The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-04 00:00:00

ATTEMPT TO POISON A FAMILY.

At the intermediate sessions held at Sheffield a young
man named Barker has been sentenced to five years' penal
servitude for attempting to poison his mother and sister.
Some few weeks ago Barker went to a chemist's and ob-
tained from him a packet of Battle's Vermin Killer, under
the plea that there was a large number of mice in
his house, and he wanted to destroy them. On the
following day, which was on a Sunday, lib went to his
father's house, and when he made his appearance there
his mother and sister were engaged in cooking the Sun-
day's dinner. Taking advanta3e of their temporary
absence from the kitchen, he put the vermin killer into
a saucepan in which a rabbit and a log of mutton were
being cooked. The na,dher's attention was subsequently
attracted to the strange appearance of the water in the
saucepan, and both she and her daughter tasted it
to see what was the matter with it. The latter almost im-
mediately became sick, and, not knowing what had hap-
pened, but feeling convinced that something was wrong,
they wisely refused to allow the meat to be sent up for
dinner. The water waa afterwards analysed by an analy.
tieal chemist, and was found to contain a considerable
quantity of strychnine, of which Battle's Vermin Killer is
largely composed. The prisoner pleaded guilty to the
charge.

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A

II U 513.9.1.1, .D.

Last week Mrs. Miller, the wife of Inspector Miller,
residing at 77, Amelia-street, Walworth, went before Mr.
Elliott, the sitting magistrate at the Lambeth Police-
court, and stated that her husband had disappeared
in a most mysterious manner. The mystery is now solved.
He has returned to his friends, and has given the
following extraordinary account of his adventures :—While
walking down Bishopsgate-street on the night of his
disappearance, he felt seized with a sudden impulse
to enlist for a soldier, as he thought that life would
be far preferable to that of inspecting gasometers.
He at once walked to the railway station, and went
by train to Chatham, where he applied to a sergeant
to enlist him. The sergeant measured him, and found
that he was one inch too short for the army. He says-
that after taking such a long journey and finding he was
an inch too short, he felt thoroughly ashamed of himself,
and made up his mind not to return home,
although he had no money. He tried at several
places to get work, but being a stranger in the
town no one would employ him. While walking along
the street during the third day of his absence, he
saw several men beating one man. He interfered
in the row, and got off the man after some fighting.
The man then told him that he was a tailor, living in
Gower-street, London, and that he had come down
to Chatham to look for work, but was unable to get any.
The tailor and he then became great friends, and for three
days the tailor supported him. They then resolved to walk
to London, and while doing so they asked for work at every
place along the road where they thought there was
the slightest chance of getting it. When they got to
Gower-street, he did not like to return home, and remained
with the tailor for two days. The tailor then communi-
cated with the young man's father, who induced him to
return to his home.