder  of  his  brother-in-law. 

The  trial  began  on  March  9,  1882,  before  Mr.  Justice 
Hawkins,  the  Solicitor- General,  Mr.  Poland,  appearing  for  the 
prosecution,  and  Mr.  Montagu  Williams  and  others  for  the 
defence. 

The  Solicitor-General  in  his  opening  speech  stated,  that 
the  post-mortem  on  the  body  revealed  the  fact,  that  the  only 
sign  of  disease  was  the  old-standing  curvature  of  the  spine  and 
evidence  of  paralysis  in  the  lower  extremities.  There  was 
much,  however,  that  called  for  remark  in  the  condition  of  the 
stomach  and  other  organs.  The  conclusion  that  the  medical 
men  came  to  was,  that  there  was  no  natural  cause  to  account 
for  death,  but  that  the  state  of  the  stomach  indicated  that 
death  had  resulted  from  poison — not  what  was  called  a  local 
irritant  poison,  but  some  vegetable  poison  which  had  acted 
upon  the  nerves  and  other  centres. 

Dr.  Stevenson,  who,  together  with  Dr.  Dupre,  had  conducted 
the  analysis,  gave  evidence,  and  began  by  stating  that  he  had 
received  besides  the  organs  of  the  body,  certain  packets  of 
pills,  powders,  sugar,  etc.  Working  in  collaboration  with 
Dr.  Dupre,  he  applied  a  modification  of  Stas's  process  to  the 
liver,  spleen  and  kidneys,  and  the  result  obtain-ed  was  an 
alkaloidal  extract  which  contained  a  trace  of  morphine,  and 
when  placed  on  the  tongue  gave  a  faint  sensation  like  that 
produced  by  aconitine.  The  contents  of  the  stomach,  treated 
by  the  same  process,  also  revealed  an  alkaloidal  extract 
which  when  tasted  produced  the  same  faint  sensation  as  that 
of  aconitine.  "  When  placed  on  the  tongue,"  he  continued, 
"  the  contact  caused  a  burning  sensation  which  extended  to  the 
lip,  although  the  extract  did  not  touch  the  lip.  The  character 
of  the  sensation  was  a  burning  and  a  tingling,  a  kind  of  numb- 
ness. It  is  difficult  to  describe.  It  produced  a  salivation,  a 
desire  to  expectorate  and  a  sensation  at  the  back  of  the  throat 
as  if  it  were  swelling  up,  and  this  was  foUowed  by  a  peculiar 


300  POISON   MYSTERIES 

seared  feeling  as  if  a  hot  iron  had  been  drawn  over  the  tongue, 
or  some  strong  caustic  placed  upon  it. 

"  The  effect  of  aconitine  is  a  burning  feeling  extending 
down  towards  the  stomach.  It  is  a  sickening  feeling  peculiar 
to  this  substance.  I  have  never  found  it  in  any  other  alkaloid, 
and  I  have  tasted  a  great  number. 

"  With  a  portion  of  the  alkaloidal  extract,"  Dr.  Stevenson 
proceeded,  "  I  made  an  experiment.  I  dissolved  it  and 
injected  it  beneath  the  skin  of  a  mouse.  The  animal  was 
obviously  affected  in  two  minutes.  From  that  time  onward  it 
exhibited  symptoms  of  poisoning  and  died  in  thirty  minutes 
from  the  time  of  the  injection  of  the  substance.  I  then  made 
a  similar  experiment  with  Morson's  preparation  of  aconitine, 
procured  specially  for  this  purpose.  I  dissolved  it  in  the 
same  solution  that  I  had  used  for  the  extract  and  operated 
with  it  on  the  mouse  in  the  same  manner.  The  effect  was 
indistinguishable  from  that  of  the  extract." 

This  same  experiment  was  repeated  with  extracts  made 
from  the  different  organs,  and  each  time  the  same  result  was 
obtained.  On  analysis  of  the  vomit  an  alkaloidal  extract 
was  again  obtained.  Dr.  Stevenson  applied  this  to  his  tongue 
and  found  it  had  a  very  powerful  result,  the  effect  lasting 
markedly  for  six  and  a  half  hours.  On  an  injection  being 
made  into  the  back  of  a  mouse  it  was  severely  affected  in 
two  and  a  half  minutes  and  death  resulted  in  fifteen  minutes. 
"  Parallel  results,"  he  stated,  "  were  obtained  with  aconitine. 
In  my  judgment  the  vomit  contained  a  considerable  quantity 
of  aconitine.  Approximately,  it  was  not  less  than  one-seventh 
and  not  more  than  one-fourth  of  a  grain.  There  has  only 
been  one  fatal  case  that  I  know  of  in  which  aconitine  has 
caused  the  death  of  a  human  being,  and  the  quantity  that 
proved  fatal — the  quantity  that  actually  caused  death — was 
known  not  to  be  less  than  one- thirteenth  of  a  grain." 

Dr.  Stevenson  then  described  the  results  of  the  analysis 
of  the  various  powders,  pills,  etc.,  that  had  been  handed  to 
him.  In  the  sweetmeats,  cake  and  sugar  he  found  no  trace  of 
poison  at  all.  He  then  turned  to  the  quinine  powders,  of  which 
there  were  fourteen.  "  My  attention,"  he  said,  "was  called 
to  one  by  Dr.  Dupre.  It  was  a  little  different  in  colour,  as 
also  were  two  others,  and  was  obvious  to  the  trained  eye. 


THE   CASE   OF  DR.   LAMSON  301 

An  analysis  of  one  revealed  0-83  gr.  of  aconitine  and  0-93  gr. 
of  quinine."  On  testing  one  of  the  pills  also,  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  contained  0*45,  or  nearly  half  a  grain  of 
aconitine. 

The  capsules  were  handed  to  the  judge,  who  remarked 
that  the  half  grain  took  up  barely  one-tenth  of  the  space  in 
the  capsule. 

In  the  course  of  the  trial  it  transpired  that  the  prisoner 
had  become  possessed  of  aconitine  a  few  days  before  the  crime 
was  committed.  On  the  nth  of  November  he  had  been  to  a 
chemist  in  Oxford  St.,  and  had  a  prescription  made  up  consist- 
ing of  atropine  and  morphine.  On  the  i6th  he  called  again 
and  asked  for  a  grain  of  digitalin,  saying  it  was  for  external 
use.  The  liquid  in  the  bottle  was  found  to  be  discoloured, 
and  the  assistant,  fearing  it  might  be  impure,  refused  to  supply 
it.  A  few  days  later  Dr.  Lamson  called  again  and  asked  for 
some  aconitine.  The  assistant,  knowing  this  was  a  poison 
of  a  very  dangerous  character,  declined  to  supply  it  and 
advised  him  to  go  where  he  was  better  known. 

Dr.  Lamson  then  went  on  November  24th  to  a  firm  of 
chemists  in  the  city  and  asked  for  two  grains  of  aconitine. 
Asked  for  his  name,  he  wrote  George  H.  Lamson,  Bournemouth, 
and  the  name  being  in  the  Medical  Directory,  he  was  duly 
supplied  with  the  required  amount.  When  the  name  of  Dr. 
Lamson  appeared  in  the  newspapers  in  connection  with  the 
death  of  Percy  John,  the  assistant  who  had  supplied  the 
poison  drew  the  attention  of  his  employers  to  the  circumstance, 
and  the  police  were  communicated  with. 

Mr.  Montagu  Williams,  for  the  defence,  urged  that  the  results 
of  Dr.  Stevenson's  and  Dr.  Dupre's  experiments  were  con- 
sistent with  other  causes  and  suggested  that  the  extracts  which 
were  so  fatal  to  the  mice  might  contain  certain  animal  poisons, 
the  result  of  decomposition.  He  contended  that  it  had  been 
admitted  that  very  little  was  known  of  aconitine,  and  that 
therefore  these  tests  were  not  to  be  relied  upon.  The  proper 
verdict,  he  submitted,  would  be  the  Scottish  one  of  "  Non 
Proven,"  and  as  that  was  not  possible  in  England,  the  prisoner 
was  entitled  to  an  acquittal.  He  reminded  the  jury  of  the 
weak  state  of  the  boy's  health,  and  the  general  expectation 
that  he  would  not  live  long. 


302  POISON   MYSTERIES 

•  The  judge,  in  summing  up,  said  the  question  for  the  jury  to 
decide  was  whether  they  were  satisfied  the  deceased  came  to 
his  death  by  poison,  and  if  so  whether  the  poison  was  admin- 
istered by  the  prisoner.  It  was  for  the  prosecution  to  prove 
the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  and  if  they  failed  to  do  so  the  case 
was  at  an  end.  The  trial  lasted  for  six  days,  and  after  the 
summing-up,  the  jury  retired,  returning  after  an  absence  of 
twenty-five  minutes,  with  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty."  The 
judge  then  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on  Lamson,  which 
was  duly  carried  out  on  August  28,  1882. 

According  to  evidence  at  the  trial,  it  is  probable  that 
Lamson  had  made  several  previous  attempts  on  the  boy's 
life  with  aconitine  in  the  form  of  pills  and  powders,  which  he 
had  given  him  under  the  pretence  of  prescribing  for  his  ail- 
ments. The  money  to  which  he  was  entitled  on  the  death  of 
John  doubtless  supplied  the  motive  for  the  crime. 

Lamson,  as  a  medical  man,  no  doubt  knew  that  there  was  no 
chemical  test  for  aconitine,  and  that  it  would  not  be  likely  to  be 
detected  during  the  post-mortem.  In  fact,  there  was  nothing 
to  show  after  the  autopsy  that  the  cause  of  death  was  not 
natural,  and  it  was  only  the  few  words  uttered  by  the  dying 
boy,  alluding  to  his  sensations,  which  gave  the  clue  to  the 
scientific  investigators. 

The  difficulty  of  proving  the  presence  of  a  rare  vegetable 
alkaloid  in  the  body  after  death  was,  no  doubt,  duly  considered 
by  Lamson  when  he  fixed  on  aconitine  as  the  medium  for  his 
evil  design,  but  science  proved  the  master  of  the  criminal,  and 
the  evidence  of  the  instrument  by  which  the  crime  was  com- 
mitted was  proved  indisputably. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE   PIMLICO   MYSTERY 

CHLOROFORM  belongs  to  the  class  of  neurotic  poisons 
which  act  on  the  brain,  and  produce  loss  of  sensation. 
It  is  a  colourless,  heavy  and  volatile'  liquid,  having  a  peculiar 
ethereal  odour  which  cannot  be  easily  mistaken,  and  a  sweet 
pungent  taste  when  diluted.  For  producing  insensibility  it 
requires  both  careful  and  experienced  administration,  and 
more  lives  have  been  lost  by  carelessness  in  using  than  from 
the  noxious  character  of  the  drug. 

The  stories  that  appear  from  time  to  time,  of  persons  who 
have  been  rendered  unconscious  simply  by  waving  a  chloro- 
formed handkerchief  before  the  face,  usually  emanate  from 
the  fertile  brain  of  some  imaginative  j  ournalist .  As  an  internal 
poison  chloroform  has  rarely  been  used,  although  there  are 
many  cases  on  record  where  persons  have  accustomed  them- 
selves to  drinking  chloroform,  until  they  have  been  able  to 
swallow  it  in  very  large  quantities.  The  one  recorded  instance 
in  which  it  was  alleged  to  have  been  used  internally  for  the 
criminal  destruction  of  life  was  in  the  remarkable  case  known 
as  the  "  Pimlico  Mystery." 

The  trial  of  Adelaide  Bartlett,  for  the  wilful  murder  of  her 
husband  by  administering  chloroform  to  him,  was  held  before 
Mr.  Justice  Wills  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court  on  April  12, 
1886,  and  lasted  for  six  days.  The  case  attracted  consider- 
able attention  and  interest  throughout,  which  culminated  in 
a  dramatic  scene  at  the  close,  and  the  acquittal  of  the  accused 
woman.  The  strange  relations  which  existed  between  Mrs. 
Bartlett  and  her  husband,  with  whose  murder  she  was  charged, 
the  yet  more  strange  relations  between  her  and  the  man  who 
in  the  first  instance  was  included  in  the  accusation,  together 
with  the  exceptional  circumstances  of  his  acquittal  and  his 

303 


304  POISON   MYSTERIES 

immediate  appearance  in  the  witness-box,  formed  a  case  of 
peculiar  dramatic  interest. 

Thomas  Edwin  Bartlett  was  a  grocer,  having  several  shops 
in  the  suburbs  of  London,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was 
forty  years  of  age.  In  1875  he  married  a  young  French 
girl  named  Adelaide  Blanche  de  la  Tremoille,  who 
was  a  native  of  Orleans,  whom  he  met  at  the  house  of  his 
brother.  After  the  marriage  he  sent  her  to  a  boarding- 
school  at  Stoke  Newington,  and  she  lived  with  her  husband 
only  during  the  vacation.  At  a  later  period  she  went  to  a 
convent  school  in  Belgium,  where  she  remained  for  about 
eighteen  months,  after  which  she  rejoined  her  husband, 
and  settled  down  to  live  in  London.  During  Christmas  of 
1 88 1  she  gave  birth  to  a  stillborn  child,  which  so  affected  her 
that  she  came  to  the  resolution  that  she  would  have  no  more 
children.  Some  four  years  later  Mr.  Bartlett  and  his  wife  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  Rev.  George  Dyson,  a  young  Wesleyan 
minister,  who  soon  became  on  terms  of  great  social  intimacy, 
visiting  and  dining  with  them  frequently.  The  admiration  for 
their  friend  seems  to  have  been  common  to  both  husband  and 
wife.  In  1885  Edwin  Bartlett  made  a  will,  leaving  aU  he 
possessed  to  his  wife,  and  making  Mr.  Dyson  and  his  solicitors 
his  executors.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Bartletts  removed  to 
furnished  apartments  in  Claverton  Street,  Pimlico,  where 
they  apparently  lived  on  good  terms,  and  were  still  frequently 
visited  by  their  friend  Mr.  Dyson. 

On  December  10,  in  the  same  year,  Mr.  Bartlett  became 
seriously  ill.  Peculiar  symptoms  developed,  which  excited 
the  curiosity  and  surprise  of  the  medical  man  called  in  to 
attend  him.  The  state  of  his  gums  suggested  to  the  doctor 
that  the  illness  was  due  to  mercury,  which  in  some  way  was 
being  administered  to  him,  and  he  complained  of  nervous 
depression  and  sleeplessness.  He  appeared  to  be  gradually 
recovering  from  this,  but  on  December  19  Mr.  Bartlett  himself 
suggested  that  a  second  doctor  should  be  called  in,  lest,  as  he 
put  it,  '.'  his  friends  should  suspect,  if  anything  happened  to 
him,  that  his  wife  was  poisoning  him."  The  cause  for  this 
was  put  down  to  some  ill-feeling  which  had  formerly  existed 
between  Mrs.  Bartlett  and  her  husband's  father.  A  second 
practitioner,   therefore,   was  called  in,   and  the  patient,   on 


THE   PIMLICO   MYSTERY  305 

December  26,  though  still  weak,  was  practically  well  and 
went  out  for  a  drive. 

The  next  day  Mrs.  Bartlett  asked  Mr.  Dyson,  who  was 
constantly  calling  at  the  house,  to  procure  for  her  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  chloroform,  which  she  told  him  she  had  used 
before  on  her  husband  for  some  internal  ailment  of  long 
standing,  and  that  this  internal  affection  had  upon  previous 
occasions  given  him  paroxysms.  She  further  expressed  a 
belief  that  he  might  die  suddenly  in  one  of  these  attacks. 
Dyson  seems  meekly  to  have  yielded  to  her  request,  and 
obtained  three  different  lots  of  chloroform,  in  all  six 
ounces,  from  various  chemists,  giving  the  reason  that  he 
required  it  for  taking  out  grease  spots,  and  placed  it  all 
together  in  one  bottle.  Two  days  after,  he  met  Mrs. 
Bartlett  on  the  Embankment  and  handed  her  the  chloro- 
form. 

During  his  illness,  Mr.  Bartlett  had  slept  on  a  camp  bedstead 
in  the  front  drawing-room,  his  wife  occupying  a  sofa  in  the 
same  room.  On  December  31  he  was  apparently  in  good  health, 
and  about  half-past  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Mrs.  Bartlett 
told  the  servant  she  required  nothing  else  and  retired  with 
her  husband  for  the  night.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
the  house  was  aroused  by  Mrs.  Bartlett,  and  it  was  discovered 
her  husband  was  dead  in  bed. 

The  statement  made  by  the  lady  was,  that  when  her  husband 
had  settled  for  the  night  she  sat  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed  with  her  hand  resting  upon  his  feet.  She  dozed  off 
in  her  chair,  but  awoke  with  a  sensation  of  cramp,  and  was 
horrified  to  find  her  husband's  feet  were  deathly  cold.  She 
tried  to  pour  some  brandy  down  his  throat,  and  then  found  he 
was  dead.  She  then  aroused  the  household.  The  first 
person  who  entered  the  room  was  the  landlord,  who  noticed 
a  peculiar  smell  that  reminded  him  of  chloric  ether.  The 
doctor  was  promptly  sent  for,  but  from  external  examination 
could  find  nothing  to  account  for  death.  The  only  bottle 
found  was  one  that  contained  a  drop  or  two  of  chlorodyne. 
A  post-mortem  examination  was  held,  and  the  stomach  showed 
evidence  of  having  contained  a  considerable  quantity  of 
chloroform.  There  was  no  internal  disease  or  growth,  the 
organs  being  quite  healthy,  and  nothing  to  account  for  death 

u 


3o6  POISON   MYSTERIES 

beyond  the  chloroform,  which  the  medical  men  concluded 
must  have  been  the  cause  of  death. 

The  coroner's  inquiry  resulted  in  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder 
against  Adelaide  Bartlett  and  George  Dyson,  and  they  were 
both  arrested. 

At  the  trial,  the  Crown  decided  to  offer  no  evidence  against 
Dyson,  and,  after  being  indicted  and  pleading  "  Not  guilty," 
he  was  discharged  by  the  judge  to  be  called  as  a  witness. 

A  brilliant  array  of  counsel  were  engaged  on  the  case. 
Sir  Charles  Russell  had  charge  of  the  prosecution,  while 
the  defence  of  Mrs.  Bartlett  was  entrusted  to  Sir  Edward 
Clarke,  and  that  of  Mr.  Dyson  to  Mr.  Lockwood. 

Dyson's  examination  occupied  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
second  day  of  the  trial,  during  which  he  detailed  the  form 
of  the  intimacy  between  Mrs.  Bartlett  and  himself.  He 
related  how  he  procured  the  chloroform  and  disposed  of 
the  bottles  after  hearing  the  result  of  the  post-mortem 
by  throwing  them  away  on  Wandsworth  Common  while 
on  his  way  to  preach  at  Tooting.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
kissing  Mrs.  Bartlett,  and  usually  called  her  Adelaide.  He 
had  had  conversations  with  Mr.  Bartlett  on  the  subject  of 
marriage,  and  had  heard  him  express  the  opinion  that  a  man 
should  have  two  wives,  one  to  look  after  the  household  duties, 
and  another  to  be  a  companion  and  confidante.  He  had  told 
Mr.  Bartlett  he  was  becoming  attached  to  his  wife,  but  the 
latter  seemed  to  encourage  it,  and  asked  him  to  continue  the 
intimacy.  He  did  not  mention  the  matter  of  having  procured 
the  chloroform  for  Mrs.  Bartlett  until  he  had  heard  the  result 
of  the  post-mortem. 

The  medical  man  called  in  to  attend  Mr.  Bartlett  during  his 
illness  described  the  condition  in  which  he  found  him,  and 
his  recovery  from  the  illness.  He  also  gave  an  account  of  a 
very  extraordinary  statement,  which  was  made  to  him  by  Mrs. 
Bartlett  after  the  death  of  her  husband.  It  was  as  follows. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  she  was  selected  by  Mr.  Bartlett 
as  a  wife  for  companionship  only,  and  for  whom  no  carnal 
feeling  should  be  entertained.  The  marriage  compact  was, 
that  they  should  live  together  simply  as  loving  friends.  This 
rule  was  faithfully  observed  for  about  six  years  of  their  married 
life,  and  then  only  broken  at  her  earnest  and  repeated  entreaty 


THE   PIMLICO   MYSTERY  307 

that  she  should  be  permitted  to  be  really  a  wife  and  a  mother. 
The  child  was  stillborn,  and  from  that  time  the  two  lived 
together,  but  their  relations  were  not  those  of  matrimony. 
Her  husband  showed  great  affection  for  her  of  an  ultra- 
platonic  kind,  and  encouraged  her  to  pursue  various  studies, 
which  she  did  to  please  him.  He  affected  to  admire  her,  and 
liked  to  surround  her  with  male  acquaintances,  and  enjoy  their 
attentions  to  her.  Then  they  became  acquainted  with  Dyson. 
Her  husband  conceived  a  great  liking  for  him,  and  threw  them 
together.  He  requested  them  to  kiss  in  his  presence  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  it,  and  gave  her  to  understand  that  he  had 
"  given  her "  to  Mr.  Dyson.  As  her  husband  gradually 
recovered  from  his  illness  he  expressed  a  wish  that  they  should 
resume  the  ordinary  relations  of  man  and  wife,  but  she 
resented  it.  She  therefore  sought  for  some  means  to  prevent 
his  desire,  and  for  this  purpose  she  asked  Dyson  to  procure 
the  chloroform. 

On  the  night  of  his  death,  some  conversation  of  this  kind 
had  taken  place  between  them,  and  when  he  was  in  bed  she 
brought  the  bottle  of  chloroform.  She  gave  it  to  him,  inform- 
ing him  of  her  intention  to  sprinkle  some  upon  a  handkerchief 
and  wave  it  in  his  face,  thinking  that  thereby  he  would  go 
peacefully  to  sleep.  He  looked  at  the  bottle  and  placed  it 
by  the  side  of  the  low  bed,  then,  turning  over  on  his  side, 
apparently  went  to  sleep.  She  fell  asleep  also,  sitting  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed,  with  her  arm  round  his  foot ;  she  heard  him 
snoring,  then  woke  again,  and  found  he  was  dead. 

Dr.  Stevenson,  who  made  the  analysis,  gave  evidence  as 
to  finding  eleven  and  a  quarter  grains  of  pure  chloroform  in 
the  stomach  of  the  deceased,  but,  judging  from  the  time  that 
had  elapsed  and  the  very  volatile  nature  of  the  liquid,  a  large 
quantity  must  have  been  swallowed.  No  other  poisons  were 
found.  The  jury,  after  deliberating  nearly  two  hours,  returned 
a  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty,"  and  Mrs.  Bartlett  was  acquitted. 

There  was  no  evidence  to  prove  that  chloroform  had  been 
administered  to  Mr.  Bartlett,  and  it  was  suggested  that  he 
had  awoke,  and  by  mistake  swallowed  some  of  the  contents, 
of  the  bottle. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  MAYBRICK   CASE 

ON  July  31,  1889,  o^^  of  the  most  remarkable  poisoning 
cases  on  record  was  tried  before  Mr.  Justice  Stephen, 
at  the  Liverpool  Assizes.  The  trial,  which  lasted  eight  days, 
excited  the  keenest  interest  in  the-locality  and  throughout  the 
country,  especially  as  the  principal  actors  in  the  tragedy  were 
people  of  good  social  position  and  well  known.  The  accused, 
Mrs.  Florence  May  brick,  wife  of  a  Liverpool  merchant,  was 
charged  with  causing  the  death  of  her  husband  by  adminis- 
tering arsenic  to  him. 

About  the  end  of  April,  1889,  Mr.  James  Maybrick,  who 
lived  at  Grassendale,  near  Liverpool,  was  seized  with  a  peculiar 
illness,  of  which  the  main  symptoms  consisted  of  a  rigidity 
of  the  limbs  and  a  general  feeling  of  sickness  which  quite 
prostrated  him,  and  eventually  confined  him  to  bed.  The 
local  medical  man  who  was  called  in  to  attend  him,  attributed 
the  cause  to  extreme  irritability  of  the  stomach  and  treated 
him  accordingly.  Becoming  puzzled  by  the  persistent 
sickness  and  the  rapidly  increasing  weakness  of  his  patient, 
he  called  a  physician  in  consultation.  From  this  time  he 
grew  considerably  worse  and  severer  symptoms  set  in,  which 
caused  the  doctors  to  suspect  the  cause  was  due  to  some 
irritant  poison.  This  was  confirmed  by  the  discovery  that 
arsenic  had  been  placed  in  a  bottle  of  meat-juice  that  was 
being  administered  to  the  sick  man.  At  the  instance  of  the 
physician  called  in  consultation,  trained  nurses  were  placed 
in  charge,  and  a  close  watch  kept  on  the  patient,  but  without 
avail,  and  he  died  on  May  11. 

From  statements  made  to  the  police,  suspicions  were 
■aroused,  Mrs.  Maybrick  was  arrested,  and  eventually  charged 
with  the  wilful  murder  of  her  husband. 

308 


THE  MAYBRICK  CASE  309 

From  evidence  given  at  the  trial,  it  transpired  that  the  rela- 
tions between  husband  and  wife  had  not  been  of  the  most 
cordial  character  for  some  time.  There  were  frequent  dis- 
agreements, and  just  before  Mr.  May  brick  was  taken  ill  there 
had  been  a  serious  quarrel,  resulting  from  his  wife's  relations 
with  another  man.  The  lady  resented  the  accusation,  and  a 
separation  was  contemplated.  The  fatal  illness  then  inter-: 
vened,  during  the  first  portion  of  which  Mrs.  Maybrick  nursed 
her  husband.  A  letter  addressed  to  her  lover,  which  she 
had  given  to  a  nursemaid  to  post,  was  opened  by  the  girl 
and  handed  to  Mr.  Maybrick 's  brother,  trained  nurses  were 
called  in  and  the  sick  man  placed  in  their  sole  charge.  This 
letter,  which  formed  one  of  the  strongest  pieces  of  evidence 
against  the  accused,  revealed  the  connection  between  Mrs. 
Maybrick  and  her  lover,  and  conveyed  the  intelligence  to 
him  that  her  husband  was  "  sick  unto  death."  Evidence 
was  also  given  by  the  servants  of  fly-papers  having  been 
seen  in  process  of  maceration  in  water  in  Mrs.  Maybrick's 
bedroom.  The  trained  nurses  also  gave  evidence  concerning 
the  suspicious  conduct  of  Mrs.  Maybrick  in  tampering  with 
the  medicines  and  meat- juice  which  were  to  be  administered 
to  the  patient.  These  suspicions  culminated  in  the  discovery 
of  arsenic  in  a  bottle  of  meat-juice  by  one  of  the  medical 
attendants.  Considerable  quantities  of  arsenic  were  found 
by  the  police  in  the  house,  including  a  packet  containing 
seventy-one  grains,  mixed  with  charcoal,  and  labelled  "  Poison 
for  cats." 

The  analytical  examination  was  conducted  by  Dr.  Stevenson 
and  Mr.  Edward  Davis,  a  Liverpool  analyst,  who  discovered 
traces  of  arsenic  in  the  intestines,  and  0*049  ^^  ^  grain  of  arsenic 
in  the  liver,  traces  of  the  poison  being  also  found  in  the  spleen. 
Arsenic  was  also  found  in  various  medicine  bottles,  on  hand- 
kerchiefs, in  bottles  of  glycerin,  and  in  the  pocket  of  a  dress- 
ing-gown belonging  to  the  accused.  Dr.  Stevenson  stated  that 
he  believed  the  body  of  the  deceased  at  the  time  of  death 
probably  contained  a  fatal  dose  of  arsenic. 

The  scientific  evidence  adduced  at  the  trial  was  of  a  very 
conflicting  character.  On  one  hand,  the  medical  men  who 
attended  the  deceased,  and  the  Government  analyst,  swore 
they  believed  that  death  was  caused  from  the  effects  of  arsenic  ;_ 


310  POISON   MYSTERIES 

while  on  the  other,  Dr.  Tidy,  who  was  called  for  the  defence, 
stated  as  an  expert  that  the  quantity  of  arsenic  discovered  in 
the  body  did  not  point  to  the  fact  that  an  overdose  had 
been  administered.  He  believed  that  death  had  been  due  to 
gastro-enteritis  of  some  kind  or  other,  but  that  the  symptoms 
and  post-mortem  appearances  distinctly  pointed  away  from 
arsenic  as  the  cause  of  death.  Dr.  Macnamara,  ex-president 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  Ireland,  also  stated  that  in 
his  opinion  Mr.  Maybrick's  death  had  not  been  caused  by 
arsenical  poisoning  and  that  he  agreed  with  Dr.  Tidy  that  the 
cause  was  gastro-enteritis,  unconnected  with  arsenical  poison- 
ing. For  the  defence,  it  was  also  urged  that  the  deceased 
man  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  arsenic  in  considerable 
quantities  for  some  years.  In  support  of  this,  witnesses 
were  called  to  prove  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  a 
mysterious  white  powder,  and  that  while  living  in  America, 
he  frequently  purchased  arsenic  from  chemists,  who  knew 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  it.  A  negro,  who  had  been 
in  the  service  of  the  deceased  in  America,  also  deposed  to 
seeing  him  take  this  white  powder  in  beef  tea. 

Sir  Charles  Russell,  in  his  speech  for  the  defence,  stated 
that  Mr.  Maybrick  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  arsenic 
for  many  years,  and  was  a  man  who  prided  himself  on  his 
knowledge  of  medicine.  What  was  more  likely  than  that 
he  should  have  had  a  supply  of  that  poison  in  the  house,  and 
that  he  had  ultimately  dosed  himself  to  death  with  it  ? 

After  the  last  witness  for  the  defence  had  left  the  box.  Sir 
Charles  Russell  held  a  rapid  consultation  with  Mrs.  Maybrick. 
A  glance  of  dissatisfaction  crossed  his  face  as  he  turned  to 
the  judge  and  asked  if  the  prisoner  might  make  a  statement. 
The  judge  replied  in  the  affirmative  and  the  accused  woman 
rose  to  her  feet,  and  in  a  low  voice  broken  by  emotion  read 
the  following  plea  from  a  written  paper  she  held  in  her  hand, 
amid  the  breathless  silence  of  those  in  court  : — • 

"  My  Lord,  I  wish  to  make  a  statement,  as  well  as  I  can, 
about  a  few  facts  in  connection  with  the  dreadful  and  crushing 
charge  against  me — the  charge  of  poisoning  my  husband  and 
father  of  my  dear  children.  I  wish  principally  to  refer  to 
the  fly-paper  solution.  The  flypapers  I  bought  with  the 
intention  of  using  the  solution  as  a  cosmetic.     Before  my 


THE   MAYBRICK   CASE  311 

marriage,  and  since  for  many  years,  I  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  using  this  wash  for  the  face  prescribed  for  me  by  Dr.  Graves, 
of  Brooklyn.  It  consisted,  I  beheve,  principally,  of  arsenic, 
tincture  of  benzoin,  elder-fiower  water,  and  some  other 
ingredients.  This  prescription  I  lost  or  mislaid  last  April, 
and  as  at  the  time  I  was  suffering  from  an  eruption  on  the 
face,  I  thought  I  should  like  to  try  and  make  a  substitute  my- 
self. I  was  anxious  to  get  rid  of  this  eruption  before  I  went 
to  a  ball  on  the  30th  of  that  month.  When  I  had  been  in 
Germany  among  my  young  friends  there,  I  had  seen  used  a 
solution  derived  from  fly-papers  soaked  in  elder-flower  water, 
and  then  applied  to  the  face  with  a  handkerchief  well  soaked 
in  the  solution.  I  procured  the  fly-papers  and  used  them  in 
the  same  manner,  and  to  avoid  evaporation  I  put  the  solution 
into  a  bottle  so  as  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  the  admission 
of  the  air.  For  this  purpose  I  put  a  plate  over  the  fly-papers, 
then  a  folded  towel  over  that,  and  then  another  towel  over 
that.  My  mother  has  been  aware  for  a  great  many  years 
that  I  have  used  arsenic  in  solution.  I  now  wish  to  speak 
of  his  illness.  On  Thursday  night,  May  9,  after  the  nurse  had 
given  my  husband  medicine  I  went  and  sat  on  the  bed  beside 
him.  He  complained  to  me  of  feeling  very  sick,  ver}^  weak 
and  very  restless.  He  implored  me  then  again  to  give  him 
a  powder  which  he  had  referred  to  earlier  in  the  evening,  and 
which  I  declined  to  give  him.  I  was  over- wrought,  terribly 
anxious,  miserably  unhappy,  and  his  evident  distress  utterly 
unnerved  me.  As  he  told  me  the  powder  would  not  harm 
him,  and  that  I  could  put  it  in  his  food,  I  then  consented. 
My  Lord,  I  had  not  one  true  or  honest  friend  in  the  house. 
I  had  no  one  to  consult,  no  one  to  advise  me.  I  was  deposed 
from  my  position  as  mistress  of  my  own  house,  and  from  the 
position  of  attending  on  my  husband,  and  notwithstanding  that 
he  was  so  ill,  and  notwithstanding  the  evidence  of  the  nurses 
and  the  servants,  I  may  say  that  he  missed  me  whenever 
I  was  not  with  him  ;  whenever  I  was  out  of  the  room  he  asked 
for  me,  and  four  days  before  he  died  I  was  not  allowed  to 
give  him  a  piece  of  ice  without  its  being  taken  out  of  my 
hand.  I  took  the  meat  juice  into  the  inner  room.  On  going 
through  the  door  I  spilled  some  of  the  liquid  from  the  bottle, 
and  in  order  to  make  up  the  quantity  spilled  I  put  in  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  water.  On  returning  into  the  room  I 
found  my  husband  asleep.  I  placed  the  bottle  on  the  table 
near  the  window.  As  he  did  not  ask  for  anything  then,  and 
as  I  was  not  anxious  to  give  him  anything,  I  removed  it 


312  POISON   MYSTERIES 

from  the  small  table  where  it  attracted  his  attention  and  put 
it  on  the  washstand  where  he  could  not  see  it.  There  I  left 
it.  Until  Tuesday,  May  14,  the  Tuesday  after  my  husband's 
death,  till  a  few  moments  before  the  terrible  charge  was 
made  against  me,  no  one  in  that  house  had  informed  me  of 
the  fact  that  a  death  certificate  had  been  refused — or  that 
there  was  any  reason  to  suppose  that  my  husband  had  died 
from  any  other  than  natural  causes.  It  was  only  when  a 
witness  alluded  to  the  presence  of  arsenic  in  the  meat- juice 
that  I  was  made  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  powder  my  husband 
had  been  taking.  In  conclusion,  I  only  wish  to  say  that  for 
the  love  of  our  children,  and  for  the  sake  of  their  future,  a 
perfect  reconciliation  had  taken  place  between  us,  and  on 
the  day  before  his  death  I  made  a  full  and  free  confession 
to  him." 

It  was  evident  from  Sir  Charles  Russell's  manner  when  he 
rose  to  make  his  final  appeal  that  Mrs.  Maybrick  had  made  her 
statement  against  his  wish,  but  he  still  fought  valiantly  in 
her  cause,  and  urged  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  act  of 
infidelity  on  her  part  there  could  be  no  motive  assigned  in  the 
case,  and  surely,  he  declared,  there  was  a  wide  difference 
between  the  grave  moral  guilt  of  unfaithfulness  and  the 
criminal  act  involved  in  the  deliberate  plotting,  by  such 
wicked  means,  the  felonious  death  of  her  husband.  He  closed 
his  eloquent  and  brilliant  appeal  by  putting  two  questions  to 
the  jury  : — 

1.  Was  there  clear,  safe  and  satisfactory  unequivocal 
proof  that  death  was  in  fact  caused  by  arsenical  poisoning  ? 

2.  Had  the  accused  woman  administered  that  poison,  if  to 
the  poison  the  death  of  her  husband  was  due  ? 

On  the  eighth  day  of  the  trial  the  judge  summed  up  the 
evidence  and  the  jury  retired  at  3.15,  and  had  barely  been 
absent  thirty-eight  minutes  when  they  returned  to  the  court 
with  the  verdict  of  "  Guilty." 

On  being  asked  by  the  clerk  if  she  had  anything  to  say,  Mrs. 
Maybrick  replied  "  I  have  been  found  guilty,  but  excepting 
my  moral  fault  I  am  not  guilty."  The  judge  then  passed 
sentence  of  death. 

The  sentence  aroused  considerable  feeling  and  the  country 
was  divided  into  two  parties,  one  protesting  that  Mrs.  Maybrick 


[Copyright. 

BOTTLE    OF   MEAT    JUICE    AND    A    BOTTLE    CONTAINING   MEAT 
JUICE    AND    WATER    EXHIBITED    IN    THE    MAYBRICK    CASE. 


THE   MAYBRICK   CASE  313 

was  innocent,  and  the  other  that  she  was  guilty.  An  agitation 
was  at  once  made  for  a  reprieve,  which  ended  in  a  respite 
being  granted  and  the  sentence  being  commuted  to  penal 
servitude  for  life. 

For  some  years  afterwards  efforts  were  continually  made 
to  secure  Mrs.  Maybrick's  release,  and  successive  Home  Secre- 
taries investigated  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  but  always 
decided  the  conviction  must  stand.  Sir  Charles  Russell 
frequently  affirmed  his  belief  in  Mrs.  Maybrick's  innocence, 
and  attributed  the  jury's  verdict  to  his  remarks  upon  the 
moral  aspect  of  the  case,  and  even  after  he  became  Lord  Chief 
Justice  of  England  he  stated  his  personal  belief  that  she  was 
not  guilty. 

The  late  Lord  Moulton,  who  was  an  eminent  scientist  as  well 
as  a  great  lawyer,  took  a  deep  interest  in  this  case,  and  in  a 
letter  to  the  writer,  written  in  1899,  stated : 

"  The  point  of  interest  was  one  of  evidence  as  to  the  cause 
of  death.  I  have  always  been  of  opinion  that — taking  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  the  deceased  was  an  arsenic- eater 
— there  was  no  evidence  that  he  was  poisoned.  The  weight 
of  the  medical  testimony  was  in  favour  of  that  view,  but  that 
was  not  the  main  point.  In  my  opinion  the  testimony  for 
the  prosecution  entirely  failed  to  support  the  onus  which  lay 
upon  it.  The  witnesses  could  not  point  out  anything  incon- 
sistent with  non-poisoning." 

"  This  case,"  says  Sir  William  Willcox,  "  is  interesting 
from  the  fact  that  the  proof  of  fatal  poisoning  rested  on  the 
presence  of  0'049  grain  of  arsenic  in  the  liver,  the  minimum 
fatal  dose  being  about  two  grains." 

Whether  Mrs.  Maybrick  did  actually  administer  arsenic 
to  her  husband  with  intent  to  kill  him  she  alone  could  tell. 
On  her  own  confession  she  admitted  having  given  him  a 
certain  white  powder  for  which  he  craved,  of  the  nature  of 
which,  however,  she  said  she  was  ignorant.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  this  powder  was  arsenic.  If  she  did  not  know  the 
powder  was  arsenic  and  did  not  give  it  with  intent  to  kill 
him,  then  surely  such  a  web  of  circumstantial  evidence  has 
never  before  been  woven  round  one  accused  of  having  com- 
mitted a  terrible  crime. 


CHAPTER   X 
THE   LAMBETH   POISON   MYSTERIES 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1891  and  the  early  part 
of  1892,  public  interest  was  excited  by  the  mysterious 
deaths  of  several  young  women  of  the  "  unfortunate  class  " 
residing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lambeth.  The  first  case 
was  that  of  a  girl  named  Matilda  Clover,  who  lived  in  Lambeth 
Road.  On  the  night  of  October  20, 1891,  she  spent  the  evening 
at  a  music-hall  in  company  with  a  man,  who  returned  with  her 
to  her  lodgings  about  nine  o'clock.  Shortly  afterwards  she 
was  seen  to  go  out  alone,  and  she  purchased  some  bottled  beer, 
which  she  carried  to  her  rooms.  After  a  little  time  the  man 
left  the  house. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  inmates  of  the  house 
were  aroused  by  the  screams  of  a  woman,  and  on  the  landlady 
entering  Matilda  Clover's  room,  she  found  the  unfortunate 
girl  lying  across  the  bed  in  the  greatest  agony.  Medical  aid- 
was  sent  for,  and  the  assistant  of  a  neighbouring  doctor  saw 
the  girl,  and  judged  she  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  drink. 
He  prescribed  a  sedative  mixture,  but  the  girl  got  worse,  and, 
after  a  further  convulsion,  died  on  the  following  morning. 
The  medical  man  whose  assistant  had  seen  her  on  the  previous 
night,  gave  a  certificate  that  death  was  due  to  delirium  tremens 
and  syncope,  and  Matilda  Clover  was  buried  at  Tooting. 

A  few  weeks  afterwards  a  woman  called  Ellen  Donworth, 
who  resided  in  Duke  Street,  Westminster  Bridge  Road,  is 
stated  to  have  received  a  letter,  in  consequence  of  which  she 
went  out  between  six  and  seven  in  the  evening.  About  eight 
o'clock  she  was  found  in  Waterloo  Road  in  great  agony,  and 
died  while  she  was  being  conveyed  to  St.  Thomas's  Hospital. 
Before  her  death  she  made  a  statement  that  a  man  with  a 
dark  beard  and  wearing  a  high  hat  had  given  her  "  two  drops 

314 


THE  LAMBETH   POISON   MYSTERIES  315 

of  white  stuff  "  to  drink.  In  this  case  a  post-mortem  examina- 
tion was  made,  and  on  analysis  both  strychnine  and  morphine 
were  found  in  the  stomach,  proving  that  the  woman  had  been 
poisoned. 

These  cases  had  almost  been  forgotten,  when  some  six 
months  afterwards,  attention  was  again  aroused  by  the 
mysterious  deaths  of  two  girls  named  Alice  Marsh  and  Emma 
Shrivell,  who  lodged  in  Stamford  Street.  On  the  evening  of 
April  II,  1892,  a  man,  whom  one  of  the  girls  in  her  dying 
testimony  called  "  Fred  "  and  whom  she  described  as  a  doctor, 
called  to  see  them,  and  together  they  partook  of  tea.  The 
man  stayed  till  2  a.m.,  and  during  the  evening  gave  them  both 
"  three  long  pills." 

Half  an  hour  after  the  man  left  the  house,  both  girls  were 
found  in  a  dying  condition.  While  they  were  being  removed 
to  the  hospital  Alice  Marsh  died  in  the  cab,  and  Emma  Shrivell 
lived  for  only  six  hours  afterwards.  The  result  of  an  analysis 
of  the  stomach  and  organs  revealed  the  fact  that  death  in 
each  case  had  been  caused  by  strychnine. 

There  was  absolutely  no  evidence  beyond  the  vague  descrip- 
tion of  the  man  for  the  police  to  work  upon,  and  this  case, 
like  the  others  with  which  at  first  it  was  not  connected, 
seemed  likely  to  remain  among  the  unsolved  mysteries ; 
when  by  the  following  curious  chain  of  circumstances,  the 
perpetrator  of  these  cold-blooded  crimes  was  at  last  brought 
to  justice. 

Some  time  after  the  deaths  of  the  two  girls  Marsh  and 
Shrivell,  a  Dr.  Harper,  of  Barnstaple,  received  a  letter,  in 
which  the  writer  stated  that  he  had  indisputable  evidence 
that  the  doctor's  son,  who  had  recently  qualified  as  a  medical 
practitioner  in  London,  had  poisoned  two  girls— Marsh  and 
Shrivell — and  that  he,  the  writer,  required  £1,500  to  suppress 
it.  Dr.  Harper  placed  this  letter  in  the  hands  of  the  police, 
with  the  result  that  on  June  3,  1892,  a  man  named  Thomas 
Neill,  or  Neill  Cream,  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  sending  a 
threatening  letter.  He  was  brought  up  at  Bow  Street  on  this 
charge  several  times,  during  which  it  transpired  that  in  the 
preceding  November  a  well-known  London  physician  had  also 
received  a  letter,  in  which  the  writer  declared  that  he  had 
evidence  to  show  that  the  physician  had  poisoned  a  Miss 


3i6  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Clover  with  strychnine,  which  evidence  he  could  purchase 
for  £2,500,  and  so  save  himself  from  ruin. 

Neill  Cream  was  remanded,  and  in  the  meanwhile  the 
body  of  Matilda  Clover  was  exhumed,  and  the  contents  of 
the  stomach  sent  to  Dr.  Stevenson,  one  of  the  Government 
analysts,  for  examination.  He  discovered  the  presence  of 
strychnine,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  some  one  had 
administered  a  fatal  dose  to  her. 

An  inquest  was  then  held  on  the  body  of  Matilda  Clover, 
with  the  result  that  Thomas  Neill,  or  Neill  Cream,  was  com- 
mitted on  the  charge  of  wilful  murder. 

The  man's  lodgings  were  searched  after  his  arrest,  and 
a  curious  piece  of  paper  was  discovered,  on  which,  written  in 
pencil  in  his  handwriting,  were  the  initials  "  M.  C."  and 
opposite  to  them  two  dates,  and  then  a  third  date,  viz.  October 
20,  which  was  the  date  of  Matilda  Clover's  death.  On  the 
same  paper,  in  connection  with  the  initials  "  E.  S.,"  was  also 
found  two  dates,  one  being  April  11,  which  was  the  date  of 
Emma  Shrivell's  death.  There  was  also  found  in  his  possession 
a  paper  bearing  the  address  of  Marsh  and  Shrivell,  and  it 
was  afterwards  proved  that  he  had  said  on  more  than  one 
occasion  that  he  knew  them  well. 

In  his  room  a  quantity  of  small  pills  was  discovered,  each 
containing  from  one-sixteenth  to  one-twenty-second  of  a 
grain  of  strychnine,  also  fifty-four  other  bottles  of  pills,  seven 
of  which  contained  strychnine,  a  pocket  medicine  case,  and 
a  bottle  containing  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  pills,  each 
containing  one-twenty-second  of  a  grain  of  strychnine.  These, 
it  is  supposed,  he  obtained  as  an  agent  for  the  Harvey  Drug 
Co.,  of  America.  It  was  found  he  had  purchased  a  quantity 
of  empty  gelatine  capsules  from  a  chemist  in  Parliament 
Street,  which  there  is  little  doubt  he  had  used  to  administer 
a  number  of  the  small  pills  in  a  poisonous  dose. 

Thomas  Neill,  or  Neill  Cream,  was  tried  for  the  wilful 
murder  of  Matilda  Clover  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court  before 
Mr.  Justice  Hawkins,  on  October  18,  1892,  the  trial  lasting 
five  days. 

It  transpired  that  Cream,  who  had  received  some  medical 
education  and  styled  himself  a  doctor,  came  to  this  country 
from  America  on  October  i,  1891,  and  on  arriving  in  London 


t  *  11  m  » 


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»$§m  mm 

iiiiiiiiiiii  I  I 


[Copyright. 
STETHOSCOPE    AND    POCKET    MEDICINE    CASE    CARRIED 
BY    NEILL    CREAM. 


THE   LAMBETH   POISON   MYSTERIES  317 

first  stayed  at  Anderton's  Hotel;  in  Fleet  Street.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  took  apartments  in  Lambeth,  and  became 
engaged  to  a  lady  living  at  Berkhampstead. 

He  was  identified  as  having  been  seen  in  the  company  of 
Matilda  Clover,  and  also  by  a  policeman  as  the  man  who 
left  the  house  in  Stamford  Street  on  the  night  that  Marsh  and 
Shrivell  were  murdered. 

Dr.  Stevenson,  who  made  the  analysis  of  the  body  of 
Matilda  Clover  on  May  6,  1892,  stated  in  his  evidence  that 
he  found  strychnine  in  the  stomach,  liver,  and  brain,  and 
that  quantitatively  he  obtained  one-sixteenth  of  a  grain  of 
strychnine  from  two  pounds  of  animal  matter.  He  also 
examined  the  organs  from  the  bodies  of  Alice  Marsh  and 
Emma  Shrivell.  He  found  639  grains  of  strychnine  in  the 
stomach  and  its  contents  of  Alice  Marsh,  and  i'6  grain  of 
strychnine  in  the  stomach  and  its  contents,  also  1-46  grain 
in  the  vomit,  and  0-2  grain  in  a  small  portion  of  the  liver  of 
Emma  Shrivell. 

The  jury,  after  deliberating  for  ten  minutes,  returned 
a  verdict  of  guilty,  and  Thomas  Neill,  or  Neill  Cream,  as 
he  was  otherwise  known,  was  sentenced  to  death.  He  was 
executed  on  November  15,  1892. 


CHAPTER   XI 
SOME  POISON   MYSTERIES   IN   FRANCE 

FOR  centuries  past  poison  has  played  a  prominent  part 
in  love  intrigues  which  form  so  common  a  feature  in 
French  life.  Such  crimes  are  generally  incited  by  jealousy 
or  the  desire  to  remove  some  obstacle  that  obstructs  the  path 
of  the  ardent  lover.  A  typical  case  of  this  character  and  one 
which  caused  a  great  sensation  at  the  time,  occurred  at 
Bordeaux  in  1906,  when  Madame  Canaby  was  tried  for 
attempting  to  poison  her  husband.  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Canaby  were  people  of  good  position  and  well  known  in 
Bordeaux  society.  The  arrest  of  the  lady,  therefore,  caused 
considerable  interest.  The  story  is  somewhat  remarkable. 
Early  in  1906  Monsieur  Canaby  was  jtaken  ill  with  influenza, 
and  on  the  27th  of  that  month  his  cook  called  at  a  pharmacy 
in  the  city  with  a  prescription  which  contained  a  large  quantity 
of  aconite  and  digitalin,  two  very  powerful,  poisons.  The 
prescription  was  signed  by  a  "  Dr.  Gaube."  The  pharmacist, 
who  happened  to  be  the  uncle  of  Madame  Canaby,  knew  that  his 
niece  and  her  husband  were  friendly  with  Dr.  Gaube,  who  lived 
some  distance  away  from  Bordeaux.  His  natural  surprise 
at  the  large  quantity  of  the  powerful  poisons  ordered  was 
somewhat  allayed  by  a  note  which  accompanied  the  pre- 
scription, stating  that  Dr.  Gaube  required  the  poisons  for 
experimental  purposes.  M.  Fouries,  the  pharmacist,  then 
wrote  a  note  to  his  niece,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  three 
years,  explaining  that  although  he  had  dispensed  this  pre- 
scription he  could  not  in  future  deliver  such  dangerous  drugs 
by  a  messenger.  He  further  cautioned  the  servant,  saying, 
"  Be  careful ;  there  is  enough  there  to  poison  thirty  men  !  " 
On  May  i  M.  Erny,  the  pharmacist  who  usuaUy  dispensed 
for  Madame  Canaby,  received  a  prescription  for  one  gramme 

318 


SOME   POISON   MYSTERIES   IN   FRANCE      319 

of  digitalin,  signed  by  Dr.  Gaube,  also  accompanied  by 
a  note  similar  to  that  presented  to  M.  Fouries.  This  was 
followed  by  another  prescription  on  May  4  for  one  gramme  of 
aconitine  and  five  centigrams  of  digitalin.  Five  days  after- 
wards a  third  prescription  was  presented  for  one  gramme  of 
potassium  cyanide  and  one  gramme  of  digitalin,  both  of 
which  are  extremely  virulent  poisons.  The  pharmacist's 
suspicions  now  being  aroused,  he  refused  to  dispense  the 
last  prescription,  and  on  May  li  he  called  on  Dr.  Guerin, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  attending  M.  Canaby,  and  showed  him 
the  prescription.  The  following  day  Dr.  Guerin  called  in 
four  physicians,  and  after  a  consultation  it  was  decided  to 
remove  M.  Canaby  to  a  private  hospital  under  the  charge  of 
Dr.  Villar.  Here,  carefully  watched,  M.  Canaby  gradually 
made  some  progress  toward  recovery. 

Meanwhile,  the  doctors  submitted  the  prescriptions  to 
Dr.  Gaube,  who  at  once  pronounced  them  forgeries  and  lodged 
a  complaint  with  the  Procureur  of  the  Republic.  A  police 
inquiry  followed,  and  a  search  was  made  in  the  Canabys' 
house,  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a  large  number  of 
empty  bottles  which  had  formerly  contained  Fowler's  Solution 
of  Arsenic.  An  analysis  being  made  of  the  hair  of  M.  Canaby, 
it  revealed  the  presence  of  arsenic  to  the  extent  of  forty 
milligrams  per  kilo,  and  in  hair  from  his  beard  twenty-six 
milligrams. 

The  arrest  of  Madame  Canaby  quickly  followed,  and  she  was 
committed  for  trial  on  the  charge  of  attempting  to  poison  her 
husband.  The  motive  for  the  cause  was  assigned  to  an 
intimacy  Madame  had  formed  with  a  Monsieur  Rabot,  a  friend 
of  the  family. 

At  the  trial  M.  Canaby,  still  weak  and  ill,  was  brought  to 
the  Court  and  strongly  affirmed  his  wife's  innocence.  He 
stated  his  belief  that  a  discharged  servant  had  by  means  of 
anonymous  letters  instigated  the  prosecution.  He  ascribed 
the  presence  of  arsenic  in  his  beard  to  patent  medicines 
which  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  in  large  doses. 
M.  Rabot,  whose  intimacy  with  Madame  Canaby  had  given 
rise  to  some  scandal,  denied  that  any  improper  relations 
existed  between  him  and  the  lady.  The  onus  of  proving 
the  case  then  rested  with  the  medical  men  who  had  been  in 


320  POISON   MYSTERIES 

attendance  on  M.  Canaby.  Beyond  a  few  explanations,  how- 
ever, they  dedined  to  say  anything,  stating  that  they  coald 
not  say  more  without  betraying  the  secrets  of  their  patients, 
which  professional  usage  forbade. 

The  President  of  the  Court  informed  Dr.  Villar,  the  chief 
medical  witness,  that  his  refusal  to  speak  would  probably 
tell  against  the  prisoner. 

"  I  will  ask  her  to  release  you  from  your  pledge,"  continued 
the  President. 

"  I  want  the  truth  to  be  told  ;  I  don't  want  anyone  to  keep 
silence  on  my  account,"  broke  in  Madame  Canaby. 

"  So  now  you  can  speak,"  remarked  the  President. 

"  Not  at  all,"  replied  the  doctor.  "No  one  can  release  us 
from  our  pledge  of  secrecy,  and  certainly  not  Madame  Canaby, 
who  was  not  our  patient." 

"  But  every  good  citizen  under  pain  of  punishment  is  bound 
to  disclose  any  criminal  act  that  is  known  to  have  been  com- 
mitted by  another,"  said  the  President  sharply. 

"  On  the  contrary,"  replied  the  witness,  "  the  law  punishes 
those  who  violate  professional  secrecy  and  did  so  recently  in 
Paris.  Even  if  we  know  an  accused  person  guilty,  we  would 
refuse  to  speak." 

For  the  defence,  evidence  was  adduced  that  M.  Canaby  was 
in  the  habit  of  taking  a  certain  patent,  medicine  that  contained 
arsenic.  Of  the  three  experts  who  were  called  to  give  an 
opinion  on  the  writing  of  the  prescriptions,  one  declared  the 
writing  resembled  that  of  M.  Rabot,  while  the  others  averred 
that  it  was  unquestionably  that  of  Madame  Canaby,  who  had 
attempted  to  disguise  her  hand. 

Madame  herself  declared  that  the  poisons  when  received 
had  been  handed  to  her  by  a  fair  young  man,  who  came 
presumably  from  Dr.  Gaube,  but  as  to  his  identity  she  could 
trace  nothing. 

In  the  end,  Madame  Canaby  was  acquitted  on  the  charge  of 
attempting  to  poison  her  husband,  but  was  found  guilty  of 
forging  medical  prescriptions,  by  which  poison  was  fraudu- 
lently obtained  by  her.  For  this  she  was  sentenced  to  fifteen 
months'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  a  hundred  francs. 

Another  strange  case,  the  motive  for  which  can  only  be 
assigned  to  a  disordered  brain,  happened  in  Varennes,  a  viUage 


SOME   POISON   MYSTERIES   IN   FRANCE       321 

near  Saint  Amand-Montroud.  In  April,  1905,  a  well-to-do 
farmer  named  Gilbert  died  suddenly,  and  six  months  after- 
wards his  wife  expired  in  a  similar  manner.  In  September  of 
the  following  year,  another  farmer  in  the  same  district,  called 
Renaud,  died  very  suddenly,  and  within  a  month  his  wife 
succumbed  to  a  mysterious  illness.  In  the  meantime,  one  of 
their  farm  labourers  also  died  from  an  unexplained  cause,  and 
a  young  "man,  who  was  steward  of  a  neighbouring  chateau, 
together  with  his  little  daughter,  was  likewise  fatally  attacked. 
No  suspicions  of  foul  play  were  apparently  aroused  until  a 
considerable  time  afterwards,  when  Madame  Fallot,  a  villager, 
found  a  small  cheese  on  her  window-sill,  which  she  took  to 
be  a  present  from  a  neighbour.  She  ate  some  of  it  with  her 
lunch,  and  in  less  than  three  hours  she  was  dead. 

The  origin  of  the  cheese,  which  on  analysis  proved  to  be 
strongly  impregnated  with  arsenic,  was  traced  to  a  young 
married  woman  named  Jeanne  Gilbert,  the  daughter  of  the 
farm.er  Renaud  and  the  daughter-in-law  of  M.  and  Mme 
Gilbert,  all  of  whom  had  died  in  a  similar  manner.  She  wa.s 
arrested  and  charged  with  the  murder  of  Madame  Fallot. 

M.  Bouillot,  a  pharmacist  of  Saint  Amand,  was  able  to  prove 
from  his  poison  register  that  Jeanne  Gilbert  had  bought 
arsenic  by  the  half  pound  from  him,  stating  that  she  required 
it  for  poisoning  rats  on  the  farm,  and  she  might  have  had 
two  pounds  of  the  poison  in  her  possession  at  one  time. 
Jeanne  at  first  stoutly  denied  that  she  had  purchased  the 
arsenic,  and  declared  she  did  not  even  know  the  pharmacist. 
Even  when  confronted  with  the  jugc  d'irstruction  she  con- 
tinued her  denials,  but  the  pharmacist  had  been  careful  to 
make  her  sign  his  register  on  the  occasion  of  each  purchase. 
The  judge  required  her  to  sign  her  name,  with  the  result  that 
the  identity  of  the  writing  was  at  once  established. 

When  compared,  the  dates  of  sales  and  the  deaths  of  the 
woman's  relatives  practically  corresponded.  She  subsequently 
admitted  the  purchases  of  the  arsenic,  but  adhered  to  her 
original  assertion  that  she  used  it  for  destroying  rats.  Alto- 
gether, it  is  suspected  that  Jeanne  Gilbert  poisoned  no  fewer 
than  eleven  persons. 

The  most  extraordinary  feature  of  the  case  was  that  she 
appeared  to  have  no  possible  motive  for  committing  there 

X 


322  POISON   MYSTERIES 

terrible  crimes,  as  she  was  comfortably  settled  in  life.  Her 
parents  were  in  good  circumstances,  and  she  could  expect  no 
advantages,  to  accrue  from  their  deaths,  or  that  of  her  future 
mother-in-law  and  the  other  persons  she  is  believed  to  have 
poisoned.  The  only  explanation  offered  is  the  statement  of 
her  husband  that  her  mind  may  have  been  affected  by  an  illness 
after  which  he  had  noticed  that  she  sometimes  acted  strangely. 

A  more  recent  case  which  excited  great  interest  throughout 
France  was  that  of  Henri  Girard,  who  died  in  prison  while 
awaiting  trial.  About  1909  this  individual,  who  passed  as 
an  insurance  agent,  was  living  at  Montreuil-sous-Bois.  Well 
educated,  of  good  appearance,  and  apparently  a  cultured  man 
with  a  leaning  towards  music,  literature  and  science,  he  soon 
become  popular  among  a  wide  circle  in  the  district  in  which 
he  lived  and  also  in  Paris.  Among  his  acquaintances  was  a 
wealthy  man  named  Pernotte,  who  after  some  persuasion 
consented  to  have  his  life  insured  in  two  different  companies 
for  a  total  sum  of  ;f8,400,  which  was  to  be  payable  to  Girard 
in  case  of  Pernotte's  death. 

A  short  time  afterwards  all  the  members  of  Pernotte's 
family  were  stricken  with  typhoid  fever,  but  in  the  course 
of  time  they  recovered  and  went  away  for  a  holiday.  On  their 
return,  however,  as  M.  Pernotte  was  still  feeling  weak,  his 
friend  Girard,  who  claimed  to  have  some  medical  knowledge 
and  was  interested  in  science,  gave  him  a  hypodermic  injection 
which  he  said  would  speedily  put  him  on  his  feet  again. 
Pernotte  died  soon  afterwards,  and  the  physicians  who 
examined  the  body  declared  that  death  resulted  from  poisoning. 

Girard,  it  was  afterwards  discovered,  made  an  entry  in  his 
diary  at  this  time  as  follows  :  "  Poisons  ;  prepare  bottle, 
tubes,  rubber  gloves  ;    buy  microbe  books." 

Police  inquiries  were  set  on  foot  and  disclosed  the  fact 
that  Girard  at  this  time  was  studying  bacteriology,  and  had 
actually  boug:ht  cultures  of  typhoid  bacilli,  and  a  selection  of 
toxic  organisms  and  poisons  were  found  at  his  house. 

Meanwhile  Girard  calmly  took  possession  of  the  £8,400 
for  which  he  had  insured  the  life  of  M.  Pernotte. 

He  appears  to  have  been  a  man  possessed  of  the  most 
extraordinary  power  of  attraction  for  both  men  and  women  ; 
his  manners  are  said  to  have  been  charming,  and  the  courtly 


SOME   POISON   MYSTERIES   IN   FRANCE      323 

tone  of  his  conversation  gave  him  the  name  among  his  acquain- 
tance of  "  Gentleman  Girard." 

Once  his  intimate  friends  came  within  the  sphere  of  his 
magnetic  personahty  they  seem  to  have  surrendered  their 
wills  entirely  to  his. 

In  1913  he  became  very  friendly  with  a  M.  Godel,  and  the 
latter  agreed,  at  the  suggestion  of  Girard,  to  take  out  a  joint 
life  insurance  for  ;f8,ooo.  In  case  of  the  death  of  one,  the 
money  was  to  go  to  the  survivor.  M.  Godel  after  lunching 
one  day  with  Girard  was  taken  ill  with  typhoid  fever  ;  he 
eventually  recovered,  but  becoming  suspicious,  he  refused  to 
see  Girard  again,  to  which  decision  he  no  doubt  owed  his  life. 
Girard  was  mobilized  during  the  war  and  served  in  the 
automobile  service  in  Paris  where  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  soldier  called  Delmas.  Delmas  became  very  friendly 
with  Girard,  and,  after  having  signed  bills  in  favour  of  the 
insurance  agent,  also  took  ill  and  developed  typhoid  fever. 
He  was  sent,  however,  to  a  military  hospital  and  recovered. 
It  is  stated  that  Girard  was  experimenting  with  micro- 
organisms and  had  bought  quantities  of  typhoid  cultures 
from  wholesale  druggists.  At  this  time,  too,  he  fitted  up  a 
bacteriological  laboratory  in  the  house  of  a  woman  with 
whom  he  lived  at  Neuilly. 

Finding  that  his  efforts  in  using  pathogenic  organisms  had 
proved  so  uncertain  in  effects,  he  next  turned  his  attention 
to  the  study  of  poisonous  fungi,  and  used  the  resulting  poison 
on  his  next  victim,  a  M.  Duroux,  a  post  office  employee,  whose 
life,  as  in  the  previous  cases,  he  had  insured  for  a  large  sum 
without  the  latter's  knowledge. 

Having  invited  him  to  dine  at  his  house,  it  was  said  that 
he  took  the  opportunity  of  placing  the  poison  in  his  food. 
The  servants,  it  is  alleged,  were  told  not  to  wash  up,  and  they 
say  that  Girard  and  one  of  his  mistresses  washed  the  plates  and 
knives  and  forks  in  a  bath  full  of  antiseptic  solution.  Duroux, 
however,  was  none  the  worse.  Girard's  notebook  at  this  time 
shows  the  following  entry  :  "  Mimiche  Dinner — mushrooms," 
opposite  the  dates  May  10  and  11,  1917.  The  dinner  took 
place  on  May  14.  In  December  of  the  same  year  Duroux 
twice  went  to  a  cafe  with  Girard  and  each  time  was  taken 
violently  ill  afterwards. 


^^  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  next  victim  was  a  Madame  Monin,  a  widow,  with  whom 
Girard  became  very  intimate.  Having  taken  out  four  insur- 
ance pohcies  on  her  Hfe,  he  then  decided  to  poison  her.  He 
persuaded  her  to  come  to  the  house  of  his  future  wife,  a  Mile 
Drouhin,  to  see  some  hats,  and  while  Mme  Monin  was  so 
engaged,  Girard  offered  her  some  refreshment  and  wine 
was  brought  into  the  room.  The  hat  having  been  selected, 
the  lady  partook  of  a  glass  of  wine  handed  to  her  by  Girard, 
which  is  said  to  have  contained  a  poison  he  had  prepared  from 
fungi  specially  for  this  purpose. 

It  acted  very  rapidly,  as  the  unfortunate  lady  was  taken 
ill  in  the  street  almost  directly  afterwards,  and  after  being 
taken  by  two  policemen  to  her  home,  she  died  three  hours 
later.  A  post-mortem  examination  revealed  the  fact  that  she 
died  from  mushroom  poisoning.  Girard,  however,  was  bold 
enough  to  make  a  claim  on  the  insurance  policies,  but  owing 
to  the  refusal  of  one  of  the  companies  to  pay  £400,  the  amount 
of  one  policy  which  he  had  taken  out  with  them  on  the  life  of 
Mme  Monin,  he  was  arrested. 

It  was  then  discovered  that  two  other  insurance  companies 
had  already  handed  over  to  Girard  or  his  accomplices  over 
;£8oo  without  inquiries.  Girard,  as  agent,  having  secured  the 
business  in  each  case,  had  according  to  custom  been  paid  the 
first  premium  as  his  commission. 

After  his  arrest,  on  his  house  being  searched,  in  his  laboratory, 
which  was  completely  equipped,  were  found  a  considerable 
number  cf  poisons  and  a  number  of  glass  jars  containing 
typhoid  cultures  and  other  organisms.  Inquiries  revealed 
other  mysterious  cases  on  which  Girard  had  operated  back 
to  1913,  and  brought  to  light  another,  of  a  man  whom 
he  had  invited  to  dinner  and  who  had,  died  after  drinking  an 
aperitif  which  had  been  offered  to  him  by  Girard. 

The  preliminary  legal  investigation  into  this  remarkable 
series  of  crimes  lasted  nearly  three  years,  and  in  the  end 
Girard  was  sent  before  the  Chamber  of  Criminal  Indictment, 
but  before  the  trial  took  place  at  the  Paris  Assizes  death 
had  cheated  the  guillotine.  Girard  died  in  prison  after  he 
had  made,  it  is  said,  a  full  confession  of  his  crimes. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  HORSFORD   CASE 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1897,  a  widow,  called  Mrs. 
Holmes,  was  living  with  her  three  children  at  Stonely, 
near  Kimbolton.  She  had  a  cousin  named  Walter  Horsford, 
a  well-to-do  young  farmer  who  occupied  a  farm  at  Spaldwick, 
about  twelve  miles  away,  and  who  frequently  came  to  Stonely 
to  visit  her. 

A  romantic  attachment  eventually  sprang  up  between  them, 
which  resulted  in  a  too  intimate  acquaintance. 

After  a  while  Horsford's  affection  began  to  wane,  and  in 
the  end  he  married  another  lady.  Shortly  afterwards  Mrs. 
Holmes  left  Stonely  and  took  up  her  residence  at  St.  Neots. 

About  December  of  the  same  year  she  wrote  a  letter  to 
Horsford,  informing  him  of  her  condition,  a  piece  of  news 
which  appears  to  have  greatly  upset  him,  as  he  was  in  fear 
the  information  might  reach  his  wife. 

On  December  28  he  called  at  a  chemist's  shop  in  Thrapstone, 
a  neighbouring  town,  and  asked  for  a  shilling's  worth  of 
strychnine,  some  prussic  acid,  arsenic,  and  carbolic  acid,  which 
he  stated  he  required  for  poisoning  rats.  The  chemist,  to 
whom  he  was  a  stranger,  requested  him  to  bring  a  witness, 
which  he  did,  and  the  chemist's  poison  register  was  duly  signed 
by  Horsford  and  a  man  who  introduced  him.  He  took  the 
poisons,  which  consisted  of  ninety  grains  of  strychnine,  one 
pound  of  arsenic,  and  some  prussic  acid  and  carbolic  acid, 
away  with  him. 

About  a  week  afterwards  Mrs.  Holmes  received  a  letter 
from  Horsford.  It  was  taken  in  by  her  daughter,  who  recog- 
nized his  handwriting,  and  the  envelope  is  also  supposed  to 
have  contained  two  packets  of  strychnine. 

On  the  evening  of  January  7,  1898,  Mrs.  Holmes  retired  to 

325 


326  POISON   MYSTERIES 

bed,  apparently  in  her  usual  health,  about  half-past  nine.  The 
only  other  persons  in  the  house  were  her  daughter  Annie, 
her  son  Percy,  and  her  infant.  The  daughter  noticed  that 
her  mother  took  a  glass  of  water  upstairs  with  her,  which  was 
an  unusual  circumstance.  On  going  to  her  mother's  bedroom 
shortly  afterwards,  she  found  her  suffering  great  pain,  and 
she  saw  the  glass,  now  almost  empty,  standing  on  a  chest  of 
drawers. 

Percy  Holmes  ran  out  and  called  in  the  assistance  of  some 
neighbours,  and  then  went  for  a  doctor.  When  medical 
aid  arrived,  the  unfortunate  woman  was  in  convulsions  and 
died  shortly  afterwards. 

The  day  after  her  death  the  police  searched  the  house,  but 
failed  to  find  any  trace  of  poison,  and  an  inquest  was  held  on 
January  8,  which  Horsford  was  summoned  to  attend. 

In  his  evidence  before  the  coroner,  he  swore  that  he  had 
neither  written  to  nor  seen  the  deceased  woman.  The 
medical  evidence  proved  that  death  was  caused  by  strychnine. 

The  inquest  was  adjourned  for  a  week,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
Mrs.  Holmes  was  buried.  From  information  received  by  the 
police,  a  further  search  was  made  in  the  house,  with  the  result 
that  two  packets  were  discovered  under  the  feather  bed  in 
Mrs.  Holmes's  bedroom.  One  packet  of  buff-coloured  paper 
was  found  to  contain  about  thirty-three  grains  of  strychnine 
in  powder,  on  which  was  written  the  words,  "  One  dose. 
Take  as  told,"  in  Horsford's  handwriting.  On  the  second 
packet,  the  contents  of  which  had  been  used,  was  written, 
"  Take  in  a  little  water.  'Tis  quite  harmless.  Will  come  in 
a  day  or  two."  This  was  also  in  Horsford's  writing.  A  letter 
was  also  found  downstairs,  presumably  from  Horsford,  saying 
he  would  come  over  on  Friday  to  make  arrangements,  and 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  write  any  more  letters,  as  he  did  not 
want  his  wife  to  know. 

On  January  lo  Walter  Horsford  was  arrested  on  the  charge 
of  perjury  committed  at  the  inquest,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
have  another  examination  made  of  the  body  of  the  deceased 
woman.  On  examination  of  further  documents  and  letters 
discovered  by  the  police,  the  charge  of  wilful  murder  was  added 
to  corrupt  perjury  against  Horsford,  and  he  was  committed 
for  trial. 


THE   HORSFORD   CASE  327 

The  trial  began  on  June  2,  1898,  at  Huntingdon,  before  Mr. 
Justice  Hawkins,  and  lasted  five  days. 

Evidence  was  given  by  Dr.  Stevenson,  scientific  analyst 
to  the  Home  Ofiice,  who  stated  that  he  had  received  and 
analysed  the  contents  of  the  stomach  of  the  deceased  woman. 
He  extracted  1-31  grains  of  strychnine,  which  was  a  dose  fatal 
to  an  adult.  He  detected  no  other  poison.  The  buff- 
coloured  paper  marked  "  One  dose.  Take  as  told,"  contained 
33I  grains  of  strychnine,  and  the  other  paper  which  presented 
the  appearance  of  having  had  the  powder  shaken  out,  had 
a  few  minute  crystals  of  strychnine  adhering.  In  each  case 
it  was  the  pure  alkaloid. 

On  January  26  he  made  an  examination  of  the  exhumed 
body  of  Mrs.  Holmes.  The  fingers  and  lower  limbs  were 
rigid.  This  was  an  unusual  condition  nineteen  days  after 
death.  He  had  observed  one  case  like  it  before,  and  that 
was  the  case  of  Matilda  Clover,  who  was  poisoned  by  Neill 
Cream.  He  removed  the  brain,  spinal  cord,  heart,  lungs, 
spleen  and  both  kidneys  and  found  strychnine  in  all  the 
organs  analysed.  There  was  no  appearance  of  disease  in  the 
vital  organs.  There  could  not  have  been  less  than  7  grains 
taken,  more  likely  10  or  12  grains.  1-31  grain  would  be  an 
absolutely  fatal  dose  for  an  average  adult.  In  cases  of 
strychnine  poisoning,  death  occurs  about  half  an  hour  after 
the  beginning  of  the  symptoms,  and  they  come  on  about  twenty 
minutes  after  the  poison  has  been  taken.  Six  hours  is  the 
extreme  limit.  The  mind  of  a  person  suffering  from  strychnine 
poisoning  would  be  very  apprehensive  of  death.  Death  was 
caused  in  one  of  two  ways — suffocation,  by  the  muscles  of  the 
chest  becoming  fixed,  or  after  a  spasm  of  exhaustion.  He 
could  imagine  no  more  terrible  death. 

He  had  examined  some  Dover's  Powder  found  in  the  work- 
box  of  Mrs.  Holmes,  but  found  no  trace  of  strychnine. 

He  further  stated  that  if  strychnine  were  poured  off  a  paper 
he  would  expect  to  find  a  few  crystals  adhering  to  the  surface 
of  the  paper.  If  a  person  took  strychnine  in  water  the  greater 
part  would  go  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  glass  as  sediment. 
What  was  drunk  would  be  the  portion  floating  on  the  top. 
Mr.  Anderson,  the  medical  practitioner  called  in  to  attend 
Mrs.  Holmes,  described  her  condition  when  he  saw  her.     His 


328  POISON   MYSTERIES 

opinion  was  that  she  was  suffering  from  tetanus  caused  by 
strychnine  poisoning.  The  convulsions  were  of  a  tetanic 
character  and  the  spasms  succeeded  each  other  in  rapid 
succession. 

A  speciaHst  in  handwriting  was  then  called,  who  said  that 
having  compared  the  letter  from  Horsford  in  which  he  spoke 
about  the  "  arrangements  "  with  the  two  papers  marked 
"  Take  in  a  little  water.  'Tis  quite  harmless  "  and  "  One  dose, 
take  as  told,"  he  came  to  the  conclusion  they  were  in  the  same 
handwriting,  and  in  his  opinion  the  handwriting  was  natural 
and  there  had  been  no  attempts  to  disguise  it. 

Mr.  Wild,  for  the  defence,  said  there  was  no  proof  that  the 
prisoner  administered  the  poison  and  there  was  no  motive  for 
the  crime.  What  evidence  was  there  that  the  prisoner  ever 
sent  poison  to  the  deceased  ?  Everything  in  the  case,  he 
contended,  depended  upon  the  handwriting,  and  he  urged  that 
some  of  the  handwriting  produced  as  that  of  the  prisoner  was 
utterly  unreliable. 

The  judge,  in  summing  up,  told  the  jury  that  if  anyone 
wilfully  caused  another  to  take  a  deadly  poison,  whether 
intending  to  kill  or  not,  and  death  resulted  thereby,  it  was 
murder. 

The  question  of  handwriting  was  of  vital  importance,  and  it 
had  not  been  shown  that  there  was  any  single  other  soul  in  the 
neighbourhood  who  was  interested  in  the  deceased  woman's 
death,  or  who  wrote  in  a  hand  like  that  of  the  prisoner.  He 
enjoined  them  to  remember  these  things  and  to  deal  with  the 
case  according  to  the  evidence,  and  return  the  verdict  which 
the  evidence  compelled  them. 

The  jury  returned  at  1.20  p.m.,  after  deliberating  for  twenty 
minutes,  with  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty,"  and  sentence  of  death 
was  passed. 

Horsford  was  hanged  at  Cambridge  Gaol  on  June  28,  1898, 
and  before  he  died  made  a  full  confession  of  his  crime. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
AMERICAN   POISON   MYSTERIES 

ONE  of  the  most  carefully  planned  murders  by  means 
of  poison  in  modern  times  was  investigated  at  the  trial 
of  Roland  B.  Molineux,  who  was  charged  with  causing  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Catherine  J.  Adams  in  New  York  in  1899. 

On  November  10,  1898,  Mr.  Henry  C.  Barnett,  a  produce 
broker,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Knickerbocker  Athletic 
Club,  one  of  the  most  prominent  social  organizations  in  New 
York,  received  by  post  at  the  club  a  sample  box  of  Kutnow's 
Powder.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  this  and  similar 
preparations  for  simple  ailments,  and  soon  after  receiving  the 
box  he  took  a  dose  of  its  contents.  He  became  ill  immedi- 
ately afterwards,  and  was  thought  to  be  suffering  from  diph- 
theria. That  he  had  a  slight  attack  of  this  disease  there  is 
little  doubt,  as  the  fact  was  proved  from  a  bacteriological 
examination  made  by  his  medical  attendant.  He  left  his  bed 
earlier  than  the  doctor  advised,  and  died  presumably  of  heart 
failure. 

The  contents  of  the  box,  however,  were  examined,  which 
led  to  the  discovery  that  the  powder  had  been  tampered  with 
and  mixed  with  cyanide  of  mercury,  and  although  Mr. 
Barnett  had  died  from  natural  causes,  it  seemed  clear  that 
an  attempt  had  been  made  to  poison  him  by  some  one  who 
knew  he  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  this  powder.  The  investi- 
gation, however,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  carried  further. 

The  next  chapter  in  the  story  occurred  in  connection  with 
a  Mr.  Harry  Cornish,  who  occupied  the  position  of  physical 
director  to  the  Knickerbocker  Athletic  Club. 

A  day  or  two  before  Christmas  in  the  same  year,  a  packet 
directed  to  him  was  delivered  by  post  at  his  address.  It 
contained  a  box  in  which,  on  opening,  he  found  at  one  end  a 

329 


330  POISON   MYSTERIES 

silver  article  for  holding  matches  and  toothpicks  ;  at  the  other 
end  was  a  bottle  labelled  "  Emerson's  Bromo-seltzer,"  and 
between  the  two  was  packed  some  soft  tissue  paper. 

Mr.  Cornish  was  at  first  under  the  impression  that  some 
one  had  sent  him  the  packet  as  a  present.  After  removing 
the  articles  from  the  box,  he  threw  it  and  the  wrapper  into 
his  wastepaper  basket,  but  on  second  thoughts  he  cut  the 
address  from  the  wrapper  and  kept  it. 

The  bottle,  labelled  "Bromo-seltzer,"  which  is  a  saline 
preparation  well  known  in  America,  was  sealed  over  the  top 
and  bore  the  usual  revenue  stamp.  After  tearing  off  the  out- 
side wrapper,  Mr.  Cornish  placed  the  bottle  and  the  silver 
holder  on  his  desk. 

On  the  following  Sunday  he  remarked  to  his  aunt,  Mrs. 
Catherine  Adams,  that  he  had  received  a  present.  Mrs. 
Adams  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Rogers,  joked  him  about  it, 
saying  he  must  have  some  admirer,  and  was  afraid  to  bring 
his  present  home,  as  the  sender's  name  was  probably  on  it. 
On  Tuesday  night  Mr.  Cornish  took  the  bottle  and  the 
silver  holder  home  with  him,  and  presented  them  to  Mrs. 
Rogers,  saying  they  were  no  use  to  him  and  she  might  have 
them. 

The  next  morning  Mrs.  Adams  complained  of  a  headache, 
and  her  daughter  suggested  a  dose  of  the  Bromo-seltzer.  Mr. 
Cornish  was  present,  and  mixed  a  teaspoonful  of  the  prepara- 
tion from  the  bottle  with  a  glass  of  water,  and  gave  it  to  his 
aunt.  After  drinking  it  she  at  once  exclaimed,  "  My,  how 
bitter  that  is  !  " 

"  Why,  that's  all  right  !  "  said  Mr.  Cornish,  as  he  took  a 
drink  from  the  glass. 

A  few  moments  afterwards  Mrs.  Adams  collapsed,  and  died 
within  a  short  time.  Mr.  Cornish  was  seized  with  violent 
vomiting,  which  doubtless  saved  his  life,  and  he  recovered. 

A  post-mortem  examination  revealed  the  fact  that  Mrs. 
Adams  had  died  from  cyanide  poisoning,  and  on  the  bottle 
of  Bromo-seltzer  being  analysed  the  contents  were  found 
to  have  been  mixed  with  cyanide  of  mercury. 

For  a  long  time  the  affair  seemed  a  complete  mystery,  and 
the  police  investigations  appeared  likely  to  be  fruitless.  Then 
the  particulars  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Barnett,  who  was  Chairman 


AMERICAN   POISON   MYSTERIES  331 

of  the  House  Committee  of  the  Knickerbocker  Club,  were 
brought  to  light  ;  and  connecting  them  with  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Cornish  was  also  a  prominent  member  of  the  club,  and  had 
received  the  bottle  of  Bromo-seltzer  by  post  in  the  same 
manner,  it  seemed  highly  probable  that  both  the  poisoned 
packets  which  contained  cyanide  of  mercury  had  been  sent 
by  the  same  person. 

Further  examination  proved  that  the  bottle  used  was  not 
a  genuine  Bromo-seltzer  one,  and  that  the  label  had  been 
removed  from  a  genuine  bottle  and  carefully  pasted  on  that 
sent  to  Mr.  Cornish. 

A  firm  of  druggists  in  Cincinnati  then  came  forward  and 
stated  that,  as  far  back  as  May  31,  1898,  they  had  received  a 
written  application  signed  "  H.  C.  Barnett  "  for  a  sample  box 
of  pills,  and  another  similar  application  on  December  21,  1898, 
which  was  signed  "  H.  Cornish." 

Both  these  applications  were  found  to  be  in  the  same  hand- 
writing, which  was  also  strikingly  similar  to  the  address  on 
the  packet  sent  to  Mr.  Cornish,  which  he  had  fortunately 
kept.  The  address  given  by  the  applicant  who  called  himself 
"  H.  C.  Barnett,"  was  257,  West  Forty-second  Street,  New 
York,  a  place  where  private  letter-boxes  are  rented  for  callers. 
The  address  given  by  the  applicant  signing  himself  "  H. 
Cornish,"  was  a  similar  place  at  1,620,  Broadway,  in  the  same 
city.  From  these  facts  it  seemed  evident  that  an  attempt 
had  been  made  to  poisjn  both  Barnett  and  Cornish  by  some 
one  who  knew  them,  and  the  poisoner  had  concealed  his 
identity  by  employing  the  names  of  his  intended  victimS: 

The  nature  of  the  poison  used,  cyanide  of  mercury,  was 
also  a  slight  clue,  as  it  is  a  substance  which  is  not  used  in 
medicine  and  must  in  all  probability  have  been  specially 
prepared  for  the  purpose  by  some  one  with  a  knowledge 
of  chemistry. 

At  the  coroner's  inquest,  which  began  on  February  9,  1899, 
certain  facts  were  elicited  that  tended  to  bring  suspicion  on 
Roland  B.  Molineux,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  Knicker- 
bocker Club  and  well  acquainted  with  Barnett  and  Cornish. 
He  was  also  known  to  have  quarrelled  with  the  latter.  At 
the  close  of  the  inquest  Molineux  was  arrested  and  removed 
to  the  Tombs  prison. 


332  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Owing  to  legal  technicalities  in  the  original  indictment, 
which  charged  him  with  the  murder  of  both  Mr.  Barnett  and 
Mrs.  Adams,  he  was  twice  liberated,  and  then  for  the  third 
time  arrested. 

The  trial  of  Molineux  for  the  murder  of  Mrs.  Adams  was  a 
memorable  one,  and  lasted  nearly  three  months.  It  began  on 
November  14,  1899,  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court,  New  York, 
and  was  not  concluded  till  February  11,  1900. 

The  evidence  was  entirely  circumstantial.  Most  of  the 
experts  in  handwriting  who  were  examined  declared  that 
the  address  on  the  packet  sent  to  Mr.  Cornish  was  in  Moli- 
neux's  handwriting,  and  that  he  had  also  written  both  applica- 
tions to  the  druggists  in  Cincinnati.  Further,  Molineux  was 
engaged  as  a  chemist  to  a  colour  factor}^  in  which  cyanide  of 
mercury  was  used,  which  would  enable  him  either  to  make  or 
procure  that  special  poison,  from  which  only  three  other  fatal 
cases  had  been  recorded. 

No  witnesses  were  called  for  the  defence,  and  the  jury 
found  Roland  B.  Molineux  guilty  of  "  murder  in  the  first 
degree,"  which,  according  to  American  law,  is  murder  with 
premeditation. 

In  January,  191 1,  a  mysterious  case  that  for  some  time  baffled 
the  united  exertions  of  the  police  occurred  in  Cumberland, 
Maryland,  U.S.A.  On  Christmas  Eve  of  1910,  the  night  before 
their  wedding,  a  Mr.  Trigg  and  Miss  Grace  Loeser,  who  were 
well  known  in  Maryland,  were  found  sitting  together  in  an 
upright  position  on  a  sofa  in  the  drawing  room  of  Miss  Loeser 's 
home,  both  apparently  dead.  An  hour  before  they  were  thus 
discovered,  Mrs.  Loeser  had  seen  them  sitting  exactly  in 
the  same  position,  full  of  life  and  animation  and  talking  over 
the  arrangements  for  their  wedding  on  the  following  day. 

Returning  an  hour  later,  she  found  them  still  both  sitting  in 
the  same  position  but  lifeless.  Nothing  was  found  in  the  room 
to  indicate  the  cause  of  death. 

Before  the  ghastly  discovery  Mrs.  Loeser  had  heard  them 
laughing  and  talking  in  the  drawing-room  ;  then  she  heard 
the  telephone  bell  ring,  and  heard  her  daughter  go  to  it  and 
speak  to  a  friend  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire  about  the  final 
arrangements  for  the  wedding. 


AMERICAN   POISON   MYSTERIES  333 

A  doctor  who  was  immediately  summoned  and  examined  the 
bodies,  noticed  that  the  lips  of  both  the  man  and  the  woman 
were  burned,  and  in  the  mouth  of  the  man  was  found  a  piece 
of  chewing-gum,  which  he  believed  might  contain  poison. 
According  to  the  doctor,  Mr.  Trigg  had  apparently  taken 
poison  and  then  kissed  his  fiancee  and  poisoned  her  in  doing  so. 

A  post-mortem  examination  was  held  and  revealed  traces 
of  potassium  cyanide  in  the  organs  of  both  young  people, 
but  how  the  poison  came  to  be  swallowed  there  was  nothing 
to  indicate,  beyond  the  fact  that  the  tongues  of  both  were 
burned  and  there  was  a  larger  quantity  of  the  poison  found 
in  the  stomach  of  Trigg. 

The  chewing-gum  habit  is  very  common  in  America  and  a 
package  of  it  with  one  stick  missing  and  the  wrapper  on  the 
floor,  was  found  in  Mr.  Loeser's  bedroom.  The  questions  that 
arose  were  :  was  the  chewing-gum  the  cause  of  death,  and  had 
they  divided  the  one  stick  missing  from  the  packet  between 
them,  and  if  the  gum  was  poisoned  why  had  they  thus  decided 
to  take  their  lives  ?  > 

Mrs.  Loeser  protested  against  the  theory  of  suicide  as  being 
beyond  all  reason,  as  both  young  people  were  absolutely 
devoted  to  one  another  and  had  never  even  quarrelled. 

A  younger  sister  of  Miss  Loeser's,  to  whom  Mr.  Trigg  is 
said  to  have  first  paid  attentions  before  he  became  engaged 
to  Grace  Loeser,  in  giving  evidence  said  that  she  also  had 
symptoms  of  cyanide  poisoning.  She  was  upstairs  when  Trigg 
came  to  the  house  that  afternoon,  and  the  first  she  knew  of  the 
tragedy  was  her  mother  screaming.  She  swore  that  she  had 
no  poison  in  her  possession,  and  had  never  heard  of  hydrocyanic 
acid  before  her  sister's  death. 

Mrs.  Loeser  when  brought  to  the  court  to  give  evidence, 
was  practically  in  a  state  of  collapse,  but  she  swore  that  no 
poison  of  any  kind  was  kept  in  the  house  and  that  both  her 
daughters  were  on  friendly  terms. 

Dr.  Foard,  the  medical  man  first  called  in,  described  how 
he  found  the  young  couple  sitting  upright  together  on  the 
sofa  ;  the  woman  was  breathing  stertorously,  with  her  teeth 
clenched  and  the  pupils  of  her  eyes  dilated.  A  slight  froth 
issued  from  her  lips,  all  of  which,  said  the  doctor,  were 
symptomatic  of  hydrocyanic  acid  or  cyanide  poisoning. 


334  POISON   MYS^TERIES 

Dr.  Broadrup,  another  medical  practitioner,  corroborated 
Dr.  Foard's  statements.  When  he  visited  the  house  he  was 
called  upstairs  to  see  Miss  May  Loeser,  who  was  in  her  room,  and 
when  he  got  there  he  found  the  bedroom  was  full  of  a  strong 
odour  of  gas. 

The  evidence  went  to  prove  that  Trigg  at  the  last  moment 
did  not  wish  to  carry  out  the  marriage  with  Miss  Loeser,  and 
it  was  suggested  that  he  may  have  poisoned  her  with  the 
chewing-gum,  only  swallowing  a  small  portion  himself  in  the 
belief  that  he  would  easily  have  survived  the  effects. 

At  the  coroner's  inquiry,  it  was  stated  that  cyanide  of 
potassium  was  found  in  the  chewing-gum,  and  the  jury 
returned  a  verdict  that  both  persons  had  died  of  cyanide 
poisoning  '"  administered  in  an  unknown  manner." 

Another  mysterious  case  which  aroused  great  interest  in 
America,  concerned  the  death  of  a  millionaire  pork-packer, 
and  the  arrest  of  his  wife,  on  the  charge  of  attempting  to 
.  murder  her  husband. 

This  lady  is  said  to  have  begun  life  as  a  country  waif ;  at 
the  age  of  twenty  she  became  a  waitress  and  married  the  man 
whom  she  was  accused  of  attempting  to  murder.  It  appears 
that  the  marriage  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  husband's 
family  on  account  of  her  social  position,  which  placed  a 
stumbling-block  between  them  and  the  position  they  aspired 
to  attain,  and  since  the  marriage  her  brother-in-law  was  said 
to  have  been  her  greatest  enemy. 

It  was  alleged,  that  the  wife  not  only  made  her  husband  iUby 
giving  him  small  doses  of  poison  by  placing  it  in  his  medicine, 
but  also  in  the  water  that  she  gave  him  to  drink  during  the 
night  in  his  sick-room. 

The  chief  witness  against  the  accused  was  the  nurse  who 
attended  her  husband  during  his  illness.  She  said  that 
despite  the  wife's  lowly  origin  she  was  greatly  beset  by  social 
ambitions.  She  wished  to  shine  in  the  best  Virginia  society, 
and  her  husband  stood  in  the  way.  She  had  always  showed 
considerable  animus  against  her  husband's  family,  and  told 
the  nurse  that  when  he  died,  she  was  to  search  his  pockets  and 
get  the  keys,  especially  those  of  his  despatch  box,  as  she  did  not 
want  the  family  to  get  them. 


AMERICAN   POISON   MYSTERIES  335 

The  nurse  said  the  accused  consulted  two  fortune-tellers, 
and  informed  her,  that  both  of  them  told  her  that  her  husband 
could  not  live  until  Christmas.  She  showed  little  attention 
to  him  while  he  was  ill,  and  he  had  complained  to  her  that  the 
water  given  to  him  to  drink  had  an  unusual  taste  ;  he  said 
it  made  him  sick,  and  when  she  drank  a  glass  of  the  water  in 
the  room,  to  see  if  it  was  all  right,  she  too  became  ill. 

Suspicions  being  aroused,  the  sick  man  was  removed  to  a 
hospital,  which  his  wife  declared  was  a  plan  of  the  family  to 
get  her  husband  out  of  her  influence. 

According  to  the  prosecution,  the  wife's  motive  for  getting 
rid  of  her  husband  was  her  admiration  for  a  shop-assistant 
in  the  town  in  which  they  resided,  and  this  man  was  caUed 
as  a  witness  for  the  prosecution.  From  his  account  the  lady 
must  have  conceived  an  extraordinary  infatuation  for  him, 
loading  him  with  presents  such  as  fur-lined  coats,  silver  cigar 
boxes,  embroidered  vests,  dressing-gowns  and  other  things 
of  considerable  value. 

It  transpired  later  that,  owing  to  the  suspicions  of  the  family, 
they  arranged  for  a  female  detective  to  be  employed  in  the 
house  as  a  nurse.  This  person  was  instructed  to  win  the 
confidence  of  the  wife  and  endeavour  to  find  out  what  was 
wrong. 

At  the  trial  she  declared,  that  while  in  the  house  the  accused 
had  offered  her  a  thousand  pounds  to  give  her  husband  a 
poisoned  pill.  She  also  stated  that  the  accused  frequently  cried 
and  made  no  secret  that  she  wished  "that  man  would  die," 
and  declared  again  and  again,  every  time  she  received  news  from 
the  bedside  that  he  was  worse,  that  she  was  the  happiest  of 
women  and  prayed  night  and  morning  that  she  should  be 
awakened  in  the  morning  by  a  telephone  call  announcing 
that  her  husband  was  dead. 

She  once  asked  her,  "  How  much  would  you  take  to  do  it  ?  " 
"  I  told  her,"  continued  the  detective,  "  that  I  was  a  poor 
woman,  but  said  I  would  do  it  for  a  thousand  pounds  if  she 
prepared  the  poison."  She  replied,  "  I  haven't  a  thousand 
pounds,  but  I  could  get  the  poison,  and  if  you  will  give  it  to 
him  I  will  give  you  two  hundred  pounds  in  cash,  and  when  he 
is  dead  and  the  estate  comes  to  me  I  will  give  you  the  other 
eight  hundred." 


336  POISON   MYSTERIES 

The  detective  said  she  agreed  to  this  but  insisted  on  a  promise 
in  writing,  so  that  she  could  demand  the  eight  hundred  pounds 
afterwards.  The  accused  said  she  would  be  afraid  to  give 
anything  in  writing,  for  it  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  her 
brother-in-law  and  would  certainly  delight  him,  but  she 
afterwards  promised  to  do  so  and  said,  "  I  will  get  the  poison 
and  I  will  meet  you  outside  the  hospital  at  eleven  o'clock 
to-morrow  morning  and  bring  it  with  me.  You  are  on  night 
watch  and  you  can  put  it  in  his  medicine  when  he  is  half  asleep ; 
or  if  you  don't  want  to  do  that,  just  leave  his  medicine  by  the 
bedside  and  tell  him  when  the  time  comes  to  take  it.  He  will 
take  the  poison  himself."  She  asked  her  to  let  her  know  the 
instant  her  husband  died,  so  that  she  could  get  possession  of 
her  husband's  body. 

A  doctor  who  was  called,  stated  that  the  accused  had  bought 
an  ounce  of  sugar  of  lead  from  him,  and  afterwards  came  to 
him  for  a  solution  of  arsenic,  which  he  refused. 

For  the  defence,  counsel  asserted  that  the  husband  had 
suffered  from  severe  pains  for  some  months  and  called  in  his 
medical  man,  who  said  that  his  condition  was  consistent  with 
ptomaine  poisoning. 

After  a  trial  lasting  m.ore  than  a  fortnight  the  jury  con- 
sidered for  over  twenty-four  hours,  but  were  unable  to  agree  ; 
they  were  then  discharged,  and  the  case  collapsed, 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  SOUTHWARK   POISON   MYSTERY 

IN  the  last  week  of  July,  1902,  a  girl  named  Maude 
Marsh,  about  twenty  years  of  age,  was  admitted  as  a 
patient  into  Guy's  Hospital  suffering  from  internal  inflam- 
mation and  vomiting.  She  was  placed  under  treatment,  and  in 
a  few  weeks'  time  her  condition  so  improved  that  she  was 
discharged  from  the  institution.  She  was  employed  as  a 
barmaid  at  The  Crown,  a  licensed  house  in  the  Borough  High 
Street.  There  she  passed  as  the  wife  of  the  proprietor,  with 
whom  she  lived.  About  a  month  after  her  return  to  The 
Crown  she  was  again  seized  with  a  similar  illness,  and  was 
attended  by  a  local  medical  practitioner  and  also  seen  by  a 
medical  man  from  Croydon  who  had  visited  her  at  her  father's 
request.  The  former  was  told  by  the  sick  girl  that  the  doctor 
at  Guy's  Hospital  thought  she  was  suffering  from  peritonitis, 
but  after  visiting  her  several  times  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
she  was  suffering  from  inflammation  of  the  stomach  and 
bowels.  On  calling  to  see  his  patient  on  the  afternoon  of 
October  22,  the  doctor  was  told  she  had  died  two  or  three 
hours  earlier.  He  refused  to  give  a  certificate  and  insisted  on 
a  post-mortem  examination.  The  examination  failed  to 
reveal  the  cause  of  death,  and  the  doctor  removed  certain 
internal  organs  and  submitted  them  for  analysis.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  report  he  received,  he  then  communicated 
with  the  police. 

On  October  25  South  London  was  gaily  decorated  in  honour 
of  the  State  procession  of  the  King  and  Queen,  and  the  streets 
were  thronged  with  people.  Shortly  before  the  royal  pro- 
cession was  due  to  pass  through  the  Borough  High  Street,  two 
detectives  entered  The  Crown  public-house,  which  was 
festooned  with   flags,  and 'passed   into   the   bar.     A   notice 

337  Y 


338  POISON   MYSTERIES 

on  the  wall  announced  seats  to  let  to  view  the  pageant, 
and  the  windows  were  already  filled  with  sightseers,  who 
took  no  notice  of  the  two  men  who  had  entered  so 
quietly. 

Behind  the  bar  was  the  landlord,  a  small,  dark-complexioned 
man  with  prominent  cheek-bones  and  sallow  skin. 

"  Are  you  George  Chapman  ?  "  asked  one  of  the  detectives. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"  I  am  an  inspector  of  police  and  wish  to  speak  to  you 
quietly." 

Chapman  motioned  the  detectives  towards  the  billiard- 
room  at  the  rear  and  the  three  men  entered  together. 

"  Maude  Marsh,  who  has  been  living  with  you  as  your  wife, 
has  been  poisoned  with  arsenic,"  said  Detective-Inspector 
Godley  at  once. 

"  I  know  nothing  about  it ;  I  do  not  know  how  she  got  the 
poison.  She  has  been  in  Guy's  Hospital  for  the  same  sort  of 
sickness,"  replied  Chapman. 

Chapman  was  asked  to  accompany  the  inspector  to  the 
police  station,  where  he  was  detained  pending  inquiries,  and 
at  10.15  that  night  he  was  formally  charged  with  the  wilful 
murder  of  Maude  Marsh. 

When  the  accused  man  quietly  took  his  place  in  the  dock  at 
the  police  court  the  following  morning,  no  one  could  imagine 
that  the  curtain  was  about  to  be  withdrawn  from  a  series  of 
murders  which  for  sheer  heartlessness  are  almost  unpre- 
cedented in  the  annals  of  crime. 

The  only  witness  was  Inspector  Godley,  who  gave  but 
sufficient  evidence  to  obtain  a  remand  pending  the  inquest. 
He  stated  that  from  inquiries  he  had  made,  he  had  found  that 
Chapman  was  the  only  person  who  had  fed  the  girl,  and  that 
he  would  not  allow  anyone  else  to  give  her  food  or  to  go  into 
the  kitchen  when  it  was  being  prepared.  He  found  five 
books,  aU  dealing  with  medicine,  in  the  possession  of  the 
accused,  and  also  some  white  powders  which  had  not  yet  been 
analysed.  Arsenic,  however,  had  been  discovered  in  a  portion 
of  the  viscera  which  had  been  removed  from  the  body  of  Maude 
Marsh  at  the  time  of  the  post-mortem.  The  doctor  who  had 
attended  Chapman's  former  wife  during  her  fatal  illness  had 
been  called  in  to  attend  Maude  Marsh,  and  he  had  noticed 


THE   SOUTHWARK   POISON  MYSTERY 


339 
Chap- 


that  both  women  had  displayed  the  same  symptoms, 
man  was  then  remanded. 

Meanwhile,  a  further  examination  of  the  body  was  made  by 
Dr.  Stevenson,  the  official  analyst  to  the  Home  Office,  the 
result  of  which  was  given  at  his  next  appearance  before  the 
magistrate.  He  stated  that  he  found  no  evidence  of  natural 
disease  to  account  for  death. 

"  Was  arsenic  suggested  to  you  as  the  cause  of  death[?  " 
asked  the  solicitor  who  prosecuted  on  behalf  of  the  Treasury. 

"  Yes,  but  I  suggested  to  the  other  doctors  present  I  did 
not  think  arsenic  had  been  the  cause,"  replied  Dr.  Stevenson. 
"  I  attributed  it  to  another  metallic  poison,  antimony,  which  I 
found  in  the  stomach  and  its  contents,  the  liver,  the  spleen,  the 
kidneys,  the  brain  and  elsewhere  in  the  following  quantities  : — 


Metallic  Antimony 
In  the  stomach 
„     „     abdomen 
„     ,,     liver 
„     „     kidneys 


>»     >> 


brain 


0-23  grams. 

5*99  » 

071  „ 

0-14  „ 

0-17  „ 


Total    7-24  grains 

Tartar  Emetic. 

In  the  stomach 

.     0-64  grains 

„     „     abdomen 

.   16-64       » 

,,     ,,     liver 

.     1-98       „ 

„     „     kidneys 

.     0-39      „ 

„     „     brain     . 

.     0-47      „ 

Total .  20-12  grains. 

"  In  every  organ  and  tissue  that  I  examined  I  found  some 
antimony,"  added  Dr.  Stevenson. 

He  further  stated  that  two  grains  of  antimony  had  been 
known  to  produce  fatal  results  in  a  very  weak  person,  but  in 
the  case  of  an  ordinary  person,  fifteen  grains  would  kill.  In 
the  case  of  repeated  doses  three  grains  taken  at  a  time  might 
be  expected  to  result  in  death.  From  the  position  of  some 
of  the  antimony  he  thought  a  dose  was  taken  within  a  few 
hours  of  death.  Dr.  Stevenson  said  he  received  from  the 
police  over  thirty  articles,  including  pills  and  ordinary  medicines. 


340  POISON   MYSTERIES 

and  analysed  them,  but  found  neither  arsenic  nor  antimony 
in  any  but  one.  This  bottle  was  apparently  empty  when  he 
received  it,  but  he  found  there  were  a  few  drops  of  a  liquid 
in  it  and  looking  into  it  he  saw  a  little  bit  of  white  powder 
sticking  to  the  side.  He  rinsed  the  bottle  out  with  water  and 
then  analysed  it  and  found  the  water  contained  both  bismuth 
and  antimony. 

At  this  stage  the  case  was  adjourned ;  meanwhile  the 
coroner's  inquest  on  the  body  of  Maude  Marsh  was  concluded, 
which  resulted  in  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  against  Chapman. 

When  he  was  brought  before  the  magistrate  for  the  tenth 
time  on  December  31, 1902,  the  Counsel  for  the  Treasury  had 
the  sensational  announcement  to  make  that  Chapman  had  since 
his  last  appearance  been  further  charged  with  the  murder  of 
two  other  women,  viz.  Mary  Isabella  Spink  (or  Chapman)  on 
Christmas  Day,  1897,  and  Bessie  Taylor  (or  Chapman)  on 
February  13,  1901. 

These  two  women,  said  the  counsel,  had  lived  with  him 
for  some  time  prior  to  their  deaths.  It  had  also  been 
discovered  that  the  prisoner's  real  name  was  Severino 
Klosowski,  and  that  he  had  assumed  the  name  of  George 
Chapman  since  coming  to  live  in  Etigland.  He  was  a  Polish 
Jew  and  had  studied  medicine  and  surgery  in  Warsaw. 

The  story  of  Klosowski's  life  is  an  extraordinary  one.  He 
was  born  in  1865  and  educated  at  a  military  school  in  Poland. 
Afterwards  he  became  a  male  nurse  in  a  hospital  at  Warsaw 
and  learned  something  of  medicine.  In  1888  he  emigrated 
to  England  and  obtained  work  in  a  small  barber's  shop  in 
Whitechapel  Road,  London.  After  he  had  been  in  London 
about  twelve  months,  he  married  a  woman  named  Lucy 
Baderski,  who  was  then  living.  At  one  time  they  went  to 
America,  but  she  returned  alone,  and  does  not  appear  to  have 
lived  with  him  again. 

In  1895  he  left  Whitechapel  and  was  next  heard  of  in  a 
barber's  shop  at  Tottenham,  where  he  was  recognized  by  a 
hairdresser's  traveller  who  had  known  him  in  Warsaw.  He 
next  started  a  small  shop  on  his  own  account,  and  at  this 
time  was  living  with  a  girl  called  Annie  Chapman,  whose 
name  he  afterwards  adopted.  His  business  failing,  he  again 
took  a  situation  in  Church  Lane,  Leytonstone,  where  he  earned 


THE   SOUTHWARK   POISON   MYSTERY        341 

thirty  shillings  a  week.  While  living  at  Leytonstone  in  1895 
he  became  acquainted  with  a  Mrs.  Spink,  whose  husband 
deserted  her.  Klosowski,  or  Chapman,  as  he  now  called  him- 
self, became  on  intimate  terms  with  Mrs.  Spink,  and  after  a 
time  he  informed  a  Mr.  Ward  with  whom  he  lodged  that  he  and 
Mrs.  Spink  were  going  to  be  married.  One  day  in  October, 
1895,  they  went  out,  and  on  their  return  stated  that  the 
wedding  had  taken  place,  and  afterwards  lived  together  as 
husband  and  wife. 

Mrs.  Spink  had  about  £560,  which  was  vested  in  a  trust 
deed,  and  while  she  lived  with  Chapman  some  £250  had  been 
advanced  to  her  by  the  trustee.  In  1897  the  balance  was 
handed  over  to  the  couple  and  they  left  London  for  Hastings, 
where  Chapman  purchased  a  barber's  business  in  George 
Street. 

About  February,  1897,  Chapman's  affection  for  his  wife 
seemed  to  wane,  as  he  is  said  to  have  treated  her  cruelly,  and 
she  complained  of  his  treatment  to  people  they  knew.  Then 
she  became  ill,  suffering  from  irritation  of  the  stomach,  which 
resulted  in  great  weakness  and  depression.  In  April  of  that 
year  Chapman  is  known  to  have  purchased  an  ounce  of  tartar 
emetic  (tartarated  antimony)  from  a  chemist  in  Hastings. 
In  August  they  left  Hastings  and  took  a  beerhouse  called  The 
Prince  of  Wales  in  Bartholomew  Square,  St.  Luke's,  London. 
Mrs.  Chapman,  who  had  been  better  for  a  time,  again  became  ill 
with  the  same  symptoms,  and  her  husband  is  said  to  have 
recommenced  his  ill-treatment  of  her.  As  she  grew  worse,  a 
Dr.  Rogers  was  called  in  to  see  her.  Here  a  Mrs.  Doubleday 
came  upon  the  scene,  and  she  noticed  that  Chapman  frequently 
felt  his  wife's  pulse,  and  was  much  occupied  in  consulting 
medical  books.  He  prepared  her  food  and  also  her  medicine, 
sending  every  one  out  of  the  room  while  he  did  it.  She 
suffered  terrible  pain  with  vomiting  and  diarrhoea  and  finally 
died  on  Christmas  Day,  1897.  The  doctor  appears  to  have 
had  no  suspicion  of  poison  and  gave  a  certificate  that  the  cause 
of  death  was  phthisis. 

After  her  death  Chapman  advertised  for  a  barmaid  and 
eventually  engaged  a  woman  named  Bessie  Taylor  in  that 
capacity.  She  came  from  Cheshire  and  had  been  in  a  situation 
as  housekeeper  at  Peckham  before  coming  to  Chapman  at 


342  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Easter  in  1898.  She  told  a  friend  she  was  going  to  be  married 
before  going  to  live  with  Chapman  at  The  Prince  of  Wales. 
In  August,  1898,  they  left  London  and  went  to  live  at  Bishop 
Stortford,  where  Chapman  took  an  inn  called  The  Grapes. 
In  March,  1899,  the  couple  again  returned  to  London,  Chapman 
first  becoming  tenant  of  The  Monument,  a  public-house  in 
Union  Street  Borough,  and  afterwards  removing  to  The  Crown 
in  High  Street.  A  Miss  Painter,  a  friend  of  Bessie  Taylor's, 
who  called  to  see  her  at  The  Crown,  noticed  that  Chapman 
treated  her  with  indifference  and  once  even  threatened  her 
with  a  revolver.  Calling  to  see  her  on  another  occasion  some 
time  later.  Miss  Painter  found  she  was  very  ill  and  was  troubled 
with  persistent  vomiting.  Chapman  attended  to  her,  cooking 
her  food  and  feeling  her  pulse. 

In  January  Dr.  Stoker,  a  local  practitioner,  was  called 
in  to  see  the  sick  woman,  and  he  attended  her  until  her  death 
in  February,  1901.  The  doctor  had  no  suspicion  she  had  been 
poisoned  and  certified  the  cause  of  death  as  intestinal  obstruc- 
tion, vomiting  and  exhaustion.  The  bodies  of  both  women 
were  exhumed  under  an  order  from  the  Home  Secretary,  and 
an  analysis  was  made  in  each  case  by  Dr.  Stevenson. 

The  analysis  of  various  organs  removed  from  the  body  of 
Mary  Isabella  Spink  revealed  the  presence  of  antimony  in  all 
the  viscera  examined  : — • 


In  the  stomach   . 

.     o-o8  grains 

,,     ,,     intestines 

.     I-I5       ,, 

„     ,,     liver 

.     2-42 

„     „     kidneys    . 

.     o-i8      „ 

Total     3-83  grains  of  tartarated 
antimony 

Dr.  Stevenson  remarked  on  the  amazing  preservation  of  the 
body  after  being  interred  for  five  years.  He  found  the  head 
and  features  were  so  well  preserved  that  they  were  as  little 
altered  as  though  only  buried  a  day.  This  he  attributed  to 
the  preservative  properties  of  antimony,  which  in  sufficient 
quantity  practically  mummified  the  body.  He  could  find  no 
case  like  this  on  record,  and  he  regarded  it  as  unique.  There 
was  no  indication  of  phthisis,  the  cause  of  death  being  gastro- 
enteritis caused  by  the  administration  of  antimony. 


THE   SOUTHWARK   POISON   MYSTERY        343 

The  analysis  of  the  body  of  Bessie  Taylor  also  revealed  the 
presence  of  antimony  in  the  following  quantities  : — 

In  the  stomach  and  its  contents  0-32  grains 

„  „  intestines         „  „  23-43 

„  „  liver  ....  4'55 

„  ,,  kidneys  .  .         .         .  0-82       „ 


Total    29-12  grains  of  tartarated 
antimony. 

Taylor's  body  was  also  in  a  remarkably  good  state  of 
preservation  after  being  buried  twenty-one  months,  and 
showed  no  appearance  of  recent  disease,  but  signs  of  acute 
non-ulcerative  gastro-enteritis  set  up  by  antimony  were 
evident. 

It  was  about  eighteen  months  after  Bessie  Taylor's  death 
that  Chapman  engaged  Maude  Marsh  as  a  barmaid  at  The 
Monument  public-house,  and  her  illness  and  death,  the  story 
of  which  closely  resembles  that  of  the  other  women  with  whom 
Chapman  had  consorted,  has  been  already  related. 

He  was  committed  for  trial  on  December  19,  1902,  and  was 
arraigned  before  Mr.  Justice  Grantham  at  the  Old  Bailey  on 
March  16,  1903. 

For  the  defence  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner  urged  the 
absence  of  motive  for  the  crimes,  and  although  he  admitted 
that  antimony  had  been  found  in  the  bodies  of  the  three  women, 
he  asked  if  the  methods  of  science  were  absolutely  conclu- 
sive ?  There  was,  he  contended,  room  for  mistake  unless  such 
evidence  was  accompanied  by  corroborative  evidence  of  the 
most  powerful  kind.  There  was  no  proof  that  Chapman  had 
antimony  in  his  possession  since  1897,  and  his  behaviour  had 
been  that  of  an  innocent  man. 

The  Solicitor-General,  Sir  Edward  Carson,  in  his  reply,  said 
that  although  the  prisoner  was  indicted  only  with  regard 
to  Maude  Marsh's  death,  the  cumulative  evidence  of  the  two 
earlier  murders  was  perhaps  the  most  fatal  testimony.  One 
woman  after  another  was  betrayed  and  abandoned,  and  aU 
poisoned  in  the  same  way  and  with  the  same  poison.  Each 
received  the  same  "  attention  "  on  Klosowski's  part  during 
their  fatal  illnesses.     As  to  motive,  the  history  of  the  man  was 


344  POISON   MYSTERIES 

one  of  unbridled,  heartless,  cruel  lust.  If  a  man  were  proved  a 
murderer,  one  need  not  look  for  motive,  but  if  motive  were 
wanted  in  this  case,  it  was  easily  to  be  found. 

The  judge,  in  summing  up,  said  the  case  was  unique  from 
three  points  of  view,  viz.  legally,  chemically  and  medically. 
Chemically,  it  was  unique  by  reason  of  the  discovery  which 
it  enabled  Dr.  Stevenson  to  make  of  the  power  of  antimony 
to  preserve  the  tissues  of  the  body  in  almost  a  perfect  state 
of  embalmment ;  from  the  legal  point  of  view,  because  it  was 
the  first  time  the  antecedents  of  a  prisoner  had  been  investi- 
gated in  the  way  they  had  been  in  this  case. 

Medically,  it  was  a  sad  reflection  that  a  man  who  had  only 
been  a  hairdresser's  assistant  should  be  able  to  defy  the  doctors 
of  this  country,  and  for  years  carry  on  a  practice  of  this  kind 
without  the  slightest  fear  of  being  found  out.  The  only 
question  for  the  jury  to  determine  was  by  whom  the 
antimony  was  administered. 

After  a  consultation  of  ten  minutes,  the  jury  returned  a 
verdict  of  guilty,  the  foreman  adding  "  We  are  all  agreed." 
Klosowski,  or  Chapman,  was  then  sentenced  to  death,  and 
paid  the  penalty  of  his  crimes  at  Wandsworth  Gaol  on 
April  7,  1903. 


CHAPTER  XV 
SOME  IRISH   POISON   MYSTERIES 

A  CURIOUS  case  with  many  unusual  features  was  investi- 
gated at  Armagh  in  June,  1905,  when  two  women  named 
Pearson  and  Black  were  charged  with  murdering  Alice 
Pearson,  aged  seventy-four,  the  mother-in-law  of  the  former 
and  mother  of  the  latter,  insurance  benefits  being  alleged  as  the 
motive  for  the  crime. 

The  case  came  to  be  investigated  through  the  statement 
of  one  of  the  women  while  she  was  in  gaol.  Sarah  Pearson, 
one  of  the  accused,  was  arrested  in  Montreal  while  in  prison, 
and  made  a  confession  of  the  crime,  implicating  herself,  her 
husband  and  her  sister-in-law.  She  said  she  bought  three 
pennyworth  of  strychnine  in  Armagh  and  mixed  it  with  mashed 
potatoes  and  eggs.  When  her  mother-in-law  was  eating  the 
meal  she  said  that  it  tasted  sour  and  she  did  not  like  it.  Both 
she  and  her  sister  had  also  partaken  of  the  food. 

Evidence  went  to  prove  that  systematic  attempts  were  made 
to  kiU  the  old  woman  for  the  sake  of  the  little  money,  some 
forty  pounds,  which  she  possessed ;  that  Pearson  and  Black 
had  first  tried  metallic  mercury,  but  eventually  put  strychnine 
into  the  meal  of  potatoes  and  eggs  which  caused  her  death. 
According  to  the  evidence  of  a  witness,  one  of  the  accused 
women  came  to  his  house  and  said  she  had  seen  "  Old 
Alice's  ghost,"  and  added  that  her  husband  had  dreamed 
that  his  mother  was  going  to  die. 

The  analyst  who  made  an  examination  of  the  organs  said 
that  he  discovered  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  grains  of  pure 
metallic  mercury  in  the  body  and  had  not  been  able  to  trace 
any  record  of  a  case  where  mercury  in  such  large  quantities 
had  been  found  in  any  human  body.  The  mercury,  however, 
was  not  the  cause  of  death  and  did  not  act  as  a  poison  while 

345 


346  POISON   MYSTERIES 

in  a  metallic  state.  He  found  one-seventh  of  a  grain  of 
strychnine  in  the  stomach,  liver  and  kidneys  and  there  was 
little  doubt  that  strychnine  had  been  the  cause  of  death. 
The  jury  found  Sarah  Pearson  guilty  and  she  was  sentenced 
to  death. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  curious  defences  to  a  charge  of 
poisoning  that  has  ever  been  put  forward  in  court,  was  that 
advanced  in  a  case  which  was  tried  in  Ireland,  where  a 
woman  was  charged  with  murdering  her  husband. 

The  victim  was  a  farmer  who  was  taken  ill  after  eating 
a  supper  prepared  by  his  wife,  which  consisted  of  a  poached 
egg.  He  died,  apparently  from  the  effects  of  strychnine  poison- 
ing, the  following  morning. 

A  week  later  one  of  his  daughters,  a  child  of  three,  also  died 
from  the  effects  of  strychnine  poisoning  after  drinking  some 
milk.  A  post-mortem  examination  was  made  on  both  bodies, 
and  led  to  the  discovery  of  half  a  grain  of  strychnine  in  the 
stomach  of  each. 

At  the  trial,  the  counsel  for  the  defence  declared  that 
he  could  satisfy  the  jury  that  no  human  hand  was  laid  upon 
the  egg  eaten,  from  the  moment  it  was  broken  in  the  pan  until 
it  reached  the  deceased  man.  He  contended  that  the  poison 
had  fallen  from  the  rafters,  and  accidentally  dropped  en  the  egg, 
portions  of  which  he  could  prove  the  accused  woman  had 
also  eaten.  Her  husband  before  he  died  had  expressed  this 
view,  and  it  was  proved  that  some  strychnine  to  poison  rats 
had  been  placed  on  the  floor  of  the  loft  immediately  above 
the  kitchen,  and  some  of  it  had  fallen  from  the  rafters  on 
to  the  egg  as  it  was  being  removed  from  the  fire  to  the  table. 
Although  the  Crown  contended  this  accident  could  not  have 
happened,  the  jury  found  the  accused  not  guilty,  and  she 
was  discharged. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
THE  DEVEREUX  CASE 

IN  1905  a  poisoning  case  of  an  unusual  character  was  dis- 
closed at  the  Central  Criminal  Court.  On  April  13  of 
that  year  the  attention  of  the  police  was  called  to  a  large  tin 
trunk  that  was  found  in  a  warehouse  in  Kensal  Rise.  Round 
the  trunk  was  a  strap  and  an  endeavour  had  been  made  to 
seal  it  with  wax.  The  lock  was  forced  and  the  lid  opened, 
and  in  it  was  found  another  covering  consisting  of  a  number 
of  pieces  of  wood  wedged  tightly  together,  over  which  had 
been  placed  a  mixture  of  glue  and  boric  acM,  which  made  the 
box  absolutely  air-tight. 

On  the  wood  covering  being  removed,  three  human  bodies 
were  discovered  beneath,  which  appeared  to  be  those  of  a 
woman  and  two  children.  The  result  of  a  post-mortem 
examination  and  analysis  of  the  organs  showed  that  all  three 
had  been  poisoned  with  morphine.  More  than  sufficient  of 
the  poison  had  been  administered  to  the  woman  for  the  pur- 
pose of  taking  her  life,  and  sufficient  was  found  in  the  bodies 
of  the  children  to  achieve  the  same  result. 

The  body  of  the  woman  was  identified  as  that  of  Beatrice 
Ellen  Maud  Devereux,  the  wife  of  Arthur  Devereux,  a  chemist 
who  lived  at  Milton  Avenue,  Harlesden,  and  the  children 
were  found  to  be  her  twin  boys. 

The  Devereuxs  were  married  in  London  in  1898,  and  had 
three  children,  the  twin  boys  being  born  at  Stroud,  where  the 
family  had  moved  in  1902.  In  1904  they  returned  to  London, 
where  Devereux  became  manager  of  a  pharmacy  at  Kilburn. 

In  December  Devereux  took  a  flat  at  60  Milton  Avenue, 
Stonebridge  Park,  stating  that  he  wanted  it  only  for  six 
months.  There  was  another  flat  in  the  house  which  the 
landlord,  at  his  request,  left  empty. 

347 


348  POISON   MYSTERIES 

On  the  afternoon  of  January  28,  Devereux  made  arrange- 
ments for  one  of  the  boys  to  go  to  a  day  school  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Mrs.  Devereux 
was  out  shopping  with  her  mother.  They  parted  near  Milton 
Avenue,  and  she  was  never  seen  alive  again  by  anyone  outside 
her  own  family.  At  the  end  of  the  following  week  Devereux 
appears  to  have  decided  to  dispose  of  a  number  of  things  in 
the  house,  including  a  perambulator  and  women's  clothing. 
He  gave  out  that  his  wife  and  the  twins  were  away  in  the 
country,  and  arranged  for  himself  and  the  other  boy  to  go  into 
lodgings  in  the  Harrow  Road.  His  belongings  were  removed 
by  a  local  firm,  who  at  the  same  time  undertook  to  ware- 
house for  him  a  large  trunk  which  he  said  contained  boxes 
of  chemicals. 

Shortly  after  this,  Devereux  obtained  a  situation  with  a 
chemist  in  Coventry,  giving  himself  a  reference  in  the  name  of 
Taylor.  Mrs.  Devereux's  mother,  not  having  heard  from  her 
daughter  for  a  considerable  time,  and  finding  the  house 
in  Milton  Avenue  empty,  communicated  with  the  police, 
which  led  to  inquiries  and  the  discovery  of  the  trunk  at  the 
depository. 

Devereux  was  arrested  at  Coventry  and  brought  to  London 
on  April  13.    He  made  the  following  statement  to  the  police  : — • 

"I,  Arthur  Devereux,  hereby  declare  that  one  evening 
towards  the  end  of  January  or  the  beginning  of  February 
last,  after  having  been  out  for  a  few  hours  with  my  child 
Stanley,  I  returned  to  find  my  wife  and  twins  lying  dead  on 
their  beds,  evidently,  to  my  mind,  having  died  from  poisons 
taken  or  administered.  Rather  than  face  an  inquest  I  decided, 
with  a  recent  trial  fresh  in  my  mind,  to  conceal  the  bodies 
in  a  trunk  which  I  had  had  in  my  house  for  the  past  two 
years.  This  I  proceeded  to  do  at  once.  I  missed  some 
poisons — chloroform  and  morphine — which  I  always  kept  in 
my  writing-desk  after  leaving  my  last  situation,  in  the  event 
of  my  wishing  to  end  my  own  life  rather  than  face  starvation. 
The  room  smelt  strongly  of  chloroform,  so  I  concluded  that 
my  wife  had  administered  it  to  herself  and  the  children,  and 
probably  also  the  morphine.  I  had  had  a  violent  quarrel 
with  her  before  going  out,  also  many  times  quite  recently 
and  during  the  past  twelve  months." 

The  autopsy  revealed  no  signs  of  disease  in  any  of  the 


THE   DEVEREUX   CASE  349 

bodies,  and  death  was  supposed  to    have    been    caused    by 
asphyxiation. 

Sir  Thomas  Stevenson,  who  examined  the  organs,  said  that 
he  found  altogether  in  the  internal  organs,  i"i2  grains  of 
morphine.  In  the  case  of  the  "children  he  found  morphine  in 
small  quantities  which  could  not  be  accurately  determined, 
but  he  believed  it  to  be  orginally  a  fatal  dose.  In  his  opinion 
all  three  of  the  persons  had  died  of  morphine  poisoning. 
There  was  no  evidence  of  chloroform   having  been  given. 

After  the  police  inquiry  Devereux  was  committed  for  trial 
on  the  capital  charge,  and  the  case  was  tried  at  the  Central 
Criminal  Court  on  July  27,  1905. 

The  trial  lasted  for  four  days,  the  prisoner  being  defended 
by  Mr.  Elliott,  who  urged  that  he  was  a  man  of  weak  mind, 
and  that,  confronted  by  a  crisis,  was  not  likely  to  act  like  an 
ordinary  person.  He  commented  on  the  fact  that  Devereux 
had  left  traces  of  himself  behind  in  London  on  going  to 
Coventry,  which  showed  him  if  not  as  a  cunning  criminal,  at 
least  as  one  who  was  free  from  the  stain  of  murder.  He  also 
commented  on  the  lack  of  motive  for  the  crime. 

Mr.  Matthews,  who  prosecuted  for  the  Crown,  endeavoured 
to  reconstruct  the  tragedy  as  he  conceived  it  to  have  happened, 
and  fixed  it  as  occurring  on  the  night  of  Sunday,  January  29. 
He  suggested  that  at  supper  time  morphine  was  introduced 
into  the  food  of  the  unsuspecting  Mrs.  Devereux  and  children, 
and  on  their  going  up  to  bed  in  a  drowsy  condition, 
Devereux  could  have  easily  administered  chloroform  to  make 
assurance  doubly  sure.  There  was  no  evidence  that  the 
prisoner  was  insane. 

The  judge,  in  summing  up,  referring  to  the  gruesome 
nature  of  the  case,  said  there  was  a  strong  body  of  evidence 
against  the  prisoner.  After  only  twelve  minutes'  considera- 
tion, the  jury  returned  with  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and  Devereux 
was  sentenced  to  death. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
THE  CRIPPEN   CASE 

IN  1883  an  American  named  Hawley  Harvey  Crippen  came 
to  England  to  attend  various  hospitals  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  operations.  He  was  born  at  Coldwater,  Michigan, 
U.S.A.,  in  1862,  where  he  was  educated  at  the  Homoeopathic 
College  at  Cleveland,  and  took  a  degree  as  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
After  being  in  England  some  months,  he  returned  to  the 
States  as  an  assistant  to  a  Dr.  Porter,  of  Detroit,  but  later  he 
specialized  in  the  eye  and  ear,  and  after  his  marriage  he 
went  to  live  in  New  York. 

It  was  here  in  1893,  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  first  met 
Cora  Turner,  whom  he  eventually  married,  and  removed  to 
Saint  Louis,  where  he  started  practice  as  a  physician  and 
optician.  Cora  Turner  was  the  daughter  of  a  Russian  Pole 
and  a  German  mother,  and  her  real  name  was  Makamotsky. 
A  woman,  of  extravagant  tastes,  who  delighted  in  jewellery 
and  dress,  she  seems  to  have  been  fascinated  by  Crippen. 
Possessing  a  fine  voice,  it  was  her  ambition  to  go  on  the 
operatic  stage,  and  Crippen,  at  this  time  having  been  offered 
a  post  as  physician  to  Munyon's  Remedies  Company,  removed 
to  New  York,  where  he  paid  for  the  training  of  his  wife's  voice  ; 
but  when  it  was  completed,  it  was  found  she  had  no  chance  of 
singing  in  opera. 

Crippen  was  transferred  by  the  Company  first  to  Phila- 
delphia and  then  to  Toronto,  where  he  managed  Munyon's 
business.  About  1900  he  was  sent  to  England  in  charge  of 
the  Company's  branch,  but  leaving  them  he  became  physician 
to  what  was  known  as  the  Drouet  Institute.  He  left  the 
Institute  to  become  medical  adviser  to  a  company  known 
as  "  The  Aural  Treatment  and  Sovereign  Remedy  Company." 
This  also  appears  to  have  failed,  and  he  went  back  to  Munyon's 

350 


THE  CRIPPEN   CASE  351 

Remedies  Co.,  where  he  acted  as  manager  till  he  took  on  the 
business  as  agent.  At  the  same  time  he  was  running  a  business 
called  the  "  Gayle  Teeth  Specialists  Company,"  in  which  he 
had  a  partner  named  Rylands,  but  the  head-quarters  of  his 
"  Aural  Remedies  "  was  at  Craven  House,  Kingsway.  Here 
a  Miss  Ethel  Le  Neve  was  employed  as  a  typist  and  clerk, 
and  to  her  Crippen  seems  to  have  confided  his  domestic  trials 
and  found  in  her  a  sympathizer. 

When  the  Crippens  came  to  London  they  took  a  house  at 
39  Hilldrop  Crescent,  Kentish  Town,  where  Mrs.  Crippen  had 
the  assistance  of  a  charwoman  to  help  her  in  the  housework. 
After  they  had  settled  down,  Mrs.  Crippen  wanted  to  go  on  the 
music-hall  stage,  and  her  husband  paid  a  fee  on  several  occa- 
sions so  that  she  might  have  a  trial  turn  at  minor  music  halls. 
In  spite  of  an  attractive  personality,  elaborate  dresses,  and 
a  pleasant,  clear  voice,  she  could  not  get  a  sympathetic 
hearing,  proving  that  she  had  no  stage  talent  whatever.  She 
was  known  on  the  stage  as  Belle  Elmore,  and  being  bitterly 
disappointed  at  her  inability  to  get  engagements,  she  became 
nervous  and  irritable  and  subject  to  fits  of  violent  temper. 

Crippen 's  domestic  infelicities  were  commonly  known  to 
his  friends,  before  whom  his  wife  would  openly  abuse  him, 
often  for  the  most  trivial  occurrences.  His  home  aifairs  went 
from  bad  to  worse,  and  his  wife  gave  him  continual  uneasiness 
and  trouble.  On  several  occasions  she  threatened  to  leave 
him  and  go  off  with  another  man  with  whom  she  had  become 
intimate. 

On  January  31,  1910,  in  the  afternoon,  Crippen  called 
upon  two  friends  and  invited  them  to  his  house  for  the 
evening  to  have  a  game  of  cards.  They  agreed,  and  came 
to  dinner,  Mrs.  Crippen  preparing  the  meal  and  helping 
to  serve  it,  there  being  no  servant  present.  Apparently 
husband  and  wife  were  on  quite  good  terms,  and  their  guests 
departed  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  leaving  Crippen 
and  his  wife  alone  in  the  house. 

This  was  the  last  time  Mrs.  Crippen  was  seen  alive. 

On  February  2  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Music  Hall  Ladies'  Guild,  of  which  Mrs.  Crippen 
was  the  honorary  treasurer,  and  a  regular  attendant,  but 
this  time  she   did  not  put  in  an  appearance.    To  explain 


352  POISON   MYSTERIES 

her  absence,  Miss  Le  Neve  came  to  the  meeting,  bringing 
with  her  two  letters.  One  was  addressed  to  Miss  May,  the 
secretary  of  the  Guild,  and  stated  the  illness  of  a  near  relative 
had  called  Mrs.  Crippen  to  America  at  a  few  hours'  notice, 
and  tendering  her  resignation.  This  was  signed  '  Belle  Elmore, 
per  pro  H:^H.  C." 

The  other  letter,  which  was  addressed  to  the  Committee 
of  the  Music  Hall  Ladies'  Guild,  was  similar  in  purport,  and 
repeated  her  resignation  of  the  honorary  treasurership,  and 
enclosed  a  cheque-book  and  deposit-book  for  the  immediate 
use  of  her  successor.  The  letter  concluded  by  saying,  "  I 
hope  some  months  later  to  be  with  you,  and  in  the  meantime 
wish  the  Guild  every  success."  This  was  also  signed  "  Belle 
Elmore,"  although  the  letter  was  obviously  in  her  husband's 
writing. 

The  reading  of  the  letters  took  the  members  of  the  Committee 
by  surprise.  A  few  days  afterwards  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Crippen, 
who  was  very  fond  of  her,  met  Dr.  Crippen  and  asked  him  more 
particularly  about  his  wife's  journey,  but  could  gain  nothing 
very  definite  in  reply.  Shortly  afterwards  this  lady  again  saw 
Crippen,  who  informed  her  that  he  had  that  morning  heard 
from  his  wife  who  stated  she  had  been  rather  ill,  having  some- 
thing the  matter  with  her  lungs. 

About  the  last  week  in  February,  there  was  a  dinner  given 
by  the  Music  Hall  Artists'  Benevolent  Fund.  Dr.  Crippen 
attended  it,  accompanied  by  Miss  Le  Neve,  and  it  was  noticed 
that  she  was  wearing  a  brooch  that  several  persons  recognized 
as  one  they  had  often  seen  Mrs.  Crippen  wearing.  During 
dinner,  a  lady  member  of  the  Guild  asked  Crippen  some 
details  of  his  wife's  whereabouts,  and  he  told  her  that  she  was 
then  up  in  the  mountains  in  the  wilds  of  California. 

As  time  went  on  her  friends  still  continued  to  make  inquiries 
about  her  mysterious  disappearance,  and  on  March  21  a 
letter  was  received  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martinetti  from  Crippen, 
in  which  he  said  he  had  been  upset  by  serious  news  about  his 
wife,  having  received  a  cable  that  she  was  dangerously  ill 
with  double  pneumonia.  A  day  or  two  later,  meeting  Mrs 
Martinetti,  he  said  he  was  expecting  a  cable  at  any  time  saying 
his  wife  was  dead.  On  March  23  he  sent  a  telegram  to  Mrs. 
Martinetti  saying  he  had  heard  his  wife  was  dead.     Three 


THE  CRIPPEN   CASE  353 

days  later  he  inserted  an  announcement  of  the  death  in  the 
Era  and  gave  notice  to  his  landlord  that  he  would  be  leaving 
the  house  in  Hilldrop  Crescent  on  June  24. 

I^rs.  Crippen's  friends  still  continued  puzzled  about  her 
mysterious  disappearance  and  her  supposed  death,  and  a  Mr. 
Nash,  who  was  connected  with  the  music-hall  profession,  on 
returning  from  America,  where  he  had  been  on  a  visit,  inter- 
viewed Crippen.  He  was  evidently  dissatisfied  with  Crippen's 
replies  to  his  questions  respecting  the  disappearance  of  his 
wife,  and  he  went  to  Scotland  Yard,  placing  his  suspicions 
before  Inspector  Dew. 

After  exhaustive  inquiries  with  a  view  if  possible  of  finding 
Mrs.  Crippen  or  some  trace  of  her,  the  inspector  decided  to  see 
Crippen  himself,  and  to  find  out  if  he  could  obtain  some 
information.  He  called  at  Hilldrop  Crescent  on  July  18, 
about  10  in  the  morning,  and  saw  Miss  Le  Neve,  who  was  there 
with  a  yoimg  French  servant  girl.  The  inspector  asked  where 
he  could  find  Crippen,  and  Miss  Le  Neve  was  unable  to  give  him 
any  information,  but  she  gave  him  his  business  address  at 
Albion  House  in  Oxford  Street.  Inspector  Dew  went  there 
and  saw  Crippen,  and  asked  him  what  light  he  could  throw  on 
the  supposed  death  of  his  wife.  Crippen  replied,  "  Well,  I 
suppose  I  had  better  tell  the  truth.  All  my  stories  about  her 
illness  and  death  are  untrue  ;  so  far  as  I  know  she  is  not  dead 
at  all." 

He  then  made  a  long  detailed  statement  to  the  inspector, 
which  he  committed  to  writing  and  signed. 

In  this  statement,  which  began  with  an  account  of  his 
career  from  the  time  he  was  born,  he  said  that  his  wife  had 
often  threatened  to  leave  him,  saying  she  would  go  out  of  his 
hfe  and  he  would  never  hear  from  her  again.  On  the  night 
that  their  friends  came  to  dinner  they  had  a  quarrel  after 
they  left,  and  she  said,  "  I  shall  leave  you  to-morrow  and 
you  will  not  hear  from  me  again." 

"  She  told  me,"  he  stated,  "that  I  was  to  arrange  to  cover 
up  any  scandal  from  our  mutual  friends  ;  I  went  to  business 
next  morning  and  on  returning  home  between  five  and  six 
o'clock  I  found  she  had  gone.  I  then  wrote  the  letters  to 
the  Guild  secretary,  and  realizing  this  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  explain  her  not  coming  back,  I   added  she  was  ill  with 

z 


354  POISON   MYSTERIES 

pneumonia  and  afterwards  that  she  had  died  in  CaUfornia. 
"When  my  wife  went  away  I  cannot  say  whether  she 
took  anything  with  her.  She  took  some  of  her  jewellery, 
I  know,  but  she  left  her  rings  behind.  I  do  not  know  what 
clothes  she  took  away.  It  is  true  that  I  was  at  the  Benevolent 
Fund  dinner  at  the  Criterion  with  Miss  Le  Neve,  and  she  wore 
the  brooch  left  behind.  She  also  wore  my  wife's  furs.  After 
I  told  them  my  wife  was  dead,  Miss  Le  Neve  and  I  went  to 
Dieppe  for  five  days.  My  belief  is  that  my  wife  has  gone  to 
Chicago  to  join  Bruce  Miller,  a  man  whom  she  knew  and  who, 
I  believe,  had  speculated  and  made  money." 

Crippen  signed  this  statement  and  Inspector  Dew  said, 
"That  is  all  very  well,  but  your  wife  has  got  to  be  found," 
and  suggested  an  advertisement  in  the  newspapers  and  dis- 
cussed with  Crippen  the  form  of  it.  They  drew  up  an  adver- 
tisement between  them,  as  follows  : — 

"  Makamotsky.  Will  Belle  Elmore  communicate  with 
H,  H.  C.  or  authorities  at  once.  Serious  trouble  from  your 
absence.  Twenty-five  dollars  for  communicating  her  where- 
abouts to  -." 

The  address  was  left  open  for  Crippen  to  decide  upon. 

On  Crippen's  invitation.  Inspector  Dew  made  a  search  of 
the  house  in  Hilldrop  Crescent,  but  found  nothing  of  a  sus- 
picious nature.  The  next  morning  Crippen  arrived  at  his 
place  of  business  a  little  earlier  than  usual,  and  his  clerk 
remarked  on  his  worried  appearance.  Crippen  said  that  he 
had  been  bothered,  as  there  was  a  little  scandal.  He  told  him 
that  he  was  going  away,  and  that  if  anything  happened  to  him 
the  clerk  must  deal  with  the  letters.  He  then  sent  him  out  to 
purchase  a  suit  of  boy's  clothes,  and  about  11.30  Miss  Le  Neve 
came  to  the  office,  where  she  changed  her  clothes  for  the  boy's 
suit  purchased  by  the  clerk,  and  left  the  office  without  anyone 
noticing  her,  disguised  as  a  boy.  Crippen  then  saw  the 
manageress  of  Munyon's  Company  and  asked  her  to  change 
him  a  cheque  for  £37,  showing  his  pass-book  at  the  Charing 
Cross  Bank,  where  he  had  a  balance  to  that  amount.  He 
produced  a  cheque  signed  Belle  Elmore,  the  account  being 
in  their  joint  names,  and  the  manageress  gave  him  cash  in 
exchange. 

This   occurred   on  July  9,    and   from   that    date  Crippen 


THE  CRIPPEN  CASE  355 

and  Miss  Le  Neve  disappeared.  On  July  11  Inspector  Dew 
again  went  to  Hilldrop  Crescent  to  have  a  further  interview 
with  Crippen  and  Miss  Le  Neve,  and  found  they  had  gone. 
He  then  began  a  systematic  search  of  the  premises,  and  on  the 
13th  his  suspicions  were  aroused  by  something  he  saw  on  the 
floor  leading  to  the  cellar.  He  decided  to  examine  it  more 
carefully,  and  finding  some  bricks  which  appeared  to  be  loose, 
he  decided  to  take  up  the  floor.  The  result  was,  that  he 
discovered  what  were  obviously  human  remains,  and  sent  for 
the  divisional  sergeant  of  police.  The  remains  were  as  far 
as  possible  uncovered,  but  not  removed,  and  on  July  14  they 
were  examined  by  Mr.  Pepper,  at  whose  request  they  were 
removed  to  the  mortuary  for  closer  examination .  The  remains 
having  been  buried  in  quicklime  were  found  to  be  in  a  fairly 
good  state  of  preservation,  most  of  the  internal  organs,  such 
as  the  heart,  the  spleen,  intestines  and  stomach  being  intact. 
The  extraordinary  part  of  the  matter  was,  that  no  bones  were 
found,  and  the  head,  hands  and  feet  were  missing.  It  was 
apparent  that  the  individual  who  had  carried  out  the  eviscera- 
tion had  done  everything  possible  to  prevent  identification  as 
regards  the  body.  Some  things,  however,  were  forgotten,  such 
as  portions  of  articles  of  clothing,  and  some  hair  done  up  in 
curling  pins,  some  strands  of  which  were  fuUy  eight  inches 
long,  proving  they  belonged  to  a  female. 

Another  point  noticed  was,  that  the  hair  had  been  bleached. 
The  articles  of  clothing  showed  the  arm-piece  of  a  suit  of 
pyjamas,  and  separately,  the  right  back  portion  of  the  jacket 
of  a  similar  suit,  with  the  maker's  name  on  it.  The  woman's 
clothing  consisted  of  a  camisole.  The  name  on  the  pyjamas 
was  discovered  to  be  the  same  as  on  those  which  Crippen  wore 
and  which  were  found  in  his  box. 

Following  this  discovery,  a  warrant  was  issued  on  July  16 
for  the  arrest  of  Crippen  and  Miss  Le  Neve. 

The  scene  now  changes  to  the  Atlantic.  On  July  20  the 
steamship  Montrose  sailed  from  Antwerp  bound  for  Quebec, 
and  among  the  passengers  who  embarked  at  that  port  were  a 
Mr.  Robinson  and  his  son.  They  mixed  freely  with  the 
passengers  on  the  ship,  but  circumstances  arose  when  they 
were  a  few  days  out,  to  cause  the  captain  to  make  particular 
observation  of  the  son,  and  from  certain  characteristics,  he 


356  POISON   MYSTERIES 

began  to  doubt  his  sex.  Communicating  his  suspicions  to 
two  of  the  passengers,  they  soon  confirmed  his  behef  that 
Mr.  Robinson  junior  was,  in  fact,  a  girl. 

Suspecting  something  was  wrong,  on  July  22  the  captain 
sent  a  wireless  message  asking  the  police  to  follow  and  board 
his  ship,  as  he  was  convinced  that  Mr.  Robinson  and  his  son 
were  the  Dr.  Crippen  and  Ethel  Le  Neve  who  were  being 
sought  for  by  the  police.  It  was  probably  the  first  time  that 
wireless  telegraphy  had  been  used  in  connection  with  suspected 
criminals. 

The  day  after  the  receipt  of  the  message,  Inspector  Dew  and 
Sergeant  Mitchell  sailed  from  Liverpool  in  the  s.s.  Laurentic, 
which  overtook  the  Montrose  at  sea.  During  the  voyage, 
Crippen  had  become  very  friendly  with  the  quartermaster 
of  the  ship,  and  a  couple  of  days  before  the  vessel  was  due  at 
Quebec,  the  quartermaster  gave  him  a  hint  that  the  Canadian 
police  were  on  his  track.  It  is  said  an  arrangement  was 
made  between  them,  in  order  to  avoid  the  police  on  landing, 
that  Crippen  should  be  concealed  among  the  cargo,  and  at 
an  appointed  hour  there  should  be  a  splash  in  the  water  as  if 
some  one  had  fallen  or  jumped  overboard,  while  in  the  cabin  a 
tell-tale  message  was  to  be  found.  It  was  thought  that  no 
one  would  think  of  searching  the  cargo  for  the  missing  man, 
and  thus  the  fugitive  was  to  get  clear  away.  Miss  Le  Neve  in 
the  meanwhile  being  advised  of  an  address  where  she  might 
join  him  afterwards  if  all  went  well. 

All  Crippen's  arrangements,  however,  were  upset  by 
Inspector  Dew  boarding  the  s.s.  Montrose  at  Farther  Point, 
Quebec.  The  inspector  saw  Crippen  pacing  the  deck  near 
the  captain's  cabin.  "  Good  morning.  Dr.  Crippen,"  he 
remarked.  "  Good  morning,  Mr.  Dew,"  replied  Crippen. 
Dew  then  told  him  he  would  be  arrested  for  the  murder  and 
mutilation  of  his  wife,  Cora  Crippen,  in  London,  on  February  2. 
Miss  Le  Neve,  who  was  still  dressed  in  her  suit  of  boy's  clothes, 
was  also  arrested.  A  written  card,  evidently  intended  for 
Miss  Le  Neve,  was  found  on  Crippen.  It  was  in  his  hand- 
writing and  said  that  he  could  not  stand  the  horrors  he  had 
gone  through.  There  was  nothing  bright  ahead  and  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  jump  overboard  that  night. 

Crippen  and  Miss  Le  Neve  were  brought  back  to  England 


THE   CRIPPEN   CASE  357 

by  Inspector  Dew  on  the  s.s.  Megantic,  and  they  landed  at 
Liverpool  on  August  27,  and  were  taken  to  London.  A  great 
crowd  had  assembled  at  Euston  Station,  where  the  prisoners 
had  a  hostile  reception,  being  greeted  with  groans  and  hisses. 
On  August  29  they  were  charged  at  Bow  Street,  and  committed 
for  trial  at  the  Central  Criminal  Court,  one  on  the  charge  of 
murder,  and  the  other  as  being  accessory  after  the  fact. 

At  the  trial  of  Crippen  it  transpired  that  on  January  19 
he  had  purchased  at  a  pharmacy  in  New  Oxford  Street  five 
grains  of  hyoscine  hydrobromide,  for  which  he  signed  the 
poison  register,  stating  it  was  required  for  making  homoeo- 
pathic preparations.  At  this  shop  Crippen  had  previously 
purchased  a  number  of  drugs  such  as  cocaine,  morphine,  and 
mercury,  and  was  well  known  there.  He  had  also  written  pre- 
scriptions which  had  been  prepared  for  him. 

Mr.  Augustus  Pepper,  surgeon  to  St.  Mary's  Hospital, 
gave  the  result  of  his  examination,  and  in  his  opinion,  he 
concluded  that  the  remains  were  undoubtedly  those  of  a 
woman,  adding  that  the  person  who  removed  the  various 
organs  showed  considerable  dexterity.  The  remains  were 
buried  very  soon  after  death,  and  approximately  they 
had  been  in  the  ground  from  four  to  eight  months.  On  a 
portion  of  the  body  found  there  was  a  scar,  the  result  of  an 
operation  which  it  was  discovered  Mrs.  Crippen  had  undergone 
some  time  ago.  This  was  important  as  evidence  of  identifica- 
tion .  He  had  examined  the  hair  which  was  found  in  the  curler, 
and  said  that  the  longest  was  eight  inches  long  and  the  shortest 
two  and  a  half  inches.  It  showed  signs  of  having  been  arti- 
ficially dealt  with,  and  was  partially  bleached,  but  the  natural 
colour  of  the  hair  was  probably  a  dark  brown.  The  very 
lightest  portion  was  a  pale  yeUow. 

Dr.  Marshall,  who  assisted  Mr.  Pepper,  stated  that  there  was 
no  evidence  at  all  that  suggested  the  remains  were  those  of 
a  male.  What  little  evidence  there  was  pointed  to  their  being 
those  of  a  female.  He  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  scar  was 
the  result  of  an  operation,  and  his  impression  was  there  were 
also  marks  of  stitches. 

Dr.  B.  H.  Spilsbury,  pathologist  of  St.  Mary's  Hospital, 
who  was  called  for  the  prosecution,  stated  he  had  made  a 
microscopical  examination  of  this  piece  of  skin,  and  confirmed 


358  POISON   MYSTERIES 

the  opinion  that  it  was  undoubtedly  an  old  scar  which  had  been 
stretched. 

Dr.  W.  H.  Willcox,  senior  analyst  to  the  Home  Office, 
gave  evidence  as  to  the  examination  of  the  organs  of 
the  body  found.  He  stated  that  he  had  tested  the  extracts 
he  had  made  from  the  organs  physiologically,  and  in  each 
case  got  complete  paralysis  of  the  pupil  of  the  eye.  He  also 
made  chemical  tests  in  the  case  of  the  liver  and  intestine,  and 
he  concluded  that  hyoscine  was  present,  corresponding  approxi- 
mately to  one-thirtieth  of  a  grain  in  the  whole  stomach.  He 
also  found  an  amount  of  alkaloid  corresponding  to  one- 
fortieth  of  a  grain  in  the  whole  of  the  kidney,  and  an  amount 
corresponding  approximately  to  one-seventh  of  a  grain  in  the 
intestines,  and  in  the  liver  approximately  an  amount  of  one- 
twelfth  of  a  grain.  He  believed  the  alkaloid  found  to  be 
hyoscine,  and  the  total  amount  to  be  two-sevenths  of  a  grain 
approximately.  In  his  opinion  there  must  have  been  present 
in  the  whole  body  more  than  half  a  grain,  and  the  probable 
fatal  dose  of  hyoscine  hydrobromide  would  be  from  one-quarter 
to  one-half  a  grain.  It  was  not  commonly  prescribed,  and  was 
chiefly  used  in  sedatives  in  such  conditions  as  mania  and 
meningitis,  in  doses  from  one  two-hundredth  to  one  hundredth 
of  a  grain.  He  was  of  the  opinion  it  had  been  administered  by 
the  mouth  and  not  as  an  injection,  because  of  the  large  amount 
found  in  the  intestines.  He  believed  the  cause  of  death  was 
poison  by  hyoscine  or  a  salt  of  hyoscine. 

The  counsel  for  the  prisoner  suggested  that  alkaloidal 
substances  resembling  atropine  or  hyoscamine  had  been  met 
with  in  decomposed  meat,  but  Dr.  Willcox  negatived  the 
suggestion. 

Dr.  Luff,  scientific  adviser  to  the  Home  Office,  said  he  had 
followed  Dr.  Willcox's  tests  in  evidence,  and  he  agreed  that  the 
poison  found  was  undoubtedly  hyoscine.  During  seventeen 
years'  experience  he  had  always  tested  for  animal  alkaloids 
in  toxicological  cases,  and  before  that  he  had  conducted  a 
long  series  of  investigations  for  animal  alkaloids,  but  only  on 
one  occasion  had  he  come  across  them,  and  that  was  in  some 
putrefied  meat.  It  was  quite  impossible  that  hyoscine  could 
be  mistaken  for  an  animal  mydriadic  alkaloid  under  Vitali's 
test. 


THE   CRIPPEN  CASE  359 

Mr.  Tobin,  who  defended  Crippen,  contended  that  the 
alkaloid  found  by  Dr.  Willcox  in  the  remains  might  have  been 
traced  to  an  animal  alkaloid  produced  after  death  as  the  result 
of  putrefaction.  He  dwelt  on  the  fact  of  the  lack  of  motive 
Crippen  had  for  the  suggested  crime  ;  and  that  although  he 
had  purchased  five  grains  of  hyoscine  hydrobromide,  he  had 
signed  his  name  in  the  poison  register,  although  there  was  no 
need  for  him  to  have  done  so.  He  bought  the  drug  in  January 
when  he  was  still  agent  for  Munyon's  Remedies,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  it  into  a  liquid  and  using  it  in  the  form  of  the  tiny 
homoeopathic  tablets  which  he  sold  in  bottles  of  three  hundred 
each,  to  patients.  He  said  that  although  no  obligation  rested 
upon  Dr.  Crippen  to  go  into  the  witness  box,  he  chose  to  go 
of  his. own  accord,  and  he  would  call  him. 

Crippen  was  taken  through  the  story  of  his  life  by  the 
examining  counsel,  and  coming  to  the  question  of  his  purchase 
of  drugs  he  said  he  always  made  up  the  preparations  he  sold, 
and  had  bought  considerable  quantities  of  different  poisons, 
such  as  aconite,  belladonna  and  Rhus  tox.  He  had  frequently 
used  hyoscine  in  making  his  homoeopathic  preparations  in 
extremely  minute  doses.  He  admitted  purchasing  the 
hyoscine  and  explained  how  he  used  it,  by  first  dissolving  it  in 
alcohol,  then  saturating  a  certain  amount  of  small  disks  or 
tablets,  two  of  which  would  equal  i/36ooth  part  of  a  grain. 
He  used  it  in  nervous  diseases. 

Crippen,  examined  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  said  he 
took  no  steps  to  find  out  where  his  wife  had  gone  to, 
up  to  July  8.  For  three  hours  He  stood  the  fire  of 
cross-examination  by  Mr.  Muir,  the  leading  counsel  for 
the  Crown,  and  from  beginning  to  end  appeared  to  be  utterly 
devoid  of  emotion  or  anything  in  the  least  approaching  it, 
nor  did  he  ever  lose  his  self-possession  or  show  the  slightest 
sign  of  being  ruffled. 

During  the  trial  Mr.  Bruce  Miller,  whose  name  had  been 
mentioned  by  Crippen  in  connection  with  his  wife,  was  called, 
and  swore  that  he  had  not  seen  Mrs.  Crippen  since  she  kft 
America  in  1904. 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice,  in  his  summing  up  of  the  case, 
impressed  upon  the  jury  that  they  must  be  satisfied  by  the 
whole  of  the  evidence  that  the  Crown  had  made  out  their  case, 


36o  POISON  MYSTERIES 

and  if  not,  the  prisoner  was  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt.  The  crime  of  murder  charged  against  Crippen  was 
that  he  wilfully  and  intentionally  killed  his  wife  by  poison, 
and  then  mutilated  the  body  and  buried  the  remains  in  the 
cellar  at  39  Hill  drop  Crescent,  in  order  to  conceal  his  crime. 
There  was  no  question  here  of  suggesting  that  it  was  by  some 
other  means  or  by  some  other  method  or  agency  that  Crippen 
had  caused  the  death  of  his  wife,  and  it  involved  two  ques- 
tions :  first,  whether  the  remains  found  in  the  house  were 
those  of  the  body  of  Cora  Crippen  ;  if  they  were  not,  there  was 
an  end  of  the  case  ;  if  they  were  the  remains  of  this  woman, 
then  it  was  a  question,  was  her  death  occasioned  by  the  wilful 
act  of  her  husband  ?  These  were  the  two  issues  upon  which 
the  jury  must  concentrate  their  attention. 

After  exactly  half  an  hour's  absence  the  jury  returned  and 
declared  they  unanimously  found  the  prisoner  guilty  of  wilful 
murder,  and  Crippen  was  sentenced  to  death. 

The  following  morning  the  trial  of  Miss  Le  Neve  took  place, 
she  being  indicted  upon  the  charge  of  being  accessory  after 
the  fact  of  the  wilful  murder  of  Cora  Crippen.  No  witnesses 
were  called  for  the  case,  and  after  some  formal  proceedings 
the  jury  found  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 

The  case  was  brought  before  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal, 
but  the  appeal  was  dismissed,  and  Crippen  was  executed  at 
Pentonville  Prison  on  November  23,  1910.  It  is  said  he  made 
no  confession  of  his  crime. 

Thus  ended  the  trial  of  one  who  was  described  by  Lord 
Alverstone  as  an  extraordinary  man.  Throughout  the  trial 
he  never  showed  a  symptom  of  concern  or  trace  of  emotion  or 
fear  ;  he  appeared  to  be  never  at  a  loss  for  a  word  or  explana- 
tion, and  showed  remarkable  self-possession  all  through,  the 
only  argument  his  counsel  could  adduce  in  his  defence.  But 
after  all  this  is  one  of  the  salient  characteristics  of  poisoners. 
In  Crippen's  case  we  have  a  man  possessing  some  medical 
knowledge ;  who  had  deliberately  chosen  a  little-known 
poison  to  carry  out  his  evil  design.  He  had  probably  pre- 
pared and  planned  the  deed  at  least  a  fortnight  before  it  was 
committed,  and  then  eviscerated  the  remains  of  his  victim 
to  try  and  baffie  the  ablest  investigators.  He  evidently 
thought    his    escape  from  justice  sure.    But  the  Nemesis 


THE  CRIPPEN   CASE  361 

which  dogs  the  footsteps  of  all  poisoners  followed  those 
of  Crippen,  and  he  made  three  fatal  mistakes.  First  in 
burying  a  portion  of  the  suit  of  pyjamas  belonging  to 
himself  with  the  remains  ;  second,  although  he  destroyed 
the  major  parts  of  the  body  to  prevent  identification,  he  left 
the  very  remains  which  contained  traces  of  the  poison  by 
which  he  murdered  his  victim  ;  and  third,  and  most  remark- 
able of  all,  he  forgot  to  remove  the  portion  of  the  body  contain- 
ing the  scar,  which  ultimately  established  beyond  all  doubt 
the  identity  of  the  remains  as  those  of  Cora  Crippen,  his  wife. 
This  case  is  noteworthy  as  being  the  first  on  record  in  which 
hyoscine  was  used  for  criminal  poisoning  in  this  country.  The 
presence  of  the  alkaloid  was  clearly  demonstrated,  although 
the  remains  had  been  buried  for  six  months. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  MYSTERY   OF  THE  SEDDONS 

THERE  have  been  few  cases  in  the  history  of  poisoning 
where  a  man  and  his  wife  have  been  charged  on  the 
capital  charge,  therefore  the  trial  of  Frederick  Henry  Seddon 
and  Mary  Anne,  his  wife,  on  the  charge  of  murdering  Eliza- 
beth Barrow  at  63  Tollington  Park,  N.,  on  September  14, 
1911,  is  one  of  some  interest.  The  mysterious  circumstances 
connected  with  the  case  are  also  somewhat  out  of  the  ordin- 
ary, as  the  evidence  largely  was  of  a  circumstantial  character. 

In  1901  Seddon,  who  was  a  superintendent  of  canvassers 
for  an  industrial  insurance  company,  was  living  with  his  wife 
and  three  children  at  63  Tollington  Park,  and  on  July  26, 1910, 
a  Miss  Eliza  Mary  Barrow,  a  woman  of  49  years  of  age,  came  to 
lodge  with  them.  She  appears  to  have  been  a  person  of  a  some- 
what strange  temperament.  She  was  very  deaf,  and  had  in 
her  charge  a  small  boy  named  Ernest  Grant,  an  orphan  of  some 
people  with  whom  she  formerly  lived.  Miss  Barrow  was  the 
possessor  of  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  amounting  to  about 
£4,000,  part  of  which  was  invested  in  stocks,  and  she  was  also 
the  owner  of  some  leasehold  property.  She  had  a  curious,  but 
not  unusual,  characteristic  of  hoarding  gold  and  notes  to  a 
large  amount  in  a  cash-box,  which  she  kept  in  a  box  in  her 
room.  There  was  probably  £400  in  gold  and  a  considerable 
number  of  five-pound  notes,  said  to  be  at  least  thirty-three, 
kept  in  this  cash-box. 

All  this  property  disappeared  by  September  14, 191 1,  and  on 
that  date  there  appeared  to  be  little  cash  left  in  her  possession. 
All  the  property  had  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  the 
Seddons,  which  included  £600  of  India  stock,  the  leasehold 
property  and  some  £200  in  cash  as  well.  During  October 
both  Seddon    and   his   wife  were   dealing  with   five-pound 

362 


THE  MYSTERY   OF  THE  SEDDONS  363 

notes  which  undoubtedly  belonged  to  Miss  Barrow,  and  which 
had  been  in  her  cash-box.  On  the  day  when  the  India  stock 
and  leasehold  property  were  transferred,  Mrs.  Seddon  changed 
tWo  five-pound  notes,  endorsing  them  with  a  false  name  and 
address.  Six  other  notes  were  also  paid  into  Seddon's  bank- 
ing account. 

According  to  Seddon,  the  money  had  been  transferred  to 
him  by  agreement  with  Miss  Barrow,  and  he  was  to  give  her 
an  annuity  of  a  pound  a  week  in  exchange  for  the  interest 
on  it.  He  said  that  he  had  a  verbal  agreement  with  her  by 
which  he  was  bound  to  pay  her  an  annuity  of  £72  a  year  in 
addition  to  the  rooms  in  the  house,  in  return  for  the  property 
of  the  India  stock. 

On  September  i  Miss  Barrow  became  ill,  from  what  her 
medical  adviser  diagnosed  as  epidemic  diarrhoea,  and  this 
continued  for  at  least  eight  or  nine  days,  after  which  she 
began  to  improve  and  seemed  to  be  getting  better.  While 
she  was  ill,  Mrs.  Seddon  was  the  only  one  who  attended  to 
her,  with  the  exception  of  Seddon,  who  was  known  to  have 
gone  into  her  room  on  September  11,  when  she  made  a  will, 
appointing  him  as  her  sole  executor  and  trustee.  Mrs.  Seddon 
saw  after  the  cooking  of  Miss  Barrow's  food  and  did  everything 
necessary  for  her,  and  no  servant  went  near  the  apartment. 

On  the  night  of  the  13th  she  became  rapidly  worse,  but  the 
doctor  was  not  called  in  until  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  the  14th,  when  she  died.  Seddon  saw  the  doctor  and 
obtained  a  certificate  to  the  effect  that  death  was  due  to 
epidemic  diarrhoea,  and  two  days  afterwards  the  funeral 
took  place.  There  were  some  significant  facts  with  regard  to 
what  happened  after  her  death.  No  relative  was  present 
at  the  funeral,  nor  were  they  informed  of  her  death  until 
September  20. 

After  the  funeral  there  was  some  inquiry  from  one  of  the 
relatives,  a  Mr.  Wonderahe,  who  had  an  interview  with 
Seddon.  His  suspicions  being  aroused  that  all  was  not  well, 
he  communicated  with  the  authorities,  and  inquiries  were 
instituted,  which  resulted  in  an  order  being  given  for  the 
exhumation  of  the  body  on  November  15.  A  post-mortem 
examination  was  made,  and  it  was  found  that  Miss  Barrow 
died  from  the  effects  of  arsenic,  the  poison  being  widely  dis- 


364  POISON   MYSTERIES 

tributed  throughout  her  body.  The  doctor  had  not  prescribed 
arsenic  in  his  treatment  during  her  illness,  and  as  Seddon  and 
his  wife  were  the  only  two  people  who  had  come  near  her  dur- 
ing the  period,  they  were  arrested  and  charged  v/ith  the  crime. 

How  the  poison  was  obtained,  and  who  administered  it  were 
the  paramount  questions  at  the  trial. 

During  Miss  Barrow's  illness  no  one  else  appeared  to  have 
entered  her  bedroom  but  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  yet  the 
quantity  of  arsenic  found  in  the  body  was  so  large,  that  it 
was  found  even  in  the  hair  and  nails.  Shortly  after  Miss 
Barrow's  death,  Seddon  was  seen  by  two  of  his  colleagues  to 
be  in  possession  of  considerable  sums  of  money,  including 
£200  in  gold  and  also  jewellery.  He  bought  shares  in  a  Build- 
ing Society,  which  he  paid  for  in  cash,  and  made  several  pay- 
ments amounting  to  £150  in  gold. 

A  chemist  at  Crouch  Hill  stated,  that  a  girl  he  had  since 
identified  as  Seddon's  daughter,  purchased  from  him  a  packet 
of  six  arsenical  fly-papers  ;  she  asked  for  arsenical  papers  and 
not  the  "sticky"  ones. 

A  doctor  who  treated  Miss  Barrow  in  August,  191 1,  said  she 
was  then  suffering  from  congestion  of  the  liver,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  month  had  an  attack  of  asthma,  but  the  symptoms  were 
not  severe,  and  she  made  no  complaint  of  pain  or  sickness. 
The  doctor  who  was  called  in  to  attend  her  on  September  2 
had  attended  the  Seddons  for  some  years.  He  found  her 
suffering  from  sickness  and  prescribed  for  her.  On  the  13th 
the  symptoms  of  the  illness  had  returned,  but  he  did  not 
consider  her  condition  critical.  The  following  day  Seddon 
came  to  see  him  and  said  Miss  Barrow  was  dead,  and  he  gave  a 
certificate  that  death  was  due  to  epidemic  diarrhoea,  but  he 
never  prescribed  arsenic  in  any  form  for  her  during  her  illness. 

Dr.  Spilsbury,  who  conducted  the  post-mortem  examina- 
tion, stated  that  the  body  was  in  an  abnormal  state  of  preserva- 
tion, and  after  witnessing  tests  made  by  Dr.  Willcox,  he  was 
of  the  opinion  that  death  was  due  to  acute  arsenical  poisoning, 
which  meant  poisoning  by  one  or  more  large  doses  of  arsenic. 
He  had  found  no  sign  of  internal  disease,  and  in  this  particular 
case  he  could  find  no  external  or  internal  indication  of  chronic 
arsenical  poisoning. 

Dr,  Willcox,  who  made  the  analysis  for  the  Home  Office, 


THE   MYSTERY   OF  THE   SEDDONS  365 

said  he  found  arsenic  in  all  the  remains  and  tissues,  the 
largest  proportion  being  in  the  stomach,  intestines,  liver 
and  muscles ;  there  was  arsenic  in  the  skin,  heart  and 
nails,  and  it  was  distributed  throughout  the  body.  He 
agreed  with  Dr.  Spilsbury  as  to  the  cause  of  death.  He 
estimated  that  there  was  in  the  remains  2-oi  grains  of  arsenic, 
and  that  would  indicate  to  him  that  more  than  that  amount 
had  been  taken.  There  might  have  been  an  amount  of  five 
grains  taken  within  three  days  of  death.  In  his  opinion  the 
fatal  dose  was  given  within  two  or  three  days  of  death,  pro- 
bably two  days.  Two  grains  of  arsenic  would  be  a  poisonous 
dose,  and  might  be  enough  to  kill  an  adult  person,  and  two  or 
three  such  doses  within  a  short  period  of  time  would  be  fatal. 

Dr.  Willcox  said  he  had  heard  a  suggestion  in  this  case 
that  carbonate  of  bismuth  contained  arsenic.  He  had  made 
an  analysis  of  some  and  found  a  very  faint  trace  of  about 
one  in  a  million,  so  at  least  two  hundredweight  of  bismuth 
carbonate  would  be  required  to  give  two  grains  of  arsenic. 

He  made  an  analysis  of  the  arsenical  fly-papers  and  found 
arsenic  in  a  quantity  varying  from  3-8  to  6  grs.  per  paper.  If 
the  paper  was  actually  boiled  in  water  for  some  minutes, 
practically  all  the  arsenic  would  be  got  out,  and  he  had 
obtained  6-6  grs.  by  boiling  one,  6  grs.  from  another  and  3  grs. 
from  another.  In  his  opinion  the  2-oi  grs.  he  found  in  Miss 
Barrow's  body  would  be  sufficient  to  kill  an  adult  person. 

A  considerable  point  was  made  by  the  counsel  for  the 
prosecution  in  the  cross-examination  of  Dr.  Willcox  as  to  the 
finding  of  arsenic  in  the  tips  of  the  hair.  Counsel  remarked, 
that  one  of  the  most  important  subjects  of  investigation  before 
the  Royal  Commission  of  inquiry  into  arsenical  poisoning, 
was  the  presence  of  arsenic  in  the  hair  and  the  length  of  time 
it  must  have  taken  before  it  reached  the  hair  tips.  Counsel 
said  that  the  fact  that  arsenic  was  found  in  the  tips  of  Miss 
Ban-ow's  hair  proved  that  it  must  have  been  given  for  a  period 
extending  over  two  or  three  months.  Dr.  Willcox  said  that 
it  need  not  mean  that  arsenic  was  being  taken  continuously, 
but  some  might  have  been  taken  a  year  or  more  previously, 
and  in  the  present  case  he  was  inclined  to  the  opinion  that 
there  had  been  one  fatal  dose  given  in  the  last  three  days  before 
death. 


366  POISON  MYSTERIES 

Mr.  Marshall  Hall,  who  defended  Seddon,  submitted  that 
there  was  not  sufficient  evidence  to  give  to  the  jury,  and 
suggested  the  case  was  absolutely  a  unique  one.  In  all  other 
cases  of  poisoning  there  was  some  direct  tracing  of  the  poison, 
and  in  the  cases  of  some  men  who  had  been  tried  previously, 
such  as  Lamson  and  Cream,  there  had  been  medical  knowledge 
in  the  possession  of  the  prisoners,  but  in  this  case  there  were 
two  people  charged  on  circumstantial  evidence  and  it  could 
not  be  said  which  of  them  did  it.  Beyond  the  evidence  of  the 
chemist  who  said  he  had  sold  Margaret  Seddon  certain 
fly-papers,  there  was  no  proof  of  any  poison  being  in  the 
possession  of  either  party.  Mrs.  Seddon  said  that  she  her- 
self bought  some  fly-papers  in  consequence  of  the  request 
from  Miss  Barrow,  that  something  should  be  done  to  mitigate 
the  nuisance  of  flies  in  the  room.  She  remembered  that  on 
one  occasion,  the  contents  of  four  saucers  were  emptied  into 
one  which  was  placed  on  the  washstand  in  the  room. 

Seddon  was  then  called  to  give  evidence  and  stated  that 
Miss  Barrow  had  asked  him  about  reinvesting  her  money, 
as  she  was  losing  capital,  and  he  suggested  an  annuity,  which 
she  agreed  to  in  exchange  for  her  India  stock  and  the  lease  of 
her  property.  He  denied  ever  handling  the  fly-papers  which 
came  to  his  house  and  beyond  giving  her  a  little  brandy  the 
last  night  when  she  was  very  ill,  he  had  never  given  her  any- 
thing to  eat  or  drink.  He  had  not  the  smallest  suspicion:  at 
that  time  that  she  was  fatally  or  dangerously  ill.  He  declared 
he  had  never  purchased  arsenic  in  his  life  in  any  shape  or  form, 
and  swore  that  he  had  never  either  administered  or  instructed 
the  administration  of  it. 

Mrs.  Seddon,  who  also  went  into  the  box,  said  there  were  a 
great  many  flies  in  Miss  Barrow's  room,  and  Miss  Barrow  asked 
her  to  get  some  fly-papers,  "  Not  the  sticky  ones,  but  those  you 
wet."  She  herself  bought  them  at  the  shop  of  a  neighbouring 
chemist  and  took  four  on  being  told  she  could  get  them  at  a 
reduced  price.  The  papers  were  shown  to  Miss  Barrow  and 
placed  in  a  saucer  in  her  room  with  water  on  them.  Dur- 
ing Miss  Barrow's  illness,  she  waited  upon  her,  and  on  one 
occasion,  only,  did  Mr.  Seddon  give  Miss  Barrow  any  medicine. 
She  had  never  bought  a  fly-paper  until  she  bought  these, 
and  she  had  never  sent  her  daughter  for  anything  of  the  kind. 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  SEDDONS  367 

She  began  by  putting  them  in  saucers  singly,  two  on  the 
mantelpiece  and  two  on  the  chest  of  drawers.  Then  there 
was  an  accident,  she  remembered,  and  she  emptied  them  into 
a  soup-plate  and  repeatedly  moistened  them  if  they  were 
going  dry. 

Mr.  Justice  Bucknill,  in  summing  up,  said  if  the  prisoners 
were  guilty,  it  was  a  crime  which  had  been  carefully  thought 
out  and  carefully  committed  in  secret.  The  history  of  great 
poisoning  cases  showed  that  the  poisoner  did  not  poison  in 
open  daylight,  in  the  presence  of  other  persons.  It  was  a 
secret  crime,  done  in  the  dark,  and  if  this  particular  crime  was 
proved  against  these  people  there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  its 
being  an  abominable  one,  and  that  the  love  of  gold  led  to  it. 

The  question  to  answer  was,  what  was  the  cause  of  Miss 
Barrow's  death  ?  A  considerable  amount  of  arsenic  had  been 
found  in  the  body ;  how  did  it  get  there  ?  There  was  no 
direct  evidence  that  Seddon  had  ever  been  seen  to  handle  a 
fly-paper  or  the  water  in  which  one  had  been  soaking.  In 
view  of  the  medical  evidence  it  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to 
decide  that  Miss  Barrow  died  from  arsenical  poisoning,  and 
it  was  for  the  jury  to  decide  whether  that  arsenic  was  admin- 
istered by  the  prisoners  or  either  of  them. 

After  considering  for  an  hour  and  five  minutes,  the  jury 
found  Seddon  guilty  and  his  wife  "  Not  Guilty."  Before 
sentence  was  passed  upon  the  man,  he  read  a  long  statement 
in  which  he  again  denied  that  he  was  guilty  of  the  crime. 
Seddon  was  condemned  to  death  and  his  wife  was  acquitted, 
and  he  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  on  April 
18,  1912. 

The  verdict  was  much  discussed  in  the  Press,  and  some  ten 
thousand  persons,  including  Mrs.  Seddon,  assembled  in  Hyde 
Park  and  presented  a  petition  at  the  Home  Office  to  get  the 
verdict  set  aside.  The  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  was  asked 
to  quash  the  conviction,  but  the  judges  said  they  saw  no 
reason  to  say  the  verdict  was  wrong  or  unreasonable. 

In  November,  1912,  Mrs.  Seddon  made  a  remarkable  state- 
ment in  the  Press  which  was  published  in  the  Weekly  Dispatch 
of  November  17.  In  it  she  stated,  that  Seddon  committed 
the  crime,  that  she  saw  him  give  the  poison  to  Miss  Barrow, 
that  on  the  fatal  night  he  deliberately  substituted  for  the 


368  POISON   MYSTERIES 

medicine  the  water  from  the  fly-papers  and  white  precipitate 
powder  and  gave  it  to  Miss  Barrow.     She  continued  : — 

"  Soon  afterwards  she  breathed  her  last  and  I  threatened 
to  call  the  police,  but  he  pointed  his  revolver  at  my  head  and 
told  me  if  I  informed  on  him  he  would  blow  my  brains  out. 
He  had  always  slept  with  a  loaded  revolver  under  his  pillow. 
It  was  Seddon  who  told  me  about  the  flies  in  Miss  Barrow's 
bedroom  and  asked  me  to  buy  the  fly-papers.  He  would  not 
let  me  arrange  them  in  the  room  but  took  them  himself. 
Late  that  night  Miss  Barrow  complained  to  me  about  the 
medicine  tasting  funny.  Something  made  me  look  round. 
I  found  a  saucer  that  I  had  not  put  there.  It  was  damp, 
and  I  put  my  finger  to  it  and  then  on  my  tongue.  It  tasted 
very  queer.  On  the  night  of  her  death  Seddon  went  out  to 
a  theatre  ;  several  times  during  that  evening  Miss  Barrow 
had  called  out  "  I  am  dying,"  and  I  told  my  husband  this 
when  he  came  in,  but  he  laughed.  Later  on  he  went  to  the 
bedroom  and  I  followed  him.  Miss  Barrow  begged  him  to 
send  for  the  doctor,  but  he  refused  ;  I  left  the  room  for  a 
few  minutes.  On  coming  back  Seddon  did  not  notice  me 
standing  near  the  doorway.  I  saw  that  the  doctor's  medicine 
had  been  put  on  one  side,  and  my  husband  was  mixing  water 
from  fly-papers  and  white  precipitate  powder  which  was  to 
make  the  mixture  look  like  that  sent  by  the  doctor.  Then 
I  saw  him  approach  the  bed  and  give  Miss  Barrow  several 
doses." 

Sir  William  Willcox,  commenting  on  this  case,^  said  it 
was  of  interest  because  arsenic  was  found  in  all  the  organs 
of  the  victim.  Miss  Barrow,  and  a  computation  of  the  total 
amount  of  arsenic  in  the  body  was  made  by  a  determination 
of  the  arsenic  present  in  each  organ.  The  corpse  was  actually 
weighed  for  this  purpose,  as  well  as  the  individual  organs. 
A  fatal  poisonous  dose  of  2  gr.  was  proved  to  be  present  in 
the  body.  For  the  purpose  of  this  analysis  the  electrolytic 
Marsh-Berzelius  test  was  used  for  the  first  time  in  determining 
quantitatively  the  amount  of  arsenic  in  each  organ. 

^  Presidential  Address  before  the  Harveian  Society,  Jan.  11,  1923. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE  DALKEITH  COFFEE  POISON  CASE 

IN  the  early  part  of  February,  191 1,  a  Mr.  Charles  Barrett 
Hutchison  and  his  wife,  in  celebration  of  their  silver 
wedding  day,  gave  a  whist  and  supper  party  to  some  friends 
at  their  house  at  Bridgend,  Dalkeith,  near  Edinburgh. 

There  were  four  tables  in  the  room,  eighteen  people  being 
present,  and  at  midnight  supper  was  served.  Coffee  was  taken 
to  the  ladies  in  the  drawing-room,  and  on  Mrs.  Hutchison 
tasting  it  she  called  to  her  son  John,  who  had  been  pouring 
it  out  in  the  dining-room,  that  there  was  something  wrong. 
Mr.  Hutchison  and  a  Mr.  Alexander  Clapperton,  a  grocer  and 
wine  merchant  of  Musselburgh,  were  among  those  who  were 
drinking  the  coffee  and  smoking  in  the  dining-room.  Shortly 
after  drinking  it,  one  of  the  party  began  to  experience  a  peculiar 
sensation  and  to  have  a  disagreeable  dryness  in  the  throat. 
Then  it  was  discovered  that  most  of  the  ladies  in  the  drawing- 
room  were  also  in  great  distress,  and  in  a  short  time  every 
one  who  had  partaken  of  the  coffee  became  ill,  and  the  results 
threatened  to  become  serious. 

One  of  the  guests  hurried  for  assistance,  and  medical  men 
soon  arrived  and  did  what  they  could  to  aid  the  sufferers. 
Mr.  Hutchison's  eldest  son,  John,  who  had  been  a  dis- 
penser, mixed  an  emetic  of  mustard  and  water,  which 
gave  the  sufferers  a  certain  amount  of  relief  and  then  he 
motored  to  Edinburgh  for  further  assistance.  Mr.  Hutchison, 
who  had  been  assisted  to  bed,  passed  away  shortly  after  the 
doctor's  arrival,  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Clapperton,  died  about 
three  hours  afterwards.  Practically  the  whole  of  the  party  of 
eighteen  were  affected  with  greater  or  lesser  severity,  but  only 
the  host  and  his  friend  succumbed. 

The  coffee  had  come  from  the  shop  of  Mr.  Clapperton,  one 

369  A  A 


370  POISON   MYSTERIES 

of  the  victims,  and  although  samples  of  it  were  subjected  to 
analysis,  no  trace  of  poison  could  be  found.  The  sugar  and 
milk  were  also  examined  without  result,  but  clear  traces  of 
arsenic  were  discovered  by  the  analyst  in  a  portion  of  the  pre- 
pared coffee  that  had  not  been  consumed.  It  was  evident  that 
the  quantity  of  arsenic  introduced  must  have  been  very  large 
to  have  affected  so  many  people,  but  where  had  it  come  from  ? 
That  was  the  mystery.  The  poison  books  of  the  chemists  in 
Dalkeith  and  Musselburgh  were  examined  by  the  police,  but 
all  arsenic  sold  during  the  previous  twelve  months  was  satis- 
factorily accounted  for.  All  kinds  of  theories  were  adduced. 
One  brought  forward  was,  that  the  coffee  had  been  prepared 
in  an  old  urn  which  might  have  absorbed  the  poison  from  the 
metal,  but  the  vessels  in  which  the  coffee  was  made  were 
examined  and  not  a  trace  of  arsenic  was  found,  and  so  the 
mystery  remained  unsolved  for  over  a  fortnight. 

The  police  still  continued  their  inquiries  beyond  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  eventually  at  Musselburgh  it  was  found,  that  a 
bottle  of  arsenic  was  missing  from  a  chemist's  shop  which  had 
apparently  been  surreptitiously  removed .  It  then  appeared  that 
John  James  Hutchison  had  been  an  assistant  to  the  chemist 
from  whose  shop  the  bottle  was  missing.  This,  coupled  with 
the  fact,  that  it  was  he  who  had  carried  the  poisoned  coffee 
from  the  kitchen  to  the  dining-room  in  his  father's  house,  led 
to  the  issue  of  a  warrant  for  his  arrest. 

It  was  then  found  that  John  Hutchison  had  left  Bridgend 
for  Edinburgh,  ten  miles  distant,  very  early  in  the  morning. 
He  was  recognized  at  Waverley  Station,  Edinburgh,  at  nine 
o'clock  entering  a  south-bound  express  for  Newcastle  and 
King's  Cross,  and  on  Wednesday  a  letter  dated  from  an  hotel  in 
the  Strand  reached  one  of  his  friends.  It  contained  a  passage 
saying,  that  the  writer  intended  to  throw  himself  into  the 
Thames  off  Waterloo  Bridge. 

Inquiries  meanwhile  proved  that  he  had  been  speculating 
on  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  his  speculations  in  oil  and  copper 
proving  unfortunate,  he  was  heavily  in  debt. 

When  the  inspector,  armed  with  a  warrant,  arrived  at  the 
hotel  in  London  to  which  he  had  been  traced,  he  found  that  he 
had  left.  All  trace  of  him  was  lost  for  a  time,  but  a  descrip- 
tion being  issued,  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  travelled 


THE  DALKEITH  COFFEE   POISON   CASE      371 

to  Southampton  and  taken  a  boat  to  the  Channel  Islands. 
Passing  through  Guernsey,  he  travelled  to  Jersey,  where  he 
stayed  a  night  and  returned  to  Guernsey  again.  To  a  board- 
ing-house in  the  latter  island  he  was  traced  by  the  local  police 
and  recognized  from  a  photograph  that  had  been  sent  to  them. 
The  police  sergeant  found  him  in  a  sitting-room  alone,  and  after 
charging  him  made  the  arrest.  When  in  the  passage  leading 
from  the  room,  Hutchison  suddenly  darted  upstairs,  followed 
by  the  sergeant.  He  made  for  his  bedroom,  and  as  he  opened 
the  door  he  drew  his  hand  out  of  his  trousers'  pocket  and 
put  a  phial  to  his  lips  before  the  sergeant  could  interfere. 

A  doctor  was  sent  for,  and  although  emetics  were  adminis- 
tered, he  died  a  few  minutes  after  his  arrival,  or  about  ten 
minutes  after  taking  the  fatal  draught.  He  gave  no  informa- 
tion to  the  sergeant,  except  saying  in  the  room  below,  that  he 
would  prove  he  was  not  Hutchison.  He  had  taken  his  room 
in  the  hotel  under  the  name  of  Henderson,  but  from  papers 
and  other  documents  found  in  his  possession  there  was  no 
doubt  he  was  John  James  Hutchison,  of  Dalkeith. 

The  poison  by  means  of  which  he  had  committed  suicide 
turned  out  to  be  prussic  acid,  which  he  had  probably  had  in 
his  possession  for  some  time.  It  is  an  extraordinary  psycho- 
logical problem  how  a  young  man  of  this  type,  apparently  so 
much  liked  and  popular  among  the  people  of  the  town  where  he 
lived,  and  said  to  be  of  a  generous,  kindly  and  gentle  disposition 
could  have  perpetrated  the  deed.  According  to  his  friends, 
he  was  the  last  person  in  the  world  who  would  be  thought 
likely  to  commit  such  a  terrible  crime. 

After  the  death  of  his  father  he  had  been  perfectly  collected, 
was  the  chief  mourner  at  the  funeral,  and  became  the  object 
of  general  S5mipathy. 

Extravagance  and  social  ambition  appear  to  have  been  his 
chief  faults,  but  it  is  difficult  to  discover  the  motive  which 
prompted  him  to  the  commission  of  a  wholesale  crime  such  as 
he  attempted.  The  only  conclusion  that  could  be  arrived  at 
was,  that  it  was  the  act  of  a  man  whose  mind  was  unbalanced 
and  distorted,  as  he  had  nothing  to  gain  by  his  father's  death 
nor  from  any  of  the  guests  he  attempted  to  poison. 


CHAPTER  XX 
THE  AGRA  POISON   MYSTERY 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  criminal  poisoning 
in  the  annals  of  Indian  justice  was  brought  to  light  in 
December,  1912.  There  was  living  in  Agra  at  that  time,  a 
Lieutenant  Clark,  who  was  an  officer  in  the  Indian  Subordinate 
Medical  Department,  and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Clark,  a  lady  of 
about  fifty-five  years  of  age.  Both  husband  and  wife  were 
Eurasians. 

On  the  night  of  November  17,  Mrs.  Clark  was  found  in  the 
bedroom  of  their  bungalow  badly  wounded  and  died  shortly 
afterwards  of  her  injuries.  She  had  apparently  been  stabbed 
to  death  with  a  sharp  instrument.  Her  husband  informed  the 
authorities  that  she  had  been  murdered  by  a  native,  and 
suspicion  fell  upon  a  servant  named  Buddhu  who  was  at  one 
time  employed  by  the  Clarks. 

During  the  official  inquiry  which  was  caUed  to  investigate 
the  matter,  Miss  Clark,  the  daughter  of  the  victim,  said  she 
saw  her  mother  sitting  up  in  bed  bleeding  profusely  from 
several  wounds.  The  lamp  was  low  in  the  room  and  she  was 
unable  to  recognize  any  assailant.  The  whole  affair  seemed 
to  be  shrouded  in  mystery  until  the  police  brought  to  light  a 
correspondence  between  Lieut.  Clark  and  Mrs.  Fulham,  the 
wife  of  an  Assistant  Examiner  of  Military  Accounts,  who  had 
died  under  suspicious  circumstances  in  the  previous  October. 
This  correspondence  showed  a  connection  between  the  deaths 
both  of  Mrs.  Clark  and  of  Mr.  Fulham,  and  Lieut.  Clark  was 
arrested  on  November  29,  and  charged  with  the  murder  both 
of  his  wife  and  Mr.  Fulham. 

Mrs.  Fulham  was  also  charged  with  the  murder  of  her 
husband  and  Mrs.  Clark,  and  Buddhu,  the  native  servant,  was 
also  arrested.     The  latter  offered  to  give  evidence,  and  testified 

372 


THE  AGRA   POISON  MYSTERY  373 

that  Lieut.  Clark  had  given  him  three  powders  that  he  was 
to  place  in  Mrs.  Clark's  tea,  and  promised  him  fifty  rupees 
when  he  had  done  it.  The  witness  took  the  powders  and 
asked  what  they  were  for,  and  was  told  that  they  were  aperient 
medicines.  At  the  same  time  Clark  threatened  to  throttle 
him  if  anything  leaked  out.  He  gave  the  powders  as  he  was 
told,  and  then  left  the  service  of  Lieut.  Clark  immediately. 

Miss  Clark  stated  that  her  father  was  very  violent  with  her 
mother  at  times  and  had  been  very  intimate  for  some  time 
with  Mrs.  Fulham.  Mrs.  Clark  had  objected  to  this  and  as  a 
result  quarrels  had  taken  place.  Twice,  the  daughter  stated, 
her  mother  had  been  taken  ill  after  a  meal,  and  referring  to 
one  of  these  attacks  in  a  diary  Mrs.  Clark  kept,  she  wrote 
that  the  cook  had  put  something  in  her  tea. 

Mr.  Harry  Clark,  a  son,  declared  that  he  was  aware  that  his 
mother  was  having  poison  given  her  and  obtained  possession 
of  some  of  the  powder  and  had  it  analysed  by  a  surgeon,  who 
said  it  was  a  "  slow  poison."  His  mother  had  told  him  that 
she  would  be  poisoned,  and  he  tried  to  persuade  her  to  go 
away  with  him,  but  she  refused,  without  giving  any  reason. 

Major  O'Meara,  a  civil  surgeon  in  Agra,  who  examined  the 
body  of  Mrs.  Clark,  was  of  the  opinion  that  she  had  been 
attacked  with  a  heavy  weapon  and  that  the  blows  had  been 
deliberately  given  by  a  man.  A  second  son  of  the  accused 
stated  that  h^is  father  had  told  them  that  their  mother  had  been 
given  more  than  one  dose  of  arsenic,  but  she  proved  poison- 
proof,  so  that  he  made  no  secret  before  his  own  family  of  his 
intention  to  get  rid  of  his  wife  at  the  first  opportunity. 

In  one  of  the  letters  discovered,  written  by  Mrs.  Fulham  to 
Clark,  which  was  dated  April  22,  1911,  was  the  statement  : 

"  You  are  very  thoughtful  in  sending  me  more  powders  ; 
I  was  going  to  ask  you  for  more,  as  I  have  only  three  left.  I 
do  not  think  these  powders  are  having  any  efiect.  You  say 
they  must  be  given  regularly  and  then  you  say  you  cannot 
administer  them  to  '  Mrs.  C  as  regularly  as  you  would  like 
to.  She  will  need  much  more  than  that.  Tell  me  plainly 
what  you  think." 

An  Assistant-Surgeon  named  Linton  told  how,  when  visiting 
Clark's  bungalow  one  evening,  Harry  Clark  showed  him  a 


374  POISON   MYSTERIES 

white  powder  and  asked  him  whether  it  was  poison.  He 
tasted  it  and  concluded  it  was  a  compound  of  arsenic,  and 
told  young  Clark  it  was  a  poison  and  would  be  fatal  in  about 
twenty  minutes. 

In  a  statement  made  by  Mrs.  Fulham  that  was  read  she 
explained  her  friendship  with  Clark,  and  said : 

"  I  believe  Clark  must  have  the  power  of  hypnotism.  He 
made  me  and  my  husband  do  whatever  he  wished.  He  won 
my  affection  completely  from  him.  On  arriving  at  Agra  my 
husband  was  suddenly  taken  ill.  Clark  went  on  his  bicycle 
and  fetched  Captain  Dunn,  who  arrived  just  in  time  to  see 
my  husband  expire.  Clark  once  told  me  he  had  given  his 
wife  enough  arsenic  to  kill  ten  men,  but  she  recovered.  My 
husband  became  very  ill  and  paralysed  and  helpless,  and  died 
on  October  lo,  1911.  Clark  gave  him  several  injections 
before  fetching  Captain  Dunn,  and  used  a  hypodermic  syringe 
filled  with  something  from  a  small  bottle." 

From  the  evidence  of  these  letters  it  was  apparent  that 
both  the  accused  conspired  in  April,  191 1,  first  to  poison  Mr. 
Fulham,  the  poison  being  sent  to  Meerut  from  Agra  by  Lieut. 
Clark,  and  that  Mrs.  Fulham  wrote  to  Clark  duly  acknowledg- 
ing the  receipt  of  the  poison,  and  sending  him  reports  of  its 
effect  upon  her  husband.  In  one  of  her  letters  she  alludes  to 
an  attempt  to  poison  her  husband  with  "  Tonic  Powders," 
which  were  believed  to  be  a  name  for  a  deadly  alkaloidal 
poison  which  Clark  had  brought  from  Calcutta.  Another 
preparation  was  twice  tried  previously,  but  was  unsuccessful 
because  Fulham  refused  to  drink  the  tea  in  which  it  was  placed 
because  of  its  peculiar  taste. 

Mrs.  Fulham  wrote  to  Clark  on  the  subject,  "  This  will 
take  a  hundred  years  to  kill  him."  Mr.  Fulham  became 
very  ill  and  was  taken  to  hospital,  but  recovered,  and  his 
wife  wrote  to  Clark  telling  him  how  the  attempts  had  failed 
and  they  must  try  to  find  another  way. 

Fulham  then  went  on  a  visit  to  Agra,  where  he  was  taken 
very  ill  after  dinner  and  died  shortly  afterwards.  Clark 
himself  wrote  the  death  certificate,  stating  that-  he  died  of 
"  general  paralysis  of  three  months'  standing." 

In  another  letter  from  Mrs.  Fulham  to  Clark  on  May  20, 
191 1,  she  stated  ; 


THE  AGRA  POISON   MYSTERY  375 

"  I  administered  the  powder  you  left.  There  was  no  result. 
I  shall  begin  in  earnest  on  Monday  and  inform  you  of  the 
results." 

On  May  23  she  said  : 

"  I  again  have  news  for  you.  I  administered  a  full  dose 
yesterday.  Hubby  returned  the  tea  untasted.  He  said 
there  was  bad  medicine  in  it.  This  shows  that  jalapine  is 
readily  tasted.  The  fates  are  against  us.  All  our  attempts 
are  bitterly  frustrated.  I  feel  so  disappointed,  not  so  much 
on  my  account  as  on  yours.  What  is  the  best  plan  of  opera- 
tion in  the  future  ?  " 

On  May  27  she  wrote  : 

"  You  assure  me  you  are  determined  to  win  me  at  any  cost. 
Come  what  may,  I  will  help  you  to  achieve  that  end." 

On  June  11  she  said  : 

"  Hubby  is  very  ill  with  symptoms  of  cholera.  All  blame 
masonic  dinner,  but  you  and  I  know.  I  cannot  bear  to  see 
his  suffering." 

On  June  27  she  wrote  : 

"  A  powder  is  hard  to  administer,  as  my  husband  takes 
no  food  prepared  by  me,  and  makes  his  own  cocoa  ;  but  I 
am  still  doing  my  best." 

Mr.  Fulham's  little  daughter,  a  child  of  ten,  told  the  Court  a 
pathetic  story  of  how  her  father  became  ill  after  dinner  on 
the  day  on  which  he  died.  He  was  previously  quite  well, 
but  had  dinner  in  the  garden,  her  mother  and  herself  taking 
the  meal  out  to  him.  Afterwards  her  father  complained  of 
illness  and  went  to  bed.  Lieut.  Clark  was  there  at  the  time. 
She  went  to  see  her  father  in  his  room  later  on  and  going  into 
the  dining-room  afterwards,  she  saw  Clark  take  a  red  box  off 
a  shelf  and  take  out  a  glass  needle.  He  opened  a  paper  and 
poured  out  a  white  powder  into  a  wineglass  of  water  and  filled 
the  needle.  She  watched  him  then  go  into  her  father's  room 
and  seem  to  push  the  needle  into  his  heart,  arm  and  shoulder. 
Shortly  afterwards  there  was  a  funny  gurgling  noise  from  her 
father.  She  went  to  the  bedside  wondering  what  it  could  be, 
and  found  him  lying  on  his  back  and  the  noise  continued. 


376  POISON   MYSTERIES 

He  was  breathing  heavily  and  then  he  died.  Clark  came  in 
and  felt  her  father's  heart,  but  returned  immediately  to  the 
dining-room  and  said  to  her  mother,  "  Gone."  After  that  he 
went  out  on  a  bicycle  to  fetch  Captain  Dunn.  When  the  latter 
arrived  Clark  pretended  he  did  not  know  her  father  was  dead 
and  said  he  brought  Captain  Dunn  to  see  how  Fulham  was. 

Lieut.  Clark  volunteered  a  statement  in  which  he  said  that 
Captain  Dunn  was  consulted  when  Mr.  Fulham  was  brought 
to  Agra  and  advised  the  injection  of  ether,  digitalin  and  stry- 
chnine, which  was  to  be  kept  handy  and  used  immediately 
an  attack  was  coming  on.  The  injection  he  gave  Mr.  Fulham 
as  described  by  the  child  was  ten  minims  of  this  mixture. 
Half  an  hour  later  he  made  a  second  injection  and  then  went 
off  on  his  cycle  to  fetch  Captain  Dunn.  The  bottle  was  labelled 
"  Hypodermic  injection  "  with  the  prescription  fully  inscribed 
and  it  was  kept  in  Mrs.  Fulham's  room,  where  it  remained 
until  the  time  of  her  arrest.  It  had  been  stated  that  he 
purchased  arsenic,  atropine  and  cocaine  from  different 
chemists  in  Calcutta  in  191 1.  He  admitted  he  made  these 
purchases  to  treat  a  patient  suffering  from  rheumatism  and 
neuralgia,  and  as  they  did  not  prove  effective,  he  sent  to 
Calcutta  for  five  grains  of  gelsemine  for  another  preparation 
which  was  harmless.  This  accounted  for  the  whole  of  the 
five  grains  of  gelsemine  which  he  purchased  in  191 1.  He 
bought  fifty-four  grains  of  gelsemine  and  other  drugs  in 
1912,  which  he  had  used,  and  gave  the  names  of  the  patients 
whom  he  had  treated  with  the  medicines  in  order  to  prove  he 
habitually  prescribed  it  for  certain  diseases. 

He  also  stated  that  he  purchased  118  grains  of  cocaine  in 
191 1  and  described  the  disposal  of  it  and  also  of  the  thirty 
grains  of  atropine,  which  he  said  he  had  used  in  a  liniment. 

A  letter  from  Mrs.  Fulham  to  Clark  was  read,  asking  if  the 
"  new  powders  were  tasteless  ?  "  since  Mr.  Fulham  refused 
his  food  with  the  other  powders.  In  a  former  letter  she 
describes  her  husband's  frequency  of  vomiting  and,  after 
stating  what  the  hospital  doctors  thought  about  his  case,  she 
added  "  but  you  and  I  know." 

Mrs.  Fulham,  on  being  asked  by  the  Court  whether  she 
wished  to  say  anything  about  this  matter,  declared  that  she 
did  not  know  what  the  powders  she  gave  to  her  husband  were 


THE   AGRA   POISON   MYSTERY  377 

composed  of,  but  that  Lieut.  Clark  told  her  that  they  would 
make  her  husband  slightly  ill,  otherwise  she  would  not  have 
given  them  to  him. 

Dr.  Gore,  Assistant-Chemist  and  Bacteriologist,  stated 
that  Clark  came  to  his  laboratory  in  October  and  asked  him 
for  some  cholera  cultures,  saying  that  he  wanted  to  use  them 
on  animals  in  order  to  test  a  cholera  specific.  He  told  Clark 
that  animals  did  not  get  cholera,  and  therefore  he  did  not 
give  him  any  of  the  cultures.  Finally  he  put  him  off  with 
some  harmless  water  organisms,  as  he  thought  to  place  cholera 
cultures  in  Clark's  inexperienced  hands  would  be  a  most  risky 
proceeding. 

On  the  Saturday  before  his  wife's  death,  Clark  came  to  the 
laboratory  again  and  asked  for  more  cultures  and  said  that 
he  had  tried  them  on  fowls,  cats  and  dogs  which  had  con- 
tracted cholera  and  they  had  been  cured  by  his  specific. 

Major  O'Meara,  who  made  the  autopsy  on  Mr.  Fulham, 
stated  that  he  found  the  remains  in  a  remarkable  state  of 
preservation  ;  it  was  well  known  that  certain  poisons,  especially 
arsenic,  assisted  in  the  preservation  of  the  body.  He  was 
certainly  of  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Fulham's  symptoms  were 
compatible  with  chronic  arsenical  poisoning,  probably  given  in 
small  doses  over  a  long  period.  Taking  Mrs.  Fulham's  state- 
ments in  her  letters  to  Clark  into  consideration,  describing 
her  husband's  condition,  it  would  appear  his  whole  nervous 
system  and  brain  were  wrecked,  and  following  the  administra- 
tion of  a  powder,  paralytic  symptoms  developed.  Asked  if  a 
dose  of  any  poison  would  produce  such  symptoms.  Major 
O'Meara  replied  .  "  Yes,  a  certain  group  of  poisons,  one  of 
which  is  atropine."  A  mixture  of  atropine  and  cocaine  would 
also  produce  sjmiptoms  of  heat-stroke ;  he  considered  the 
fatal  dose  of  gelsemine  to  be  one-sixth  of  a  grain,  or  less,  if 
administered  hypodermically,  and  would  cause  rapid  death. 

According  to  the  evidence  of  the  analyst,  he  failed  to  find 
any  alkaloid  in  the  remains  after  making  tests  for  strychnine, 
gelsemine  and  atropine,  but  he  found  slight  traces  of  arsenic 
in  the  thigh  bone. 

The  investigation  of  Mr.  Fulham's  death  having  been  com- 
pleted, two  natives  named  Sukhia  and  Ram  Lai  were  placed 
in  the  box  and  charged  along  with  the  other  three  prisoners. 


378  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Buddhu,  the  native  servant  of  the  Clarks,  then  made  a 
confession.  He  said  that  he  had  first  worked  for  four  months 
with  Mrs.  Fulham,  when  one  day  she  spoke  to  him  at  her 
bungalow  and  said  she  would  give  him  something  to  put  in 
Mrs.  Clark's  food  and  would  pay  him  fifty  rupees.  He  had 
refused  to  do  it.  Later  on  Lieut.  Clark  came  into  the  lamp 
room  in  the  hospital  and  took  a  lamp  chimney  from  him,  from 
which  he  made  powdered  glass.  He  made  it  into  three  powders 
and  told  him  to  give  it  to  Mrs.  Clark,  for  which  he  was  pro- 
mised fifty  rupees.  When  Mrs.  Clark  became  very  ill  Clark 
warned  him  to  be  careful  not  to  put  the  powder  in  the  children's 
food.  Ten  days  later  Clark  gave  him  a  bottle  and  told  him 
if  he  did  not  give  it  to  Mrs.  Clark  he  would  drive  him  from  the 
hospital,  and  on  that  day  he  poured  the  contents  into  his 
mistress's  tea,  after  which  she  was  sick. 

Later  Clark  asked  him  to  come  to  Mrs.  Fulham's  bungalow, 
where  he  also  met  him,  and  after  sending  the  other  servants 
away,  they  both  asked  him  if  he  would  arrange  to  kill  Mrs. 
Clark.  Buddhu  said  he  would  tell  them  later  and  afterwards 
saw  Sukhia  and  asked  him  if  he  could  do  anything.  Sukhia 
replied,  '*  I  cannot  do  it  for  a  hundred  rupees,  I  want  more." 
He  then  took  Sukhia  to  the  Fulhams*  bungalow,  where  Clark 
was,  and  he  and  Mrs.  Fulham  conversed  at  length  with  Sukhia, 
wjio  asked  for  payment  before  he  did  the  work.  Clark  replied  : 
"  You  will  get  the  money  when  the  work  is  done." 

Eventually  it  was  arranged  to  give  Buddhu  the  money  and 
let  him  pay  Sukhia. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  same  night,  Clark  came  to  the  hospital 
and  showed  Buddhu  six  sovereigns  and  ten  rupees  and  asked 
if  his  fellows  were  coming  to  the  bungalow.  Buddhu  replied, 
"  When  the  moon  goes  down." 

He  met  Sukhia  and  Ram  Lai  that  night,  together  with 
another  man  named  Mohan  who  brought  a  large  knife,  which 
Ram  Lai  took.  Mohan  kissed  and  worshipped  the  knife 
and  then  sharpened  it  on  a  stone. 

About  one  o'clock  they  all  went  to  Clark's  bungalow. 
Buddhu  waited  on  the  verandah  while  the  other  four  went  in 
at  the  back  door,  which  they  tried  to  open,  but  a  dog  barked. 
They  returned  to  the  verandah,  and  again  went  towards 
Clark's  bed-room,  but  the  dog  was  still  barking.     Just  at  that 


THE  AGRA  POISON  MYSTERY  379 

moment  Clark  rode  up  on  his  bicycle.  The  four  men  told  him 
to  look  after  the  dog,  and  they  would  at  once  finish  the  work. 
Ram  Lai  opened  the  door,  and  Clark  entered  and  took  out  the 
dog,  which  was  shut  up  in  the  outhouse.  Clark  then  rode  off, 
telling  the  men  to  enter  the  house  when  he  had  gone.  About 
half-past  one  the  four  men  went  in,  Buddhu  waiting  outside. 
Shortly  afterwards  Ram  Lai  came  out,  saying  he  did  not  know 
which  was  Mrs.  Clark  and  which  was  the  daughter.  Buddhu 
pointed  out  Mrs.  Clark's  bed,  and  then  the  other  two  men 
brought  in  the  lamp.  Ram  Lai  and  Sukhia  stood  behind  the 
curtain,  near  the  daughter's  bed,  and,  while  Budhakanjore 
took  the  lamp,  the  other  man  gave  the  memsahib  a  heavy 
cut.  Directly  she  shrieked,  the  man  gave  another  cut,  and 
she  writhed  and  rolled  over  the  bed. 

All  the  four  men  then  left.  Buddhu  heard  the  daughter 
cry  out,  and  then  ran  off.  When  he  reached  the  main  road 
the  other  four  men  demanded  money.  Buddhu  took  them  to 
the  hospital  and  told  them  to  wait.  He  then  went  back 
to  the  bungalow,  where  he  saw  the  daughter  crying  and  Clark 
standing  by.  Buddhu  told  Sukhia  not  to  worry  about  the 
money,  as  Clark  would  pay  next  morning.  Ram  Lai  came 
to  the  hospital  eight  times  in  the  morning  for  money.  Buddhu 
told  Clark,  who  asked  him  to  take  the  men  to  Mrs.  Fulham's 
bungalow,  but  the  same  evening  Sukhia  still  complained  of 
not  having  been  paid.  Buddhu  did  not  know  what  happened 
after  that,  as  he  was  arrested. 

The  trial  of  this  extraordinary  case  took  place  at  Allah- 
abad, on  March  i,  before  the  Chief  Justice.  Clark  confessed 
that  he  was  wholly  and  solely  to  blame,  and  that  Mrs.  Fulham 
was  acting  under  his  directions.  He  sent  her  the  drugs  and 
she  gave  them,  under  his  influence. 

With  respect  to  Mr,  Fulham's  death  he  said  :— 

"  At  first  I  intended  making  him  sick  by  giving  him  small 
doses,  so  that  he  should  have  to  leave  the  country.  The  last 
dose  made  him  very  ill  and  he  was  brought  to  Agra  in  a  dying 
condition.  I  was  sorry  for  his  condition,  that  is  why  I 
killed  him.  I  simply  administered  four  drachms  of  antipyrine 
before  dinner  and  this  killed  him.  The  injections  I  gave  him 
after  dinner  were  ether,  digitalis,  and  strychnine,  but  the 
dose  was  too  small  to  counteract  the  effects  of  the  antipyrine. 


38o  •      POISON   MYSTERIES 

I  gave  him  antipyrine  because  Fulham  was  a  wreck  and  I 
wanted  to  finish  him  off.  The  injections  were  given  only  on 
the  pretence  of  doing  something  for  him.  I  knew  they 
wojildn't  do  any  good." 

The  Chief  Justice. — "  I  understand  you  intended  to  kill 
him.     Did  you  kill  him  ?  " 

Clark. — "  Yes,  I  took  pity  on  his  condition." 

Mrs.  Fulham  was  next  questioned.  In  reply  to  the  Chief 
Justice  regarding  the  administering  of  the  poison  to  her 
husband  she  said,  that  Clark  suggested  making  him  ill. 
She  gave  half  or  quarter  doses  because  she  dared  not  give 
the  fatal  dose.  The  heat-stroke  suggestion  came  from  Clark. 
Mrs.  Fulham  further  said  that  she  had  no  explanation  to 
offer  regarding  her  letter  suggesting  that  Mrs.  Clark  must 
also  be  removed.  Questioned  regarding  the  incidents  on  the 
day  Mr.  Fulham  died,  she  said  she  put  nothing  in  his  dinner, 
but  saw  Clark  administer  a  dose  of  medicine  before  dinner. 
She  also  saw  Clark  give  injections. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mrs.  Fulham's  statement,  counsel  for 
the  prosecution  said  that  Clark  had  admitted  that  he  was 
criminally  responsible  for  the  death  of  Mr.  Fulham,  and  it 
was  for  the  jury  to  decide  whether  his  story  was  true,  or 
whether  he  had  made  the  statement  with  a  view  to  saving  Mrs. 
Fulham.  Regarding  the  latter,  counsel  reminded  the  jury  of 
passages  in  her  letters.  The  prosecution  did  not  wish  unduly 
to  press  the  case  against  her,  and  he  only  asked  the  jury  to 
act  on  the  plain  English  wording  of  the  letters.  If  the  jury 
were  satisfied  that  she  had  been  a  consenting  party  to  the 
murder  of  her  husband,  they  must  also  convict  her. 

The  four  Hindus  were  found  guilty  of  the  murder  of  Mrs. 
Clark  ;  Lieut.  Clark  and  Mrs.  Fulham  were  found  guilty  in 
both  cases  and  were  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  Mrs.  Fulham's 
sentence,  however,  was  eventually  commuted  to  penal  servi- 
tude for  life. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
A  CORNISH  POISON   MYSTERY 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  192 1  a  man  namedEdward 
Black  was  living  with  his  wife  and  stepdaughter,  Marian, 
a  girl  of  seventeen,  at  the  village  of  Tregonissey,  near  St.  AusteU 
in  Cornwall.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Black  were  married  in  1914,  the 
latter  being  her  husband's  senior  by  twenty  years,  and  they 
had  lived  together  fairly  happily,  though  quarrels  about  money 
matters  were  frequent.  Black  carried  on  business  as  an  in- 
surance agent,  and  his  affairs  at  this  time  were  the  reverse  of 
prosperous. 

Mrs.  Black  had  for  some  time  been  suffering  from  gastritis, 
for  which  Black  had  often  given  her  medicine  and  was  very 
insistent  on  her  taking  it.  She  complained  more  than  once 
to  a  neighbour,  that  the  medicine  given  by  her  husband 
always  upset  her  and  burned  her  throat. 

On  October  31,  1921,  Black,  as  was  his  custom,  prepared 
the  breakfast  which  consisted  that  morning  of  cake  and  bread- 
and-butter,  and  made  the  tea.  Within  an  hour  after  partaking 
of  the  meal  Mrs.  Black  was  seized  with  vomiting  and  pain  and 
was  obliged  to  take  to  her  bed.  As  her  condition  did  not 
improve,  a  doctor  was  called  in,  but  in  spite  of  his  efforts  she 
died  after  an  illness  of  eleven  days. 

Before  this  happened,  Black's  money  troubles  had  come 
to  a  crisis,  and  following  on  discoveries  made  by  the  com- 
pany for  which  he  acted  as  agent,  a  warrant  was  issued 
for  his  arrest  on  a  charge  of  issuing  non-existent  insurance 
policies. 

Three  days  before  his  wife  died.  Black  disappeared,  and 
after  a  search  by  the  police  he  was  finally  traced  to  Liverpool. 
When  arrested  in  that  city  he  attempted  to  commit  suicide  by 
cutting  his  throat,  and  had  to  be  taken  to  a  hospital. 

381 


382  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Meanwhile,  the  circumstances  under  which  Mrs.  Black  had 
died  appeared  so  suspicious  that  a  post-mortem  examination 
was  ordered,  followed  by  an  analysis  of  the  organs  of  the  body. 
As  a  result  of  the  investigation  Black  was  charged  at  the  in- 
quest, which  was  deferred  until  he  was  sufficiently  recovered 
to  be  brought  from  Liverpool,  with  the  murder  of  his  wife  by 
the  administration  of  arsenic. 

The  trial  took  place  at  Bodmin  Assizes  on  February  2,  1922, 
before  Mr.  Justice  Rowlatt,  Mr.  Holman  Gregory  appearing 
for  the  prosecution  and  Mr.  Pratt  for  the  defence. 

Evidence  was  given  by  an  assistant  in  a  chemist's  shop 
in  St.  Austell,  that  on  October  29,  1921,  Black  purchased 
two  ounces  of  white  arsenic,  saying  he  wanted  it  to  kill  rats, 
and  that  although  he  was  offered  other  preparations  for 
this  purpose,  he  insisted  upon  having  the  arsenic,  and  duly 
signed  the  poison  register.  Asked  by  the  judge  how  much 
two  ounces  of  arsenic  would  make,  the  witness  replied,  "  About 
a  heaped  teaspoonful ;  it  would  be  960  grains,"  upon  which 
the  judge  observed  that  would  amount  to  nearly  five  hundred 
fatal  doses. 

Counsel  for  the  prosecution  said  that  the  fatal  dose  of 
arsenic,  which  was  about  two  grains,  would  just  cover  a  three- 
penny bit.  The  effect  upon  a  person  who  had  swallowed 
arsenic  would  depend  upon  whether  it  was  taken  in  a  dry  or 
liquid  state  ;  in  liquid  form  on  a  empty  stomach  its  effect 
would  be  very  rapid. 

The  doctor  who  attended  Mrs.  Black  during  her  last  illness 
stated  that  at  the  post-mortem  examination,  it  was  found  that 
the  heart  was  normal  and  that  there  was  nothing  to  account 
for  the  rapid  action  he  had  noticed  during  her  illness.  Ques- 
tioned as  to  the  presence  of  arsenic  in  some  empty  medicine 
bottles  which  had  been  found  in  the  house,  he  replied  that  it 
was  a  common  thing  to  find  arsenic  in  bismuth  in  spite  of 
every  precaution  against  impurity.  The  amount  found  in  the 
bottle,  however,  was  i/2oth  of  a  milligram,  a  milligram  being 
i/65th  of  a  grain. 

Mr.  Webster,  analyst  to  the  Home  Office,  said  he  examined 
the  stomach,  intestines,  liver,  and  one  kidney  of  the  deceased 
woman,  •  together  with  6|  fluid  ounces  of  blood.  He  found 
arsenic  in  all  the  organs,  the  total  amount  being  i/i7th  of  a 


A   CORNISH   POISON  MYSTERY  383 

grain,  equivalent  to  i/6th  of  a  grain  in  the  whole  body.  Slight 
traces  of  arsenic  were  found  in  the  bottles  and  other  articles 
found  in  the  house  and  brought  to  him  by  the  police,  but 
that  could  not  possibly  account  for  the  amount  of  arsenic  found 
by  him  in  the  organs  of  the  deceased  woman.  The  traces  of 
arsenic  in  these  things  were  so  small  that  they  would  not 
affect  the  system  at  all ;  to  get  a  fatal  dose  from  medicine 
containing  that  proportion  it   would  require  1,300  bottles. 

The  amounts  found  were  consistent  with  the  taking  of  a 
poisonous  dose,  or  a  series  of  small  doses  which  might  produce 
poisonous  symptoms.  If  such  doses  had  been  taken  they  had 
probably  been  well  diluted.  There  was  no  direct  evidence  of 
an  irritant  poison  to  be  seen  in  the  walls  of  the  stomach  or 
the  intestines.  It  was  possible,  however,  for  all  the  arsenic  to 
have  disappeared,  even  if  a  fatal  dose  had  been  taken.  It 
would  depend  upon  the  time  the  patient  lived,  and  a  consider- 
able quantity  might  have  been  vomited.  He  did  not  agree 
with  the  counsel  for  the  defence,  who  urged  that  arsenic 
remained  in  the  body  indefinitely.  In  his  opinion  that  was 
not  the  case  ;  it  was  got  rid  of  very  quickly.  Arsenic  would 
remain  in  the  hair  and  nails  for  a  considerable  period,  but  after 
a  comparatively  short  time  it  could  not  be  detected  in  the 
organs. 

Sir  William  Willcox,  Consulting  Medical  Expert  to  the  Home 
Office,  described  the  symptoms  of  arsenical  poisoning.  He 
said  that  when  a  big  dose  was  taken,  death  usually  occurred 
in  three  days,  but  in  some  cases  the  arsenic  damaged  the  organs 
of  the  body,  and  death  might  occur-  several  days  after  the 
taking  of  the  last  dose.  He  had  known  cases  in  which  some 
months  had  ensued  before  death.  In  his  opinion  the  cause  of 
death  in  this  case  was  arsenical  poisoning.  He  based  his 
opinion  not  only  on  symptoms  but  on  the  analysis.  He 
believed  that  no  arsenic  had  been  administered  to  Mrs.  Black 
within  five  days  of  her  death.  She  had  not  died  from  the  direct 
effects  of  arsenical  poisoning,  but  the  cause  of  death  was 
exhaustion  coupled  with  poisoning  of  the  vital  organs. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  judge,  Mr.  Webster  made  three  cups 
of  tea,  one  with  two  grains  of  arsenic  in  it,  one  with  one  grain, 
and  one  with  none,  and  these  cups  were  handed  to  the  judge 
and  jury  for  their  inspection. 


384  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Evidence  was  given  by  Mrs.  Black's  daughter,  Marian,  and 
by  the  neighbours,  showing  that  Black  had  on  different  occa- 
sions administered  medicine  to  his  wife,  and  that  she  had 
frequently  complained  of  it  being  "  peppery  "  and  of  her 
dislike  to  taking  it. 

Counsel  for  the  defence  urged  the  lack  of  motive  for  the 
crime,  and  suggested  that  death  was  due  to  gastritis,  from 
which  disease  Mrs.  Black  was  known  to  have  suffered. 

On  the  second  and  last  day  of  the  trial.  Black  himself 
went  into  the  witness-box,  and  denied,  as  he  had  previously 
done  at  the  inquest,  that  he  had  ever  had  arsenic  in  his  posses- 
sion, or  that  he  had  purchased  it  at  St.  Austell  on  October  29. 
He  also  added  that  on  October  31  his  wife  was  not  present 
at  breakfast,  but  that  it  was  taken  up  to  her  by  Marian, 
the  girl. 

The  judge,  in  summing  up  the  case,  said  that  it  was  one  of 
circumstantial  evidence.  As  a  rule  in  such  cases  one  found 
motives  included,  but  in  this  case  there  was  none.  There 
was  no  doubt  that  Black's  behaviour  all  through  his  wife's 
illness  was  that  of  attention  to  her,  and  not  either  neglectful  of 
her  or  hostile  to  her. 

The  jury,  after  an  absence  of  forty  minutes,  returned  with 
a  verdict  of  "  Guilty."  Black  was  sentenced  to  death,  and 
was  executed  at  Exeter  Gaol  on  March  24,  1922. 

In  commenting  on  this  case,  in  an  address  before  the 
Harveian  Society,  Sir  WiUiam  Willcox  stated : 

"it  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that  although  arsenic  was 
present  in  appreciable  amount  in  all  the  organs,  the  total 
amount  found  in  them  was  considerably  less  than  a  possible 
fatal  dose.  The  explanation  of  the  small  amount  of  poison 
in  the  body  was  clearly  shown  by  the  clinical  history.  The 
case  was  one  of  delayed  arsenical  poisoning,  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  arsenic  having  been  got  rid  of  by  excretion 
in  the  few  days  which  elapsed  between  the  administration  of 
the  poison  and  the  time  of  death." 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE   ARMSTRONG   CASE 

IN  192 1  the  little  town  of  Hay  in  Breconshire  became  the 
centre  of  one  of  the  strangest  poison  dramas  of  modem 
times.  There  were  practising  in  the  town  two  firms  of 
solicitors,  the  head  of  one  being  Mr.  Robert  Rowse  Armstrong, 
M.A.,  who  had  held  a  temporary  commission  as  major  during 
the  war,  and  was  Clerk  to  the  Bench.  The  principal  of  the 
other  was  a  Mr.  Oswald  Norman  Martin,  who,  after  demobiliza- 
tion had  entered  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Robert  T.  Griffith, 
who  died  in  November,  1920,  leaving  Mr.  Martin  to  carry 
on  the  practice. 

Mr.  Martin  was  married  on  June  14,  192 1,  to  Miss  Da  vies, 
the  daughter  of  a  local  chemist,  and  Major  Armstrong  was 
invited  to  the  wedding  reception  and  sent  a  present.  Towards 
the  end  of  September  a  parcel  arrived  at  Mr.  Martin's  house 
addressed  to  him  in  block  letters,  apparently  to  disguise  the 
handwriting.  It  contained  a  box  of  Fuller's  chocolates  that 
had  come  apparently  direct  from  the  makers.  It  was  noticed, 
however,  that  the  ribbon  securing  the  box  had  been  untied 
and  retied  in  a  different  way,  and  anything  that  could  lead 
to  the  identification  of  the  shop  where  it  had  been  bought  had 
been  taken  away.  The  box  was  put  on  one  side  until  October 
8,  when  after  a  dinner  party  given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin, 
it  was  handed  round  the  table,  but  only  one  person,  Mrs. 
Gilbert  Martin,  a  sister-in-law  of  the  Martins,  took  anything 
from  it.  Later  that  evening  she  was  taken  ill  with  vomiting, 
and  suffered  from  palpitation  of  the  heart.  After  dinner, 
the  box  of  chocolates  was  again  put  away  and  nothing  more 
thought  about  it,  until  they  were  suspected  of  being  the  cause 
of  the  lady's  sudden  seizure.  The  chocolates  were  then  handed 
over  to  Dr.  Hincks,  of  Hay,  who  sent  them  to  London  to  be 

385  BB 


386  POISON   MYSTERIES 

analysed.  According  to  the  report  returned  to  him  it  was 
found  that  in  two  of  the  chocolates  in  the  upper  row  some 
holes  had  been  drilled  about  half  an  inch  long,  into  each  of 
which  several  grains  of  white  arsenic  had  been  placed  and  an 
attempt  had  then  been  made  to  fill  up  the  ends  of  the  holes 
with  pieces  of  chocolate. 

About  this  time,  it  appears,  Major  Armstrong  began  to 
press  Mr.  Martin  very  frequently  to  come  and  have  tea  with 
him,  and  at  length  Mr.  Martin  agreed  and  went  to  Armstrong's 
house  about  five  o'clock  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  October 
26.  When  he  entered  the  drawing-room  he  noticed  a  three- 
tier  cake-stand  on  which  were  apparently  some  buttered 
scones.  Major  Armstrong  called  for  a  cup  of  tea  for  him 
and  handed  to  his  visitor  one  of  the  buttered  scones  from  the 
plate  himself.  He  also  had  a  piece  of  currant  bread  and  but- 
ter which  was  on  a  plate  and  left  the  house  at  half-past  six, 
but  shortly  after  arriving  home  began  to  feel  unwell.  Towards 
evening  he  got  worse  and  about  nine  o'clock  violent  vomiting 
set  in  which  continued  at  frequent  intervals  throughout  the 
night.  He  also  had  attacks  of  palpitation  and  diarrhoea. 
On  Thursday  morning  the  doctor  was  called  in  and  he  did 
not  recover  sufficiently  to  return  to  business  until  November  i. 
The  following  day  he  met  Armstrong,  who  asked  him  if  he 
was  feeling  better,  and  remarked,  "  It  may  seem  a  curious 
thing  to  say,  but  you  wiU  have  another  attack,"  to  which 
Mr.  Martin  replied,  "  I  hope  not." 

During  the  following  three  or  four  weeks,  Armstrong 
again  repeatedly  asked  Mr.  Martin  to  come  to  his  house  to 
tea  and  extended  the  invitation  also  to  his  office,  and  seemed 
particularly  anxious  that  he  should  accept.  About  this  time 
there  was  some  business  between  the  two  solicitors  about  a 
sale  of  land,  Mr.  Martin  acting  for  the  purchaser  and  Mr. 
Armstrong  for  the  vendor.  There  had  been  very  considerable 
delay  in  completing  the  purchase  and  Mr.  Martin  had  written, 
that  unless  the  completion  took  place,  his  clients  would  have 
to  rescind  their  contracts  and  demand  the  return  of  their 
deposits  in  each  case. 

The  completion  had  not  taken  place  on  October  20,  and 
Mr.  Martin  wrote  formally  giving  notice  to  rescind  the  con- 
tracts and  demanding  the  return  of  the  money  paid  on  deposit 


THE  ARMSTRONG  CASE  387 

and  expenses,  which  amounted  to  about  £456.  Armstrong 
asked  as  a  personal  favour  if  this  could  not  be  postponed. 
Mr.  Martin's  cHents  decided  not  to  consider  the  suggestion, 
and  thus  the  matter  stood  at  the  time. 

On  December  5  Mr.  Martin  wrote  on  behalf  of  his  clients 
to  Armstrong's  firm,  threatening  that,  unless  he  received 
a  cheque  for  his  clients'  deposit  by  December  12,  he  would 
have  to  take  proceedings. 

During  Mr.  Martin's  illness  the  doctor  attending  him  took 
certain  samples  for  analysis  which  were  sent  up  to  Dr.  Willcox, 
who  found  in  the  specimens  one-thirty-third  of  a  grain  of 
arsenic.  Mrs.  Martin,  having  mentioned  to  her  mother  about 
her  sister-in-law's  illness  after  eating  one  of  the  chocolates, 
gave  the  remainder  of  the  box  to  her,  and  she  showed  it  to 
her  husband,  Mr.  Davies,  the  chemist.  In  examining  them  he 
noticed  that  one  had  a  little  white  powder  scattered  over  one 
end,  and  that  two  of  them  certainly  had  been  tampered  with. 
He  thought  that  they  looked  very  suspicious  and  so  he  took 
them  to  Dr.  Hincks,  who  sent  the  box  with  the  remainder 
of  the  chocolates  to  London  to  be  analysed,  the  result  of  which 
has  been  already  stated. 

The  poHce  were  then  informed  and  commenced  to  make 
inquiries,  with  the  result  that  detectives  were  called  in  from 
Scotland  Yard  and  Armstrong  was  arrested. 

It  was  then  found  that  Mr.  Davies,  the  chemist  in  Hay, 
had  sold  Armstrong  arsenic  in  considerable  quantities  in  1913 
and  1921,  which  he  said  he  required  for  making  weed-killer, 
and  following  on  what  the  police  discovered  they  were  led 
to  investigate  the  cause  of  the  death  of  Armstrong's  wife, 
which  had  occurred  about  twelve  months  previously. 

An  order  for  exhumation  of  the  body  was  given  by  the 
Home  Office  and  the  internal  organs  were  sent  to  London  for 
analysis.  They  were  found  to  contain  arsenic  to  the  extent 
of  three  and  one-fifth  grains. 

While  the  charge  of  attempting  to  poison  Mr.  Martin  was 
in  process  of  being  heard  before  the  magistrates,  Armstrong 
was  charged  with  the  murder  of  his  wife. 

Mrs.  Armstrong  was  forty-seven  years  of  age  when  she 
died  and  had  been  married  for  about  fifteen  years.  In  1919 
she   had   first   consulted   Dr.   Hincks,   being   troubled  with 


388  POISON   MYSTERIES 

neuritis  in  her  left  arm.  After  treating  her  for  this  complaint 
the  doctor  did  not  see  her  again  for  nearly  twelve  months, 
when  he  received  a  message  from  Armstrong  to  the  effect 
that  his  wife  was  suffering  from  pneumonia.  A  day  or  two 
later  he  found  she  was  suffering  from  delusions  and  that  her 
mental  condition  was  apparently  bad.  He  called  in  a  col- 
league and  it  became  apparent  to  them  that  there  was  some- 
thing additional  to  the  mental  trouble,  as  Mrs.  Armstrong 
had  been  taken  ill  with  vomiting  and  complained  of  severe 
pains  and  heart  trouble.  The  doctors  concluded  she  had 
better  be  removed  to  an  asylum  and  she  was  taken  to  Barn- 
wood,  near  Gloucester.  She  was  there  confined  to  bed  and 
developed  a  sort  of  paralysis  ;  she  was  treated  with  tonics, 
and  one  of  these  contained  a  small  amount  of  solution  of 
arsenic.  Her  condition  improved  and  the  doctor  told  Arm- 
strong that  she  would  be  able  to  go  home  on  January  ii, 
and  Armstrong  went  to  the  asylum  and  brought  his  wife 
back  to  Hay.  On  that  day  it  was  found  that  Armstrong 
had  purchased  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  arsenic,  and  at  one 
time  in  conversation  with  the  doctor  had  asked  him  how 
much  arsenic  constituted  a  fatal  dose.  He  also  asked  Dr. 
Hincks  to  visit  his  wife  occasionally  and  a  nurse  was  engaged 
to  look  after  her. 

For  about  a  month  she  seemed  to  be  getting  better,  then 
in  February  the  sickness  and  vomiting  commenced  again. 
The  doctor  thought  it  was  a  case  of  severe  biliousness,  but 
towards  the  end  of  February  she  got  worse  and  died  on  the 
22nd  of  that  month.  The  doctor  certified  that  she  died  from 
gastritis  and  heart  disease  and  at  that  time  had  not  the  slight- 
est suspicion  of  foul  play. 

In  1919  Mrs.  Armstrong  made  a  will  leaving  some  £2,419, 
which  was  drawn  up  by  her  husband  and  witnessed  by  two 
servants  in  the  house. 

In  a  previous  will  made  in  1917,  Armstrong  was  to  receive 
an  annuity  of  fifty  pounds  a  year,  while  the  property  was  to 
be  divided  equally  between  his  children,  but  two  years  later 
in  the  fresh  will  drawn  up  by  her  husband,  she  left  all  her 
property  to  him.  It  transpired  afterwards  that  the  second 
will  was  drawn  up  in  Armstrong's  own  writing  and  purported 
to  be  signed  by  two   witnesses.     Mrs.  Armstrong  was  not 


THE  ARMSTRONG  CASE  389 

present  and  the  two  servants  who  signed  it  at  the  request 
of  Armstrong  stated,  that  they  did  not  know  it  was  a  will 
they  were  witnessing. 

To  all  appearances  and  in  the  opinion  of  her  medical 
adviser  Mrs.  Armstrong  had  died  a  natural  death,  but  on 
exhumation  some  ten  months  afterwards  a  sufficient  amount  of 
arsenic  was  found  in  the  remains  to  poison  her.  Almost 
directly  after  his  wife  was  buried  and  he  had  got  the  property 
in  his  possession,  Armstrong  went  to  the  Continent,  and 
immediately  on  his  return  at  the  end  of  April  was  talking 
about  marriage  to  another  lady.  It  was  noteworthy  that 
a  packet  containing  white  arsenic,  not  coloured,  which  chem- 
ists are  bound  by  law  to  do  before  selling  it,  was  carried 
by  Armstrong  in  his  pocket  on  the  day  on  which  he  was 
arrested.  Also  that  Mr.  Martin  was  nearly  fatally  poisoned 
after  taking  tea  with  Armstrong,  and  that  the  amount  of 
arsenic,  one  thirty-third  of  a  grain,  which  was  found  in  the 
specimen  submitted  for  analysis  pointed  to  the  fact,  that  the 
amount  he  had  taken  a  few  days  before  was  a  little  over  three 
grains.  It  was  also  remarkable  that  after  Armstrong  had 
asked  Dr.  Hincks  "  What  is  sufficient  arsenic  to  cause 
death  ?  "  and  was  told  three  grains,  that  was  the  exact 
amount  that  was  found  in  a  packet  in  his  pocket. 

Chief  Inspector  Crutchett,  of  Scotland  Yard,  saw  Mr. 
Armstrong  at  his  office  on  December  31,  and  told  him  that  he 
was  investigating  the  sudden  illness  of  Mr.  Martin  after  taking 
tea  with  him  on  October  26.  He  also  told  him  about  the 
chocolates  which  were  found  to  contain  arsenic,  and  it  was 
known  that  he  had  purchased  arsenic  on  January  11,  1921. 
He  asked  him  if  he  could  account  for  his  movements  on  October 
26,  and  what  became  of  the  arsenic  that  was  in  his  possession. 
Armstrong  then  made  a  statement  that  was  taken  down  in 
writing,  and  which  he  signed.  In  it  he  stated,  that  he  also 
partook  of  the  buttered  currant  loaf  and  scones  which  he 
handed  to  Mr.  Martin,  who  he  knew  had  not  been  well  before 
he  paid  the  visit  to  his  house.  He  acknowledged  that  he  pur- 
chased arsenic  in  1914,  which  he  used  for  making  a  weed-killer 
consisting  of  caustic  soda  and  arsenic  which  he  found  to  be 
cheaper  than  what  he  could  purchase.  He  was  unable  to 
throw  any  light  on  the  finding  of  arsenic  in  Mr.  Martin's 


390  POISON   MYSTERIES 

tests  or  on  the  cause  of  his  illness  after  visiting  his  house. 
After  signing  the  statement,  Armstrong  was  arrested  and 
was  asked  to  empty  the  contents  of  his  pockets  on  to  a  desk. 
Among  the  articles  found  in  his  possession  was  a  small  packet 
containing  a  white  powder  and  two  or  three  little  pellets, 
rather  heavy,  which  were  in  a  small  envelope,  which  also 
had  the  remains  of  some  white  powder.  The  small  packet 
was  found  to  contain  3 J  grains  of  white  arsenic. 

At  the  magisterial  inquiry,  Mrs.  Armstrong's  sister  said 
that  her  sister  was  a  believer  in  homoeopathic  medicines, 
and  among  them  were  arsenicum,  nux  vomica  and  liquorice, 
which  she  not  only  used  for  herself,  but  the  household  generally. 
The  doctors  who  saw  Mrs.  Armstrong  at  the  asylum  and  pre- 
scribed for  her,  had  ordered  her  a  mixture  containing  solution 
of  arsenic,  iron  and  ammonia  citrate  and  nux  vomica,  the 
solution  of  arsenic  being  in  five-minim  doses.  She  had 
taken  that  medicine  as  a  tonic  up  to  October  4,  but  after 
that  date  had  taken  nothing  which  contained  arsenic. 

Dr.  Hincks,  who  had  attended  Mrs.  Armstrong  from  1919, 
described  her  complaint  and  condition  ;  it  was  owing  to  her 
mental  trouble  that  he  advised  her  removal  to  the  asylum, 
and  at  Armstrong's  request  he  consented  to  her  return 
home.  He  saw  her  several  times  afterwards,  but  her  physical 
condition  grew  worse  and  she  became  weaker  every  day. 
On  February  16  he  told  her  husband  that  her  case  was 
quite  hopeless  and  later  he  heard  she  was  dead.  He  gave  a 
certificate  that  death  was  due  to  gastritis  and  heart  disease. 
His  opinion  now  was  that  all  these  conditions  were  due  to 
the  presence  of  chronic  arsenical  poisoning,  and  he  thought 
the  cause  of  death  was  due  to  the  administration  of 
arsenic. 

Dr.  B.  H.  Spilsbury,  who  made  the  post-mortem  on  the 
body  of  Mrs.  Armstrong  after  exhumation,  said  he  found  it 
in  an  unusually  good  state  of  preservation,  allowing  for  the 
time  which  had  elapsed  since  her  death.  It  was  a  condition 
which  was  found  in  certain  cases  of  arsenical  poisoning,  to 
which  in  his  opinion  her  death  was  due.  With  reference  to 
the  mixture  which  was  prescribed  for  her  at  the  asylum  and 
taken  as  a  tonic  for  a  period  of  some  months,  he  stated  that 
in  that  small  quantity  he  would  not  expect  to  find  any  traces 


THE  ARMSTRONG  CASE  391 

of  arsenic  in  the  body,  with  the  possible  exception  of  traces 
in  the  nails  and  hair. 

The  official  analyst  to  the  Home  Office,  who  had  analysed 
the  chocolates  sent  to  Mr.  Martin,  said  that  he  found  the 
box  contained  thirty-two  chocolates,  two  of  which  had  the 
appearance  of  having  been  tampered  with.  A  cylindrical 
hole  nearly  half  an  inch  long  had  apparently  been  bored  and 
filled  with  a  white  powder,  and  attempts  had  been  made  to 
seal  it  up  with  a  covering  of  chocolate.  The  white  powder 
was  found  on  analysis  to  be  arsenious  oxide.  He  estimated 
that  the  amount  in  one  chocolate  was  slightly  more  than  two 
grains.  The  rest  of  the  chocolates  showed  no  trace  of  having 
been  tampered  with.  He  found  arsenic  in  aU  the  organs  of 
Mrs.  Armstrong's  body,  the  total  being  equivalent  to  3*2  grains, 
which  led  him  to  believe  that  she  must  have  had  a  consider- 
able amount  of  arsenic  during  the  last  few  days  of  her  life,  and 
that  her  death  was  due  to  acute  arsenical  poisoning.  A  quan- 
tity amounting  to  a  fatal  dose  must  have  been  taken  within 
twenty-four  hours  of  her  death. 

The  analyst  also  made  an  examination  of  a  number  of 
bottles  and  packets  found  in  Armstrong's  house,  most  of 
which  contained  arsenic  either  in  solution   or  powder. 

Sir  Wnham  H.  Willcox,  medical  adviser  to  the  Home 
Office,  said  the  mixture  that  contained  arsenic  prescribed 
for  Mrs.  Armstrong  at  the  asylum,  could  not  have  accounted 
for  the  arsenic  foimd  in  her  body.  Arsenic  taken  thus  for 
a  month  would  be  entirely  eUminated,  usually  in  ten  days. 
The  symptoms  described  in  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Gilbert  Martin 
after  eating  one  of  the  chocolates,  and  those  of  Mr.  Oswald 
Martin,  were  aU  consistent  with  acute  arsenical  poisoning. 
He  was  of  the  opinion  that  Mrs.  Armstrong  was  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  an  irritant  poison  when  she  was  taken  to 
the  asylum  in  August,  1920,  and  on  her  return  home  the 
reappearance  of  these  symptoms  showed  she  was  again  suffer- 
ing from  arsenical  poisoning.  With  respect  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  arsenic  in  the  organs  taken  from  the  exhumed 
body,  he  had  no  doubt  that  a  possibly  fatal  dose  of  two  grains 
or  more  must  have  been  taken  within  twenty-four  hours 
of  death.  He  had  known  of  cases  of  suicide  where  a  large 
dose  or  possibly  two  had  been  taken,  but  in  this  case  there 


392  POISON   MYSTERIES 

were  obviously  successive  doses,  giving  rise  to  very  painful 
symptoms,  which  were  not  in  the  least  indicative  of  suicide. 
He  did  not  believe  it  possible  that  she  could  have  taken  the 
doses  herself  within  twenty-four  hours  of  death,  and  he  was 
confident  that  she  was  suffering  from  acute  arsenical  poisoning 
when  she  died. 

On  this  evidence  Armstrong  was  committed  to  the  Assizes 
on  the  charge  of  murdering  his  wife  and  of  the  attempt  to 
murder  Mr.  Oswald  Martin. 

Armstrong's  trial  took  place  at  the  Hereford  Assizes  before 
Mr.  Justice  Darling,  on  April  31.  The  case  for  the  Crown 
was  conducted  by  Sir  Ernest  Pollock,  K.C.,  and  others,  and 
Armstrong  was  defended  by  Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett, 
K.C. 

The  nurse  attending  Mrs.  Armstrong  said,  that  her  husband 
frequently  came  into  the  bedroom  the  last  few  days  of  her 
illness  when  she  was  confined  to  bed.  He  was  alone  with  her 
on  several  occasions  and  sat  in  the  room  when  she  went  to 
her  meals.  She  noticed  that  sickness  occurred  about  twenty 
minutes  after  her  patient  had  taken  food.  Mrs.  Armstrong 
kept  a  chest  of  homoeopathic  medicines  in  the  bedroom,  but 
up  to  the  Sunday  before  she  died  she  was  unable  to  get  out 
of  bed.  She  said  she  did  not  think  it  was  possible  that  Mrs. 
Armstrong  on  February  13  could  have  got  out  of  bed  and 
got  a  packet  or  bottle  out  of  the  cupboard  in  the  room  ;  she 
had  been  told  by  the  nurse  who  was  previously  in  attendance 
on  Mrs.  Armstrong,  that  she  was  afraid  that  she  might  some 
time  commit  suicide,  as  she  was  certainly  suffering  from 
delusions. 

Chief  Inspector  Crutchett,  who  was  present  at  the  arrest 
of  Armstrong,  said  he  had  no  opportunity  after  December 
31  of  going  back  to  the  house,  but  the  house  had  been 
searched  and  he  was  aware  of  a  little  drawer  in  the  cup- 
board in  the  study.  Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett  then  told  him 
that  a  small  paper  packet  of  white  arsenic  was  found  in  that 
drawer  by  Mr.  Matthews,  Armstrong's  solicitor,  his  managing 
clerk  and  Dr.  Chivers.  The  inspector  declared  there  was  no 
packet  of  white  arsenic  there  when  he  searched  the  drawer. 
Counsel  remarked  that  there  were  actual  traces  of  arsenic 
in  the  drawer  itself.      In  reply  to  the  judge  the  inspector 


THE  ARMSTRONG  CASE  393 

said,  that  had  the  packet  been  in  the  drawer  when  he  searched 
he  would  have  seen  it. 

A  feature  of  the  scientific  evidence  given  by  Mr.  Webster 
was  the  statement  that  he  had  never,  in  his  experience  of 
making  analyses  of  organs  taken  from  three  to  four  hundred 
bodies,  discovered  such  a  quantity  of  arsenic  as  he  did  in  the 
case  of  Mrs.  Armstrong. 

Superintendent  Weaver,  who  searched  Armstrong's  study 
at  his  house,  said  that  he  had  examined  the  little  drawer 
of  the  bureau  in  which  it  was  stated  a  packet  of  white  arsenic 
was  found  after  the  police  search.  He  distinctly  remembered 
pulling  out  the  drawer  and  placing  it  on  the  desk,  and  was 
positive  there  was  no  packet  of  white  powder  there. 

The  counsel  for  the  prisoner  in  addressing  the  jury,  asserted 
that  the  suggestion  that  Mrs.  Armstrong  took  arsenic  herself , 
was  infinitely  stronger  than  the  case  made  out  against  the 
prisoner,  and  called  Armstrong  as  a  witness  to  give  evidence 
in  his  own  defence. 

Armstrong  gave  a  detailed  account  of  his  career  and  war 
service.  He  took  his  degree  as  Master  of  Arts  at  Cambridge 
University,  and  had  held  important  and  responsible  positions, 
including  that  of  Justices'  Clerk  of  Hay.  He  was  a  partner  in 
the  firm  of  Cheese  &  Armstrong  until  1914,  when  Mr.  Cheese 
died.  He  married  in  June  1907  and  had  three  children.  He 
held  a  commission  in  the  Volunteer  Forces  of  the  R.E.  until 
1914  and  was  then  gazetted  captain.  In  June,  1918,  he  went 
to  France,  where  he  remained  until  October  of  that  year 
and  was  demobilized  in  the  spring  of  1919. 

Questioned  about  the  second  will  in  his  own  handwriting, 
he  said  the  reason  for  his  wife's  deciding  to  make  a  second 
will  was,  that  she  had  come  into  some  further  property  since 
the  first  will,  owing  to  the  death  of  her  mother,  and  she  wished 
to  make  a  shorter  and  simpler  one.  He  drew  up  the  docu- 
ment at  her  request  and  with  her  full  knowledge.  He  stated 
that  he  first  became  aware  that  there  was  something  wrong 
with  his  wife  on  August  9,  but  he  left  her  apparently  in  normal 
health  when  he  went  out  in  the  morning ;  on  coming  back 
for  lunch  she  surprised  him  by  saying  before  the  children 
she  expected  that  he  would  have  been  arrested  ;  she  had 
done  something  to  cause  his  arrest  and  had  told  the  children 


394  POISON   MYSTERIES 

they  might  never  expect  to  see  him  again.  This  was  the  first 
time  he  had  ever  noticed  any  active  delusions,  and  as  the 
delusions  did  not  diminish  he  saw  Dr.  Hincks  and  told  him 
what  had  occurred.  Discussing  the  matter  with  a  friend, 
he  had  made  the  suggestion  that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  leave 
razors  about  near  his  wife,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had 
removed  them  from  the  room  and  also  his  service  revolver. 
He  denied  emphatically  that  there  was  any  truth  in  the 
suggestion,  that  he  had  ever  administered  arsenic  to  his 
wife  prior  to  her  removal  to  Barnwood  Asylum. 

Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett,  K.C.,  in  his  speech  for  the  defence 
said :  "  This  case  is  a  most  extraordinary  one,  because  the  prose- 
cution set  out  to  prove  that  in  August,  1920,  Armstrong  started 
to  administer  arsenic  to  his  wife ;  that  in  January,  1921, 
he  continued,  on  her  return  from  Barnwood  Asylum,  to  admin- 
ister poison  to  her ;  and  that  finally  she  died  as  the  result 
of  poison  administered  by  him.  They  set  out  to  prove  that 
and  in  doing  so,  they  had  not  been  able  to  make  any  suggestion 
as  to  how  Major  Armstrong  administered  the  poison,  the 
time  he  administered  it,  or  in  what  it  was  administered." 

Dealing  with  the  purchase  of  arsenic,  counsel  said  Major 
Armstrong  bought  half  a  pound  of  arsenic  coloured  with 
charcoal  in  June,  1919.  Six  out  of  these  eight  ounces  he  had 
used  for  weed-killer,  and  the  remainder  was  discovered  in 
the  cupboard  in  the  library.  He  bought  some  in  1921, 
having  forgotten  that  he  still  had  a  little  left  from  1919. 
He  returned  from  abroad  in  May  and  went  to  the  cupboard 
and  found  the  packet  with  no  string  upon  it,  looking  as  though 
it  had  been  opened.  He  divided  it  into  two  parts.  One 
he  used  by  dividing  it  into  a  number  of  tiny  packets  like  the 
one  found  upon  him.  These  little  packets  he  used  in  a  way 
advised  by  a  chemical  company,  and  he  carried  them  in  his 
garden  coat.  It  so  happened  that  on  December  31,  he  had 
on  that  same  garden  coat  and  in  one  of  the  pockets  he  had, 
together  with  his  business  and  private  letters,  that  little 
packet  of  arsenic. 

What  happened  to  the  other  half  of  that  arsenic  ?  Having 
separated  those  packets  for  safety,  he  put  that  other  little 
packet,  with  the  blue  paper  round  it,  in  a  little  bottom  drawer 
in  his  bureau  which  was  not  a  key-drawer  at  all. 


THE  ARMSTRONG  CASE  395 

On  December  31  he  was  arrested.  The  next  day  he  remem- 
bered this  httle  packet  and  told  Mr.  Matthews  his  soHcitor 
about  it.  Mr.  Matthews  went  to  the  house  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  housekeeper,  Miss  Penn,  opened  the  drawer,  but  there 
was  no  packet  to  be  seen.  They  beheved  the  pohce  had  found 
and  taken  it.  Mr.  Matthews  then  pressed  the  pohce  for  a 
hst  of  things  found  in  the  house,  and  when  he  had  got  it,  he 
found  that  the  packet  of  arsenic  was  not  mentioned.  On 
February  9,  therefore,  he  again  went  to  the  house,  and  going 
to  the  bureau  pulled  the  drawer  out  bodily,  and  in  putting 
his  hand  in  to  see  if  there  might  be  a  secret  drawer,  he  found 
the  packet  of  arsenic,  which  had  been  caught  up  at  the  back. 
"  Thus,"  said  counsel,  "  the  last  quarter  of  a  pound  of  arsenic 
bought  by  Armstrong  was  accounted  for." 

Armstrong,  questioned  as  to  what  he  did  with  the  small 
packets  of  arsenic  he  was  said  to  have  made  up,  declared 
that  he  made  these  little  packets  simply  by  portioning  out 
a  small  quantity  with  his  penknife.  He  had  used  them  all 
for  killing  weeds  with  the  exception  of  the  one  that  was  found 
in  his  pocket  with  his  letters  when  he  was  arrested.  It 
was  his  custom  to  drive  an  old  file  into  the  ground  over  the 
root  and  then  drop  in  the  contents  of  the  small  packet  of 
arsenic,  so  that  it  fell  to  the  bottom  or  stuck  to  the  side,  and 
he  did  this  to  any  dandelion  root  he  wished  to  kill.  He 
could  not  think  how  he  used  nineteen  packets  instead  of 
twenty,  as  he  was  under  the  impression  that  he  had  used  them 
all.  When  he  was  arrested  and  placed  the  contents  of  his 
pockets  on  the  table,  he  did  not  know  the  remaining  small 
packet  of  arsenic  was  there  until  he  saw  it  and  recognized 
it.  When  he  saw  it,  he  then  remembered  about  the  two 
ounces  that  he  had  left  in  the  drawer  of  the  bureau.  He 
did  not  tell  the  police  that  they  would  find  white  arsenic 
in  the  bureau,  but  he  realized  that  the  finding  of  the  packet 
had  placed  him  in  a  awkward  situation. 

Mr.  Justice  Darling  questioned  Armstrong  very  closely 
about  the  purchase,  use  and  discovery  of  the  white  arsenic. 
He  replied  that  previous  to  buying  this  quantity  which  he  used 
for  killing  dandelions,  he  had  never  had  white  arsenic  in 
his  possession.  He  had  used  nineteen  of  the  little  packets 
on  nineteen  dandelion  roots. 


396  POISON   MYSTERIES 

"  Did  you  notice  what  became  of  the  dandehons,  did  they 
die  ?  "  asked  the  judge. 

"  They  did,"  repUed  Armstrong. 

"  That  was  very  interesting,  was  it  not  ?  "  remarked  Mr. 
Justice  Darhng.  "  It  was  an  interesting  experiment  to  you 
who  wanted  to  get  rid  of  the  weeds  ?  " 

"  When  you  saw  the  little  packet  and  realized  you  had 
arsenic  in  your  pocket,  did  you  realize  it  was  a  fatal  dose  of 
arsenic  not  for  a  dandelion  but  for  a  human  being  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  Armstrong,  "  I  did  not  realize  that  at  all." 

"  But  you  had  been  making  rather  a  study  of  arsenic  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  It  appears  now,"  said  the  Judge,  "  that  if  every  one  of 
these  little  packets  was  the  same  as  that  found  in  your  pocket 
it  contained  a  fatal  dose  of  arsenic." 

Armstrong  replied  that  he  realized  that  now  but  did  not 
do  so  at  the  time.  He  had  not  disclosed  to  the  police  that  he 
knew  the  arsenic  was  in  the  drawer,  as  he  thought  it  was  certain 
they  would  find  it. 

Dr.  F.  S.  Toogood,  who  was  called  for  the  defence,  said 
he  was  of  the  opinion  that  Mrs.  Armstrong  was  suffering  from 
chronic  indigestion.  He  thought  that  up  to  the  time  of  her 
removal  to  the  asylum,  she  was  not  suffering  from  arsenical 
poisoning,  and  up  to  February  i6  there  was  no  evidence  of 
anything  consistent  with  it.  In  his  opinion  death  was  caused 
by  arsenic  taken,  about  February  i6,  and  if  a  dose  was  taken 
on  that  date  it  would  account  for  the  amount  found  in  the 
body. 

Dr.  Ainslie,  of  Hereford,  who  was  present  at  the  post- 
mortem, said  that  judging  from  the  evidence  of  her  last  illness 
and  that  of  the  post-mortem,  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  that 
Mrs.  Armstrong  had  died  after  a  large  dose  of  arsenic  which 
was  taken  about  February  i6  or  17.  He  expressed  dissatis- 
faction over  the  preliminaries  in  the  case  of  the  test  for  Mr. 
Martin,  and  said  that  there  might  have  been  arsenic  in  the  glass 
of  which  the  bottle  was  made,  as  weU  as  in  the  medicines  with 
which  Mr.  Martin  had  been  treated  by  Dr.  Hincks.  He  was 
questioned  on  the  subject  of  arsenic  being  found  in  bismuth, 
and  agreed  that  two  parts  in  one  million  was  the  amount 
allowed.     He  referred  to  the  possibility  of  impurity  in  the 


THE   ARMSTRONG   CASE  397 

supplies  of  bismuth  from  America  available  during  the  war. 

Dr.  J.  Steed,  the  last  witness  for  the  defence,  said  he  believed 
that  up  to  the  time  she  was  taken  to  the  asylum,  Mrs.  Arm- 
strong's condition  was  undoubtedly  due  to  some  internal 
trouble,  such  as  indigestion  or  a  form  of  neuritis.  He  believed 
the  cause  of  her  death  was  the  taking  of  one  large  dose  of 
arsenic  on  February  16. 

Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett,  in  his  final  address,  alluded  to  the 
important  point  that  had  been  made  of  the  finding  of  the  white 
arsenic  in  the  bureau  after  Armstrong's  arrest.  The  evidence 
for  the  prosecution  had  been  that  Armstrong  had  always 
purchased  coloured  arsenic,  and  this  discovery  of  white 
arsenic  was  of  the  highest  importance.  Supposing  that 
packet  of  white  arsenic,  which  undoubtedly  was  bought 
from  Mr.  Davies,  the  chemist  in  Hay,  had  not  been  found,  the 
case  would  to  a  very  large  extent  have  been  made  to  turn 
upon  how  Armstrong  came  to  be  in  possession  of  white 
arsenic.  He  would  have  said  :  "I  purchased  it  from  Mr. 
Davies."  And  the  Attorney-General  would  have  said  :  "  That 
cannot  be  true,  produce  some  of  it.  Davies  has  sworn  that 
all  the  arsenic  you  purchased  was  coloured,  and  all  we  have 
found  was  coloured."  It  would  have  been  said  :  "  It  is  all 
very  well  for  you,  Armstrong,  to  say  that  you  were  buying  your 
arsenic  openly  in  your  own  town.  You  must  have  gone 
outside  to  make  a  secret  purchase  of  arsenic."  "  And  this  is 
the  important  part  of  the  discovery  of  the  white  arsenic," 
concluded  Sir  Henry. 

The  Attorney-General,  replying  on  behalf  of  the  Crown, 
admitted  that  the  case  for  the  prosecution  had  changed. 
This,  he  affirmed,  was  a  poisoning  case,  and  he  doubted  if  in 
the  history  of  the  world  the  poisoned  cup  had  been  seen  to 
be  poisoned,  and  when  administered  had  been  known  to  have 
been  poisoned.  In  the  case  of  poisoners  they  would  always 
find  subtlety  and  an  endeavour  to  cover  up  things  that  were 
sinister.  He  claimed  that  this  case  depended  upon  circum- 
stantial evidence  ;  the  prosecution  had  endeavoured  to  be 
fair  to  the  prisoner.  The  changes  in  the  case  were  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  now  knew,  as  they  did  not  know  at  the 
start,  the  defence  would  admit  that  Mrs.  Armstrong  died  of 
arsenical  poisoning ;  and  they  knew  now,  as  they  did  not  know 


398  POISON   MYSTERIES 

before,  that  the  defence  was  placing  no  rehance  upon  her 
having  taken  homoeopathic  medicines.  He  did  not  know 
before,  as  he  now  knew,  that  in  August,  1920,  Armstrong  was 
possessed  of  two  ounces  of  white  arsenic,  the  balance  of 
what  he  had  bought  in  1919.  He  was  also  unaware  before, 
that  in  addition  to  the  small  packet  that  was  found,  he  had 
some  arsenic,  approximately  two  ounces,  which  he  had  bought 
in  1920. 

The  central  feature  of  the  case  was  the  defence  of  suicide 
raised  by  Armstrong  himself.  One  person,  and  one  person 
alone,  was  constantly  about  Mrs.  Armstrong  in  August,  1920, 
and  again  in  January  and  February,  1921.  "  Let  me," 
said  the  Attorney-General,  "  note  a  remarkable  piece  of  evi- 
dence. When  Armstrong  was  asked  if  he  was  alone  with 
his  wife,  he  replied,  '  Yes,  I  was  alone  with  her.  There  was 
milk  and  soda  in  the  room,'  and  when  asked  '  Did  you  ever 
put  a  cup  to  her  lips,  did  you  ever  minister  to  her,  you  the 
devoted,  loyal,  faithful,  loving  husband  ?  '  his  reply  was 
'  No.'     Can  this  be  believed  ?  " 

With  regard  to  the  Martin  case,  the  Attorney-General 
scouted  the  suggestion  that  the  arsenic  taken  from  Martin 
came  from  a  dirty  bottle  or  cork  or  from  impure  chemicals 
in  his  medicine.  He  believed  the  story  of  the  twenty  little 
packets  made  up  to  kill  dandelions  on  the  lawn  was  a  false- 
hood. 

The  judge,  in  summing  up,  carefully  sifted  the  whole  of 
the  evidence  that  had  been  given.  He  stated  that  the  ques- 
tion to  be  decided  was,  had  the  prosecution  proved  that  Arm- 
strong gave  his  wife  the  poison.  "  The  case  was  a  deeply  inter- 
esting one,  and  he  doubted  if  anyone  had  any  recollection  of  so 
remarkable  a  case  in  its  incidents.  It  had  been  said  that  this 
case  depended  upon  circumstantial  evidence,  but  circumstan- 
tial evidence  was  as  good  as  any  other,  provided  it  was  relevant 
and  true.  Circumstantial  evidence  going  to  prove  the  guilt 
of  a  person  was  this  :  '  One  witness  proves  one  thing  and 
another  witness  proves  another  thing,  and  aU  these  things 
prove  to  conviction  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  but  neither 
of  them  separately  proves  the  guilt  of  the  person.'  It  should 
be  remembered  that  Armstrong  was  arrested  not  on  the 
charge  of  murdering  his  wife,  but  of  attempting  to  murder 


THE   ARMSTRONG   CASE  399 

Mr.  Martin.  Having  been  arrested  for  an  attempt  to  mur- 
der Mr.  Martin  on  December  31,  only  then  was  some  one  or 
other  led  to  think  '  What  about  Mrs.  Armstrong,  what  did  she 
die  of  ?  '  The  symptoms  were  very  similar,  so  an  order  was 
obtained  and  the  body  was  exhumed  on  January  2,  and  it  was 
then  found  that  there  was  still  in  that  body  a  large  dose  of 
arsenic,  more  arsenic  than  those  who  were  accustomed  to 
dealing  with  these  things  had  known  in  any  exhumed  body 
before.  There  was  no  proof  that  there  was  any  arsenic  in 
the  cupboard  in  the  bedroom,  and  there  was  evidence  there 
was  arsenic  in  the  cupboard  in  the  room  downstairs.  It 
was  incredible,  therefore,  that  a  woman  who  was  anxious 
to  get  better  committed  suicide,  and  had  taken  a  large  dose 
of  arsenic  two  days  previously.  It  was  incredible  that  a 
woman  in  the  condition  in  which  she  was,  could  get  up  with 
the  intention  of  taking  a  dose  of  arsenic.  Where  had  she 
got  it  from  ?  She  could  not  have  taken  the  arsenic  herself 
within  twenty-four  hours  of  death.  If  Dr.  Spilsbury's  evidence 
was  true  that  was  practically  impossible." 

The  jury  after  retiring  for  forty-eight  minutes  found  Arm- 
strong guilty  on  the  charge  of  wilfully  murdering  his  wife, 
and  sentence  of  death  was  passed. 

The  trial  lasted  ten  days,  and  the  dramatic  production 
by  Armstrong's  counsel  of  the  packet  of  two  ounces  of  white 
arsenic  found  by  Armstrong's  solicitor,  wedged  at  the  back 
of  the  drawer  of  the  bureau  in  Armstrong's  study  six  weeks 
after  the  police  had  searched  and  found  nothing  in  that 
drawer,  was  very  unexpected.  This  packet  of  arsenic  became 
one  of  the  outstanding  features  of  the  trial,  and  by  the  judge's 
order  the  bureau  was  brought  to  a  room  adjoining  the  Court, 
where  a  test  was  made.  Armstrong  was  instructed  to  place 
the  packet  of  arsenic  in  the  drawer  where  he  stated  it  had 
been,  and  afterwards  Mr,  Matthews,  the  solicitor,  demon- 
strated where  he  declared  he  had  found  it. 

An  appeal  was  made  to  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal, 
when  Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett  said  that  both  Mr.  Justice 
Darling  and  the  Attorney-General  had  ridiculed  the  state- 
ment that  Armstrong  had  made  of  his  method  of  destroying 
dandelions.  He  would  produce  five  witnesses  to  prove  that,, 
far  from  being  incredible,  it  was  not  an  uncommon  custom  to 


400  POISON  MYSTERIES 

give  dandelions  arsenic  in  small  doses  in  the  same  manner 
as  Armstrong  had  described,  when  asked  to  account  for  the 
packet  containing  three  and  three-quarter  grains  that  was 
found  in  his  pocket.  The  court,  however,  ruled  out  any 
further  evidence. 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice  remarked  that  a  packet  containing 
3f  grains  of  white  arsenic  was  a  very  unusual  thing  to  find  in 
a  solicitor's  pocket.  Counsel  observed  that  arsenic  sufficient 
to  kill  three  thousand  persons  could  be  bought  for  2s.  6d. 

Sir  Henry  Curtis  Bennett's  speech  in  support  of  the  appeal 
lasted  twelve  hours,  and  in  the  course  of  his  argument  he 
said  :  "  Mrs.  Armstrong  went  downstairs  to  get  the  arsenic; 
she  knew  where  it  was  kept,  and  on  February  i6  she  had  gone 
downstairs  and  was  teaching  her  little  boy."  Both  packets 
were  in  the  cupboard  in  the  room  in  which  the  boy  was  being 
taught.  Armstrong  stated  that  in  May  he  went  to  the  cup- 
board and  found  the  packet  in  such  a  condition  that  it  appeared 
to  have  been  tampered  with.  He  suggested  that  on  the  day 
and  in  the  room  where  she  was  with  the  little  boy,  she  took  a 
fatal  dose  of  arsenic  from  the  cupboard.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  the  defence,  he  argued,  the  finding  of  the  arsenic 
in  the  bureau  was  extraordinarily  lucky,  for  there  was  till 
then  no  evidence  that  Armstrong  had  any  white  arsenic  at 
all.  The  purchase  on  January  ii  was  believed  to  be  coloured 
arsenic,  and  if  this  had  not  been  found  with  the  chemist's  label, 
there  would  have  been  a  stronger  case,  that  in  addition  to  the 
quarter-pound  of  coloured  arsenic  in  January,  Armstrong, 
from  an  unknown  source  and  for  an  unknown  purpose,  had 
got  white  arsenic  as  well. 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice  consulted  with  his  colleagues  and 
said  they  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  appeal 
must  be  dismissed.  Armstrong  suffered  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law  and  was  hanged  at  Hereford. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

SOME  POISON  ASPECTS  OF  THE   ILFORD 
MURDER  CASE 

THE  mystery  surrounding  the  murder  of  Percy  Thompson 
at  Ilford  caused  considerable  interest  in  this  country 
towards  the  end  of  1922.  On  the  night  of  October  3rd, 
Percy  Thompson,  a  city  clerk,  when  returning  from  the 
theatre  with  his  wife,  was  stabbed  to  death  in  a  dark  street 
near  his  home  in  Endsleigh  Gardens,  Ilford.  His  body  was 
found  propped  up  against  a  wall  and  by  his  side  in  a  state 
of  hysteria  stood  his  wife.  It  was  first  thought  by  the  doctor 
who  had  been  called  and  made  a  brief  examination  in  the 
street  by  the  light  of  a  match,  that  death  was  due  to  internal 
haemorrhage.  It  was  only  when  the  body  was  taken  to  the 
mortuary  that  it  was  discovered  that  there  were  twelve  or 
fourteen  wounds  in  the  neck  and'  arms,  and  that  the  man 
must  have  been  killed  by  an  assailant  armed  with  a  knife 
or  a  stiletto.  A  few  days  later  Frederick  Bywaters,  a  young 
ships'  writer,  was  arrested  and  charged  with  the  murder, 
together  with  Mrs.  Thompson,  the  widow  of  the  murdered 
man. 

The  youth  of  both — the  man  was  only  twenty,  and  the 
woman  twenty-seven  years  of  age — who  had  apparently  con- 
spired together  to  carry  out  the  crime,  impressed  the  imag- 
ination of  the  public  to  an  unusual  degree.  When  the  case 
came  before  the  magistrates,  the  police  produced  an  alleged 
confession  made  by  Bywaters,  according  to  which  he  stated 
he  had  become  deeply  attached  to  Mrs.  Thompson,  and 
attacked  her  husband  "  because  he  never  acted  like  a  man  to 
his  wife." 

From  a  long  series  of  letters  which  had  passed  between 
Bywaters  and  Mrs.  Thompson  which  were  produced  in  Court, 
the  coroner,  after  consultation  with  the  Home  Office,  decided 

<01  cc 


402  POISON   MYSTERIES 

that  the  body  of  Mr.  Thompson  should  be  exhumed  and  a 
post-mortem  examination  made.  From  the  contents  of  the 
letters  it  appeared  that  Mrs.  Thompson  had  for  a  considerable 
period,  with  the  connivance  of  Bywaters,  been  attempting  to 
put  an  end  to  the  life  of  her  husband. 

These  extraordinary  letters,  which  were  read  in  court, 
contained  allusions  to  several  poisons  and  are  noteworthy 
from  a  toxicological  point  of  view,  as  there  is  mention  of  the 
use  of  powdered  glass,  which  has  rarely  been  employed  for 
criminal  purposes  in  this  country. 

Bywaters  and  Mrs.  Thompson  were  brought  to  trial  at  the 
Old  Bailey,  the  man  being  charged  with  murdering  Percy 
Thompson  and  conspiring  and  agreeing  between  June  i,  1921, 
and  October  4,  1922,  to  murder  him.  Mrs.  Thompson  was 
further  charged  with  administering  poison  to  her  husband 
between  June  i,  1921,  and  October  4,  1922,  and  inciting  to 
murder,  also  with  soliciting  and  proposing  to  Bywaters, 
her  fellow  prisoner,  to  murder  her  husband  and  agreeing 
with  him  to  murder  her  husband. 

According  to  the  Solicitor-General,  who  opened  the  case 
for  the  Crown,  although  Bywaters'  was  the  hand  that  struck 
the  blow,  Mrs.  Thompson's  was  the  mind  that  conceived  the 
crime,  a^d  it  was  under  her  controlling  influence  that  Bywaters 
murdered  the  man. 

The  story  as  revealed  at  the  trial  was  one  of  love  and  passion- 
ate hate,  recorded  in  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Thompson  to  her  lover, 
who,  strangely  enough,  had  preserved  them,  and  thus  stored 
up  indisputable  evidence  against  them  both,  of  their  nefarious 
plot  against  the  life  of  the  unfortunate  man. 

"  He  complained  that  it  tasted  bitter,  as  if  something  had 
been  put  into  it,"  is  an  extract  from  one  letter  of  Mrs.  Thomp- 
son to  Bywaters. 

"  I  am  going  to  try  the  glass  again  occasionally  when  it  is 
safe.     I  have  an  electric  light  globe  this  time  "  is  from  another. 

Again  she  wrote  "  I  used  the  light  bulb  three  times ;  the 
first  time  he  found  a  piece,  so  I  have  given  it  up  until  you  come 
home." 

That  B5rwaters  had  been  aiding  her  was  evidenced  in  another 
letter  in  which  she  remarks,  "  I  do  not  think  we  are  failures  in 
other  things  and  we  must  not  be  in  this.     The  dose  was  enough 


THE   ILFORD   MURDER  CASE  403 

for  an  elephant,  but  you  did  not  allow  for  the  taste  making  a 
small  quantity  to  be  taken.  I  was  buoyed  with  the  hope  of  the 
light  bulb  and  I  used  a  lot  of  big  pieces,  but  it  had  no  effect." 
..."  Would  not  the  stuff  make  small  pills  coated  with  soap, 
and  dipped  in  liquorice.     Try  while  you  are  away." 

In  other  letters  many  suggestions  were  made  by  the  woman 
to  encompass  her  husband's  death,  and  in  one  which  is  worth 
noting  she  alludes  to  a  novel  entitled  "  Bella  Donna,"  and 
quoted  a  passage  which  says  "  Digitaline  is  a  cumulative 
poison,  harmless  if  taken  once  ;  frequently  repeated,  it  becomes 
deadly."  She  referred  constantly  in  other  letters  to  this  book. 
In  another  she  asks  "  Have  you  thought  of  bichloride  of  mer- 
cury ?  " 

In  a  later  letter  allusion  was  made  to  aromatic  tincture 
of  opium  which  she  said  her  husband  had  in  his  possession. 

In  the  cross-examination  of  Bywaters  he  stated  that  what 
Mrs.  Thompson  alluded  to  in  the  letter  was  simply  quinine, 
and  it  was  that  to  which  she  alluded  when  referring  to  the 
dose  being  enough  for  an  elephant. 

Mrs.  Thompson,  giving  evidence  on  her  own  behalf,  denied 
ever  having  any  of  the  poisons  mentioned  in  her  possession 
or  using  them. 

Mr.  Webster,  analyst  to  the  Home  Office,  said  he  had 
examined  the  organs  from  the  body  of  Percy  Thompson 
which  was  exhumed  and  found  traces  of  an  alkaloid  giving 
a  reaction  for  morphine  in  the  liver  and  kidneys,  but  no  other 
poisonous  substances  whatever. 

Counsel  recapitulated  a  remarkable  list  of  the  chemical 
substances  that  had  been  mentioned  in  this  case  which 
included  hyoscine,  cocaine,  potassium  cyanide,  antimony 
tartrate,  bichloride  of  mercury,  digitalin  and  aromatic  tincture 
of  opium,  all  of  which  Mr.  Webster  had  defined  as  poisons. 
Counsel,  when  referring  to  the  allusion  to  ground  glass, 
asked  the  analyst  if  he  called  that  destructive  and  injurious, 
to  which  he  replied  in  the  affirmative  if  the  powder  was 
in  fragmentary  form.  Administered  as  such  it  had  been 
known  to  cause  death.  He  further  added,  that  ground  glass 
if  taken  in  any  quantity  might  have  a  serious  effect  on 
the  linings  of  the  stomach  and  intestines.  He  found  no 
evidence  of  any  quantity  having  been  taken  in  this  case. 


404  POISON   MYSTERIES 

Aromatic  tincture  of  opium  contained  morphine  and  was 
used  as  a  sedative  to  relieve  pain. 

Dr.  Spilsbury,  who  made  the  post-mortem  examination, 
said  he  found  no  signs  of  poisoning  or  scars  in  the  intestines. 
Asked  "  If  glass  was  administered,  would  you  necessarily 
expect  to  find  indications  of  it  in  the  organs  ?  "  he  replied 
that  he  would  not,  and  went  on  to  explain  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  broken  glass  and  powdered  glass  produced  different 
results.  Large  fragments  of  glass  might  produce  injury  by 
cutting  the  wall  of  the  gullet  or  intestines,  and  if  not  fatal, 
scars  might  be  found  afterwards. 

Given  in  powdered  form,  the  immediate  effect  of  powdered 
glass  would  be  to  produce  innumerable  minute  injuries  to  the 
delicate  membranes  of  the  stomach  and  would  result  in  illness. 
If  the  person  recovered,  the  glass  would  disappear  entirely, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  appendix,  where  it  might 
lodge  and  remain  for  a  long  time.  He  found  no  indication 
of  ground  glass  in  the  appendix  in  this  case. 

The  Solicitor- General  asked  :  "  Is  the  negative  result  of  your 
examination  consistent  with  glass  having  been  adminis- 
tered ?  " — Dr.   Spilsbury  replied  :    "  Some  time  previously, 

yes." 

"  Is  it  possible  that  large  pieces  would  have  passed  through 
the  system  without  injury  to  the  organs  or  without  leaving 
any  signs  behind  ?  " — "  It  is  possible,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Is  the  negative  result  of  your  examination  also  consistent 
with  powdered  glass  passing  through  the  system  ?  " — "  Yes." 

Regarding  the  poisons,  Dr.  Spilsbury  said  he  would  not 
expect  necessarily  to  find  indication  of  them  if  they  were 
administered  a  considerable  time  ago.  Some  poisons  left  no 
trace  at  any  time  ;  others  produced  an  effect  that  might 
last  a  few  days,  or  even  a  few  weeks,  but  after  that,  there 
were  few  poisons  which  would  leave  indications,  except  those 
that  were  corrosive  or  irritant.  Hyoscine  and  cocaine  were 
not  irritant  poisons.  Cyanide  of  potassium  was  irritant, 
but  he  doubted  if  it  would  leave  any  permanent  damage. 

Counsel  for  the  prisoner  asked:  "All  that  comes  to  this, 
that  there  is  no  trace  whatever,  post-mortem,  of  any  glass 
having  been  administered  ?  " — "  That  is  so,"  replied  the 
witness. 


THE   ILFORD   MURDER   CASE  405 

The  judge,  in  summing  up  the  case,  said  the  question  the 
jury  would  have  to  consider  was,  was  it  arranged  between 
Bywaters  and  Mrs.  Thompson  that  the  murder  should  be 
committed.  "  If  you  think,"  he  continued,  "  that  the  letters 
of  this  woman  are  genuine  and  mean  what  they  say,  that  would 
mean  that  she  was  inciting  the  man  Bywaters  to  assist  her 
in  poisoning  her  husband.  It  might  be  that  they  found  poison- 
ing was  no  longer  possible,  and  they  might  naturally  turn 
their  minds  to  some  other  means  to  effect  their  object.  These 
letters  form  a  very  strong  case,  that  the  woman  was  writing 
to  this  man,  asking  him  to  assist  her  to  remove  her  husband 
by  the  administration  of  poison.  If  they  are  accurate,  she 
administered  it,  but  the  important  part  is  that  she  was  plotting 
and  planning." 

The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty,"  and  both  prisoners 
were  sentenced  to  death. 

This  case  is  noteworthy  from  the  fact  that  the  evidence  of 
attempted  poisoning  was  entirely  circumstantial.  No  one  had 
ever  seen  Mrs.  Thompson  in  the  possession  of  the  poisons 
mentioned  in  her  letters,  with  the  exception  of  the  aromatic 
tincture  of  opium,  and  there  was  no  evidence  to  prove  that  she 
had  ever  purchased  them  or  administered  them  to  her  hus- 
band, beyond  that  contained  in  her  letters. 

From  this  study  of  some  of  the  more  famous  poison  trials  of 
the  past  hundred  years,  it  is  clearly  demonstrated  that  the 
toxicologist  and  scientific  chemist  are  the  most  formidable 
enemies  of  the  criminal  poisoner. 

It  may  be  safely  said,  that  the  days  have  gone  by  when  a 
person  could  administer  a  poison  with  intent  to  kill,  without 
much  fear  of  detection. 

In  the  course  of  the  past  century,  as  science  has  advanced 
and  new  poisonous  substances  have  been  discovered,  the 
chemist  has  been  able  to  find  a  means  of  detecting  nearly 
every  poison  known  to  science.  Even  in  those  cases  where  the 
poisoner  has  been  one  with  skilled  knowledge,  and  had  the 
means  of  choosing  the  most  subtle  weapon  of  its  kind  and 
selected  it  with  the  greatest  cunning,  chemical  experts  have 
yet  been  able  to  find  and  reveal  the  cause  of  death. 

The   criminal    poisoner,   like   other   murderers,   generally 


4o6  POISON   MYSTERIES 

leaves  some  indelible  traces  that  eventually  prove  his  guilt. 
Such  traces,  as  instanced  in  many  cases,  remain  detectable 
even  after  the  lapse  of  years.  Thus  the  chance  of  successfully 
evading  detection  is  gradually  being  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
and  as  time  goes  on  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  brought  to  a 
practical  impossibility. 


INDEX 


Abano,  Petri  de,  52 
Aconite,  70 

—  how  gathered,  72,  73 

Act     passed     making     poisoning 

high  treason,  186 
Agra  poisoning  case,  the,  372 
Agrippina,  35 
Ainos  of  Japan,  22 
Albany,  Duke  of,  poisoned,  142 
Alexander,      Prince,      mysterious 

death  of,  108 
Alexander  the  Great,  37 
Alexander  VI,  Pope,  death  of,  133, 

134 
Alexipharmica,  42 
Alfonso,  Duke  of  Bisceglie,  129 
Algaroth's  powder,  98 
"  All  Hallow  E'en,"  superstitions 

connected  with,  214 
Alraun,  67 

American  poison  mysteries,  329 
Andrew,  Sir  Euseby,  strange  case 

of,  171 
Antidotes  to  poison,  41,  42 
Antimony,  98 

—  cups,  99 

—  in  human  beings,  99 

—  preservative  properties  of,  342 
Aqua  Toff  ana,  composition  of,  125 
Aquetta  di  Perugia,  126 
Armstrong  case,  the,  385 
Arrow  poisons,  16 

Arsenic,  history  of,  88 

—  against  plague,  90 

—  as  an  amulet,  90 

—  contamination,  risk  of,  222 

—  eaters,  94 

investigation  of,  94   , 

—  for  cosmetic  purposes,  93 


Arsenic  in  sweets,  94 

—  in    wallpapers,     carpets,     and 

fabrics,  93 

—  use  of  in  India,  89 

—  white,  89 
Assay  cups,  59 

Atholl,  Earl  of,  poisoned,  143 

Bacon,  Lord,  on  poisoning,  186 

Bacteria,  criminal  poisoning  with, 
230 

Banes,  16 

Baroda,  Gaekwar  of,  charged 
with  poisoning,  108 

Bartlett,  Adelaide,  trial  of,  303 

Bezoar  stones,  60,  61,  62 

Bhang,  248 

Black  case,  the,  381 

Blessis  and  his  death  mirrors,  199 

Boiling  alive,  penalty  for  poison- 
ers, 1 88 

Borgia,  Cesare,  129 

—  family,  128 

—  Lucrezia,  129 

—  poison,    composition    of,    140, 

141 

Borri,  Giuseppe  Francesco,  178, 
179 

Botulism,  219 

Boughton,  Sir  Theodosius,  poi- 
soned, 265 

Bouillon,  Duchesse  de,  160 

Boyle,  Robert,  97 

Bravo  case,  the,  282 

Brinvilliers,  Marquise  de,  life  and 
career  of,  150 

arrest  and  trial  of,  156 

Brittannicus  poisoned,  35 

Bull's  blood,  32 


407 


4o8 


INDEX 


Bushmen,  Australian,  arrow  poi- 
sons, 17 

—  African,  arrow  poisons,  17,  18 

Calabar  bean,  24 

Canaby  case,  318 

Cantarella,  La,  140 

Carlyle  and  "  Grey  Powder,"  246 

Carr,  Robert,  104 

Catharine  de'  Medici,  146 

Celts,  poison  used  by  the,  17 

Cesare  Borgia,  129 

crimes  of,  130 

death  of,  138 

■ prepares  a  poison,  131,  132 

Chamhre   Ardente,    La,   149,   159, 

160 
Chapman,  or  Klosowski,  case  of, 

337 
Charms  against  poisons,  53 
Chatillian,  Cardinal,  poisoned,  106 
Chinese,  poisons  used  by  the,  38, 

39 
Chloral  hydrate  habit,  the,  246 
Chlorodyne  habit,  the,  242 
Chloroform  taking,  240,  241 
Chlorpicrin,  225 
Christison,  95 
Cicuta,  31 

Clark,  Lieut.,  case  of,  372 
Cluny,  Prior  of,  145 
Cocaine  habit,  the,  242 

—  and       morphine,        wholesale 

smuggling  of,  245 

—  smuggling,  243 

cunning  methods  employed 

in,  243 

—  trafhc,  245 
Condorcet,  suicide  of,  205 
Conium  maculatum,  see  Cicuta 
Cornelia  and  Serpi,  34 
Corneto,  Cardinal  de,  132 
Cornish  poison  mystery.  A,  381 
Cotta,  Dr.,  171 

Council  of  Ten,  121 
Cream,  Neill,  314 
— ^ his  stethoscope  and  medi- 
cine case.  316 


Crippen  case,  the,  350 

D'Albret,  Jeanne,  145 
Dalkeith  coffee  poison  case,  the, 

369 
D'Annunzio    and    his    "  Pharmic 

Liberator,"  126 
D'Astrees,     Gabrielle,     death    of, 

146 
Devereux  case,  the,  347 
Di-chlorethyl  sulphide,  225 
Dioscorides,poisons  mentioned  by, 

32,  33 
Di-phosgene,  225 
Donellan,  Capt.,  executed,  271 
Draconites,  62 
Dri,  a  Romany  poison,  87 
Dumas,  his  description  of  poisons, 

255,  256 
Dunbar,  Earl  of,  poisoned,  144 

Egyptians,  poisons  used  by  the, 

28 
Electrum,  62 
Elizabeth,     Queen,     attempt     to 

poison,  116 

and  Amy  Robsart,  165 

English  surgeons   experiment  on 

criminals,  11 1 
Essex,  Earl  of,  poisoned,  106 
Ether  drinking,  242 
Exali,  148 

Fallopius,    tests     on    criminals, 

no 
Penning,  Elizabeth,  case  of,  271 
Fiction,  poisons  in,  254 
Francis  II,  145 
Fresenius'  work  on  arsenic,  95 

Ganja,  248,  249 
Gas  helmets,  224 

—  mustard,  225 

—  shells,  224 

Geber,  see  Jabir  ibn  Hayyan 
Gherian  ware,  60 
Gilbert,  Jeanne,  case  of,  321 
Ginseng  root,  215 


INDEX 


409 


Girard,  Henri,  case  of,  322 
Glaser,  148 

Gold  leaf,  suicide  by,  38 
Goldsmith  and  "  James'  Powder," 

247 
Greeks,  poisons  used  by  the,  28,  29 
Gula,  Babylonian  poison  goddess, 

26 

Hashish,  248 

—  antiquity  of,  249 

—  effects  of,  250,  251 

—  smoking,  in  India,  248 
Hebrew  poisons,  28 
Hellebore,  black,  74 
Hemlock,  31,  74 
Henbane,  75 

Henrietta  Anne  of  England,  death 

of,  146,  147 
Henry     VIII     apprehensive      of 

poison,  103 
Hermes  Trismegistos,  28 
Hewitt  case,  the,  280 
Hindus,  poison  used  by,  37 
Hofrichter,  Lieut.,  charged  with 

poisoning,  193,  194 
Horsford  case,  291,  325 
Hyoscine  hydrobromide,  357 
Hyoscyamus,  75 

Ilford  murder  case,  401 
Indians,    North    American,    poi- 
sons used  by,  21,  22 

—  Californian,  poisons  used  by, 

22 

—  Jivaro,  of  the  Amazon,  poisons 

used  by,  21 

—  South  American,  poisons  used 

by,  21,  22 
Inoculation      with      tuberculosis 

bacilli,  227,  228 
Irish  poison  mysteries,  345 
Italian  school  of  poisoners,  120 

Jabir  ibn  Hayyan  (Geber),  89 
Japanese,  poisons  used  by,  38,  39 
Jean     Douglas,      Lady     Glamis, 
charged  and  condemned,  142 


John,  King,  and  Maud  FitzWalter, 

lOI 

John    of   Ragusa,    a   professional 
poisoner,  121 

Kermes  Mineral,  98 
Kwang  Su,    Emperor,    death    of, 
38 

Lafarge,  Madame,  case  of,  273 

Lambeth  poison  mysteries,  314 

Lamson,  Dr.,  case  of,  298 

Laudanum,  81 

La  Vigoureux,  160 

La  Voisin,  149,  160 

Lawford  Hall,  mystery  of,  265 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  105 

"  Leicester's  Cold,"  107 

Leopold  I,   Emperor  of '  Austria, 

attempt  to  poison,  178 
Le  Sage,  160 
Locusta,  35 
Louis  XVIII,  attempt  to  poison, 

162 
Love  charms,  215 

—  philtres,  211 

■  danger  of,  212 

native,  215 

plants  used  in,  214 

poison  in,  215 

strange    ingredients    com- 
posing, 213 
Lucrezia  Borgia,  129,  130 

death  of,  140 

Luxembourg,  Marshal  de,  161 

Macchiavelli,  death  of,  117 

—  his  magic  potion,  117 
Malay  poisons,  19 
Mandrake,  64,  65,  66,  67,  68 
Mantua,   Marquis  of,  letters,  135 
Mark  Antony,  36 

Marsh's  test  for  arsenic,  95 
Maybrick  case,  the,  308 

—  Mrs.,  her  statement  in  court, 

310 
Mayerne,    Sir    Theodore    Turquet 
de,  97 


410 


INDEX 


Medicine  men,  i6,  24 
Melampus  root,  74 
Mercury,  history  of,  96..  97 

—  as  a  charm,  98 

• —  first    used    in    treatment    of 

syphilis,  97 
Mescal  buttons,  82 
Methods     employed     by     secret 

poisoners,  198 
Molineux,  Roland  B.,  case  of,  329 
Moray,  Earl  of,  poisoned,  142 
Morphine  taking,  239 
Moulton,  Lord,  on  the  Maybrick 

case,  313 
Muavi,  23 

NiCANDER  of  Colophon,  42 
poisonous       substances 

mentioned  by,  43 
Nigger  Caeser's  cure  for  poison, 

48 

Opium,  76,  77 

—  eating,  79,  238,  239 

—  introduction    into     India    of, 

78 
— :  smoking,  80 

—  use  of  in  India,  80,  81 
Orange,    Prince    of,    attempt    to 

poison,  205 
Ordeal  poisons,  23 
Orfila,  95 

—  and  the  Lafarge  case,  277 
Orkney,  Earl  of,  poisoned,  144 
Orpiment,  88 

Ovambos,  arrow  poison  used  by 

the,  18 
Overbury,  Sir  Thomas,  poisoning 

of,  103 
Oxford,  Vice-Chancellor  of,  195 

Palmer,  execution  of,  291 
Parysatis,  Queen,  36 
Pearson  and  Black,  case  of,  345 
Persians,  poisons  used  by,  36 
Petrograd  case,  230 
Phocion,  29 
Phosgene,  224 


Pigmies,    Central    Africa,    arrow 

poison  of  the,   18 
Pimlico  mystery,  the,  303 
Pocula  emetica,  99 
Poison;  definition  of,  15 

—  duel     between      Court     phy- 

sicians, 36 

—  from  a  ceiling,  346 

—  gas,  223 

attempted     murder    with,- 

229 

—  habits,  238 

—  in  a  wooden  leg,  208 

—  in  beer,  216,  217 

—  in  chocolates,  222 

—  in  cocoa,  221 

—  in  foods,  219 

—  in  glass,  222 

—  in  honey,  220 

—  in  the  chalice,  114 

—  laws  in  ancient  times,  40 
in  Italy,  40 

—  mysteries,  in  France,  318 

—  plots,  186 

against    Austrian    officers, 

193 

against  cavalry  horses,  228 

against  Fisher,    Bishop   of 

Rochester,  186 

against  Ministers  of  State, 

189 

against  the  Chief  Commis- 
sioner of  Metropolitan  Police, 

195 
in  Lima,  189 

—  —  in  Malta,  188 

—  rings,  203,  204,  207 

a  cardinal's,  207 

Cesare  Borgia's,  206 

stories  of,  207 

—  symptoms  and  signs  of,  35 
Poisoned  bed,  209 

—  boots,  199 

—  candles,  182,  200 

—  chocolates  given  to  'bus  girls, 

228 

—  coins,  146 

—  court  plaster,  227 


INDEX 


411 


Poisoned  cup,  199 

—  flowers,  209 

—  lavender,  208 

—  robe,  201 

—  shirts,  200 

test  by  Dr.  Nass,  200 

—  slipper,  201 

—  soup     powder     dropped     by 

enemy  aircraft,  226 

—  sweets     dropped     by     enemy 

aircraft,  225,  226,  227 

—  torch,  208 

—  wine,  198 
Poisoners  of  Rome,  122 
Poisoning,  dread  of  wholesale,  1 86 
Poisonous  grass  as  a  defence,  87 

—  boot  blacking,  203 

Poisons    used    by    ancient    and 
primitive  races,  15 

—  concealed  in  flowers,  194 

—  dropped  by  aircraft,  225,  226 

—  in  mythology,  27 

—  in  warfare,  223 

—  preventive    methods    against, 

49 

—  tried  on  criminals,  109 

—  used  in  France  in  seventeenth 

and  eighteenth  centuries,  162 
Pontaeus,     a    quack,      challenges 

the  physicians  of  Oxford,  1 1 1 
Porta,  Baptiste,  on  poisons,  122 
Poudre  de  succession,  161 
Pritchard,  Dr.,  case  of,  293 

Raspail  and  the  Lafarge  case,  276 
Ravenna,  Cardinal-Archbishop  of, 

no 
Reinsch's  test  for  arsenic,  95 
Rhinoceros  horn,  58 
Robsart,    Amy,    mystery    of   the 

death  of,  164 

burial  of,  166 

inquest  on,  167 

Roman  Poison  Laws,  40 

Rome,     mysterious     deaths     by 

poison  in,  34 
Royal  and  historic  poisoners,  loi 
Rugeley  mystery,  the,  287 


Sainte-Croix,  150,  151 

casket   found   after   death 

of,  154 
contents     and     letter     in 

casket,  154 

death  of,  153 

poisons  used  by,  155 

Sassy  bark,  23 
Scotiney,  Sir  Walter  de,  102 
Scottish  poison  mysteries,  142 
Scythians,   poisons  used   by   the, 

17 
Seddon  case,  the,  362 
Seneca,  29 

Sentence   for  poisoning,    revision 
after  twenty-five  years  of  a, 
91 
Sheffield,  Lord,  107 
Signs  of  death  from  poison,  41 
Sirani,  Elisabetta,  death  of,  118 
Slow  poisons,  15 
Slow  and  time  poisons,  113 
origin  of  the  tradi- 
tion about,  113 
Smith,  Madeline,  case  of,  279 
Socrates,  death  of,  29 
Soissons,  Comtesse  de,  160 
Somali,  poisons  used  by  the,  18 
Somerset,  Countess  of,  103 
Southwark  poison  mystery,   the, 

337 

Spara,  Hieronyma  and  her  crimes, 
115,  126 

Spiders,  poison  lore  of,  87 

Stas'  process,  95 

State  poison  of  the  Greeks,  29 

Stevenson,  Dr.,  proves  the  pre- 
sence of  aconitine,  299 

Suicides  by  poison,  would-be,  92, 

93 

Superstitions  connected  with  poi- 
sonous plants,  53 

Sussex,  Earl  of,  107 

Tariff  for  poisoning,  121 

Tartar  emetic,  99 

Terra  Sigillata,  49 

how  it  was  tested,  50 


412 


INDEX 


Theophrastus,  poisons  mentioned 

by,  33,  34 
Theriaca,  42,  43,  44 

—  eeremony  of  compounding,  46 
— ■  Galen's  test  of,  45 

—  importation  to  London  of,  47 

—  Mithridates',  44 
■ —  Philonium,  45 

—  of  Andromachus,  45 

—  of  Bologna,  46 

—  of  Cairo,  47 

—  of  Damocrates,  46 

—  of  London,  47 

—  of  Montpellier,  48 

—  of  Venice,  46 

—  Zopyros',  44 
Thoth,  28 

Throgmorton,  Sir  Nicholas,  106 
Toads,  poison  lore  of,  84 

—  poisonous,  principles  extracted 

from,  84 
Loadstone  rings,  54 
Loadstones,  54 


Loffana,  122 

Lrial  of  venoms  in  1432,  no 
Lrigg,  Mr,,  and  Miss  Loeser,  the 
mysterious  case  of,  332 

Unicorn's  horn,  55,  56,  57 

Coronation  Chair  of,  58 

cups  made  of,  56 

Upas-tree,  20 

ViscoNTi,  Primi,  159 

Westminster,  Abbot  of,  poisoned, 
102 

Wheeldon  trial,  190,  191 

Willcox,  Sir  William  H.,  on  the 
Seddon  case,  368 

—  Black  case,  384 

Witch  doctors,  24 

Witches'  hallucinations,  63 

Women  poisoners,  198 

Wondreton's  commission  to  poi- 
son, 120 


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