Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-08-20
RATHER SENSATIONAL.
Tne Plant by which the Empress Car
!otta Became Insane-Gen. Lesea a1ss
Poisoned.

BY telegraphic dispatches it appears
that Gen. Lesca has been poisoned. 1t
is uncertain whether the decd was perpe-
trated by some one of the insurgents or
by some Spaniard who feared that Lesca
was using too much clemency toward the
Cuban forces. Certain it is that Lesca
has been poisoned, and that his mind has
become sadly injured. The probability
is that be will live, but become insane.
The decoction bv which he has been put
in this sad plight, it is certain. was the
same by which the interesting widow Of
the unfortunate Emperor Macmillan was
thrown from the domain of reason into
the depths of lunacy.
To us this unfortunate widow has al
ways appeared like Shakespeare's Ophe-
liza, who, with darkened mind, strewed
flowers on the stream.
This poison, which maddens without
bringing death to its victim, is derived
from a herb which grows in Cuba, South
America and few places in Mexico.
The plant is one of the most wonderful
of Natures productions. 1t resembles
the century plant in many of its features.
Like the century plant, it is member Of
the cactus family; still further it blooms
once in many years and ut regular inter
walls. The bud is large, and resembles
that of the horse chestnut in the peculiar
gluten surrounding it. From this the
natives derive the poison.
The flower is of gigantic size, and
contains purple center, surrounded by
blue and white circles. The perfume is
delicious, but deadly, ard the natives
shun approach as the sailors of old the
songs of the sirens. To inhale is sweet,
but to remain is death. The sorcerers,
or medical men, take the buds of this sin
gular plant, and, first roasting, place
them in pot with sweet oil over a fire,
and dance around with strange ceremo-
MES till the oil and the juice Of The herb
mingle, when they cease their strange in'
carnations, and pour the decoction, then
resembling honey, into shallow plates,
from which, after the lapse of a few days,
it is again taken out and kept in minia
trre jars. The poison, when taken in
sufficient quantity, first places the brain
in delightful delirium. resembling that
produced by fuse! oil; this is succeeded,
in few days, by an uncomfortable apa-
thy, which at last eliminates in insanity,
in which the patient is at times strangely
rational, then wildly insane, and again
rational, but greatly exhilarated. This
poison is not destroyed by being mingled
in victuals before being subjected to heat,
but its immediate effects are somewhat
deadened. They are sure to appear,
however, in the lapse of time. This is
the MANNER in which the poison is gener-
ally administered.
When the victim is of no great infu
ence, and it is improbable that he can
turn upon his poisoner, the decoction is
administered in a glass of wine or a cup
of cocoa. The poison manifests itself
shortly, and in the course of week all
the various phases Of the delirium APP
pear. The sad fate of the Empress
Carlolta is known to all, but this descrip-
ton of the poison, from what it is deriv-
ed, and how it acts, may aid in forming
more correct appreciation of the horr-
bic troubles to which she is subject
Gen. Lesca has been poisoned by the
same herb, and is now subject to the
same freaks of insanity as the Empress
Carlotta.