Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-16
1.-THE MARRIED woMAs's BEST FRIEND.

1.-THE MARRIED wOMAs'S BEST FRIEND"
It is, we suppose, attributable to the
"subjection of women" that On several
occ isions a tendency on their part to or
ganize for the removal of their husbands BY
poison, has been displayed. The fact that
no similar organization of wife prisoners
has ever existed seems to point to the ex.
PLANTATION we have offered, but whether or
not it is the true one, the fact remains that
history offers several examples of husband
poisoning on an extended scale. Even
among the ancient Greeks and Romans
secret poisoning was well understood. In
imperial Rome it was commonly employed
by the Caesars, upon their enemies and upon
one another. Theophrastus speaks of a
poison which could be moderated in such
manner as to have effect in two or three
months, or at the end OF year, or two
years, and he remarks that the more lin
gering the death was, the more miserable
it was. The poison was prepared from the
aconite plant, and the possession of this
plant was ultimately made capital offeuse.
This poison was much used at Rome
about two hundred years before Christ.
A maid.servant on one occasion be-
trayed her mistress, and an inquiry fol.
lowing implicated more than hundred
and fifty ladies of the first families in the
murder of their husbands. But it was in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
and in Italy and France, that this peculiar
kind of crime fourished most rankly. In
Italy the notorious poison called aqua de
| TophGna, named after the woman who in
vented or at least dealt in it, was proved
to have caused the death of over six hun.
dred persons, of whom by far the greater
number were the luckless spouses of women
who were impatient to be widows. The
Tophana used to sell her elixir in bottles
labeled "Manna of st. Nicholas of BARR, s"
and her customers were in the habit of
keeping it on their toilet tables as publicly
as II 1t had been simple perfume or cos
metic. In 1909 Tophana was arrested, but
there are conflicting stories as to her ulti-
mate fate, one account saying that she was
strangled In prison, while another declares
that she was alive in 1880, and, moreover,
free.
In 1863 another poisoner named HER
onyma Spara, formed husband. poisoning
club at Rome. 1t was observed presently
that the number of young widows was
perplexingly large, and also that husbands
who made themselves disagreeable to their
wives were apt to drop off in an ultra
Providential way. The priests also learned
from several persons in the confessional
that poison had been used. Finally the
| Government laid a trap for the Spara, bv
sending to her female spy who pretended
to be tired of her husband The Spara
made no difficulty of supplying the poison,
and SO the requisite evidence was obtained
The result was the hanging of several
women, the public whipping of others, and
! the Punishment of more, but it was never.
theless some time before secret poisoning
ceased. In 1870 France was greatly ex.
cited over the developments of the case of
the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, who, as
sisted by ST. Croix, her lover, had under.
taken to remove from her path all who in
terfered with her ambition. This story is
too long for insertion here, but may be
! studied with interest. Her execution did
not check poisoning, however, for in 1879
it was thought necessary to establish
peculiar Court called the Chan6re
ardente, for the trial of poisoning cases. The
following year this Court was the means
OF bringing to justice two women named
La Vigoureau and La Voisin, who had
carried on wholesale traffic in poison, and
among whose customers some of the most
prominent men and women in France had
been. That poison was used in France
during and after the reign of Louis XIV,
is familiar to all who have read St. 81.
mons memoirs. According to that chron.
icler it was employed in the most barefaced
way to clear the path to the throne.
After this, however, no general poison.
ings are on record, and no husband poison.
ings on large scale, until we come to the
recent startling case in Hungary. In Eng.
land, few years ago, some dreadful cases
Of poisoning in connection with burial clubs
were discovered among the lower classes,
the object being to obtain the funeral
| money and spend it in drink. In Hun.
gary, however. the evil memories of La
Tophana and La Spara have been revived
and a system of husband. poisoning has been
| disclosed which rivals the palmiest DAYS
| Of the Borgias. the central figure in the
Hungarian tragedy in Thekla Popov,
gypsy woman, upwards of seventy years of
age. This bag, it is asserted, has caused
the death of more than hundred men,
she having sold the poison to their wives.
1t appears that the nature of the drug en-
ployed Gas not yet been discovered. liz
fact it is said that post mortem analysis of
the DOUle3 Ol Juc NlCLiuuS HAS lRileO TO re-
veal the character of the poison. The drug
must have been very skillfully prepared, for
it is said that it acted slowly, and so com.
pletely simulated the symptoms of disease
as to cause no suspicion. Thekla used to
charge from 50 to 100 forms for bottle
of the elixir, though if poor woman
came to her, and sued in .forraa paaperis,
alleging that che had an the will to
murder her husband, but lacked the means
TO pay for the poison, the philosophical
old gypsy would give her bottle for moth
ing, being resolved that such good dis
positions should not be baked. The
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