The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-15
% COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE FRIDAY, OCTOBER ls 1863.


HOW 1 BECAME A DETEC11yB.
TWELVE years ago, / was in Boston.
had Just graduated, and was endeAvoring,
in nv effort to establish practice, to see
how near a man could come to starvation,
and still keep alive. had got as far away
from home as possible, because did not
want any of my own, people to, see or
know of my struggles being content to
fight patiently on until / had made q sue
cess, and then let them know how had
made it. .sraayss3 F.,,frsi7
/ had but one relative, may say only
one friend, in all Boston; and that was
Charley Drake. Charley was my cousin,
and clerk in q drug store-a retail store
where he had plenty of close work, aud
very small pay. For him lthere'was 10
such thing as rest. He slept in the store,
and was liable to be called at any hour of
the night, to make up q prescription, or
retail dose of castor-oil This may seem
trifie to some; but, to a man who has
been going through the petty drudgery
of retail store from six in the morning
until eleven at night, it Is no small matter
to be walked from his first sleep to mix, and
pound, and spread, and tie up prescrip-
tion-a task that requires quietness of head
and repose of body. ,r. ..E
One morning, quite early, I stopped in
his store, as it was my almost daily habit
to do, to get some small matter wanted.
The proprietor came out, with look of
anxiety on his face, and greeted me
with
ibid you know that Charley is in
trouhles sD go
aTroubles No." 1 said, awhat
trouble?" t1t 7Lk
"A wrong prescription he put up has
killed woman. wish he'd killed him.
self before it happened in my shop. 1t
will ruin me-" -s.ssszss,a.--z-
looked contemptuously on the fellow,
who only thought Of his shop and his
pocket, and made further inquiries.
"Oh, it happened last night, about shut
ting up time. The woman died within an
hour; and Charley is under arrest, await
ing the verdict of the coroner's jury"
Tfelt an utter disgust for this fellow; but
I thought / would give him parting shot
before [ left him. So | said:
"But why don't they arrest you? They
must look to you as principal" /
1t was almost amusing to see his express
sion of fright. s ~ - ~
"Arrest me? What had got to do with
it? Why, 1 wasn't even in the store when
it occurred" fI e- lrr.y
No-the sneak-he was asleep in his
bed, while he put all the work and respon-
sibility off on poor Charley. However, ]
contented myself with asking few ques-
tons as to who the person was that had
died, and when Charley had been arrested /;
and then 1 started to see him. I found
him, in very little time, in the custody
OF one of the coroner's officers, awaiting
the holding of the inquest, which would
come off in hour Asa matter of course,
Charley was in intense mental agony, and
it was only with difficulty could get him
to speak to the point. His mind wan
dered, and he was in high fever. / got
hold of his hand, and tried to calm him.
"Now, my boy" said, "this is no
time for despairing. You must pluck up
courage, and look the thing squarely in
the face. All is not lost, as long as life is
left. Tell me the whole story" ~
"Well, it was about one o'clock, this
morning, and was walked out of sound
sleep to put up a prescription, and put
it up wrong. l was so sleepy, and had
been 80 tired, when / went to bed! Oh,
Door Nelliel What will she say to this p
"No matter about Nellie now," an
swered "if she's the little woman think
she is, she'll bear it nobly, and, no matter
what the result, she won't think less OF
you. Now, then, what was the nature of
your mistaken" -l-t-
"Oh, dear Cousin Rob, a very bad one
put in three grains of atropia for three
grains of assafetida, and you know that
one sixth of grain of atrOpia is large
dose. / knew it was strange prescrip-
ton; but, as it came from DR.. Barton
Brewster, who knows what he's about,
and is regular customer of our shop,
put it up, and gave it to the messenger.
was so glad to get to bed again, that
didn't think about anything until about
half an hour afterward, when the doctor
himself walked nae up, and asked to see
the prescription. / hadn't put it in tn.
book vet, so handed it to him. He took
it to the night-lamp, read it, and handed
it back, saying, very harshly:
Young man, just read that prescrip'
ton again
az did as he babe me, thoroughly awake
by this time, and, to my horror, read three
grains of assafetida, instead of three grains
of atropia.
"Dr. Brewster looked fiercely at me fol
moment, and went of, leaving me with
the prescription in my hand, and saying
You've killed woman by your careless
ness; you'll have to settle it with the cor
oner in the morning"
"WeIl; and they arrested you this morn
ing?"
"Yes; about seven o clock. The Officer
SAYS it was good in DIR. Brewster not tc
| give information against me until aftel
daylight, since 1 might have got away in
the meantime, if l had been of a mind tC
do so; which, no doubt, was the doctors
idea. But, bless you, Cousin Bob l didn't
think of running away. / couldn't rur
away, if it was only for Nellie's sake"
Nellie was dear little girl, to whom
Charley had been engaged for year OF
two, and was likely to be for few year
more, as he was waiting, until he could
get into business for himself, to marry
her.
cast over the whole thing in my mind
and the first idea that struck me was, thai
Charley ought to have a lawyer present tt
watch the proceedings and sec that he haG
at least legal rights, where all would b.
preiudiced against him. No sooner thought
than remembered that had been able tC
do considerable professional service in the
family of young lawyer by the name o.
Sanford; in fact, l had been fortunate
/ enough to snatch favorite child of hi!
almost out of the grippe of death Sanford
was, like myself, unable to make both end
meet, and, in telling me his inability tt
pay me then, hoped that l, or some of my
friends, would endeavor to make profes
sional use of him. This was juss the time
and, before the inquest opened, ] had San
ford on the spot, anxious to be of use.
The evidence was very simple: Tht
deceased boarded in the house where sht
died. Was a young girl, about nineteen
Had no relatives, and only one or two
friends, in Boston. Nobody visited hel
but her physician, DR.. Brewster. She. .ha6
not been very well for day orr two, and
Dr. Brewster had prescribed late the nigh
before, and sent boy to Marcelin's drul
store for prescription. Prescription bool
produced by Marcelin, the proprietor o
drug store Prescription read:
"R. Hydrarg. chloromite,
Ext rhei "a y scruple,
Assafpt. gr, Iii,
| Pillules W." .-a1r
1t was written with hard lead pencil
on an ordinary bit of white, unrulet
writing paper.
Then came Brewster's evidence. HI
identified the prescription. Wnen he fount
there was something wrong with Mis-
SeFby, the deceased, hewent to Marcelin's
and saw Drake, who admitted to having
4 put three grains of atropia in the prescrip
1 ton, instead of the same quantity OF ASA